Language & Literature · Unit 6

Parts of Speech

Nouns, verbs, adjectives and the rest of the toolkit

Parts of speech are categories of job, not categories of word, and treating them that way removes most of the confusion around them.

The unit covers nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, pronouns, and prepositions and conjunctions.

This unit breaks down into 21 short steps and 127 questions, starting at difficulty 1 and building to 3. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 21
Questions: 127
Difficulty: 1-3

What this unit covers

Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives and Adverbs
Pronouns
Prepositions and Conjunctions

Where this fits

Follows Words and Meanings. Needed for Advanced Grammar.

Where people slip

A word's part of speech depends on its use in the sentence. Book is a noun in one sentence and a verb in another, and no word is permanently one thing.

How the unit is structured

Parts of Speech runs as 21 short steps that unlock in order. 15 are practice rounds and 6 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 3 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 21 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 127 in the unit altogether.

Adjectives and Adverbs

Build the sentenceLevel 2
1. Build a sentence using an adjective before the noun.
Answer: She has a red ball
The adjective 'red' describes the noun 'ball' in this sentence.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
2. Which of these words are adverbs? Pick all that apply.
- quicklycorrect
- softlycorrect
- green
- cat
Quickly and softly describe how an action happens, so they are adverbs.
Fact or fibLevel 2
3. In the sentence 'She sings beautifully', the word 'beautifully' is an adjective.
Answer: False
Beautifully describes how she sings, so it is an adverb, not an adjective.
Fill the blankLevel 2
4. An adverb can describe a verb, an adjective, or another ____.
- adverbcorrect
- noun
- pronoun
- preposition
Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs to give more detail.
Guess the numberLevel 2
5. How many syllables need to be added with -est to make the superlative of most one-syllable adjectives like 'fast' into 'fastest'?
Answer: 1 syllable
Adding -est to a one-syllable adjective like fast adds one syllable, turning fast into fastest.
Match the pairsLevel 3
6. Match each adjective to its correct comparative form.
Answer: big = bigger; tall = taller; happy = happier; bad = worse
Comparative forms compare two things, and some adjectives change spelling when adding -er.

Nouns

Choose all that applyLevel 1
7. Which of these are common nouns? Pick all that apply.
- dogcorrect
- rivercorrect
- London
- run
Common nouns name general people, places, or things, not specific ones.
Fill the blankLevel 1
8. A word that names a specific person, like 'London' or 'Maria', is called a proper ____.
- nouncorrect
- verb
- adjective
- pronoun
Proper nouns name specific people or places and start with a capital letter.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
9. Build a sentence using a collective noun correctly.
Answer: The herd of cattle crossed the field
This sentence uses the collective noun herd to describe a group of cattle acting as one.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
10. Which word is a collective noun for a group of things?
- flockcorrect
- quickly
- beautiful
- jump
A collective noun names a whole group treated as one unit, like a flock of birds.
Sort into groupsLevel 2
11. Sort each noun as concrete or abstract.
Answer: honesty = Abstract; freedom = Abstract; mountain = Concrete; bottle = Concrete
Concrete nouns name things you can sense, while abstract nouns name ideas or feelings.
Odd one outLevel 3
12. Which word is NOT a common noun?
- Londoncorrect
- city
- street
- building
London is a proper noun naming a specific city, so it needs a capital letter and stands apart from the common nouns.

Prepositions and Conjunctions

Choose all that applyLevel 2
13. Which of these words are prepositions? Pick all that apply.
- oncorrect
- besidecorrect
- happy
- walked
On and beside both show the position of something, so they are prepositions.
Fill the blankLevel 2
14. The subordinating conjunction that begins a clause showing a reason, as in '____ it was raining, we stayed inside', is:
- Becausecorrect
- And
- But
- Or
Because introduces a subordinate clause that explains the reason for the main clause.
Guess the numberLevel 2
15. How many coordinating conjunctions are in the common list remembered by the acronym FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)?
Answer: 7 conjunctions
FANBOYS stands for the seven coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
Match the pairsLevel 2
16. Match each preposition to the relationship it typically shows.
Answer: before = Time; beside = Place; toward = Direction
Different prepositions express different relationships such as time, place, and direction.
Build the sentenceLevel 3
17. Build a sentence that correctly uses a subordinating conjunction.
Answer: Although it was late we kept walking
This sentence uses the subordinating conjunction although to join a clause of contrast to the main clause.
Fact or fibLevel 3
18. A coordinating conjunction joins two independent clauses or words of equal grammatical rank, such as 'and' or 'but'.
Answer: True
Coordinating conjunctions like and, but, and or connect elements of equal importance.

Pronouns

Fact or fibLevel 1
19. The word 'they' is a pronoun.
Answer: True
They replaces a plural noun, so it is a pronoun.
Guess the numberLevel 1
20. How many personal pronouns are there in English if you count I, you, he, she, it, we, and they?
Answer: 7 pronouns
There are 7 common personal pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, and they.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
21. Build a sentence that correctly uses a possessive pronoun.
Answer: That house is theirs
Theirs is a possessive pronoun showing that the house belongs to them.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
22. Which of these are reflexive pronouns? Pick all that apply.
- myselfcorrect
- ourselvescorrect
- they
- his
Reflexive pronouns like myself and ourselves refer back to the subject of the sentence.
Fill the blankLevel 2
23. A word used in place of a noun, such as 'he' or 'they', is called a ____.
- pronouncorrect
- preposition
- conjunction
- adverb
A pronoun replaces a noun so we do not have to repeat it.
Match the pairsLevel 3
24. Match each pronoun type to an example of that type.
Answer: Reflexive = himself; Demonstrative = this; Indefinite = someone; Interrogative = who
Each pronoun type serves a different grammatical role in a sentence.

Verbs

Fill the blankLevel 1
25. In the sentence 'The dog barks loudly', the word that shows the action is ____.
- barkscorrect
- dog
- loudly
- the
Barks is the verb because it tells what the dog does.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
26. Build a sentence that correctly uses a helping verb with a main verb.
Answer: She has finished her homework
This sentence uses the helping verb has with the main verb finished to form the present perfect tense.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
27. Which of these words are action verbs? Pick all that apply.
- runcorrect
- shoutcorrect
- quiet
- tall
Run and shout describe physical actions, while quiet and tall are adjectives.
Fact or fibLevel 2
28. The verb 'run' is regular because its past tense is formed by adding -ed, as in 'runned'.
Answer: False
Run is an irregular verb; its past tense is ran, not runned.
Match the pairsLevel 2
29. Match each present tense verb to its correct past tense form.
Answer: go = went; eat = ate; see = saw; bring = brought
These verbs are irregular, so their past tense forms do not simply add -ed.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
30. In the sentence 'She seems tired', what kind of verb is 'seems'?
- Linking verbcorrect
- Action verb
- Modal verb
- Irregular verb
A linking verb like seems connects the subject to a description rather than showing action.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 13 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Build the sentence
Choose all that apply
Fact or fib
Fill the blank
Guess the number
Match the pairs
Multiple choice
Odd one out
Put in order
Sort into groups
Spell it
True or false
Type the answer

Practise Parts of Speech

127 questions across 21 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

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