Noun is one of the most important
parts of speech, it may function as the chief or “head” word in many structures
modification.
A proper nouns
begins with capital letter in writing. It includes personal names (Mr. John), name of geographic units (Holland), name of nationalities and religion (Dutchman), names of holidays (Easter)
names of time units (Sunday), and
words used for personification (Liberty).
2.
Concrete and Abstract Nouns
A concrete noun
is a word for physical object that can be perceived by the senses (flower, girl). An abstract noun is a word for a concept, it is an idea that
exist in our mind only (beauty, justice).
3.
Countable and Non-countable
Nouns
A countable noun
can usually made plural by the addition of –s (two girls). A non-countable
noun is not used in a plural for concrete stated in an undivided quantity (coffee).
A collective
noun is a word for a group of people, animal, or objects considered as a single
unit (class, crew, family).
The term compound,
as it used for a part of speech, refers to a group of words-usually two, but
sometimes more-joined together in one vocabulary unit that functions as a
single part of speech (grammar book).
Who or what is
being talked about. (The girl is
resting).
This completes
the predication after the verb. (Please give that man some money)
3.
Subjective Complement
(Predicate Noun)
Used after a
linking verb to refer back to the subject. (Washington was the first President of the United States).
The position of a noun is
determined by its function in the sentence. The usual position for a subject is
before the verb, in some cases the subject comes after the verb (Does your wife like candy?).
1.
Inflectional form (gender,
case and number),
2.
Plural inflectional form.
The general rule of writing of English noun is to add –s to singular form (boy-two boys),
3.
Possessive inflectional
form. A singular noun is changed to possessive form by the addition of ‘s (boy’s mother), and
4.
Derivational form. The
derivational forms of nouns consist of the following suffixes.
(arrangement, happiness, dancing, relationship, etc.).
a)
Articles. Indefinite (a pencil, an eraser) and indefinite (the pen)
b)
Possessives (my aunt, John’s book)
c)
Demonstratives (this child, those boys)
d)
Numbers (four girls, fifth girl)
e)
Words of indefinite
quantity (some people, more books)
2.
Prepositions (in the house, after the storm)
The traditional definition of a pronoun as “a word that takes the place
of a noun” is applicable to some types of pronouns but not to others.
1.
Personal Pronouns and
Impersonal Pronoun
Personal
Pronoun refers to:
a.
The speaker, called the first
person.
Singular (I) and Plural (we)
b.
The person spoken to, called the second
person.
Singular (you) and Plural (you)
c.
The person or thing is being spoken of.
Singular
(he, she and it) and Plural (they)
The
impersonal pronoun one is used to
generalize for all persons.
2.
Interrogative Pronouns
There are three
interrogative pronouns (who, what, and which) introduce direct and
indirect questions.
Relative
pronouns introduce adjective clauses in which they serves as subjects or
objects. Relative pronouns (who, which, that) refer to noun antecedents which immediately precede them.
4.
Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative
pronouns point out someone or something. This
(plural these) generally refers to
what is near at hand and that
(plural those) to what is farther
away.
The reflexive
pronoun is a combination of –self with
one of the personal pronoun or with the impersonal pronoun. The reflexive
pronouns generally refer to an animate being, usually a person.
The reciprocal
pronouns indicates that the individual members of a plural subject mutually
react one on the other. The reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another.
Indefinite persons
or things. These pronouns are all singular in form and are used without noun
antecedents. (somebody, anything, nothing, everyone).
Indefinite quantities. All of these pronouns (all, few, lots of, many, neither, plenty, etc.) also function as an adjective except none.
Pronouns have most of the same functions as nouns.
1.
Subject of Verb (They were late for their appointment).
2.
Object of Verb (We enjoyed ourselves at the party).
3.
Subjective Complement
(That’s the one).
4.
Appositive (The men all got into the boat).
Pronouns subjects appear before
the verbs, pronouns objects appear after the verbs or after the prepositions. A
third-person pronouns, a demonstrative pronouns, or a relative pronouns generally
appear in some position after the
noun it refers to.
The verbs grammatical properties
are tense, voice, mood, and aspect. Verbs are word that usually express an
action.
1.
Predicating or Linking
Verbs
A predicating
verb is a chief of word in the predicate that says something about the subject
(The girl is pretty). The
predicating word has traditionally been called verb of “action” (He comes late).
2.
Transitive or Intransitive
Verbs
A transitive
verbs take a direct object (She is reading
a book); an intransitive verbs do not require an object (They are walking in the park).
A reflexive verb
requires one of the compounds with –self
as its object, some verbs may be used with or without reflexive pronoun object
(washed yourself and dressed myself quickly).
4.
Auxiliary or Lexical Verbs
The lexical verb
(arrived) carries the chief burden
of semantic content. The auxiliary (will
open) acts as a “helping” verb to
the lexical verb by adding either structural elements and a semantic coloring
such as ability.
5.
Finite or Non-Finite Verbs
A finite verb is a
lexical verb with or without auxiliaries that act as the full verb in the
predicate. Non-finite verbs are incomplete verb forms that functions as other
parts of speech than verbs.
The verb function as the
grammatical center of the predication about the subject. The verb is so basic
that other functions are determined in relation to it.
The verbs is used after subject,
or before an object or complement. The verb appears before the subject in most
questions, and in sentences or clauses that begins with certain types of
negative adverbs.
The grammatical form of verbs is
usually discussed in connection with tense. The most common interpretation of
tense is a semantic one; each tense roughly indicates a kind of time. On the
basis interpretation by meaning, some grammarians give three tense system but
most grammarians give a six tense system.
The types of principal parts of
the irregular verbs are:
1.
All Three Principal Parts
Are Different (begin – began – begun),
2.
Second and Third Principal
Parts Are Alike (cling – clung – clung),
3.
All Three Principal Parts
Are Alike (hit – hit – hit),
4.
First and Third Principal
Parts Are Alike (come – came – come),
and
5.
First and Second Principal
Parts Are Alike (beat – beat – beaten).
Most verbs are regular. If a verb
is regular, the past simple and past participle end in –ed. Example ( clean – cleaned – cleaned ).
Auxiliary verbs are “helping”
verbs that add structural meaning or semantic coloring to verbs carrying the
full burden of lexical meaning.
The tense
auxiliaries (be, have, will/shall) performed a
structural function only.
The do auxiliary is accompanied by the
simple form of the verb. It is used only in the simple present tense and in the simple past tense.
These
auxiliaries add to the adverb a special semantic component such as ability,
obligation, and possibility. Modal auxiliaries have no –s suffix for third person and have two formal tenses, there are the
present and the past.
a)
Ability. Three kinds of ability may be indicated by can and be able to.
b)
Permission. Strict schoolbook rules say we must only may for permission.
c)
Obligation or Advisability. Should and ought to occur
in statements about one’s duty or one’s advantage which one is free to accept
or reject.
d)
Necessity. Must and have to suggest a more urgent course of
action which does not allow for the possibility of rejection.
e)
Possibility, may is the
regular auxiliary expressing possibility.
The adjective is a modifier that
has the grammatical property of comparison.
b)
Demonstrative adjectives (this [plural these] and that [plural those]),
c)
Possessive adjectives (from
pronoun [my] and from noun [John’s]),
d)
Numeral adjectives
(cardinal [four] and ordinal [first]),
e)
Adjectives for indefinite
quantity (some, few, all, more, etc.), and
f)
Relative of interrogative
adjectives (whose, what, which).
2.
Descriptive Adjectives
Descriptive
adjectives usually indicate an inherent quality (beautiful and intelligent),
or the physical state such as age, size and color. Some adjectives take form of
proper adjectives, participle adjectives, adjective compounds.
The adjective modifies a noun (The
small boy) or pronoun (The is small).
Pre-Position (The
tall man) and Post-Position (Two
months ago),
After linking
verb (The boy is small), after
certain time (The storm has made me uneasy),
and in the special verb-adjective combinations that express a state (She held
the child tight), and
3.
In Relation to Pronoun.
After the pronoun
(He is looking for something new and
exciting to do) and before the
pronoun (Did you buy the blue one?).
Descriptive
adjectives have special forms only for comparison.
Some adjectives form the comparative and superlative with –er and –est, and some
with more, most, others in either of these ways.
Most adjective derivational suffixes have
little semantic content, they merely serve as part-of-speech indicator (ending
–ful, ending –able).
Adjectives are signaled by adverbs
of degree like very, quite, rather (very, quite,
rather useless, quite pretty).
Adverbs range in meaning from
words having a strong lexical content to those that are used merely for
emphasis.
The manner
adverb has characteristic adverbial form –ly
(quickly).
Among the
adverbs of place and direction (here,
left) may be included some
prepositional forms appearing after the verb (He came in).
Definite time,
these adverbs have a fixed boundary in time (today) and Indefinite time, this kind has no fixed boundary (recently, soon).
Adverbs of
degree, denoting how much and how complete (very and almost)
and distinguishing adverbs, emphasize
particular words or grammatical constructions (even, only).
These adverbs
have a loose grammatical connection with the rest of sentence and are locked
upon as modifying whole sentence (actually).
These adverbs
establish relationship between one sentence or clause and preceding sentence or
clause (however).
These adverbs illustrate or enumerate (e.g. = for example).
8.
Relative and Interrogative
Adverbs
To introduce
adjective clauses and questions (when,
where, why and how).
This adverb is
used with adjective and adverbs (how).
1.
Adverb as modifier of verb
(The boy threw the ball quickly).
2.
Adverb as modifier of an
adjective or an adverb (The very
small boy threw the ball very
quickly).
3.
Adverb as modifier of an
entire sentence (fortunately, the
boy threw the ball).
1.
Initial-position. Before
the subject (sometimes she comes
late).
2.
Mid-position. With the verb
(she sometimes comes late).
3.
Final-position. After the
verb object (she comes late sometimes).
Commas used to set off adverbials
are determined by whether the writer would pause in speech.
1.
Adverbials in
Initial-Position. Commas occur after adverbials in initial position (Actually, She doesn’t care).
2.
Adverbials in Final-Position.
Commas generally don’t cut off adverbials of time and place in final position
(I saw him there Sunday night).
3.
Adverbials in Mid-Position.
Such commas must appear before and after the adverbials element (Mr. Jones, obviously, doesn’t care to work).
Short adverbs that have the same
form as adjectives are compared by the addition of –er and –est. the –ly adverbs of manner are compared by
the use of more-than, the most. Less-than, the least are
also used in the comparison of manner adverbs.
Adverbs of degree mark the adverb,
just as they do the adjective (very quickly, too slowly, quite well, much more pleasantly).
Preposition range in meaning from
such definite semantic notions as time, place, etc. to such purely structural
meanings as those shaped (of, in, above).
a)
One pint of time (in, on, at),
b)
Extended time (since, by, from-to, for, during, in or within),
and
c)
Sequence of time (before, after).
2.
Place (Direction and
Position)
a)
Position. The point itself
(in or inside, on, at), higher or lower
than a point (over, above, under, and below)
neighboring the point (near, next to,
beside, between, opposite).
b)
Direction. (Movement in
regard to a point) The kind of movement designated by each preposition given
below is illustrated by the diagram below. (to-from, towards, into-out of, up-down, around, through, past, as far as).
The preposition has the function
of connecting a noun or a pronoun to another word, usually a noun, verb or
adjective. (they arrived in the morning).
In certain informal usages, the
object of the preposition may appear in initial position in the clause, and the
preposition final position. (what is this dress made of?).
Words can be organized in to
higher units, known as phrases. A phrases may consist of a single word or a
group of words.
A noun phrase
can consist of a noun alone (audiences,
John), a determiner, one or more
adjectives, and a noun (a man, the car). But, A noun phrase can
consist of just a pronoun (I, he, them, etc.).
A verb phrase is
a combination of main verb and its auxiliaries in a sentence (she has been sleeping for two
hours).
An adjective
phrase has an adjective as its head that can be followed by modifier adverbs
and also take complements (so lucky,
slow to respond).
Adverb phrase
has an adverb as its head, optional modifier may follow the adverb head and
they typically express degree. (pretty soon).
The preposition and its noun phrase form a
unit which is called a prepositional phrase (in the closet).
