Parts of Speech Notes for SSC Exams

Parts of Speech are the building blocks of English grammar. Every word in a sentence belongs to a particular class, and knowing the class tells you how to use the word correctly. In SSC exams, this topic is asked directly ("What part of speech is the underlined word?") and indirectly in error spotting and sentence improvement. These Parts of Speech notes for SSC explain all eight parts with definitions, kinds, examples, tables and practice questions.

The Eight Parts of Speech at a Glance

1. Noun

• Kinds: common, proper, collective, material, abstract (and countable/uncountable).
• Example: Honesty is the best policy. (abstract noun, subject)
• Read the detailed Noun notes for plurals, gender and case.

2. Pronoun

3. Adjective

• Quality: a clever boy. Quantity: much water, little time. Number: five books, few students.
• Demonstrative: this pen. Possessive: my car. Interrogative: which road? Distributive: each child, every day. Proper: Indian food.

Degrees of Comparison

• Use than with the comparative and the with the superlative.
• Never use a double comparative: "more better" and "most best" are wrong.
• Words like superior, inferior, senior, junior, prefer and preferable take to, not than: "He is senior to me."

4. Verb

5. Adverb

• Enough comes after an adjective or adverb ("tall enough") but before a noun ("enough money").
• Too shows an excess with a negative sense ("too tired to walk"), while very shows a high degree ("very tired").
• Hardly, scarcely, barely, rarely, seldom are negative in meaning; do not use "not" with them.

6. Preposition

• Time: at 5 pm, on Monday, in June, since 2020, for two hours.
• Place: at the door, in the room, on the table, under the bridge, between two trees, among friends.
• Direction: to, towards, into, onto, from, across, through.
• Manner / agent: by bus, with a pen, written by Tagore.
• A preposition is followed by a noun, pronoun or gerund: "He is fond of reading."

7. Conjunction

8. Interjection

• Joy: Hurrah! Wow! Sorrow: Alas! Ah! Surprise: Oh! What! Approval: Bravo! Well done! Contempt: Fie! Shame!
• An interjection is not grammatically connected with the rest of the sentence.

Same Word, Different Part of Speech

How to Identify the Part of Speech in Exams

1. Read the full sentence and see what the word does, not how it looks.
2. Check what comes before and after: an article or adjective before a word usually means it is a noun.
3. If the word answers how, when, where or how much, it is an adverb.
4. If it joins two clauses, it is a conjunction. If it begins a phrase with a noun, it is a preposition.
5. Eliminate options one by one.

Practice Questions With Answers

1. Identify the part of speech of the underlined word: "He runs fast." Answer: Adverb
2. "She is a beautiful girl." Answer: Adjective
3. "Alas! He is dead." Answer: Interjection
4. "He is poor but honest." Answer: Conjunction
5. "The book is on the table." Answer: Preposition
6. "Honesty is the best policy." Answer: Noun (abstract)
7. "They are playing." Answer: Pronoun
8. "She sings well." Answer: Verb
9. The comparative of "good" is: Answer: better
10. "Neither ... nor" is a: Answer: correlative conjunction

Continue with the Noun and Pronoun notes, and practise with our previous year papers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the parts of speech?

There are eight parts of speech in English: noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection. Every word in a sentence belongs to one of these classes depending on its function.

Why are parts of speech important for SSC exams?

Questions on error spotting, sentence improvement, fill in the blanks and "identify the part of speech of the underlined word" all depend on a clear understanding of the parts of speech. They are the base for tenses, subject-verb agreement, articles, prepositions and conjunctions.

What is the difference between a noun and a pronoun?

A noun names a person, place, thing or idea (Ravi, Delhi, honesty), while a pronoun is a word used in place of a noun to avoid repetition (he, she, it, they, who). "Ravi said that he was tired."

What are the kinds of adjectives?

Adjective of quality (good boy), quantity (much sugar), number (five books), demonstrative (this book), possessive (my pen), interrogative (which book?), distributive (each student) and proper adjectives (Indian culture). Adjectives also have three degrees: positive, comparative and superlative.

What is the difference between an adjective and an adverb?

An adjective modifies a noun or pronoun (a quick reply), while an adverb modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb (She replied quickly; very good; quite slowly). Many adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective, but words like fast, hard, late and early are both adjectives and adverbs.

What are the types of verbs?

Main (lexical) verbs, auxiliary (helping) verbs such as be, do, have, modal verbs (can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought to), transitive verbs (take an object), intransitive verbs (no object), and regular and irregular verbs.

What is the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb?

A transitive verb needs an object to complete its meaning ("She reads a book"), while an intransitive verb does not ("The baby sleeps"). Some verbs can be both: "He runs a company" and "He runs fast".

What are the kinds of adverbs?

Adverbs of manner (slowly), time (now, yesterday), place (here, there), frequency (always, often, never), degree (very, quite, too), reason (therefore, hence), affirmation or negation (certainly, not) and relative or interrogative adverbs (when, where, why, how).

What is a preposition?

A preposition shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun with another word in the sentence, such as time, place, direction or manner: at, in, on, by, with, from, to, under, between. It is always followed by a noun, pronoun or gerund (-ing form).

What are the types of conjunctions?

Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) join equal parts; subordinating conjunctions (because, although, if, when, while, unless, since) join a dependent clause to a main clause; correlative conjunctions come in pairs (either-or, neither-nor, not only-but also, both-and, hardly-when).

What is an interjection?

An interjection is a word that expresses sudden emotion, like joy, sorrow, surprise or approval. Examples: Oh!, Alas!, Hurrah!, Wow!, Bravo!, Ah!, Fie!. It is usually followed by an exclamation mark.

What are articles? Are they a separate part of speech?

Articles (a, an, the) are a special kind of adjective (determiners) because they modify nouns. "A" and "an" are indefinite articles and "the" is the definite article. Traditionally they are not listed as a separate part of speech.

Can the same word be a different part of speech in different sentences?

Yes. A word's part of speech depends on its use. "Round" can be a noun (a round of applause), adjective (round table), verb (round the corner), adverb (come round) and preposition (round the world). "Light" can be a noun, adjective or verb. Hence we must always check the function of the word.

What are determiners?

Determiners are words placed before nouns to show quantity or definiteness: articles (a, the), demonstratives (this, that), possessives (my, our), quantifiers (some, any, many, much, few, little, several) and numerals (one, two, first).

How can I quickly identify the part of speech of a word?

Ask what the word does: a naming word is a noun; a word replacing a noun is a pronoun; a word describing a noun is an adjective; a word showing action or state is a verb; a word describing a verb, adjective or adverb is an adverb; a word showing relation with a noun is a preposition; a joining word is a conjunction; and a word of sudden feeling is an interjection.

How should I prepare parts of speech for the SSC exam?

Learn the definitions and examples of all eight parts, practise the words that change their part of speech with prefixes and suffixes, solve identification questions daily, and then move to the detailed notes of each part such as noun, pronoun, adjective, verb and preposition.