Word

This article is part of the grammar course. You may choose to follow it in a structured way, or read each item separately. Word classes noun verb adjective adverb article preposition conjunction pronoun interjection Units of language syllable word phrase clause sentence Structure of a clause Subject Verb Complement Adverbial view template

Words are the units of language that native speakers recognise as units. A word is the smallest unit of meaning that can stand by itself and make sense, even if that sense is only limited. Another way of looking at it is that a word is the unit shown in writing by being between two spaces, or a space and a punctuation mark.

There are many different kinds of words: the section of the AWE's grammar course on word classes describes them.