A word’s part of speech tells you what job it can do in a sentence. Spotting nouns, verbs and adjectives is the first step towards punctuating correctly, choosing between “good” and “well”, or understanding why “run” can be a noun in one sentence and a verb in the next.
The “Parts of speech” variant gives a short definition, an example and a quick test for each word class. The “Find an example” variant turns the wheel into a game: the player must name a word that fits the slice, then check the answer with the test provided.
How to use it
- When introducing the topic, use the “Parts of speech” variant: spin, read the definition, then find another example in your reading book.
- To practise as a group, switch to “Find an example”: each player has ten seconds to suggest a word.
- Check the answer with the test in the description (swap the word, make it plural, add “very”…).
- Score one point per correct answer, two if the player also builds a sentence where the word keeps the same part of speech.
All the options
- An irregular plural noun
- Name a noun whose plural does not just add -s. Sample answers: child → children, mouse → mice, tooth → teeth.
- A proper noun for a place
- A city, country, river or mountain, written with a capital letter. Sample answers: Cardiff, Canada, the Andes.
- A possessive determiner
- It shows who owns something and sits before a noun: my, your, his, her, its, our, their. Careful: “its” has no apostrophe when it shows possession.
- A comparative adjective
- Short adjectives add -er (bigger, faster); longer ones use “more” (more careful). Irregular ones count too: good → better, bad → worse.
- A subject pronoun
- The full list: I, you, he, she, it, we, they. Check it by putting it before a verb: “They laughed.”
- A modal verb
- A helping verb that expresses ability, permission or likelihood: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would. “You should rest.”
- An abstract noun
- A noun for something you cannot see or touch: an idea, a feeling, a quality. Sample answers: courage, freedom, curiosity.
- An adverb ending in -ly
- Most are built from an adjective: slow → slowly. Watch out: some -ly words are adjectives, like friendly or lovely, so check that yours describes a verb.
- A preposition of place
- It tells you where something is: in, on, under, behind, between, next to, opposite. Put it in a sentence: “The cat is behind the sofa.”
- A FANBOYS conjunction
- Choose from for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, and use it to join two complete clauses: “It was late, so we went home.”
- An interjection
- Find one that shows pain, surprise or a call for silence. Sample answers: ouch, wow, shh. Bonus point if you act out the feeling as you say it.
- A demonstrative pronoun
- This, that, these and those, used on their own instead of a noun: “I will take these.” Followed by a noun, they become determiners: “these shoes”.
Frequently asked questions
How many parts of speech are there in English?
Traditional grammar lists eight: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection. Many modern grammars and school curricula add determiners as a ninth class.
Can a word be more than one part of speech?
Yes, very often. “Run” is a verb in “I run every day” and a noun in “I went for a run”; “fast” is an adjective in “a fast car” and an adverb in “she drives fast”. Always decide from the job the word does in that sentence.
How do you tell an adjective from an adverb?
An adjective describes a noun (“a careful driver”); an adverb describes a verb, adjective or another adverb (“she drives carefully”). If you can ask “how?” about an action and the word answers it, it is an adverb.
What is the difference between a preposition and a conjunction?
A preposition is followed by a noun or pronoun (“after lunch”); a conjunction joins two clauses, each with its own verb (“after we ate lunch”). Some words, like “after”, “before” and “since”, can be either.