You have now met all eight parts of speech, from nouns to interjections. Here is the big idea that ties them together: a word doesn’t have one part of speech forever. It has the part of speech of the job it does in this sentence.
| Sentence | light is a … | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Please turn off the light. | noun | it names a thing; the comes before it |
| We light the candles at dinner. | verb | it is the action, and we is its subject |
| Bring a light jacket. | adjective | it tells what kind of jacket |
Key idea
Decide a word’s part of speech by its job here: what comes before and after it, and what it does for the sentence.
Why it works
English reuses words all the time: you can water the plants, drink water, and buy a water bottle. Dictionaries list every job a word can do; only the sentence tells you which one it is doing now.
Worked example: Clues around the word
What is back in “Sign your name on the back of the card,” “Please come back soon,” and “We used the back door”?
- the back of the card: the before it, and it names a part: noun.
- come back: it tells where to come: adverb.
- the back door: it tells which door: adjective.
Answer: noun, adverb, adjective
Worked example: A trickier one
What is but in “Everyone but Sam came to the picnic”?
- Here but means “except.”
- It has an object, Sam, and links it to everyone.
- So here it is a preposition, not a conjunction.
Answer: preposition
Common mistake
Looking a word up and taking the first part of speech the dictionary lists. The dictionary lists them all. Read the sentence and check the job.