NB Unit 1 Part of Speech PDF

Communication for Academic Purpose (CAP105X) Unit 1 What is a Part of Speech? Every word is a part of speech. The term “part of speech” refers to the role a word plays in a sentence. And like any workplace or TV show with an ensemble cast, these roles were designed to work together. Parts of speech...

Communication for Academic Purpose (CAP105X) Unit 1 What is a Part of Speech? Every word is a part of speech. The term “part of speech” refers to the role a word plays in a sentence. And like any workplace or TV show with an ensemble cast, these roles were designed to work together. Parts of speech are different types of word: noun, verb, adjective etc. In this worksheet, you learn the parts of speech needed to make a straightforward English sentence. Types of Part of Speech 1. Nouns A noun is a word that names something, such as a person, place, thing, or idea. In a sentence, nouns can play the role of subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, appositive, or adjective. Nouns fall into two categories: common nouns and proper nouns. Types of Nouns 1.1 Proper noun – mainly names of people, place, or things and is always capitalised. Examples: Tina London Queen Victoria 1.2 Common noun – names generic things such items in a classroom and are not capitalised unless appearing at the beginning of a sentence or in a title. Examples: girl river window table. 1.3 Collective noun - names a collection or group of objects, people, or creatures. Examples: A flight of stairs; The staff of teachers; a circle of friends. 1.4. Abstract noun - something that we cannot see, touch or measure. It is often Ideas, emotions, personality traits, and philosophical concepts that do not exist in the physical world—you cannot sense them or interact with them—so we call them abstract nouns to differentiate them from concrete nouns. Example: The love/friendship/jealousy/attitude of the girl. He is full of courage/imagination/ambition. 1.5. Concrete nouns – nouns that exist in the physical world (you can see and touch). Examples: Apple, chair, book etc. 1.6. Gerunds nouns – These are nouns that are formed from verbs by adding -ing. Examples: 1|Page  Reading is enjoyable. The word ‘reading’ is a noun in this sentence. Running keeps one fit. The word ‘running’ is a noun in this sentence. 1.5. Pronoun They substitute nouns when the reader or listener knows which specific noun you’re referring to. Example: Jennifer was supposed to be here at eight, but she is always late; next time I will tell her to be here a half-hour earlier. Instead of saying Jennifer’s name three times in a row, you substituted she and her and your sentences remained grammatically correct Types of pronouns Interrogative pronoun – ask a question (e.g. what, who, which) Personal pronoun – refer to people or things. They are often twinned with possessive adjective (e.g. I, you,she, we, they) Relative pronoun – joins or connects one part of a sentence to another (e.g. that, which, whoever) Demonstrative pronoun – point out a specific person or thing (e.g. this, that, these) Possessive pronoun – indicate ownership (e.g. my, hers, ours) Indefinite pronoun – refer to people or things in a general way, rather than specific (e.g. one, anyone, they, everything, another, enough) Reflexive pronoun – reflect back to the noun or pronoun (e.g. ourselves, yourself, themselves) 2. Adjective Adjectives are words that modify nouns or pronouns. They are often called “describing words” because they give us further details about a noun, such as what it looks like (the white horse), how many there are (the three boys) or which one it is (the last house). Adjectives do not modify verbs or other adjectives. For example, if you had to describe your favorite movie to your friend. How would you describe it to a friend who has never seen it? You might say the movie was funny, engaging, well-written, or suspenseful. When you’re describing the movie with these words, you’re using adjectives. An adjective can go right before the noun it’s describing (I have a black dog), but it doesn’t have to. Sometimes, adjectives are at the end of a sentence (my dog is black). Types of Adjectives Possessive adjective – belonging to (e.g. my briefcase, her hand, our, their) Descriptive adjective – what kind (e.g. strong man, beautiful girl, loyal, intelligent) Interrogative adjective – which one (e.g. whose car? what book? which) 2|Page  Compound adjective – joined by hyphens (e.g. two-year-old, well-deserved trophy, mid-week meetings) Demonstrative adjective – which one (e.g. This/that chair, these/those girls) Proper adjective – proper nouns used as adjectives (e.g. South African oranges, Limpopo farmers, Cape Town) Adj. of Quantity/Numbers – how many (e.g. Five, many, neither, several, few, some, most) Adj. of Orders – position or order of nouns (e.g. First, second, third, last) 3. Verb It is an action word – tells us who or what is doing what. Not all verbs refer to literal actions, though. Verbs can express: A physical action (e.g. “to write,” “to jump”) A mental action (e.g. “to think,” “to guess,” “to consider”) A state of being (“to be,” “to exist,” “to appear”) Types of Verb Finite verb – can stand on its own and does not need an auxiliary verb (e.g. play, eat, drink) Infinite verb – is preceded by the word ‘to’ (e.g. to go, to sleep, to study) Auxiliary verb (or helping verb) – It accompanies a main verb to help express tense, voice or mood. (e.g. I am well, we are well, be, can, could, might, has) Linking – connects a noun with another noun, or a noun with an adjective, they also act as conjunction (e.g. the car is blue, they are weak, she was beautiful) Transitive verb – takes a direct object (e.g. I read a book, I sent an email to the manager of Spar) Intransitive verb – not followed by a direct object (e.g. I wrote to the editor of the newspaper; I will leave tomorrow; Please enter etc.) Participles- are formed from verbs. There are two types: present participles and past participles. Present participles end -ing. Past participles have various endings (e.g. -ed, -en) (e.g. sleeping, slept) 4. Adverb An adverb describes an adjective, a verb, or another adverb. Take a look at these examples: Here’s an example: I entered the room quietly. Quietly is describing how you entered (verb) the room. Here’s another example: A cheetah is always faster than a lion. Always is describing how frequently a cheetah is faster (adjective) than a lion. 3|Page Types of Adverb Manner – how the action takes place (e.g. She drives carefully; well, slowly, quickly) Place – where the action takes place (e.g. here, nowhere, far) Time - when the action takes place (e.g. now, soon, immediately) Degree – describes the intensity (e.g. very, almost, quiet, really, just) Frequency – how often the action takes place (e.g. always, often, never, occasionally) 5. Conjunction Conjunctions link other words, phrases, or clauses together. Conjunctions allow you to form complex, elegant sentences and avoid the choppiness of multiple short sentences. Make sure that the phrases joined by conjunctions are parallel (share the same structure). Example: I like cooking and eating, but I don’t like washing dishes afterward. Sophie is clearly exhausted, yet she insists on dancing till dawn. Without conjunctions, you would be forced to express every complex idea in a series of short, simplistic sentences: I like cooking. I like eating. I don’t like washing dishes afterward. Types of Conjunctions Coordinating – the join like with like. For example, they join a noun with another noun or an adjective with another adjective. The most common ones are “and,” “or” “also” “in addition”. Subordinating – join subordinate clauses to main clauses. E.g. We will wait here + until the rain stops. Functions of conjuctions Contrast - (e.g. but, yet, however, although, while, in spite) Cause + effect (e.g. because, since, now that, so, therefore, otherwise, then) Time (e.g. after, before, when, since, while) Place – (e.g. where, wherever – the stranger did not know where to go.) Manner – (e.g. as, so, that – in an emergency you must act as you see best.) Condition - (e.g. if, unless, even if) Correlative are used in pairs to join alternatives or equal elements. The most common pairs are “either/or”, “not only but also” Example: You can either take it or leave it. (joins two alternatives) It is not only unfair but also illegal. (joins two equal elements) 6. Preposition 4|Page Prepositions tell us where or when something is in relation to something else. It indicates the relationship between the noun/pronoun and the other words in the sentence. When monsters are approaching, it’s good to have these special words to tell us where those monsters are. Are they behind us or in front of us? Will they be arriving in three seconds or at midnight? Here’s an example: I left my bike leaning against the garage. In this sentence, against is the preposition because it tells us where I left my bike. Here’s another example: She put the pizza in the oven. Without the preposition in, we don’t know where the pizza is. (in, under, on top of, next to, behind) References to time – At 10:00 am On Monday In April, in summer From Friday to Monday References to place – At home To town Walk across the road In Johannesburg Kind of Prepositions: Simple – single word, e.g. from, with, in etc. Complex – Combination of words, e.g. ahead of, due to, next to 7. Article Articles define a noun as specific or unspecific. Like nouns, articles come in two flavors: definite articles and indefinite articles. And just like the two types of nouns, the type of article you use depends on how specific you need to be about the thing you’re discussing. A definite article describes one specific noun that has already been established, like the and this. Example: Did you buy the car? Consider the following examples: After the long day, the cup of tea tasted particularly good. By using the article, the, we have shown that it was one specific day that was long and one specific cup of tea that tasted good. An indefinite article describes an unknown/general noun Now swap in an indefinite article: Did you buy a car? 5|Page 8. Interjection An interjection is a word or phrase used to express a feeling or to request or demand something. While interjections are a part of speech, they are not grammatically connected to other parts of a sentence. Interjections are common in everyday speech and informal writing. While some interjections such as “well” and “indeed” are acceptable in formal conversation, it’s best to avoid interjections in formal or academic writing. Examples: Interjections in a sentence Wow! That bird is huge. Uh-oh. I forgot to get gas. We’re not lost. We just need to go, um, this way. Figuring out parts of speech Sometimes, it’s not easy to tell which part of speech a word is. Here are a few easy “hacks” to quickly figure out what part of speech you’re dealing with: If it’s an adjective plus the ending “-ly,” it’s an adverb. Examples: commonly, quickly. If you can swap it out for a noun and the sentence still makes sense, it’s a pronoun. Example: We played basketball. / Steve and I played basketball. If it’s something you do, and you can modify the sentence to include the word do, it’s a verb. Examples: I have an umbrella. / I do have an umbrella. If you can remove the word and the sentence still makes sense, but you lose a detail, the word is most likely an adjective. Example: She drives a red van. / She drives a van. If you can remove the word and the sentence doesn’t make sense, it’s likely a preposition. Example: I left my notebook on the desk. / I left my notebook the desk. And if you’re ever really stumped, just look the word up. Dictionaries typically list the part of speech a word fits in its entry, and if it fits more than one part of speech, both are listed with examples. 6|Page