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English Grammar

The Parts of Speech
Words are classified into different parts of speech accordingly to their function.

English has eight parts of speech. It is important that you know and understand them well. They are:

Noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection.

A noun is the name of a person, an animal, a place, a thing or an abstract idea.

The underlined words are nouns in the following sentences:

Jane is my friend.

She has a dog.

John lives in England
He has some great ideas.

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun or a pronoun.
John is my classmate. He is my friend who is very smart.

I have a dog. It is a good dog

Ahmad, Rama and Fatima are playing in the field. They are good friends.

The words in italics are pronouns.

An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun. It is usually before the noun or pronoun it modifies; it tells us more about them by describing, identifying or quantifying them.

Ali has a beautiful girl friend

She is fair, tall and slim.

Many people admire her.

The words in bold are adjectives.

To be continued.

What is a Verb?

A Verb denotes action. It is a word used to tell or assert something about some person or thing.

Examples

Hari laughs.
The lion roars.
Ahamad plays badminton every day.
Gold is precious.

A Verb often consists of more than one word.

Examples

The girls were laughing.
He has eaten his food.
The boy has been found.

Most verbs can be used transitively and intransitively.

A verb is used transitively when it has an ­object­.
A verb is used intransitively when it does not have an ­object­.

Examples

The boy kicked the ball. (Used transitively)
This horse never kicks. (Used intransitively)

The driver stopped the car. (Used transitively)
The car stopped suddenly. (Used intransitively)

Every sentence must have at least a verb.

What is an Adverb?

An Adverb is a word which modifies the meaning of a verb, an Adjective, or another Adverb.

Examples

Mary sings beautifully.
This is a very sweet mango.
He can read quite clearly.

Adverbs may be divided into many classes according to their meaning.

Examples

I have heard this before. (Adverb of Time)

I told you twice already. (Adverb of Number)

The little dog followed his owner everywhere. (Adverb of Place)

He fought bravely. (Adverb of Manner)

The bananas are almost ripe. (Adverb of Degree)

Surely you are mistaken. (Adverb of Affirmation)

He is hence unable to refute the charge. (Adverb of Reason)

Always place an Adverb as near as possible to the word it modifies, as the meaning of a sentence is sometimes altered according to the position of the Adverb in the sentence; as,

I have often thought of marrying.

I have thought of marrying often.

He often says he visits his father.

He says he often visits his father.

Prepositions

A preposition is a word which is used before a Noun or Pronoun to show its relation to some other words in the sentence.

Here are some prepositions: on, in, into, at, up, over, above, by, with, for, between and among.

The preposition always governs the Noun or Pronoun.

The book is on the table.
He is in his room.
She writes with her right hand.

At; in.
At refers to a point of time. At is used for a small place; in is used for larger space of time and also for a bigger place.

Example:

He came at 9:30 in the morning.

He lives at Kampong Ketari in Bentong.

Between; among

Between is used for two; among for more than two.

Example:

The apples were shared between the two boys.

The cakes were shared among the five children.

In; within

When referring to time, in denotes the close of a period; within denotes a time less than the close of the period.

Example:

I shall return in a year’s time. (After a year)

I shall return within a year. (Before a year has passed)

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are joining words. The most common Conjunctions are:

and, but, because, since, if, so, although, before, until, unless, therefore, or, yet, etc.

Here are some rules for using Conjunctions.
a. The verb must agree with the subject.
Either his father or his mother is very rich.

b. If both subjects are plural, the Conjunctions “either … or”, "neither… nor" must be followed by a plural verb.
Either my friends or your friends have won the contract.

c. If one subject is singular and the other is plural, the verb must agree with the noun nearer to it.
Either he or they have done the work.
Either they or he has done the work.

A Conjunction can join words: I saw a man and his dog.

A Conjunction can join phrases: They started on the trip, full of hope and happy together.

A Conjunction can join sentences: It was raining but they did not stop playing.

[color=#FFFF00] Interjection[/col

Interjection is the utterance of a word or phrase which expresses surprise or excitement. Sounds such as: Hey! Hi! Hello! Hurrah! Oh! Ouch! Good Grief! Or My Goodness! are Interjections.

Interjection is not an important Parts of Speech. We should know it, nevertheless.
If you wish to improve your English, it is essential that you understand and master the eight Parts of Speech.

Cheers! and Happy Learning.