Checkpoint 6 · Reading: grammar

Parts of Speech (Word Classes)

Every word class you need for Checkpoint 6: nouns (including abstract nouns), pronouns (including relative pronouns), verbs, modal verbs and infinitives, adjectives, adverbs, determiners, prepositions and conjunctions, how to name a word class in context, and practice with answers.

British & IGCSE › Checkpoint 6 English (Cambridge Primary 0058)

Every word in a sentence has a job. The job a word does is called its word class (another name is part of speech). Nouns name things, verbs show actions, adjectives describe nouns, and so on.

Checkpoint reading papers ask about word classes directly. You may be asked: *What word class is the word 'quietly' in this sentence?*, *Find a relative pronoun in paragraph 2*, *Find an abstract noun*, or *Copy an infinitive from the text*. These are quick 1-mark questions, but only if you know the names exactly. Word classes also help your writing: strong verbs, precise adjectives and well-placed adverbs earn Vocabulary marks.

Grammar words you must know

Word class / part of speech: the job a word does in a sentence.
In context: in this sentence, in this text. The same word can belong to different classes in different sentences.
Identify: find and name it.
Copy: write the word exactly as it is in the text.

The word classes at a glance

Word class	Its job	Examples
Noun	names a person, place, thing, animal, feeling or idea	girl, Cairo, table, herd, courage
Pronoun	takes the place of a noun	she, them, myself, who, something
Verb	shows an action, a state or what is happening	run, think, is, seemed, can
Adjective	describes a noun	tall, shiny, nervous, bigger, best
Adverb	tells us more about a verb, an adjective or another adverb (how, when, where, how often, how much)	quietly, soon, here, always, very
Determiner	comes before a noun and tells us which one or how many	a, an, the, this, my, some, every, three
Preposition	shows where, when or how something is in relation to something else	under, after, with, during, across
Conjunction	joins words, phrases or clauses	and, but, so, because, although, when
Interjection	shows a sudden feeling	Oh! Wow! Ouch! Hooray!

1. Nouns

A noun is a naming word. It names a person, a place, a thing, an animal, a feeling or an idea. A quick test: can you put the or a in front of it? (the castle, a friend, the idea). Names of people and places (proper nouns) are nouns too, even though we do not usually put *a* in front of them.

Type of noun	What it is	Examples
Common noun	a general name, with no capital letter	city, teacher, river, dog
Proper noun	the name of a particular person, place, day, month or organisation, always a capital letter	Nour, Egypt, the Nile, Monday, March
Concrete noun	something you can see, touch, hear, smell or taste	sand, bell, sandwich, kite
Abstract noun	a feeling, idea or quality that you cannot touch or see	fear, kindness, freedom, honesty, excitement, friendship
Collective noun	a name for a group	team, flock (of birds), herd (of cattle), crowd, class
Countable noun	you can count it, and it has a plural	one pen, two pens / a child, three children
Uncountable noun	you cannot count it, and it usually has no plural	water, rice, advice, information, furniture
Compound noun	two words joined to make one noun	football, toothbrush, sunflower, classroom

Abstract nouns are asked about often. Many are made from adjectives or verbs with endings such as -ness, -ment, -ship, -dom, -ity, -tion, -ance:

Word	Abstract noun
kind (adjective)	kindness
excite (verb)	excitement
friend (noun)	friendship
free (adjective)	freedom
curious (adjective)	curiosity
imagine (verb)	imagination
patient (adjective)	patience
brave (adjective)	bravery

Quick test for an abstract noun

Ask: Could I put it in a box? You can put a pencil in a box, so *pencil* is concrete. You cannot put *hope*, *anger* or *success* in a box, so they are abstract. But careful: an abstract noun is still a noun. In "She felt brave", *brave* is an adjective. In "Her bravery surprised us", *bravery* is an abstract noun.

Plurals. Most nouns add -s or -es (books, boxes). Some are irregular: child → children, man → men, tooth → teeth, mouse → mice, foot → feet, person → people.

2. Pronouns

A pronoun replaces a noun so that we do not repeat it. *Salma lost Salma's bag* sounds strange; *Salma lost her bag* is better.

Type of pronoun	Words	Example
Subject (personal) pronouns	I, you, he, she, it, we, they	They walked to school.
Object pronouns	me, you, him, her, it, us, them	The teacher thanked us.
Possessive pronouns (stand alone)	mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs	The red bike is mine.
Reflexive pronouns	myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves	Adam taught himself to swim.
Demonstrative pronouns	this, that, these, those (standing alone)	This is my favourite song.
Interrogative pronouns (questions)	who, whom, whose, which, what	Who opened the window?
Relative pronouns	who, which, that, whose, whom	The boy who won the race is my cousin.
Indefinite pronouns	someone, anybody, nothing, everyone, something	Someone knocked at the door.

Relative pronouns are very important for Checkpoint. A relative pronoun begins a relative clause, which gives more information about a noun that comes just before it:

who is for people: *My grandfather, who is eighty, still walks every day.*
which is for things and animals: *The parcel, which arrived this morning, was for Dad.*
that is for people or things: *This is the book that I told you about.*
whose shows belonging: *That is the girl whose kite got stuck in the tree.*
whom is a formal object form of who: *the man to whom I spoke*.

You will also see where and when used in the same way to start a relative clause about a place or a time: *the village where my mother was born*, *the day when we moved house*.

Trap: 'who', 'which' and 'that' are not always relative pronouns

"Who broke the vase?" Here *who* asks a question, so it is an interrogative pronoun.
"Which cake do you want?" Here *which* asks a question before a noun.
"She said that she was tired." Here *that* is a conjunction: it joins the reported words to *She said*, and it does not describe a noun.
"That bag is heavy." Here *that* points to a noun, so it is a determiner.
It is a relative pronoun only when it comes after a noun and starts extra information about that noun.

3. Verbs

A verb shows what someone or something does, is or has. Every sentence needs at least one verb. Test: can you change its tense? (*I jump → I jumped*.)

Type of verb	What it does	Examples
Action verbs	show an action you can do or think	run, write, whisper, decide, climb
Linking verbs	link the subject to a word that describes it	be (am, is, are, was, were), seem, become, look, feel
Auxiliary (helping) verbs	help the main verb to make a tense or a question	be, have, do: She is reading. They have* finished. Do you agree?*
Modal verbs	show how possible, necessary or certain something is (they come before another verb)	can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would

Modal verbs often appear in persuasive writing and in reading questions about the writer's purpose:

Modal verb	Meaning	Example
must	it is necessary (very strong)	We must protect our parks.
should	advice: it is a good idea	You should drink more water.
can / could	ability or possibility	Anyone can join the club. It could rain later.
may / might	it is possible but not certain	The trip might be cancelled.
will / would	future, certainty or a polite request	I will help. Would you open the door?

The infinitive is the basic form of a verb, usually with to in front: *to run, to be, to discover, to help*. Checkpoint can ask you to find or copy an infinitive. Example: *She wanted to win the race.* The infinitive often shows purpose (why someone does something): *He saved his money to buy a bicycle.*

Infinitive or preposition?

to + verb = infinitive (*to swim, to explore*). to + noun = preposition (*to the beach, to school*). So in "We went to the market to buy fruit", the first *to* is a preposition and *to buy* is an infinitive.

Other verb forms you will meet:

Regular verbs add -ed in the past: walk → walked, play → played.
Irregular verbs change in their own way: go → went → gone, see → saw → seen, write → wrote → written.
-ing form (present participle): *running, laughing*. It makes continuous tenses: *They were laughing*.
Past participle: *broken, taken, painted*. It is used in the perfect (*has eaten*) and the passive (*The window was broken*).

4. Adjectives

An adjective describes a noun. It tells us what kind, what colour, what size, what something is like. It usually comes before the noun (*a narrow street*) or after a linking verb (*The street was narrow.*).

Kind	Examples
Describing (quality)	ancient, gentle, enormous, nervous, glittering
Colour, size, shape	golden, tiny, round
Feelings	anxious, delighted, furious, proud
Comparative (comparing two)	taller, faster, more beautiful, better, worse
Superlative (the most of all)	tallest, fastest, most beautiful, best, worst

Rule for comparatives: short adjectives add -er/-est (big → bigger → biggest). Longer adjectives use more/most (careful → more careful → most careful). Some are irregular: good → better → best, bad → worse → worst. Never write *more bigger*.

Why does a writer use a comparative? To compare two things and show the difference clearly: *The new library is larger and brighter than the old one* shows how much better the new one is.

5. Adverbs

An adverb tells us more about a verb (how, when, where, how often), or about an adjective or another adverb (how much). Many adverbs end in -ly, but many important ones do not: *soon, often, never, very, here, well, fast*.

Kind of adverb	Answers the question	Examples	Sentence
Manner	How?	quickly, silently, carefully, well	The cat crept silently across the roof.
Time	When?	now, later, yesterday, soon	We will leave soon.
Place	Where?	here, outside, everywhere, nearby	The children played outside.
Frequency	How often?	always, often, sometimes, never	He never forgets his homework.
Degree	How much?	very, extremely, quite, too, almost	The water was extremely cold.

Trap: -ly words that are adjectives

Not every -ly word is an adverb. *friendly, lovely, lonely, ugly, silly* are adjectives: *a friendly dog* (it describes the noun *dog*). And *fast* or *hard* can be both: *a fast car* (adjective) but *She ran fast* (adverb). Always ask: is it describing a noun (adjective) or a verb/adjective (adverb)?

6. Determiners

A determiner comes before a noun (and before any adjectives) and tells us which one or how many.

Kind	Words	Example
Articles	a, an, the	a lemon, an owl, the moon
Demonstratives	this, that, these, those	these shoes
Possessives	my, your, his, her, its, our, their	their garden
Quantifiers	some, many, much, few, a few, little, a little, every, each, all, no, several, any	every pupil, a few apples
Numbers	one, two, first, second	three puppies

a or an? Use an before a vowel sound: *an egg, an hour* (the h is silent). Use a before a consonant sound: *a cup, a university* (it sounds like "you").

few / a few, little / a little: *a few* and *a little* mean "some, enough", but *few* and *little* mean "not enough". *A few friends came* (good), but *Few friends came* (disappointing). Use *many / few* with countable nouns and *much / little* with uncountable nouns.

Determiner or pronoun?

If the word comes before a noun, it is a determiner: *"This bag is heavy."* If it stands alone instead of a noun, it is a pronoun: *"This is heavy."* The same goes for *my* (determiner: *my book*) and *mine* (pronoun: *The book is mine*).

7. Prepositions

A preposition shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and the rest of the sentence: where something is, when something happens, or how. A preposition is always followed by a noun or pronoun: *under the bridge*, *after lunch*, *with her*.

Prepositions of…	Words	Examples
Place	in, on, at, under, behind, between, beside, above, inside	The keys are under the mat.
Direction	to, into, across, through, towards, along, past	She swam across the pool.
Time	before, after, during, since, until, at, on, in	During the storm, the lights went out.
Other	with, without, by, about, for, like, of	He wrote with a pencil.

Little words, big rules	Time	Place
in	in April, in 2026, in the morning	in the room, in Cairo
on	on Monday, on 5th May, on my birthday	on the table, on the bus
at	at 7 o'clock, at night, at the weekend	at the door, at school, at home

Same word, different class

*before, after, since, until* can be prepositions or conjunctions. If a noun follows, it is a preposition: *after lunch*. If a whole clause (with its own verb) follows, it is a conjunction: *after we ate lunch*.

8. Conjunctions

A conjunction joins words, phrases or clauses.

Type	Words	Example
Coordinating conjunctions (join two equal parts) — remember FANBOYS	for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so	I was hungry, so I made a sandwich.
Subordinating conjunctions (begin a subordinate clause that cannot stand alone)	because, although, when, while, if, unless, until, since, after, before, as, even though	Although it was raining, we played outside.

Conjunctions are explained fully on the Connectives page and in Phrases and clauses, because a subordinating conjunction is how a complex sentence is built.

9. Interjections

An interjection is a short word or phrase that shows a sudden feeling. It is often followed by an exclamation mark: *Ouch! Hooray! Oh no! Wow! Oops!* Interjections appear mostly in speech in stories.

Word class in context: the same word, different jobs

Checkpoint usually asks: *What is the word class of the word X as it is used in this sentence?* You cannot answer from the word alone. You must look at what it is doing in that sentence.

Word	Sentence	Word class	Why
light	Switch on the light.	noun	a thing (the comes before it)
light	The bag is very light.	adjective	describes the bag
light	Please light the candle.	verb	an action
fast	It was a fast train.	adjective	describes train
fast	The river flowed fast.	adverb	tells how it flowed
after	We played after school.	preposition	followed by a noun
after	We played after we finished our homework.	conjunction	followed by a clause with a verb
that	That dog is barking.	determiner	before the noun dog
that	The dog that barked is ours.	relative pronoun	starts a relative clause about dog
play	We watched a play.	noun	a comes before it
play	They play chess.	verb	an action
round	She has a round face.	adjective	describes face
round	The earth goes round the sun.	preposition	followed by the noun the sun

Four steps to name a word class in context:

Find the word in the sentence and read the whole sentence.
Ask: is it naming something? (noun) Is it an action or state? (verb) Is it describing a noun? (adjective) Is it telling how, when, where, how often about a verb? (adverb)
Look at the neighbours. *The/a/my* before a word suggests a noun. A noun after it suggests a preposition or a determiner. *To* before a verb makes an infinitive.
Write the exact name: "adverb", not "describing word", and "abstract noun", not "noun" if the question asks for an abstract noun.

كيف تحدد نوع الكلمة في سؤال القراءة؟

لا تحكم على الكلمة من شكلها فقط؛ اقرأ الجملة كلها وانظر إلى وظيفة الكلمة فيها.
إذا جاءت قبلها a أو the فهي غالبًا اسم (noun)، وإذا كانت تصف اسمًا فهي صفة (adjective)، وإذا كانت تصف فعلًا (كيف، متى، أين) فهي ظرف (adverb).
to + فعل = infinitive، أما to + اسم = حرف جر (preposition).
who / which / that تكون relative pronoun فقط إذا جاءت بعد اسم وأعطت معلومات إضافية عنه.
اكتب المصطلح الإنجليزي بالضبط كما في السؤال، فالإجابة القريبة لا تأخذ درجة.

How Checkpoint asks about word classes

Here are typical question styles, written in our own words, with what a full-mark answer looks like.

Question style	What to do	Example answer
What word class is 'gently' as it is used in line 3?	Read the sentence and name the class.	adverb
Copy a relative pronoun from paragraph 2.	Find who / which / that / whose after a noun.	which
Find an abstract noun in the first paragraph.	Look for a feeling or idea word.	courage
Write down an infinitive from the sentence.	Find to + verb.	to escape
Tick the word that is used as an adverb in the sentence.	Test each option: does it tell how/when/where?	✓ yesterday
Why does the writer use the modal verb 'must'?	Explain the meaning and effect.	To show that the action is necessary and urgent, which makes the advice sound strong.
Why does the writer use the comparative 'smaller'?	Explain what is being compared.	To compare the two rooms and show clearly that the new one has less space.

Practice A: name the word class

Read this short text, then answer the questions.

*Early on Saturday morning, Karim and his sister hurried to the harbour. The fishing boats, which had been out all night, were slowly returning. Karim felt a wave of excitement. "Look! That boat is the biggest," he shouted. His sister wanted to see the fishermen unload their nets.*

What word class is 'hurried'?
Show answer
Verb. It is the action that Karim and his sister did.
What word class is 'slowly'?
Show answer
Adverb (of manner). It tells us how the boats were returning.
Find an abstract noun in the text.
Show answer
excitement. It is a feeling that you cannot touch or see.
Find a relative pronoun.
Show answer
which ("The fishing boats, which had been out all night…"). It begins a relative clause that gives more information about the boats.
What word class is 'Saturday'? What type?
Show answer
Noun: a proper noun (a day of the week, so it has a capital letter).
What word class is 'biggest'?
Show answer
Adjective (superlative). It compares the boat with all the others.
Copy an infinitive from the text.
Show answer
to see
What word class is 'Look!' here?
Show answer
It is a verb used as a command (an imperative).
What word class is 'to' in 'hurried to the harbour'?
Show answer
Preposition, because it is followed by a noun phrase (the harbour), not a verb.
What word class is 'their' in 'their nets'?
Show answer
Determiner (possessive). It comes before the noun nets and shows whose nets.
What word class is 'That' in 'That boat is the biggest'?
Show answer
Determiner (demonstrative), because it comes before the noun boat.
Find a proper noun that names a person.
Show answer
Karim. It is the name of a particular person, so it starts with a capital letter.

Practice B: choose the correct answer

Which word is an abstract noun? (a) window (b) honesty (c) honest (d) teacher
Show answer
(b) honesty. (c) honest is an adjective.
Which word is a modal verb? (a) should (b) quickly (c) because (d) under
Show answer
(a) should.
In 'The man whose car broke down called for help', what is 'whose'?
Show answer
A relative pronoun. It begins a relative clause about the man and shows the car belongs to him.
In 'She sings well', what word class is 'well'?
Show answer
Adverb. It tells us how she sings.
In 'a lovely garden', what word class is 'lovely'?
Show answer
Adjective. It ends in -ly but it describes the noun garden.
In 'We stayed inside until the rain stopped', what word class is 'until'?
Show answer
Conjunction (subordinating), because it is followed by a clause with a verb: the rain stopped.
In 'We stayed inside until lunchtime', what word class is 'until'?
Show answer
Preposition, because it is followed by a noun: lunchtime.
Make abstract nouns from: happy, enjoy, child, wise.
Show answer
happiness, enjoyment, childhood, wisdom.
Which sentence uses 'that' as a relative pronoun? (a) That was close! (b) I know that you are right. (c) The cake that Gran made was delicious.
Show answer
(c). That comes after the noun cake and tells us which cake.
Write the comparative and superlative of: good, careful, hot.
Show answer
good → better → best, careful → more careful → most careful, hot → hotter → hottest.
Why might a writer use 'must' rather than 'could' in a leaflet about road safety?
Show answer
'Must' shows the action is necessary, not just possible, so the advice sounds serious and urgent and the reader is more likely to obey it.
Underline the determiners: 'Every child brought some bread and a bottle of water.'
Show answer
Every, some, a.

Practice C: use word classes in your writing

Improve this sentence with a precise verb and an adverb: 'The dog went across the garden.'
Show answer
Example: The dog bounded eagerly across the garden. (bounded = precise verb, eagerly = adverb of manner)
Add two adjectives to: 'The house stood at the end of the road.'
Show answer
Example: The crumbling, silent house stood at the end of the road.
Rewrite with a relative clause: 'My uncle lives in Aswan. He is a doctor.'
Show answer
My uncle, who lives in Aswan, is a doctor. (or: My uncle, who is a doctor, lives in Aswan.)
Write a sentence with an infinitive that shows purpose.
Show answer
Example: Laila got up early to finish her painting before school.

All pages in this course

Start here: the exam

Reading: grammar & punctuation

Reading: understanding texts

Paper 1 writing: non-fiction

Paper 2 writing: fiction