Parts of speech and word order

Every English sentence is built from eight kinds of word. If you can name the kind of word, you can fix the sentence. Learn these eight names first, because the rest of the course uses them constantly.

The eight parts of speech
Part of speech	What it does	Examples	In a sentence	Urdu
Noun	A name of a person, place, thing or idea.	boy, Lahore, book, honesty	Ali lives in Lahore.	اسم
Pronoun	A word used in place of a noun.	I, you, he, she, it, we, they, him, her	Ali is my friend. He helps me.	ضمیر
Verb	A word of action or of being.	go, eat, write, is, are, was	She writes a letter.	فعل
Adjective	A word that describes a noun.	tall, honest, blue, difficult	He is a hard-working student.	صفت
Adverb	A word that describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb.	quickly, very, always, well	She speaks English fluently.	متعلقِ فعل
Preposition	A word that shows the relation of a noun to the rest of the sentence.	in, on, at, to, from, with	The book is on the table.	حرفِ جار
Conjunction	A word that joins words or sentences.	and, but, or, because, although	I was tired, but I finished the work.	حرفِ ربط
Interjection	A word that shows sudden feeling.	Oh! Wow! Alas! Well!	Wow! That is wonderful news.	حرفِ ندا

Six rules that fix most beginner sentences

1. Every English sentence needs a subject and a verb.

The word order is fixed: Subject + Verb + Object. Urdu puts the verb at the end; English puts it in the middle. This single difference causes most word-order mistakes.

I market to going am. → I am going to the market.

He cricket plays. → He plays cricket.

2. Add the place before the time.

When a sentence has both, English says where first and when second.

I went yesterday to Lahore. → I went to Lahore yesterday.

3. The verb must agree with the subject.

A single subject takes a singular verb; a plural subject takes a plural verb. In the present simple, he / she / it adds s or es.

My friends is coming. → My friends are coming.

She do not know. → She does not know.

4. Use a, an and the correctly.

a / an = one of many, mentioned for the first time. the = a particular one both people already know. Use an before a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u).

I am student. → I am a student.

She is an university student. → She is a university student. (the sound is yoo)

I saw a doctor. A doctor was kind. → I saw a doctor. The doctor was kind.

5. Do not repeat the negative or the past twice.

One negative word per clause; one past marker per verb.

I did not went. → I did not go.

I don't know nothing. → I don't know anything.

6. Use capital letters and full stops.

Capital at the start of a sentence, on names, countries, languages, days and months. A full stop at the end.

on monday i will go to islamabad → On Monday I will go to Islamabad.

Check yourself

Write the missing word or fix the sentence. Cover the answers first.

Name the part of speech: quickly
Show the answer
Adverb. It describes how the action is done.
Name the part of speech: honesty
Show the answer
Noun. It is the name of an idea.
Put in order: English / studies / she / every day
Show the answer
She studies English every day.
Put in order: to the market / went / yesterday / I
Show the answer
I went to the market yesterday. (Place before time.)
Fix: My friends is coming tomorrow.
Show the answer
My friends are coming tomorrow.
Fix: She do not know the answer.
Show the answer
She does not know the answer.
Fix: on friday i will meet ali in islamabad
Show the answer
On Friday I will meet Ali in Islamabad.
Fix: He cricket plays every Sunday.
Show the answer
He plays cricket every Sunday.

More practice on this topic: 15 exercises →