Beehive · Prose · NCERT Class 9

Parts of Speech

Every word in a sentence has a job. Learn the main parts of speech — the noun that names, the verb that acts, the adjective and adverb that describe, and the pronoun, conjunction and preposition that replace, join and link. The big idea: a word’s part of speech depends on what it does in the sentence. Every example here is original; we only borrow the title of the Beehive lesson ‘The Fun They Had’. Tap each term to see what it means.

👥 3 topics⏱ ~20 min📝 12-question quiz

Play with it

The language of grammar

Each part of speech has its own job. Tap each term to see what it does and how the ideas — naming, acting, describing, replacing and joining — fit together in a sentence.

Explore · Parts of speechtap a term

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The three big ideas

Noun — names a person, place, thing or idea. The teacher wrote on the board. Here “teacher” and “board” are nouns.
Common vs proper — a common noun names any one of a kind (city, river); a proper noun names a particular one and is capitalised (Delhi, Ganga).
Verb — shows an action (run, write, sing) or a state of being (is, was, seems). She reads every night. Here “reads” is the verb.
Why they matter — every complete sentence needs at least a naming word (a noun or pronoun) and an action word (a verb): a subject and a verb. Together they say who does what.

Adjective — describes a noun: which one, what kind, how many. a bright, curious student. Both “bright” and “curious” are adjectives.
Adverb — describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It answers how, when or where. He answered quickly. Many adverbs end in -ly, but not all (soon, here, very).
The easy test — if the word tells you more about a noun, it is an adjective (a loud bell); if it tells you more about an action, it is an adverb (the bell rang loudly).

Worked example. Label each word in the sentence: The clever robot answered slowly.

clever — describes the noun “robot”, so it is an adjective.

robot — names a thing, so it is a noun.

answered — shows an action, so it is a verb.

slowly — tells how it answered, so it is an adverb. (“The” is an article that points to the noun.)

Common mistake: never decide a word’s part of speech from the word alone — it depends on the job the word does in the sentence. The word “light” can be a noun (Turn on the light.), a verb (Please light the candle.) or an adjective (a light bag). Always check what the word is doing.

Pronoun — replaces a noun so we do not repeat it. Maya lost her pen, so she borrowed one. “her”, “she” and “one” all stand in for nouns.
Conjunction — joins words, phrases or clauses. We can read or write now. Common ones: and, but, or, so, because.
Preposition — shows the relation of a noun or pronoun to another word — place, time or direction. The book is on the desk before noon. Common ones: in, on, at, under, before, between.
How they work together — pronouns keep writing from repeating, conjunctions link ideas smoothly, and prepositions lock each thing into place and time.

Where you'll meet it

Parts of speech, at work

Writing clear sentences

Knowing parts of speech lets you build correct sentences: a subject (noun or pronoun) paired with a verb, with adjectives and adverbs adding detail and conjunctions linking ideas. It is how you spot a missing verb, a misplaced adverb or a sentence that simply does not hang together.

Understanding dictionary entries

Open any dictionary and each word is tagged with its part of speech — n. (noun), v. (verb), adj. (adjective), adv. (adverb). A word like “run” has separate entries for its noun and verb uses, so reading the label tells you which meaning fits your sentence.