120509 Parts Of Speech

REVIEW OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH

The Parts of Speech • • • • • • • •

Nouns Pronouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs Prepositions Conjunctions Interjections

What is a Noun?

What is a Noun? • A word used to name a person, animal, place, thing and abstract idea. • Types of nouns: - common nouns - proper nouns

- concrete nouns - abstract nouns - countable nouns - non-countable nouns (mass nouns) - collective nouns - compound nouns

• Common nouns – Refer to a person, place, or thing in general sense – E.g. people, city, river…

• Proper nouns – Write with a capital letter – Represent the name of a specific person, place, or thing – E.g. Christopher, Kuala Lumpur, Mississippi River…

• Concrete nouns – Refer to anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through your physical senses – E.g. book, chair, clerk

• Abstract nouns – Refer to anything that you cannot perceive through your physical senses – E.g. childhood, happiness, love…

• Countable nouns – Can be in singular or plural forms – Refer to anything (or anyone) that you can count – E.g. table, tables, baby, babies…

• Non-Countable nouns (Mass nouns) – Does not have a plural form – Refer to something you could not count – E.g. oxygen, water…

• Collective nouns – Refer to a group of things, animals, or persons – Usually think the group as a unit – E.g. class, committee, swarm…

• Compound nouns – A noun made up of 2 or more words – E.g. shoelace, keyboard, flashlight…

Possessive nouns • A noun changes its forms to show that it owns or is closely related to something else. • Nouns > Possessive nouns – Add apostrophe [’] and the letter [s]

• Singular noun that does not end with ‘s’  Cassandra - Cassandra’s  friend - friend’s

• Singular noun that ends with ‘s’  Chris - Chris’s / Chris’  bus - bus’s / bus’

• Plural noun that does not end with ‘s’  children - children’s  sheep - sheep’s

• Plural noun that ends with ‘s’  dogs - dogs’  babies - babies’

Noun Plurals • Most nouns change their forms by adding ‘-s’ – E.g.

dog - dogs bus - buses

• Nouns that end with -s, -ch, -sh, -x, or -z, add ‘-es’ – E.g.

witness - witnesses church - churches dish - dishes box - boxes buzz - buzzes

• Nouns that end with -y and the letter before -y is a vowel, add ‘-s’ - e.g.

boy - boys key - keys

• Nouns that end with -y and the letter before -y is a consonant, change -y to -I and add ‘-es’ - e.g.

army - armies baby - babies

• Nouns that end with -ff, add ‘-s’ - e.g.

tariff - tariffs

• Nouns that end with -f or -fe: - Some become plural by replacing -f to -v and adding -s or -es • E.g. knife - knives half - halves

wife - wives leaf - leaves

- Some become plural by only adding -s • E.g. belief - beliefs

proof - proofs

Noun Gender • Masculine – E.g. Peter, actor, waiter…

• Feminine – E.g. Sarah, actress, waitress…

• Common – E.g. teacher, doctor, engineer…

• Neuter – E.g. table, chair, book…

VERBS

What is a Verb? • Assert something about the subject of the sentence • Express actions, events, or states of being • Action verbs, Compound verbs, Auxiliary verbs, Linking verbs

• Action verbs: identify physical or mental activities – Dracula bites his victims on the neck

• Auxiliary verbs: is, are, was, were, will… • Compound verbs: combination of auxiliary verb and action verb – The book Seema was looking for is under the sofa.

• Linking verbs: connects a subject to a subject complement which identifies or describes the subject. – The play is Waiting for Godot.

ADVERBS

What is an Adverb? • a word or phrase that modifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word-group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc. • Usually identifiable by ‘ly’ suffix: unfortunately, quickly, beautifully… – Unfortunately, the bank closed at three today. – The students waited patiently through the long hours. – He turned up unexpectedly.

Conjunctive Adverbs • To join two clauses together. • Common conjunctive adverbs: – hence, however, therefore, then, thus, nevertheless, consequently, finally…

• With the aid of semicolon [;] – He did not have all the ingredients the recipe called for; therefore, he decided to make something else.

PRONOUNS

What is a Pronoun? • Can replace a noun or another pronoun. • To make your sentences less cumbersome and less repetitive • Personal pronoun, demonstrative pronoun, interrogative pronoun, indefinite pronoun, relative pronoun, reflexive pronoun, intensive pronoun

Personal Pronoun • Personal Pronouns – refer to a specific person or thing and changes its form to indicate person, number, gender and case

• Subjective Personal Pronouns – The pronoun is acting as the subject of the sentence: I, you, she, he, it, we, they – They returned to their homeland.

• Objective Personal Pronouns – The pronoun is acting as the object: me, you, her, him, it, us, them – Give the list to me.

• Possessive Personal Pronouns – The pronoun is acting as a marker of possession and defines who owns a particular object or person: mine, yours, hers, his, its, ours, theirs – The smallest gift is mine.

• Demonstrative Pronouns – Identifies a noun or pronoun: this, that, these, those – Subject or object • That is the tree I want. • Three customers wanted these.

• Interrogative Pronouns – Used to ask questions: who, whom, which, what [compounds formed with the suffix “ever”: whoever, whomever, whichever, whatever • Who wrote the novel?

• Relative Pronouns – Link one phrase or clause to another phrase or clause: who, that, which… • You may invite whomever you like to the party.

• Indefinite Pronouns – Referring to an identifiable but not specified person or thing. – Conveys ideas of all, any, none, or some; any, anybody, everything, someone… – Everything was thrown on the floor.

• Reflexive Pronouns – To refer back to the subject of the clause or sentence: myself, yourself, themselves… • We ended up painting the apartment ourselves.

• Intensive Pronouns – To emphasize its antecedent: myself, yourself, themselves… • I myself believe that aliens should abduct my brother.

ADJECTIVES • An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or pronoun • It describes a quality or state of an object, usually relating to taste, colour, size, shape or judgments. – E.g. pretty, ugly, good, bad…

Categories of Adjectives • Possessive Adjectives – Refer to the owners – My, your, her, his, their, its, our • Those are their bags. • Our house is on the hill.

• Demonstrative Adjectives – Point out which person or thing is being described – This, these, that, those • That studio is close. • These cows need some care.

• Quantitative / Indefinite Adjectives – To show how much of the thing is being described – Many, few, several, some… • She wants some salt. • They lost all their property.

• Descriptive Adjectives – To show the kind or quality of persons or things – Thin, dirty, short, wet… • That tall building is for sale. • She bought a beautiful painting.

• Interrogative Adjectives – Used with nouns to ask questions. – Which, what, whose • What method did you use? • Which car did he buy?

CONJUCTIONS • Used to link words, phrases, clauses or sentences. • Coordinating conjunctions – To link 2 individual unit of the same category (2 words, 2 phrases, 2 clauses) – And, but, or, yet… • • • •

Jude and Susie saved the boy. (nouns) My sister did not call or write to my parents. (verbs) The game was good but slow. (adjectives) Twenty-three plants were planted, but only twenty are alive. (clauses)

• Subordinating Conjunctions – To join and show the relationship between dependent clauses and independent clauses. – After, although, because, before, since, until… • Unless you save some money, you will not be able to buy a car. • If my father comes before ten, he will take us to the library.

• Correlative Conjunctions – Appear in pairs – Link equivalent sentence elements – Either…or, neither…nor, so…as, not only…but also, whether…or,… • The customer wanted either a soft drink or a hot drink. • The landslide destroyed not only the bungalow but also the fruit trees.

PREPOSITIONS • To show relationship between a noun or pronoun that follows it, and another word in the same sentence. • To show the position of a subject or where it is located.

• Simple prepositions – In, on, till, with, at, for, from, up, out…

• Compound prepositions – Among, inside, outside, across, without, around, below…

• Phrasal prepositions – Instead of, in comparison to, in favour of, with references to…

Functions of Prepositions • Time – To indicate the time or duration of the activities • We have to wait until the meeting is over.

• Place or position – To indicate the place of the activities • The competitors are from Brunei.

• Direction – To indicate the direction of the verb • She is going down the hill.

• Manner – To indicate the manner or the verb • I sang the song with courage.

• Similarity – To indicate similarity between a comparison • He talks like a professor.

• Agent – To act as an agent • The movie was directed by Samson.

• Measure – To show the amount or rate • She is shorter than you by 4cm.

• Accompaniment – To show accompaniment • Can you go with him?

• Reason – To show cause or reason • He was late because of the rain.

• Possession – To show possession • Their players are with yellow shorts.

DETERMINERS • Words that ‘determine’ nouns • Articles – a / an ( indefinite articles) • a: consonants • an: vowels

– the (definite articles) • I want a book. • I want the book.

• Demonstratives – Refer to something that is known and specific – Point out the thing that a noun refers to. – This, that, these, those • This is our house. • Those boys come here every Friday.

• Possessives – Used before nouns to indicate ownership – My, your, his, her, its, our, their • This is my car.

• WH-determiners – To indicate that noun phrase is the focus of questions – Which (persons & things) • Which is your bicycle? • Which boy are you referring to?

– Whose (possessive form of who & which) • I don’t care whose fault it was.

– What (things only) • What is your ambition?

INTERJECTIONS • Brief expressions to express strong or sudden feelings or emotion. • Punctuated by an exclamation mark [!] • No grammatical connection but help to create atmosphere or mood for the sentence. – Ouch! Hey! Damn! Well done! out!

Yes! Look