Word Classes and Parts of Speech
~14 min read
- What: Every English word belongs to one of eight basic classes — noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection. The same word can change class with context (run = verb / noun; fast = adjective / adverb).
- Why it matters: NDA does not test this topic as a standalone block, but mastery of parts of speech underwrites Spotting Errors, Sentence Improvement, Ordering of Words, Cloze, and every grammar-based block. Foundation topic.
- Key habit: When you encounter a difficult sentence, label the part of speech of every word in your head. Errors leap out when the parts of speech are visible.
Parts of speech is the most foundational topic in English grammar. NDA does not test it as a dedicated block — there are no "Identify the part of speech" multiple-choice items in recent papers — but every other grammar topic builds on this one. Spotting Errors rests on knowing that an adverb cannot modify a noun. Sentence Improvement rests on knowing that an adjective and an adverb cannot swap. Ordering of Words rests on understanding which classes attach to which.
This page is the reference manual. Read it once thoroughly; come back when you hit a grammar question whose error you cannot name. The vocabulary you build here makes every other English topic faster.
Why This Topic Is the Foundation
NDA Application Map
- Spotting Errors: Adjective-vs-adverb errors ("sings beautiful") — Pass 6 of your scan.
- Sentence Improvement: Misuse of a part of speech in a substitution — recognising the substitution's part of speech tells you whether it fits.
- Ordering of Words: Knowing modifier classes (adjectives, adverbs) tells you where each piece must go.
- Cloze Test: The blank requires a specific part of speech — identifying it eliminates options instantly.
- Reading Passages: Knowing whether a word is a verb or a noun tells you what it does in the sentence; comprehension follows.
The Eight Parts of Speech
Traditional grammar names eight word classes: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection. Modern linguists add articles and determiners as a ninth class, but for NDA the traditional eight are enough.
Noun — naming words
Common nouns: general — boy, table, city, idea.
Proper nouns: specific names — Ravi, Delhi, India, Tuesday. Capitalised.
Collective nouns: groups — army, team, jury, family. Take singular or plural verb depending on whether the group acts as a unit or as individuals.
Abstract nouns: qualities and ideas — honesty, courage, freedom, anger.
Material nouns: substances — gold, water, iron. Usually uncountable.
Countable / Uncountable: tables (count), milk (uncount). Countable can be plural; uncountable usually cannot.
Noun rules NDA tests
- Number agreement. Furniture, advice, equipment, information, news, scenery, luggage are uncountable in English. "Furnitures" is wrong; "pieces of furniture" is right.
- Collective verb agreement. "The team is playing well" (acting as one) vs "The team are arguing among themselves" (acting individually).
- Apostrophe possession. Singular: boy's. Plural: boys'. Irregular plural: children's.
Pronoun — substitutes for nouns
Personal: I, you, he, she, it, we, they (subject); me, you, him, her, it, us, them (object).
Possessive: my, your, his, her, its, our, their (adjective form) and mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs (standalone).
Reflexive: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
Relative: who, whom, whose, which, that.
Demonstrative: this, that, these, those.
Indefinite: each, every, all, some, any, none, no one, anyone, somebody, nobody, neither, either.
Pronoun rules NDA tests
- Case. "Between you and I" → wrong; "between you and me" (object of preposition).
- Number agreement. "Each of the boys has" (not have); "Either of them is" (not are).
- Reflexive misuse. "Myself and Ram went to the market" → wrong. "Ram and I went". Reflexive needs an antecedent in the same clause.
- Relative pronoun choice. Who for people; which for things; that for both but in restrictive clauses; whose for possession (people and things).
Verb — action or state words
Main verbs (action): run, eat, write.
Main verbs (state): be, seem, appear, know, believe.
Auxiliary verbs: be, do, have (primary); can, may, must, shall, will, should, would, could, might, ought to, need, dare (modal).
Transitive: takes an object — She wrote a letter.
Intransitive: takes no object — She slept.
Finite vs Non-finite: Finite verbs change with subject (he runs / they run). Non-finite forms don't change — infinitive (to run), participle (running, run), gerund (running as noun).
Verb rules NDA tests
- Subject-verb agreement. Singular subject → singular verb. (See Spotting Errors Category 1.)
- Modal usage. Modals take base form: can swim, never can to swim, never can swimming.
- Gerund vs Infinitive. After certain verbs, only the gerund is correct (enjoy reading, not enjoy to read). After others, only the infinitive (decide to go). Some take either with different meaning (stop smoking = quit; stop to smoke = pause in order to smoke).
- Tense forms. Twelve tenses; the past participle is the trap (swam / swum, lay / lain).
Adjective — modifies a noun
Descriptive: red, tall, beautiful, intelligent.
Quantitative: some, much, many, few, several.
Numeral: one, two, first, second.
Demonstrative (as adjective): this book, those students.
Possessive (as adjective): my book, our team.
Interrogative: which book? whose pen?
Adjective order (NDA-tested)
When multiple adjectives precede a noun, English follows a fixed order: Opinion → Size → Age → Shape → Colour → Origin → Material → Purpose → Noun. Reversed order sounds wrong.
Example: "A beautiful (opinion) small (size) old (age) round (shape) brown (colour) Italian (origin) leather (material) handbag." Try reversing any two adjectives — it sounds wrong.
Comparison: positive / comparative / superlative
- Regular: tall / taller / tallest.
- With "more / most": beautiful / more beautiful / most beautiful (3+ syllables).
- Irregular: good / better / best; bad / worse / worst; little / less / least; many,much / more / most.
- NDA traps: never use "more better" or "most worst" (double comparison wrong). "He is junior than me" → wrong; should be "junior to me" (junior, senior, superior, inferior take "to").
Adverb — modifies verb / adjective / another adverb
Manner: how — quickly, beautifully, well.
Time: when — now, yesterday, soon, often, always.
Place: where — here, there, everywhere, above.
Frequency: how often — always, often, sometimes, rarely, never.
Degree: how much — very, quite, almost, completely.
Adverb position rules
- Manner adverb: after the verb / object. "She sings beautifully." NOT "She beautifully sings".
- Frequency adverb: before the main verb but after "to be". "He often visits." / "She is always punctual."
- Degree adverb: before the adjective/adverb it modifies. "Very quickly", "quite beautiful".
Preposition — shows relationship
Already covered in depth on the dedicated page: Prepositions and Phrasal Verbs. Two essentials here:
- Prepositions are relational words — they show relationship of one element to another in time, place, manner, possession.
- The preposition + its object together form a prepositional phrase, which behaves as an adjective or adverb in the sentence.
Conjunction — joins words, phrases, clauses
Coordinating (FANBOYS): For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. Join equal grammatical elements.
Subordinating: because, although, if, unless, until, when, while, since, after, before, as, that. Begin a subordinate clause.
Correlative (pairs): both ... and; either ... or; neither ... nor; not only ... but also; whether ... or; no sooner ... than; hardly ... when.
Conjunction rules NDA tests
- Parallel structure with correlatives. "Either you study or you fail" (verb pair). "Either you study or failure" → wrong (verb vs. noun).
- Mixed pairs. "No sooner ... when" → wrong; "No sooner ... than" → right.
- Subordinator + comma. When the subordinate clause comes first, use a comma. "If you study, you will pass." No comma when the main clause comes first.
Interjection — expresses emotion
Standalone words or short phrases that express emotion: Oh! Alas! Hurrah! Wow! Ouch! Usually followed by an exclamation mark.
NDA rarely tests interjections directly — they appear mostly in Direct and Indirect Speech conversion, where interjections must be paraphrased ("Hurrah!" → "He exclaimed with joy that ...").
How to Identify Part of Speech Inside a Sentence
The same word can change part of speech with context. Identify by role, not by the word in isolation.
Test 1 — Does it name a thing, person, place, idea? Likely a noun.
Test 2 — Does it stand for a noun? Likely a pronoun.
Test 3 — Does it describe an action or a state? Likely a verb.
Test 4 — Does it modify a noun? Likely an adjective.
Test 5 — Does it modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb? Likely an adverb.
The "fast" test (same word, four classes)
- "He runs fast." → modifies "runs" → adverb.
- "He is a fast runner." → modifies "runner" → adjective.
- "He completed a long fast." → names a thing → noun.
- "He fasts every Monday." → action verb.
NDA Application — Where This Knowledge Pays
Application 1 — Subject-Verb Agreement Errors
Identify the subject (a noun or noun phrase). Identify the verb. Match their number. Half of all subject-verb agreement errors in NDA Spotting Errors are caught this way.
Application 2 — Adjective-vs-Adverb Errors
If a word modifies a verb, it must be an adverb. "She sings beautiful" is wrong because "sings" is a verb and "beautiful" is an adjective.
Application 3 — Wrong-class Substitution in Sentence Improvement
If the substitution changes the part of speech and the new class doesn't fit the slot, the substitution is wrong.
Application 4 — Modifier Placement in Ordering of Words
An adjective attaches to its noun; an adverb attaches to its verb. Each goes near the word it modifies. Misplaced modifiers create the most common Ordering-of-Words errors.
Application 5 — Filling Cloze Blanks
Before reading the options, decide what part of speech the blank needs. Often this kills 50% of options instantly.
The Daily Habit
- Pick one English sentence from any newspaper headline.
- Label the part of speech of every word in your head.
- Five minutes per day. By exam day, identification is automatic.
Drill Parts of Speech in Context
NDA-pattern grammar drills that test part-of-speech identification through Spotting Errors and Sentence Improvement formats.
Start Free Mock TestFrequently Asked Questions
Does NDA test parts of speech directly?
Rarely as a "identify the part of speech" item. Almost always indirectly — through Spotting Errors, Sentence Improvement, Cloze, and Ordering. The knowledge underwrites half the English paper.
How many parts of speech are there in English?
Traditional grammar names eight: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection. Modern linguistics adds articles / determiners as a ninth class. For NDA, the traditional eight are enough.
What's the fastest way to remember the classes?
Use the function, not the form. Ask "what is this word doing?" Naming a thing = noun. Replacing a noun = pronoun. Action / state = verb. Modifying a noun = adjective. Modifying a verb/adjective/adverb = adverb. Showing relationship = preposition. Joining = conjunction. Exclaiming = interjection.
What is the difference between a gerund and a present participle?
Both end in -ing. A gerund is a verb form used as a noun (Swimming is healthy). A present participle is a verb form used as an adjective or part of a continuous tense (The swimming pool / He is swimming).
Why do some words change class so often?
English is a flexible language — many words shifted class historically (e.g., email began as a noun and became a verb within a decade). For NDA, focus on the current context, not the historical pattern.
Which NDA English topics depend on Parts of Speech?
All grammar-based topics: Spotting Errors, Sentence Improvement, Identifying Correct Sentences, Ordering of Words, Direct and Indirect Speech, Cloze Test, and Fill in the Blanks.