Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives

You already know that sentences are made of words, but did you know each word has its own job? In this lesson, you will spot nouns, verbs, and adjectives in sentences, and then use all three together to write sentences that show more detail.

A noun names a person, place, animal, or thing. "Dog," "park," "teacher," and "ball" are all nouns. When you point to something and say its name, you are saying a noun.

Try this: look around the room and name three things you see. Every word you say is a noun.

A verb shows an action, or what someone or something is doing. "Run," "eat," "jump," and "sing" are verbs. You can act out most verbs with your body, which makes them easy to spot.

In the sentence "The dog runs," the word "dog" is the noun and the word "runs" is the verb. The verb tells you what the dog is doing.

An adjective describes a noun. It tells you more about size, color, shape, or feeling. Words like "big," "red," "furry," and "happy" are adjectives.

Look at these two sentences: "The dog runs" and "The big, furry dog runs." The second sentence uses adjectives to help you picture the dog much better.

A short, plain sentence usually has just a noun and a verb, like "Cat sleeps." A descriptive sentence adds an adjective to paint a clearer picture, like "The sleepy cat sleeps on the soft bed."

Here is one way to build a descriptive sentence step by step.

• Pick a noun: cat
• Add an adjective to describe it: fluffy cat
• Add a verb to show the action: The fluffy cat naps.

Notice that the sentence still makes sense without the adjective, "The cat naps," but the adjective adds a detail that helps you see the cat in your mind.

Read this sentence: "The tiny bird flies." Find the noun (bird), the verb (flies), and the adjective (tiny). Now try building your own sentence about a toy, a pet, or a friend. Start with a noun, add a verb, then slip in an adjective to describe your noun.

If you want more practice telling nouns and verbs apart before adding adjectives, you can review identifying nouns and verbs first.

Read a page from your favorite book and find one noun, one verb, and one adjective. Then write three sentences of your own, each with a noun, a verb, and at least one adjective describing the noun.

Related lessons

• Common Words Word Types