What are the two essential parts of a sentence?

Every sentence has two essential parts — the subject and the predicate. The subject is who or what the sentence is about, and the predicate is what is said about the subject. In 'Birds fly', 'Birds' is the subject and 'fly' is the predicate.

What is the head-word of a subject and of a predicate?

The head-word of the subject is a noun (or a pronoun) and the head-word of the predicate is a verb. For example, in 'Our old neighbour has a dog', the head-word of the subject is 'neighbour' and the head-word of the predicate is 'has'.

How many parts of speech (word classes) are there?

There are eight word classes or parts of speech — Noun, Pronoun, Adjective, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction and Interjection. Each word in a sentence plays one of these roles.

What are the four kinds of simple sentences?

Simple sentences are of four kinds — Declarative (states a fact or opinion), Interrogative (asks a question), Imperative (gives an order, request or advice, with the subject 'you' understood), and Exclamatory (expresses a sudden strong feeling).

What happens to the subject in imperative and exclamatory sentences?

In an imperative sentence the subject 'you' is understood and not written (for example, 'Shut the door'). In an exclamatory sentence the subject and the verb are often omitted (for example, 'How wonderful!' or 'What a nice chance!').

Grammar Chapter 1: Parts of a Sentence

Learn and Practise Grammar · The building blocks of English

English Grammar · Odisha Board Class 9 · Notes + Solved Activities + 25 Quiz

📖 Grammar Chapter 1 — Parts of a Sentence: This is the foundation of the whole grammar book. It teaches how a sentence is built from a subject and a predicate, how to find the head-word of each, the eight parts of speech (word classes), and the four kinds of sentences. Master this chapter and the rest of grammar becomes easy.

A. What is a Sentence?

We express our ideas, feelings and views in sentences. A sentence is a meaningful group of words that gives a complete sense.

Sentence: a meaningful expression made up of words arranged in a particular order.

The words of a sentence must be in the correct order / pattern. Look at these:

✔ Indrani is a classical singer. | ✔ Is Indrani a classical singer?
✘ Classical is Indrani a singer. | ✘ Singer classical Indrani is a.

The first two are correct because the words are properly arranged; the last two are not acceptable because the word order is wrong.

B. The Two Parts: Subject & Predicate

A sentence has two essential parts — the Subject and the Predicate.

Subject — the person or thing the sentence is about.
Predicate — what is said about the subject.

Subject	Predicate
Wind	blows.
Birds	fly.
A little girl	is walking along the road.
Rama Chandra, the son of Dasharatha,	ruled over Ayodhya for many years.

Rule 1: If the subject is a single word, it is a noun or a pronoun. If the predicate is a single word, it must be a verb.

Head-word of the Subject and Predicate

Even when the subject or predicate has many words, each has one most important word — its head-word.

Rule 2: The head-word of the subject is a NOUN (or pronoun) and the head-word of the predicate is a VERB.

This juice smells bad. → head-word of subject = juice (noun); head-word of predicate = smells (verb).

Subject & Predicate in Different Sentences

Interrogative (questions): the parts may be split or reordered.
What (S) | troubles you (P)? · What is (P) | your name (S)? · Where are | you (S) | going?
Imperative (orders / requests): the subject ‘you’ is understood, not written. — Do me a favour. Go there. Please help me.
Exclamatory (sudden feelings): the subject (say ‘it’) and the verb (say ‘is’) are usually omitted. — How wonderful! What a nice chance!

C. Word Classes (The Eight Parts of Speech)

Words play different roles in a sentence, just as different actors play different parts in a play. There are eight word classes or parts of speech.

Part of Speech	What it does	Example
Noun	names a person, object, material, quality or feeling	Vinay is a tall boy.
Pronoun	used in place of a noun	He is intelligent.
Adjective	describes / qualifies a noun	He is very intelligent.
Verb	shows an action or a state	Seeta walks slowly.
Adverb	modifies a verb, adjective, adverb or preposition	Seeta walks slowly.
Preposition	shows the relation of a noun/pronoun to the rest	The pen is in the box.
Conjunction	joins words or sentences	Rama and Hari are friends.
Interjection	expresses a sudden feeling	Hurrah! We won the match.

Noun

A noun is a naming word — it names a person or object (Vinay, rice), a material (wood), a force or group (army), a feeling (anger, joy) or a quality (beauty, honesty). Nouns can be countable or uncountable, and with a determiner they form a Noun Phrase (NP).

Pronoun

A pronoun stands in place of a noun: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, them, myself, yourself, himself, ourselves, etc. A pronoun must agree with its noun in number, person and gender.

Adjective

An adjective is a qualifying word that describes a noun: tall, intelligent, rainy, red, brave, populous.

Verb

A verb shows an action, state or habit. Types you should know:

Mental verbs — think, want, know, love, feel, remember, see, like.
Communicative verbs — ask, say, call, tell, speak, describe, write, thank.
Verbs of aspect — keep, continue, begin, start, stop.
Lexical / Main verbs — verbs that have a dictionary meaning (also called main verbs).

Adverb

An adverb tells how an action is done and modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a preposition.

The turtle moves slowly (verb). · This knife is extremely sharp (adjective). · He drives very fast (adverb). · The gate is just at the front (preposition).

Preposition

A preposition is placed before a noun or pronoun to show its relationship with the rest of the sentence: at, in, on, to, for, of, with, by, after, before, under, behind, since, during, etc.

	AT	IN	ON
Time	at 6 o'clock	in April / in 1947	on Monday
Place	at home / at school	in India / in the village	on the first floor

Conjunction

A conjunction is a joining word. It joins words or whole sentences: and, but, or, so, when, as, because, although, so that, before.

We were playing when she entered. (‘when’ joins the two parts.)

Interjection

An interjection expresses a sudden feeling or emotion: Oh! Ah! Hurrah! Alas! Hush!

D. Types of Sentences

Simple sentence: a sentence that has one subject and one finite verb.

Simple sentences are of four kinds:

Kind	What it does	Example
Declarative	states a fact or an opinion	The sun rises in the east.
Interrogative	asks a question	Does Sita sing well?
Imperative	gives an order, request, advice, command, prayer, suggestion, warning or good wishes (subject ‘you’ understood)	Drive slowly. Give a push, please.
Exclamatory	expresses a sudden strong feeling of surprise, pain, disgust or excitement	What a beautiful flower it is! How nicely she sings!

Exclamatory rule: When it begins with ‘How’, an adjective or adverb comes after it. When it begins with ‘What’, it is followed by a Noun Phrase.
How naughty the boy is! · What a naughty boy he is!

💡 Quick Recap

① A sentence = subject + predicate. ② Head-word of subject = noun; head-word of predicate = verb. ③ Eight parts of speech: Noun, Pronoun, Adjective, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction, Interjection. ④ Four kinds of sentences: Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative, Exclamatory.

Solved Textbook Activities (with answers)

2Activity 2 — Put the words in the correct order.

1. Are you waiting for her? (done) 2. He is not listening to this song. 3. I have not cooked for you. 4. He is a tall boy. 5. Gandhiji is the Father of our nation. 6. When do you get up? 7. All that glitters is not gold. 8. Anima is singing so sweetly. 9. Can you guess the answer? 10. Look at the sun.

7Activity 7 — Split into subject & predicate and pick out the verb.

8Activity 8 — Pick out the head-word of the subject (noun) and predicate (verb).

1. This juice smells bad. → Noun: juice, Verb: smells (done) 2. Iron is a heavy metal. → Noun: Iron, Verb: is 3. That shirt looks nice. → Noun: shirt, Verb: looks 4. One of the boys has found the watch. → Noun: One (of the boys), Verb: has found 5. We have to start early. → Head-word: We (pronoun), Verb: have (to start) 6. Gandhiji's dedication brought us freedom. → Noun: dedication, Verb: brought

10Activity 10 — Word Classes cloze (Lord Buddha passage) — answer key.

1. (c) was 2. (a) Siddhartha 3. (c) Suddhodana 4. (c) garden 5. (b) swan 6. (a) pain 7. (a) from 8. (b) Prince 9. (c) up 10. (b) Someone 11. (b) kill 12. (a) pulled 13. (a) and 14. (b) hand 15. (c) Alas 16. (a) great 17. (b) tears 18. (c) continuously 19. (b) suffering 20. (a) But 21. (b) he

11Activity 11 — Identify the nouns and say what they name.

1. Ramchandra (person), Ramayan (name of a book/epic). 2. cattle (animals — a group), field (place). 3. Honesty (an abstract quality). 4. winter, spring (seasons / things). 5. elephant (an animal), animal (a class). 6. mother (person), TV (object).

13Activity 13 — Put in the correct pronoun.

1. ‘Where is Madhu?’ She is in the garden. 2. ‘Are the boys playing?’ ‘No, they are studying.’ 3. Ram, Shyam and I belong to the same class. We are good friends too. 4. Sunita is a good girl, she is very sensitive. 5. Please don't disturb them. They are asleep. 6. Mr Jones sells vegetables. He is a greengrocer.

14Activity 14 — Choose the correct adjective (populous, sick, red, silly, brave, intelligent).

1. Abhisikta feels sick. Please call the doctor. 2. Swadesh is intelligent. He can answer all the questions. 3. That red building is ours. 4. Kolkata is a populous city. 5. Silly boys idle away their time. 6. The Japanese are brave.

15Activity 15 — Choose the correct verb.

1. When do you get up? 2. The horse runs faster than the deer. 3. My friend can speak English well. 4. A goldsmith makes ornaments. 5. Bad news travels fast.

21Activity 21 / main preposition set — Put in / at / on (and the mixed set).

1. Don't sit on that broken chair. 2. My brother lives in New Delhi. 3. In Japan, the people are very industrious. 4. I go to school on foot everyday. 5. Good bye! See you on Monday. 6. My sister is getting married in June. 7. He plans to come home on the weekend. 8. Are you going out on Sunday next? 9. Hurry up! The train leaves in two minutes. 10. What are you doing on Friday morning?

22Activity 22 — Fill with the correct preposition (to, in, on, behind, under, with, for, since, during, after).

1. Brajamohan works with the Railways. 2. You should keep to the left. 3. I can finish the task in ten minutes. 4. He has been staying here since 1990. 5. She is meeting me on Friday. 6. He is expected to come during the summer holiday. 7. I stayed at Uncle's for a week. 8. The child is running after that stray dog. 9. I saw a man sitting under a tree. 10. Sukanya walked behind me without speaking.

23Activity 23 — Fill with the correct conjunction (so that, although, and, as, for, so, but, before).

Raju did very well in the examination and he stood first in his institute. So he got a good job, but he had not tried hard. He performed well although the circumstances did not suit him. He opted to quit the job so that he could go for higher study. However, he had to wait there for a few months more as his father was unable to afford him. One day the boss called in Raju and congratulated him for he was selected as a resource person of the company. Raju thanked the authority as his dream came true. He recalled his well-wishers before leaving for abroad for his scholastic training.

Note: a few blanks can take more than one correct conjunction (for / as / so).

24Activity 24 — Choose the appropriate interjection (Bye, oh, alas, hurrah).

1. Alas! He has lost his only son. 2. Oh! It is too cold. 3. Hurrah! Sachin made 50th Test Century! 4. Bye! See you tomorrow.

28Activity 28 — Turn into exclamatory sentences with ‘How’ and ‘What’.

1. He is a very naughty boy. → What a naughty boy he is! / How naughty the boy is! (done) 2. It looks so beautiful. → How beautiful it looks! 3. Devesh is very intelligent. → How intelligent Devesh is! 4. Saina is an excellent player. → What an excellent player Saina is! 5. Rahim's poems are so important. → How important Rahim's poems are!