ESL Parts of Speech Activities, Games, Worksheets & Lesson Plans

In English, there are 8 parts of speech: adjectives, adverbs, nouns, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. In this article, you’ll find parts of speech activities and games, along with worksheets and lesson plans.

Why is it important for ESL students to understand part of speech? It’s so that students can work towards more complex language and sentence structure. As teachers, it’s very important to provide opportunities to practice these things through memorable activities, games, and worksheets. The goal is that students will understand the meaning of words, word function and also how to use these grammatically within a sentence.

ESL Parts of Speech 

We’ve broken down some of the parts of speech into small subsections. For example, nouns or verbs are a big category and things like modal verbs or phrasal verbs are quite different things. You’ll find these interesting and engaging ESL activity ideas useful for beginner to advanced students.

Adjectives

Adjectives describe nouns and are key for rich, varied English usage. They are also one of the most common parts of speech that even beginners will need to know. Check out some of the top game, activity, worksheet and lesson plan ideas:

ESL Adjective Activities

Also be sure to check out this simple comparative adjective quiz for students:

Adjectives of Feeling and Emotion

Adjectives are an important part of speech for ESL and can be used to describe a lot of things, but these ones focus on feelings. Check out these parts of speech games and activities:

Feeling and Emotion Adjective Activities

Adverbs

In English, adverbs serve an important function int hat they describe or modify a verb, as well as certain other parts of speech. Check out some of the best activities for this:

Adverb Activities and Games.

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs are an important part of speech in English and one of the most common uses of them is with frequency. Basically, expressions with, “How often” fall into this category.

Adverbs of Frequency ESL Activities

Articles

Although not specifically a part of speech, articles are key because they combine with nouns and are a key part of correct sentence structure.

Articles ESL Activities and Games

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Comparatives and superlatives adjectives—an example is big, bigger, biggest. They are a very common English part of speech and our English learners need to master them early on. Here are some ideas for your lesson plans:

ESL Comparative and Superlative Adjective Games

Compound Nouns

Nouns are the most common English part of speech and within that category, you’ll see a ton of compound nouns. They’re basically two words that are joined together to have a possibly separate meaning from those two original words. For example snowstorm or water skiing.

ESL Compound Noun Activities

Conjunctions and Transitions

We use conjunctions and transitions all the time in English to make writing especially easier to read. They show the relationship between sentences and parts within a sentence.

Conjunction Transition Activities

You may also want to check out this sequence words list.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Check out these countable and uncountable noun activities that will help students figure out the difference between these two noun categories. They’ll also learn how to use them correctly in a sentence with a quantifier.

Countable and Uncountable Noun ESL Activities

Future Verb Forms

Talking about the future is a key part of mastering the English language. However, there are a few different ways to do that and it can be a little bit tricky for students to know when to use which one. Check out some of the best ideas here:

Future Verbs Forms ESL Activities

Imperatives

We use imperatives when we want to give a command, order or direction. Listen to a conversation between a teacher and student or child and parents and you’ll notice that the utterances are filled with them! Find out more:

ESL Imperative Activities and Games.

Indefinite Pronouns

We use an indefinite pronoun as a way to refer to something, but not to any specific person, amount or thing. Some common examples are nobody, somebody, everything, etc. We use them all the time in the English language which is why it’s vital to work on them with our students. Here are some ideas:

Indefinite Pronouns Activities.

Irregular Verbs

Unfortunately, English is filled with irregular verbs that don’t have the typical “ed” ending in the past tense (more ideas here: past continuous games and past tense ESL). Students have to memorize them—there’s just no way around it. However, you can help your students become more proficient at this ESL part of speech by trying out some of the following:

ESL Irregular Verb Games.

Linking Verbs

A linking verb in English is also known as an auxiliary or helping verb. There are several functions, but they mainly serve to extend the meaning of the main verb. Check out some of the best ideas here:

Linking Verb Games.

Modal Verbs

Modals are words like can, might, should, etc. and they are important ESL part of speech. They can be used to express things like permission, ability, obligation, possibility, and more. Here are some of the top recommendations:

Modal Verb Activities and Games.

Passive Voice Activities

The passive voice is used in some very specific situations in English. For example, when the person doing the action isn’t important (She counted out the change for me) or when it’s obvious who the agent is (I was instructed to be friendlier to customers).

Passive Voice ESL Games and Activities

Past Tense Verb Activities

Verbs are a vital ESL part of speech. However, in the past tense, irregular verbs make this a little bit tricky for our students sometimes. Check out these ideas here:

Past Tense ESL Activities and Worksheets

Phrasal Verbs

One common verb type in English is a phrasal verb. This is where a verb is combined with an adverb or preposition and the resulting combination has a different meaning. For example: back off, call back, etc. They are a very common part of speech in English and something that our students need to master.

Phrasal Verb ESL Activities

Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns

Both pronoun and adjective parts of speech can be used to express ownership of something. Here are some of the best ideas for helping students with possessives:

ESL Possessives Activities and Games

Prefixes

A prefix is some letters at the beginning of a word that changes its meaning in some way. It could negate it, make it opposite or express a manner or time. Here are some recommendations:

Prefix Games

Prepositions

There are prepositions of time, place, and movement and they show the relationship of things to other things. They are a key part of speech for ESL students to understand early on in their English learning journey. Here are the best activity ideas:

Prepositions ESL Activities

Preposition of Place

If you’re looking for activities, games, worksheets and lesson plans specifically for prepositions of place (in, on, at, etc.), then you’ll want to check out the following resource:

ESL Prepositions of Place

Present Perfect Verbs

The present perfect is a key verb tense for students to master. Verbs are a major part of speech in English and this is a commonly used tense.

Present Perfect ESL Games

Present Continuous

We use the present continuous to talk about things that are currently happening and will probably continue into the future. Have a look here:

Activities for present continuous.

Quantifiers

Any, some, much, many are all examples of quantifiers in English that deal with how much of something. Students need to master quantifier expressions in order to become proficient in English. Here are some recommendations for student-centred, fun activities to work on them:

ESL Quantifier Activities

Reflexive Pronouns

There are nine reflexive pronouns in English which are words that end in “self” or “selves.” For example, myself or themselves. They’re used when the subject and object of a sentence are the same.

Check out these recommendations:

Reflexive Pronouns Games.

Singular and Plural Nouns

English nouns are found in both singular and plural forms. It’s often one of the first concepts that beginners learn when they’re just getting started out with English.

Here are some of the best activities for teaching this important concept:

ESL Singular and Plural Nouns

Subject and Object Pronoun Activities

Subject and Object pronouns are an important part of speech that students need to master in order to become proficient in English. These student-centred ESL activities and worksheets will help students do that!

Subject-Object Pronoun ESL Games

Subject-Verb Agreement

Unfortunately for English learners, the verb form changes with the subject. It’s often a mistake that even more advanced learners can make when they’re not actively thinking about it. That’s why it’s key to provide opportunities for our students for lots of practice.

English Subject Verb Agreement Activities and Worksheets

Suffixes

Suffixes are letters that are added onto the end of base words to change the meaning or part of speech. For example, ed added onto the end of a verb makes it into the past tense. Or, ing plus a verb makes it into a continuous form. The good news is that there are specific rules for how suffixes function.

Suffix Games and Activities

Verb Activities

There are plenty of subcategories of verbs to consider when thinking about ESL parts of speech. However, if you want some general games and activities that focus on them, here is your best resource.

ESL Verb Activities

Verbs: Present Perfect For and Since

Verbs are a key part of ESL parts of speech and the present perfect is a vital thing for our students to master if they want to become proficient in English. It can be a little bit tricky because of the verb changes in this tense. Check out our recommendations here for mastering the present perfect with for and since:

ESL Present Perfect Activities

WH Question Games and Activities

Okay, so “WH” questions aren’t exactly a part of speech in English! However, they are certainly important in English and something that students need to master. You’ll certainly want to spend some time working on them with your students. All the details here:

ESL WH Questions Games and Activities

Yes/No Questions 

Yes/no questions are one of the first grammar concepts that beginners learn. For example:

• Do you like ice cream?
• Are you 10 years old?

Find out some of the best ideas for teaching them here:

Yes/No Question Games.

Language Teaching Methods

There are various approaches and methods for teaching language, ranging from grammar-translation to the communicative language approach to task-based learning. Have a look here for all the details:

Methods and Approaches in Language Teaching. 

ESL Parts of Speech FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about English parts of speech, along with activities and games to practice them. Here are some of the most popular ones.

What are the 10 parts of speech?

In English, there are 10 main parts of speech. They include the following:

• nouns
• verbs
• adjectives
• adverbs
• prepositions
• pronouns
• conjunctions
• interjections
• numerals
• articles/determiners

What are the four main parts of speech?

In English, the four main parts of speech are nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives.

How do you teach parts of speech?

Teaching parts of speech can be quite a difficult task if done together. That’s why most ESL textbooks and English teachers teach small parts of them in sequence. For example, a lesson on the simple past, then one on pronouns, usage of articles, then adjectives, etc. Once students are more advanced, lessons focused on identifying the various parts of speech in a sentence can be a useful exercise.

How do you identify a noun?

In English, a noun is considered to be a person, place, thing or idea. It can be found in various parts of the sentence and can be the subject, object, indirect object, complement, object complement, appositive, or adjective.

What is basic English grammar?

Basic English grammar involves the following word order in a sentence: subject, verb, object. There are other parts of speech used at various points including adjectives, adverbs, articles, etc to form more complex sentences.

How to teach parts of speech in a fun way?

It’s possible to teach parts of speech in a fun way by using various ESL games and activities. Some of the best ones include Bingo, running dictation, charades, mixed up sentences, dictation activities, videos, songs, chants, and more.

Have your say about these ESL Parts of Speech

Do you have any recommendations for resources to help our students with parts of speech ESL? Leave a comment below and let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

Also be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. It’ll help other busy teachers, like yourself find this useful teaching resource.

Last update on 2022-07-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API