Complete Parts of Speech for SAT Writing and ACT English

“Parts of speech” is a fancy way of saying that every word in the English language can be put into one of eight categories, depending on how it is used. Of these eight parts of speech, only 7 are tested on the Writing SAT and on ACT English.

Understanding the different parts of speech is absolutely essential to having a firm grasp of English grammar, and in succeeding on the SAT and ACT. Unfortunately, nowadays many schools no longer focus on teaching this type of grammar.

Are you a bit unsure about what, exactly, a preposition is, or can’t tell the difference between an adjective and adverb? Feeling a bit rusty after learning this years ago? This article will provide the foundational information you need before moving on to more complex grammatical concepts. I'll also go over a few important SAT/ACT grammar rules.

How Should You Use This Guide?

This guide is designed to help you brush up on the basics before you tackle some of the more complicated grammar guides that we have written for the SAT and ACT. 

Many of the concepts covered here are things you'll already know if you've studied grammar in school. Even if you haven't, many (but not necessarily all) of them will seem natural to native English speakers. 

However, if you haven't studied grammar extensively, you can use this as a reference to help understand the basic ideas that our other guides will not cover. Check back here if you come across some terms you're unfamiliar with, or if you need to remind yourself of what something means.

Many of the concepts in this guide are not directly tested on the ACT and SAT. Instead, these concepts are building blocks that are important for understanding the why? behind the concepts that are tested. Therefore, do not worry about memorizing the names of the grammar terms in this guide, just use the concepts.

What Parts of Speech Are on SAT Writing and ACT English?

The seven parts of speech that are tested on the SAT and ACT are: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions.

Once you understand the different rules for each Part of Speech, you will see that these are relatively straightforward concepts, and they can be used to help you understand more difficult concepts.

Nouns

Nouns are words that are people, places, things, or ideas.

If you are not sure if something is a noun or not, try putting "a" or "the" in front of it and see if it sounds correct. If it does, then it's probably a noun.

Categories of Nouns

Common Nouns refer to non-specific people, places, or things.

Proper Nouns refer to specific people, places, or things.

Concrete Nouns are people, places, or things that you can physically touch.

Abstract Nouns are thoughts, subjects, games, or ideals. These are things, but they cannot be touched.

Love is an abstract noun.

Uses of Nouns

Nouns have several possible functions in a sentence. They can be used as the subject, predicate nominative, appositive, direct object, indirect object, or object of the preposition. There are other uses for nouns, but we won't go into them now.

Note: Remember that it is not important that you know the names of these functions. But it is important to understand how nouns can be used, so you can recognize when one is being used incorrectly.

Subject

The subject of the sentence is the person or thing that is doing the action of the verb. 

Mary is the subject of the sentence because she is doing the action.

Predicate Nominative

A predicate nominative comes after a linking verb (see the verb section for more info) and re-states the subject of the sentence.

Mary is the subject. Friend is the predicate nominative. In this sentence, Mary and friend are the same thing, or Mary = friend.

Appositive

An appositive is a noun that re-states or gives more information about another noun in a sentence. Unlike a predicate nominative, it does not come after a linking verb. Instead, it's usually right next to the noun it's describing, and is set off by commas.

Because appositives are set off by commas from the rest of the sentence, it usually works to remove the appositive and still have a grammatically correct sentence.

Here, Mary is an appositive because it gives more information about who the friend is.

If you remove the appositive the sentence still makes sense:

My friend is an exceptional human being.

Direct Object

A Direct Object is a noun that receives the action of a transitive verb (more on these here)

Ask yourself: I got what? Got a score. Therefore, score is the direct object.

Indirect Object

An Indirect Object is a noun that receives the Direct Object.

Being the indirect object of brownies is always a good thing.

Ask yourself: I made what? Brownies. Therefore, brownies is the direct object.

Who received the brownies? Kim. Therefore, Kim is the indirect object.

Object of a Preposition

All prepositional phrases consist of at least a preposition (see below) and a noun. The noun that comes after a preposition is called the object of the preposition.

Here, the preposition is on. On what? On the SAT. Therefore, SAT is the object of the preposition on.

Forming the Plural of Nouns

This is another concept that is not directly tested on the SAT and ACT, but occasionally you will need to recognize if a noun is singular or plural in order to match it with the correct verb.

• Most nouns form the plural by adding -s.

• Add -es if the noun ends in -s, -x, -z, -sh, or -ch. This is simply because of pronunciation - it's really difficult to make these sounds followed by "-s"

• If the last two letters of a noun are a consonant followed by -y, drop the -y and add -ies

• Some nouns that end in -f or -fe form the plural by dropping the -f/-fe and adding -ves.
• Once again, this is all about ease of pronunciation, as it's really difficult to make the -fs sound at the end of a word.

• Some nouns form the plural irregularly. Unfortunately, there are no rules for how to form these, and you just have to memorize these words. Fortunately, most of these words are quite common and you should know most of them already.

• Some words don't change at all in the plural.

• NOTE: NEVER FORM THE PLURAL BY ADDING -'S (apostrope +s). This should only be used for showing possession.

The people of Leeds are appropriately passionate about misused apostrophes.

Forming the Possessive of Nouns

The possessive is how we show ownership.

To form the possessive of a singular noun, always add -'s.

To form the possessive of a plural noun that ends in -s, just add an apostrophe.

To form the possesive of a plural noun that is irregular and does NOT end in -s, add -'s.

Special Types of Nouns

Are you a grammar pro? If you already knew all of the above about nouns, here are a few special categories of noun you may have been unaware of!

Gerunds

The -ing form of a verb can be used as a verb as long as it has a helping verb. But did you know that if it's standing on its own, it's called a gerund and is used as a noun?

Here, baking is a noun and is the subject of the sentence.

Infinitive as a Noun

Similarly, the infinitive form (the "to" form) can be used as a noun.

Here, "to run" is the direct object of the verb "likes". Therefore, it is being used as a noun.

This man loves to run...for president.

Pronouns

Pronouns are words that can replace nouns. Unlike nouns, pronouns have different cases.

What Is a Case?

This means that the form the pronoun takes can change depending on what purpose it has in the sentence. Above, we saw that nouns can be used either as a subject/nominative, or as several different types of objects. Personal pronouns have one form when they are used as a subject or predicate nominative, and another form when used in any of the object functions (direct object, indirect object, or object of preposition).

NOTE: This actually is tested on the ACT!

Personal Pronouns

What Do These Charts Mean? 

The nominative case forms should ONLY be used when the personal pronoun is being used as the subject of a clause or as the predicate nominative. (Don't remember what these are? Check out the Noun section above!)

Many people would say “Michael and him”, but this is incorrect because “he” is a subject of the clause and therefore must be in the nominative case. When you are not sure, try crossing out the other subject. You would never say, “Him is my best friend.”

This construction does not sound correct to most people, but it is. Try flipping the sentence around: He was the winner of the race. This is an example of a personal pronoun being used as as predicate nominative.

The objective case of pronouns should be used for direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions.

For more on how to use pronouns in different cases, see our guide.

Non-Personal Pronouns

These include but are not limited to: this, that, both, some, few, many, either, which, who, and one. These pronouns do not change form between the nominative case and the objective case.

Some people do not think that these pronouns look correct standing on their own, but they are.

These pronouns can be tricky to use with verbs because it is not very obvious whether they are singular or plural. A good way to figure this out is to try to add the word “one” after the pronoun. Does it make sense? If so, use a singular verb.

If adding “one” does not work, mentally add “of them”. If this makes sense, use the plural verb.

Exception: The pronoun "one" is always singular, even though "one of them" sounds correct. Always use a singular verb.

Forming the Possessive of Pronouns

The possessive forms of the personal pronouns are:

Because these are pronouns (not adjectives), they can be used independently.

Main Rules for Pronouns on the SAT and ACT

The SAT and ACT both frequently test pronouns. Here is a brief summary of what you are most likely to see tested. For more detail, see our article on pronouns on the ACT English and SAT Writing.

Rule 1

Always make sure a pronoun has a clear antecedent. The antecedent is the noun that the pronoun is replacing. If there is not an obvious antecedent for the pronoun either in the same sentence, or a sentence very nearby, it is considered an error.

This would be considered incorrect because it is not clear who "she" is referring to.

Sometimes the antecedent will be in a previous sentence. In this case, it should also be very clear.

Here it appears that “it” refers to “campsite” in the previous sentence - really it should refer to “Seeds of Peace” in the first sentence. This would be considered an unclear and incorrect use of a pronoun.

Rule 2

Pronouns should always be consistent. For example, if you are using second person pronouns in a sentence, you should use them all the way through the sentence.

Rule 3

Pronouns should always match their antecedents in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). For more examples of this rule, see our guide.

Verbs

Verbs are words that show actions or states of being. For a more complete guide on how to use verbs on the SAT and ACT, read our grammar guide.

Types of Verbs

Linking verbs are verbs that show a relationship between the subject and the predicate nominative or predicate adjective. We can think of them as an equals sign. The most common linking verb is the verb “to be.”

Action verbs are verbs that show an action. Many (but not all) of these verbs will take direct objects. A verb that takes a direct object is called a transitive verb; a verb that does not is called intransitive. Remember, you do not need to know these terms for the test.

Conjugating Verbs

Most verbs follow a simple pattern in the present tense:

Notice that only the third person plural (he/she/it) is different. This will become very important on the ACT and SAT because of…

Subject-Verb Agreement

When you have a singular noun or pronoun as the subject of a clause, it must be matched by a singular verb. When you have a plural noun as the subject of a clause, it must be matched with a plural verb.

While subject-verb agreement seems simple in theory, the SAT and ACT will try to trick you on this by adding extra words and phrases to sentences. This can make it more difficult to see if the verb works with the subject, as opposed to another noun in the sentence.

The test will try to trick you with questions like this by putting a plural noun that is NOT the subject next to a plural verb. To avoid falling for this, find the verb, and then ask yourself, “who is doing this action?” In this case, who is walking five miles? It is my sister, which is a singular noun. Therefore the sentence should read, “My sister, despite having to carry three children, walks five miles every day.

Maria and Joe likes to dance. 

Here you have two subjects: Maria and Joe. Therefore you need the plural form of the verb.

Correct: Maria and Joe like to dance.

Verb Tense

Tense tells when the action of a verb is taking place.

The present tenses tell about things that are happening now:

The past tenses express actions that have already happened.

The future tenses express actions that are going to happen.

You should always try to keep tenses consistent in one sentence. This is something the SAT and ACT will frequently test.

This sentence matches past perfect with present, and therefore would be considered incorrect.

Instead try:

This matches past perfect with past, which is ok for showing progression of time within a sentence.

This sentence mixes past tense (tasted) with present tense (are). This would be considered incorrect.

The better way would be:

Adjectives

What Are Adjectives?

Adjectives are descriptive words that modify nouns and pronouns.

Types of Adjectives

Like nouns, adjectives can be common or proper. Some common adjectives include beautiful, short, angry, obese. Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns. Like proper nouns, they must be capitalized.

Possessive Adjectives

These adjectives are formed from the personal pronouns and are used to describe objects that belong to a certain person.

Unlike the possessive pronouns discussed above, these possessive adjectives must be used with a noun.

Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives include this, that, these and those. When these words are used as adjectives instead of pronouns, they must be  modifying a noun.

Adjectives Formed From Verbs

Adjectives that are formed from verbs are called participles. 

The present participle is formed by adding -ing to a verb stem. The past participle is formed by adding -ed to a verb stem.

Adjectives Formed from Nouns

Sometimes you will see a noun being used as an adjective:

Normally, basketball is a noun. But here it is being used as an adjective to tell you what kind of player the person is. You will occasionally see this on the SAT or ACT, usually to describe a person by his or her profession.

Remember that when a noun is being used as an adjective, there is no need to put a comma in between it and the noun it is describing.

Uses of Adjectives

Adjectives are usually used to describe nouns, and are usually placed before the noun they describe.

If more than one adjective precedes a noun, they should be separated by a comma if the order of the adjectives is not important.

If you have a sentence in which the order of the adjectives IS important - meaning if you reversed them, the sentence would not make as much sense - then do not use a comma.

Adjectives are also used as predicate adjectives. Like predicate nominatives, this means they come after a linking verb and they describe the subject of the sentence.

Adverbs

What Are Adverbs?

Adverbs are words that describe or modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

Note: Use of adverbs vs. use of adjectives is tested on the SAT and ACT. Therefore, it's important to be able to understand what the adverb or adjective is modifying, to make sure that it is being used correctly.

How Are Adverbs Formed?

Many adverbs are simply formed by adding the ending -ly to an adjective

However, some adverbs are formed irregularly:

Good is an adjective describing the noun girl; well is an adverb describing the verb drives. This is one of the most commonly confused adverbs, so make sure to memorize it.

Remember if you see good in a sentence, it must be describing a noun, not a verb.

The daily Daily.

Of course, nobody would really speak this way because it’s redundant. But it shows that daily can be an adverb describing the verb receive, and also an adjective describing the noun newspaper.

Late is an adverb describing the verb woke up; hard is an adjective describing the noun test.

Late is an adjective describing the noun boy; hard is an adverb describing the verb worked.

Challenge question: what is the error in this sentence?

The answer is (A). Why? This could be confusing because “badly” is a correctly formed adverb. However, we don’t need an adverb, we need an adjective. “was smelling” is here used as a linking verb, and therefore we need a predicate adjective to tell us what it smelled like. “Surprisingly” is ok as it is because it is an adverb that should be modifying an adjective. Here is how it would look when corrected: “Because our casserole was smelling surprisingly bad as it baked…..”

If left as is, badly would have to be describing “was smelling”, which would imply that the casserole has a poor sense of smell.

Prepositions

What Are Prepositions?

Prepositions are words that show where someone or something is, or tells when something is happening. They can also be used to show a few other relationships, such as to whom you give something, or if you do something with or without something else.

Common Prepositions

Here are some of the most common prepositions in the English language:

Prepositional Phrases

A prepositional phrase is a phrase (group of words) that includes AT LEAST a preposition and a noun or pronoun, which is known as the object of the preposition. It is not important to know this terminology, but this is an important concept to understand.

When using a pronoun as part of a prepositional phrase, make sure that it is in the objective case.

Usually this kind of mistake will sound incorrect to native English speakers - hopefully the above example did. But some are trickier, usually those involving I vs. me as part of a compound object.

If you're having problems, try taking out the other part of the compound object. This can help make the correct form of the pronoun more obvious. 

Often the SAT and ACT will add unnecessary prepositional phrases to sentences to try to make errors less obvious. Feel free to cross out prepositional phrases in order to make sentences easier to analyze.

Here is an example SAT question. Identify the error in this sentence:

Now look with a prepositional phrase crossed out:

After crossing out the prepositional phrase, it becomes much more obvious that “obsession are absurd” is incorrect.

Prepositions in Idioms

Many prepositions have to be used in a certain way with certain phrases. This is not because one preposition is grammatically more correct, but because certain phrases in English are idiomatically correct because they have always been said a certain way.

For example, we would say: “She fell in love with him.” We would never say, “She fell towards love at him.”

We would say, “He is hard at work.” We would never say, “He is hard in work” with the same meaning in mind.

For a full breakdown of the how the SAT uses idioms, see this guide.

Conjunctions

What are Conjunctions?

Conjunctions are words that link ideas together. There are three main types of conjunctions: coordinating, subordinate, and correlative.

Coordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions are probably the conjunctions that you are most familiar with. There are seven: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.

You can remember these with the acronym FANBOYS:

Coordinating conjunctions can be used to join similar words, phrases, or clauses. The most commonly used conjunction is “and."

A different kind of fanboys (and girl)

Coordinating conjunctions can also be used to join two independent clauses. An independent clause is something that can stand on its own as a sentence.

“The professor paced” and “The student sat quietly” could both be independent sentences.

Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions are used to join a dependent clause to an independent clause. An independent clause is a clause that can stand on its own as a sentence - it expresses a complete thought. A subordinate clause is a clause that cannot be a sentence on its own. 

Usually, a subordinate clause will describe either the background circimstances of the independent clause or will give more detail about one part of the independent clause.

There are a lot of subordinate conjunctions, but some of the more common ones include:

You can use the following structures to form sentences with dependent and independent clauses:

(subordinating conjunction + dependent clause) , (independent clause).

(independent clause) + (subordinating conjunction + dependent clause).

Sometimes, a subordinate conjunction and dependent clause can come in between parts of the independent clause.

Correlative Conjunctions

These are very similar to coordinating conjunctions, but they must always be used in pairs. These pairs are worth memorizing because occasionally the SAT and ACT will test these to see if you know which words belong together.

both...and

either...or

neither…nor

not only...but also

whether...or

Best Overall Tip for Conjunctions

The SAT and ACT like to test parallel structure in sentences. When two or more things are linked by a conjunction, remember that they should have the same general structure. For more information on parallel structure and how it is tested, see this post.

What’s Next?

You’ve refreshed the basics of grammar, so now it’s time to dive into the harder concepts: See this guide for all the other grammar rules tested on the ACT and on the SAT.

Want to know what you are up against? Here is exactly what you will find on the Writing SAT and on ACT English.

Want some pointers as you study? Check out 8 key strategies for doing well on SAT Writing, and 5 critical concepts you need to master for ACT English.

Aiming high? Read our famous guides for a perfect 800 on SAT Writing and a 36 on ACT English.