Grammar Topics (Conjunctions, Prepositions, Interjections, Articles, Phrases) PDF

GRAMMAR CONTINUED MAJOR TOPICS TO BE COVERED CONJUCTIONS PREPOSITIONS INTERJECTIONS ARTICLES PHRASES Conjunctions are words that join other words, phrases, clauses or sentences together. Examples of conjunctions include and, or, but, although, however, because, with etc. Types of Conjuncti...

GRAMMAR CONTINUED MAJOR TOPICS TO BE COVERED CONJUCTIONS PREPOSITIONS INTERJECTIONS ARTICLES PHRASES Conjunctions are words that join other words, phrases, clauses or sentences together. Examples of conjunctions include and, or, but, although, however, because, with etc. Types of Conjunctions Co-ordinating conjunctions: These are used in joining words, phrases, clauses and sentences that have the same grammatical status or rank. Examples of these conjunctions include: and, but, or, yet etc for example: i. English and mathematics are compulsory subjects for all students ii. I was furious, but I didn’t utter a word.  Correlative Conjunctions: These conjunctions usually appear in pairs. Examples include: neither…nor, either…or, not only…but, both… and, etc. It is either you leave or I leave. ii. Both lecturers and students are major stakeholders in a university.  Subordinating Conjunctions: These conjunctions which are typically adverbs known as conjuncts link or join main clauses to subordinate clauses by the use of words such after, although, as long as, before, unless, etc. For example: They were punished so that others would learn. ii. He emerged the best graduating student because he was always serious.  Semi-coordinating conjunctions are not conjunctions by nature but are also used in linking grammatical structures together. They include: along with, as well as, rather than, as much as, as long as etc. i. The man came yesterday along with his wife. ii. She prefers to sleep rather than read. PREPOSITIONS  Prepositions are words that show the relationship between two nouns or pronouns or between a noun and a verb. Examples of prepositions include: at, by, under, beneath, on, across, over, under etc.  Types of Prepositions: 1. Simple prepositions: These are made up of single words such as: on, at, across, over, off, behind, for, until etc. Simple prepositions are further sub-divided into the following:  i. Prepositions of Time: For example: for, since, at , in, on, by, before, until, from etc  ii. Prepositions of place or direction: These include in at, under, between, above, below, behind, along, across, toward, through, from, etc  iii. Prepositions of Position include, under, over, beneath, behind, above, between etc.  iv. Prepositions indicating means or instruments of actions such as by, with, on. For example: Martha travelled by road to Lagos.  Those showing condition or state of being e.g at, in etc. They are in trouble 2. Complex Prepositions are made up of more than one word. They are either compound or phrasal prepositions.  Compound Prepositions: These comprise two prepositions functioning as a single preposition. Examples include: into, out of, up to, upon, throughout etc  Phrasal Prepositions: These are phrases that begin and/or end with prepositions. The initial words may be adverbs , prepositions or verbs. Examples include owing to, put up with, in spite of, due to, as a result of, in view of,, on account of, as soon as, as opposed to, as far as, in reference to, with the exception of, in front of etc. Phrasal prepositions link and relate the object of the preposition (which could be a noun, noun phrase or a pronoun) to the rest of the sentence, Most lectures are being held virtually owing to (on account of) the pandemic. INTERJECTION  An interjection is used in expressing sudden/unexpected intense emotions or feelings such as those of surprise, shock, disappointment, fear, pleasure, pain etc. An interjection either stands alone or is inserted in a sentence without being related to it grammatically. For example: Ouch! You slapped me. The interjection ‘’ouch’’ is not grammatically related to the sentence which has ‘’You’’ as the subject, ‘’slapped’’ as the verb and ‘’me’’ as the subject. Its function is more of meaning (semantics) where it is used to show pain and surprise than grammar.  Interjections are usually indicated by the use of exclamation marks (!). Examples of interjection are: oh!, ouch! Eureka!, alas!, hurray! Etc. TOPIC: ARTICLES  Article are words that are used to pre-qualify nouns just like adjectives. Although they act like adjectives, they do not have the characteristics of adjectives hence they are classified separately under the general term determiners. Article are just three in number: a, an and the. Kinds of Articles:  The Definite Article: The English language has just one article named ‘the’ which is used to refer to a specific noun. It is used to qualify both plural and singular nouns. For example: The girl is leaving. ii. The girls are very smart. iii. The town is beautiful. The definite article is also used to show that the noun in question has been mentioned earlier on. I went to my children’s school, but the school was closed. Special Features of the Definite Article  i. They are not usually used with proper nouns except in exceptional cases such as in titles of newspapers.  It is also not used before names of languages except where the name language is included after the language e.g. The Hausa language but definitely not The Hausa.  The definite article is not used before the names of games. You cannot for instance say the football, the chess except where the name of the game is used as an adjective to qualify a noun for example, the chess competition etc  The Indefinite Article includes ‘a’ and ‘an.’ They are used to refer to nouns that are not specific. Unlike the definite article, indefinite articles are used with singular nouns only. The choice of one of these depends on what the initial sound of the noun is. The indefinite article ‘a’ is used before nouns that begin with consonant sounds such as boy, class, bag etc while ‘an’ is used with nouns that begin with vowel sounds for example egg, honour, elephant etc PHRASES A phrase is a group of related words without a subject and a finite verb (a finite verb shows a particular tense, person and number). In most cases, phrases do not contain such verbs at all. Moreover, a phrase has no complete meaning on its own thus it usually forms part of a sentence where it functions as a single part of speech. Examples of phrases include: the man, the lady in the Types of Phrases Phrases are categorised based to their functions and the words that introduce them. Types of phrases include: Noun phrases, verb phrases, adverbial phrases, adjectival phrases, prepositional phrases, infinitive phrases participial phrases and gerundial phrases Noun Phrase: A noun phrase consists of a noun which acts as the head word. The noun phrase is usually pre-modified by determiners, adjectives or prepositional phrases The noun phrase performs the same function with noun phrases. That is, it functions as a subject, object, complement and appositive. For example: i. The food on the table is for the dog. (as subject) ii. Dr Abah, my teacher, is a Nigerian. ( as appositive) iii. I drove a car. (direct object of the verb drove) iv. I bought my sister a wrist watch. (indirect object) Verb Phrase: A verb phrase consists of a main verb and one or more auxiliary verbs which usually come before the main verb. The verb phrase performs the function of a verb in a sentence. Examples include: shall have eaten, would be leaving, should not have waited, has been travelling etc Uses of the Verb Phrase i. To express emphasis: E.g. I did teach my students. ii. To express ability or capacity: E.g. I can drive a car. iii. To express futurity: E.g. He will be getting married soon iv. To express negative sentences: I cannot be treated this way. v. Used as the verb element of a sentence: The dog has eaten the bone. vi. To express progressive action: The teacher is teaching the students. vii. To express the perfect tense: I have eaten my food. viii. To express permission or request: I would like to travel with you. ix. To express condition: The students may fail if they are not serious. Prepositional Phrase: this begins with a preposition (in, on, under, over, around, of, about, through, etc.)Followed by a noun phrase and any modifier. Examples include: from the school, in the morning, across the road, behind those houses along the street, etc. The prepositional phrase functions as an adjective or adverb. For example: The book on the table is mine. (Functioning as an adjective qualifying the noun book) ii. He left in the morning ( functioning as an adverb modifying the verb left) Adverbial Phrase: An adverbial phrase is usually introduced by an adverb and followed by another adverb, prepositional phrase or a noun phrase. Examples include: early the next day, really fast, much more, later in the day etc. An adverbial phrase modifies a verb, an adverb, an adjective or a prepositional phrase. She is much more intelligent than she looks (modifying the adjective intelligent) He dresses far more decently than the sister. ( modifying the adverb decently) She ran very fast across the road (modifying the prepositional phrase ‘’across the road.’’) Adjectival Phrase: This is usually introduced by an adverb or adjective followed by one or more adjectives and is used as head words of noun phrases or to qualify a noun. Examples include: The heavy-hearted are often depressed. ( Head of the noun phrase the heavy hearted) ii. Several qualified students were admitted this session. (several qualified qualifies the noun students) VERBAL PHRASES: These phrases are so named because they contain ‘’verbs’’ in them. However, these verbs do not act as verbs but nouns and adjectives: These include the following: The infinitive Phrase: Begins with an infinitive: “to” + verb followed by an object and/or modifiers which are usually. It functions as a noun: Example: To lie always is bad. ( functions as the subject of the sentence) ii. I love to exercise every day.( object of the verb) ii. Humiliated and disappointed, the old man resigned. (qualifies the subject old man) iii. Climbing the mango tree, Jim saw a snake. (qualifies Jim) Gerundial Phrase: This is introduced by gerunds (verbs that end in –ing and function as nouns) followed by adverbs/ prepositional phrases. For example: i. Reading always is one of the surest recipes for success. ii. I like jogging every weekend.