10 Activities & Games on Parts of Speech for ESL Students

06.01.2026

9 minutes

Speaking
Activities

Every single language consists of words. These words constitute the meaning of everything. It’s easy to understand the language thanks to knowing words.

However, just knowing them isn’t enough. It’s better to understand them. All the words are divided into basic categories — parts of speech according to their function in a sentence.

Knowing the parts of speech will help to understand the wholesome meanings of the small sentence, a page of your favourite book, an interlocutor’s phrase, or a paragraph. Such different chunks of information.

Let’s explore why this matters on the Grade University platform.

Much More Important

It might seem like something boring that requires analysis all the time. It will come in handy with the lessons only. Spoiler: no.

It is much more important than just to learn theory and analyse it in the lesson.

The parts of speech are a driving force on the way to learn a foreign language.

Why It is Important

The parts of speech are the basics of every language. Here is why.

To know them is to have a solid base.

That’s what the language learning gradually starts from. Then, it will bring a lot of perks throughout the whole learning process.

Here are some of them:

1. Sentence structure awareness

It is undoubtedly clear how the structure is important in the English language.

Knowing the parts of speech builds this awareness and helps learners to see how words fit together to form meaningful sentences.

Example:

There was a vase on the table. (There was + article + noun + preposition + article + noun)

This sentence shows the usage of the “there is” structure.

Students can learn to put the article “a” after the verb “to be” and “the” when specifying something. They learn the correct form of the verb “to be”.

In such a way, it is not a random list of words for them.

The students understand each word: why it is written in that form or tense, and why in such a position of the sentence. Everything becomes clear and bright. They understand how to use the language, first of all.

2. Developing Grammar Skills

To develop sentence structure awareness, the students have to work on grammar skills a lot and receive explanations there.

Grammar rules make more sense when the students know what kinds of words the rules apply to (e.g., verbs take tenses, nouns take articles).

Example:

This is a pretty girl.

Even though the article is put before an adjective, the students know it is right.

There is the “adjective + noun construction” in this sentence, so it’s clear that a noun takes the article, but it is placed before the adjective “pretty” here.

3. Expansion of Vocabulary

The richer the vocabulary is, the better it is.

Understanding the parts of speech helps the students to use new words correctly and flexibly.

The words might be learned relentlessly, but still be misconstrued or misused. If used at all. That leads to having a passive vocabulary and having a language barrier.

So, it’s important to possess the vocabulary you have. What is more, it is easy to extend it, knowing one root word.

For instance: turning

beauty (noun) → beautiful (adjective) → beautify (verb) → beautifully (adverb)

It is better to learn words like these groups together, with prepositions, antonyms & synonyms, etc.

4. Supports reading comprehension

Recognising how words function in a sentence helps learners grasp the meaning of texts more easily.

It doesn’t matter if there are a few unknown words in the text. General awareness will help to get the meaning.

Reading comprehension is a complex skill to brush up on: various chunks of text, thematics.

Beginners can start by reading 5 sentences and enlarge it by one more sentence every day. Then, it can be read by paragraphs, then by pages.

Even knowing words and structure will require time to get used to understanding.

5. Improvement of Speaking and Writing

Reading, speaking, and writing “go hand in hand”. When the students understand word functions, they can create clearer, more accurate, and varied sentences.

They learn how to spell it while writing their thoughts down, too. As they practice how to manage their thoughts and speak up, the next step is to say it out loud. They learn how to think in English immediately, combining words into phrases and sentences.

Knowing the parts of speech and understanding sentence structure, they immediately have that language on their mind.

A lot of students make mistakes when thinking in their native language and then translating. Umm…, complementary wrong. This process will drain the energy, and time will be wasted on double-thinking and translation.

So, again, the parts of speech simplify the process, not vice versa.

6. Second-Language Learning Improvement

This skill, second-language learning improvement, is a combination of all the previous ones. For ESL learners (or any language), identifying the parts of speech bridges the gap between their native language and the target language.

Altogether, the English language is easier to learn thanks to such skills: building sentences, writing, reading, speaking, grammar & vocabulary.

The skills and benefits have already been defined. It proves how valuable it is to possess the knowledge of the parts of speech.

Now it is high time to know how to do that.

Parts of Speech Activities & Games

These activities are perfect for practicing the different parts of speech, helping students reinforce grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure in a fun and interactive way.

If you want to master the basics before trying these games, check out our full guide on mastering the parts of speech.

1. Show It

The teacher should prepare cards and hand them out to the students. These should be parts of speech there: nouns, adverbs, adjectives, verbs, numerals, and pronouns. There are some other cards for the teacher. It can be something relevant to the learning topic: family, parts of the body, house & furniture, etc.

The teacher shows the cards one by one, 5 seconds each. At this time, the students show a card with the right part of speech, in their opinion.

Such a fast game will require complete attention and concentration on “now and here”. It will help the students to switch and practise more by racking their brains.

2. Sorting Out

The teacher has to prepare word cards with the parts of speech (a mix of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.) Then, put all the cards face down or in a pile.

The students take one card, read the word, and decide its part of speech. They must run to the correct “category corner”:

NOUN
VERB
ADJECTIVE
ADVERB
PREPOSITION
PRONOUN
PARTICLE
ARTICLE
CONJUNCTIONS

First team to sort all words correctly wins!

If this game is held online, the teacher can show everything on the screen while students are typing the part of the speech.

This game will bring such a benefit as a full awareness of the parts of the verbs and their formation overall. The students can trace forms and how they might be changed.

3. Grammar Dice

The teacher prepares dice with different parts of speech on each side. Developing creativity for teachers, too!

The students roll the dice and must say (or write) a word of that part of speech. They roll and see an adjective. So, the answer will be an example of the adjective — “happy”.

Here is the structure like that: Roll → Part of Speech → Example

For a challenge, each student adds their word to build a sentence together.

4. Say a Form

The teacher prepares cards with different words, relevant to their topic of the lesson.

Each student comes and takes one card. Based on that word, they have to mention all the other existing forms.

For example: the card “anger-noun”. The student also says:

“angry-adjective”,
“angrily-adverb”.

Here is the structure:

Example + Part of Speech.
Another form → Example
Another form → Example
Another form → Example

5. Bingo!

The materials are bingo cards with words. The teacher calls out, “Find a verb!” or “Mark an adjective!”.

The students put a number or somehow mark the card that matches the teacher’s part of speech. The first to get a line shouts “Bingo!”.

This game is attuned to check the students’ attention as they really have to speed up. Every now and then, they can make slips because of their haste; it can be funny for them, but effective at the same time.

6. Crazy Sentence Challenge

For this game, the teacher should prepare some cards with the parts of speech and then give each group these slips of paper: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, etc.

The students randomly pick one from each pile and make a silly sentence.

For example: “The purple penguin dances gracefully under the table.”

Obviously, there are no correct or incorrect sentences in its meaning. It is great to master skills in sentence structures. The teacher can assign victory for the funniest or grammatically best sentence, for example. The most important thing is skills, for sure, that become automated here.

This game brushes up on creativity in a mix with sentence structure, which is actually a solid base to know.

7. Parts of Speech Detective

The task is to look for as many parts of speech as possible.

The teacher prepares a short text (song lyrics, a poem, or a story). It’s better to take a relevant topic to practice and revise vocabulary. The students underline or highlight examples of specific parts of speech (e.g., all verbs in blue, adjectives in red, numerals in yellow, etc.).

The winner is the one who finds all the parts of speech needed. It is not a game for time, but for effectiveness. So, the students will practice vigilance and detective skills.

The next step of this game is discussing what role each word plays in the sentence. It will help the teacher at first to see if their students understand it. Maybe they have guessed or do not get it straight.

The activity will help to practice the parts of the speech and be the CEO of them, no jokes.

8. Find Someone Who…

No extra materials are needed. The students have to make statements starting with: “Find someone who…”. They have to use the different parts of speech.

For instance:

“Find someone who can name three verbs of movement.”
“Find someone who knows an adjective to describe food.”
“Find someone who can think of five nouns at their desktop.”
“Find someone who can give two adverbs that describe how you speak.”
“Find someone who can use a preposition in a sentence about travel.”

The students point out one participant who will answer their question, then the word is passed to that student.

This activity is pointed out as group work, which is great for socialising skills and cowork. The students can develop sentence structure and train the parts of speech, giving examples.

9. Parts of Speech & Art

The teacher should ask the students to write some objects, and the others are going to guess them. As the word is defined, the next — to say what part of speech this word is.

This game includes creativity, which is completely different from the previous ones. The teacher can try various modes to diversify their lessons.

10. Pitching Dialogues

The teacher has to prepare topical vocabulary which is already defined.

Example:

4 verbs: to negotiate, to streamline, to work, to control
2 adjectives: profitable, innovative
3 nouns: meeting, client, strategy
2 adverbs: successfully, effectively

The students have to make dialogues in pairs or groups using all the vocabulary. They need words only to jazz their discussions up. But these notes from the teacher will help to stay in memory.

Furthermore, this game will help to work on accuracy, except for creativity.

Next activity is a bonus for those who want to take their parts of speech practice to the next level. It’s an extra challenge that combines creativity, teamwork, and all the skills learned in the previous games!

11. Story Chain

This is a group activity that the teacher needs to prepare small tasks for. The students have to create a story by saying their sentences one by one.

However, there are some complications. Each of them will have a card with a task to implement.

For example:

Use 2 verbs in your sentence
Use one adjective to describe…
Do not use nouns in your sentence
Include 2 pronouns and an adverb

Such a challenging game will make the students think outside the box, as the rules need to be followed. It is funny at the same time, as the story is fully ruled by them and can be quite unpredictable.

To sum up, nothing is difficult if to work on that. And this is a mutual work: both from the teacher and their learners. You can achieve everything and know it inside out thanks to great explanations and examples, approach, and attitude.

And to games! This is a part of the learning process, too, absolutely. And that’s charming to have so many possibilities to level up the language.

Find more online courses for English teachers on our page.