English grammar
If you are learning English, every dictionary entry comes labelled with a part of speech. This page walks through the categories you will see in SmartWords English content — what each one means, how to spot it in a sentence, common pitfalls, and real example words drawn from our own English vocabulary.
A word that refers to a person, place, thing, or idea.
How to spot it. In English, nouns often come after an article or other determiner: a book, the city, my idea. Many have plural forms in -s or -es, and they can often be the subject or object of a verb.
Watch out. Many English words can be both noun and verb, such as work, answer, or drink. Check the word’s position in the sentence and whether it follows a determiner to see which job it is doing.
A word that describes an action, state, or experience.
How to spot it. Verbs are the words that change for tense or agreement: work/works/worked, is/was, go/went. In a clause, they typically come after the subject, and every complete sentence needs a main verb.
Watch out. Do not assume all English verbs follow regular patterns like -ed for the past. High-frequency verbs such as be, have, do, and go are irregular, so learn their main forms early.
A small set of verbs that add meaning like ability, obligation, possibility, or permission to another verb.
How to spot it. In English, modal verbs come before the base form of another verb: can swim, must leave, should try. They do not take -s in he/she/it forms, and questions usually invert directly: Can you come?
Watch out. Do not add to after a core modal: say can go, not can to go. Also remember that modals normally do not have full tense sets, so English often uses alternatives like be able to or have to.
A verb followed by a short particle that together make a single meaning.
How to spot it. Look for a verb plus a short word such as up, out, off, in, or after: give up, find out, look after. The meaning is often not the same as the verb alone, and the object may sometimes split the two parts: turn it off.
Watch out. Do not guess the meaning from the parts alone; pick up and give up are not literal in many contexts. Also check whether the phrasal verb is separable, because turn off the light and turn the light off are both possible, but not with every phrasal verb.
A word that describes a noun or pronoun.
How to spot it. In English, adjectives usually come before a noun: a small house, an interesting film. They can also come after linking verbs like be, seem, and become: the house is small.
Watch out. Do not confuse adjectives with adverbs: say a quick answer but she answered quickly. Also note that some adjective forms ending in -ed and -ing have different meanings, as in bored vs boring.
A word that gives information about a verb, adjective, another adverb, or a whole sentence.
How to spot it. Many English adverbs end in -ly, such as slowly, really, and carefully, but common ones like well, often, fast, and never do not. They often tell you how, when, where, or to what degree something happens.
Watch out. A common mistake is using an adjective where English needs an adverb: She sings beautifully, not beautiful. But some words, like fast and hard, can already be adverbs without -ly.
A word that stands in for a noun or noun phrase.
How to spot it. Pronouns replace something already known from the context: Maria is here; she is waiting. In English, common sets include subject forms (I, he, they), object forms (me, him, them), and possessive forms (my, mine, their, theirs).
Watch out. English pronouns change form depending on their role, so choose I vs me, he vs him, and they vs them carefully. After a preposition, English normally uses the object form: for me, with her.
A word placed before a noun to show which one, whose one, or how many.
How to spot it. Determiners come at the start of a noun phrase: the car, this idea, my friend, some water. In English they usually appear before any adjective: those old books, not old those books.
Watch out. Learners often stack determiners incorrectly or leave them out. In English, you usually choose one main determiner at a time: my book or the book, not usually the my book.
A word used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show a relationship such as place, time, direction, or reason.
How to spot it. Prepositions usually come before a noun phrase: in the room, after lunch, with her, for a reason. In English they are very common in fixed patterns with verbs and adjectives, such as listen to, depend on, or afraid of.
Watch out. Do not translate prepositions word for word from another language. Learn them together with the word they belong to, because English often uses fixed combinations that are hard to predict.
A word that links words, phrases, or clauses.
How to spot it. Common English conjunctions include and, but, or, because, if, and although. Coordinating conjunctions join equal parts, while subordinating conjunctions introduce a clause that depends on another clause.
Watch out. Do not confuse conjunctions with linking adverbs such as however or therefore, which follow different punctuation patterns. Also be careful with sentence fragments after words like because or although: they normally need a main clause too.
A short word or phrase that expresses emotion, reaction, or sudden response.
How to spot it. Interjections often stand alone or are separated by punctuation: Oh!, Wow!, Oops, Hey. If you remove them, the rest of the sentence usually still works grammatically.
Watch out. Many interjections are informal and common in speech, chat, and fiction, but less suitable in formal writing. Also note that the same word can be an interjection in one sentence and something else in another.
A short word that shows whether a noun is specific or non-specific.
How to spot it. English has the indefinite articles a and an and the definite article the. Articles come before singular countable nouns and before any adjective attached to the noun: a big dog, the old house.
Watch out. English article use is difficult because singular countable nouns usually need one: I bought a book, not I bought book. Also choose a or an by sound, not spelling: an hour but a European city.
A word that refers to quantity or position in order.
How to spot it. Cardinal numbers count: one, two, thirty. Ordinal numbers show order: first, second, thirtieth; in English they often appear before nouns like determiners: three cars, the second day.
Watch out. Be careful not to confuse number words with plural marking: two book is wrong, so say two books. Also note irregular ordinals such as first, second, and third, which do not follow the usual pattern.
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