There are three different ways an object can have the ability to accelerate.
1. First off, you can change in the velocity in line with applied force.
2. Then, second of all, you can simply change in velocity perpendicular to applied force
3. Then, last but not least, you can change in angular velocity (spin/rotation) due to applied torque
~In the three examples above, you are mainly changing the velocity of the object to make it either accelerate, or possibly slow down.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Hope this helped :)