| PART OF SPEECH | BASIC FUNCTION | EXAMPLES |
| noun | names a person, place, or thing | pirate, Caribbean, ship |
| pronoun | takes the place of a noun | I, you, he, she, it, ours, them, who |
| verb | identifies action or state of being | sing, dance, believe, be |
| adjective | modifies a noun | hot, lazy, funny |
| adverb | modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb | softly, lazily, often |
| preposition | shows a relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and other words in a sentence | up, over, against, by, for |
| conjunction | joins words, phrases, and clauses | and, but, or, yet |
| interjection | expresses emotion | ah, whoops, ouch |
