English Grammar and Writing Skills

© 2020 Paul F.M. Ai-Gbahan Lahai & Saidu Challay. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the authors.

Published by AuthorHouse 5/27/2020

ISBN: 978-1-7283-5782-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-5781-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020906337

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART 1

PARTS OF SPEECH

Chapter 1 Nouns and Pronouns

Chapter 2 Verbs and Verb Tenses

Chapter 3 Adjectives and Adverbs

Chapter 4 Prepositions, Conjunctions and Interjections

PART 2

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Chapter 5 Phrases and Clauses

Chapter 6 Sentence Structure

Chapter 7 Subject-Verb Agreement

Chapter 8 Common Sentence Errors

Chapter 9 Active and Passive Voices

Chapter 10 Direct and Indirect Speeches

PART 3

ENRICHING VOCABULARY

Chapter 11 Recognising Word Roots, Prefixes and Suffixes

PART 4

PUNCTUATION MARKS AND MECHANICS

Chapter 12 End Punctuations

Chapter 13 Other Punctuation Marks

Chapter 14 Capitalization

PART 5

ESSAY WRITING

Chapter 15 Paragraph Development

Chapter 16 Essay Writing

Chapter 17 Letter Writing

Chapter 18 Writing Articles

PART 6

COMPREHENSION AND SUMMARY EXERCISES

Chapter 19 Comprehension Passages

Chapter 20 Summary Passages

Essay and Letter Writing questions for practise

Answers to Exercises

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We have been assisted tremendously in various ways by several colleagues in the process of putting our ideas together to work on this book. We are particularly indebted to Mr. Michael Hamadi Secka of the Curriculum Research Evaluation Directorate of the Gambia for voluntarily proofreading our manuscript. We also highly appreciate the contributions of Mr. Olawuyi Mutiu who painstakingly reviewed our manuscript and shared his thoughts on our efforts. His comments, criticisms and suggestions greatly helped to improve the quality of this book.

We are also very grateful to staff of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), who assisted us in accessing past examination questions in English Language and also making available comments of Chief Examiners for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE). The past papers, coupled with the Chief Examiners comments gave us an insight into some of the key areas that need to be addressed in the teaching of English Language at the secondary school level. The past papers also proved to be very useful in planning some of the essays in this book. We thank them very much for making these invaluable resources available.

We also want to thank Andrea Lunsford and Robert Conners, Leslie C. Perelman, James Paradis and Edward Barret, Madeline Semmelineyer and Donald O. Bolander, Diana Hucker and Kinneavy Wariner for their books which we used as reference materials. The following books, The New Webster Grammar Guide, Writing and Grammar (Rube Level), Rules for Writers (6th edition), Elements of Writing and Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (8th edition). These books served as sources of reference while working on this book.

We are also very grateful to the many instructors at the secondary school level as well as the tertiary level for their useful comments and suggestions. We engaged colleagues in focus group discussions about the challenges students face in learning English Language. Their inputs in those discussions helped us in shaping our work to address the key issues they raised. In order to give us an idea of the difficulties students encounter in writing essays, we also requested the instructors to make available some scripts of past examinations which they readily made available. We went through some of these scripts and in the process we were able to identify some errors in grammar as well as in essay writing. Those errors guided us in developing exercises that will help students overcome their difficulties.

INTRODUCTION

English Language is used as the medium of instruction as well as subject of instruction in the educational system of the former colonies of British West Africa. This policy has remained to be in existence even after independence. There are a lot of challenges in the teaching and learning of English in Sierra Leone. This has been partly as a result of poor preparation of students and partly because of lack of appropriate teaching and learning materials. Even where the requisite materials may be available, lack of the required pedagogical skills on the part of teachers of English also poses serious problems.

Although English Language remains to be very important in the educational system of Sierra Leone, the performance of students at both the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) has been very poor. Chief Examiners’ reports of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) over the years have indicated that students lack the necessary skills in writing essays and answering comprehension and summary questions. Although the reports often focus on these areas, it is also evident that grammar poses serious challenges for learners of English Language. It is possibly as a result of their poor grasp of the grammatical rules that they makes them not to be able to present their ideas in clear and grammatical sentences. Most students cannot construct simple sentences in English as they do not have a firm grip on the grammatical rules.

The main focus of this book is to address the problem of lack of grammar texts in simple and straightforward language that students will find less difficulty in understanding. Although this book is designed for students preparing for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, it can also serve as a useful resource material for students studying English Language in tertiary institutions, teachers of English Language and other people who may want to improve their skills in the use of English Language.

This book comprises five parts as follows; parts of speech, sentence structure, enriching vocabulary, punctuation marks and mechanics, essay writing and comprehension and summary.

What Does Grammar Mean? Grammar simply put means the systematic description of the structure of a language. It deals with the study of the rules that govern the use of language. The use of language means putting related words together in order to convey a complete idea or thought. Any word that is used in communication/sentence makes an important contribution to convey a complete idea. Words are grouped according to the roles they play in communication. The main focus in the grammatical description of a language is to explain the relationships among parts of a sentence. Words combine to form phrases and phrases combine to form sentences. The rules governing how words combine to form phrases and phrases to form sentences encompasses part of grammatical description.

Part of speech refers to the classification or grouping of words according to the role they play in a sentence in the process of communication. The role a word plays in a sentence, in most cases, determines the word class (part of speech) to which it belongs. There are generally eight parts of speech and these include noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection.

Part one deals with parts of speech, and it entails those aspects of English grammar that fall under the traditional eight parts of speech, namely nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. For learners of English, the parts of speech constitute a very important aspect in understanding how words are arranged to make meaning in the language. All the key aspects related to the parts of speech are covered in this part of the book. In order to guide learners, the definitions of these parts of speech are given with ample examples in each case. Emphasis has also been placed on how these parts of speech are interrelated in making meaning.

In part two, which covers sentence structure, some explanations have been provided on how words combine together to make phrases and clauses. Thus, in an attempt to learn English, there is need for learners to be familiar with how grammatical sentences are constructed in English. Some of the key aspects discussed in this part include phrases and clauses, sentence structure, subject verb agreement, common sentence errors, active and passive sentences and direct and indirect speeches. We combine words to make phrase, and phrases to make sentences. The rules of how to combine words to form phrases, and how these phrases are combined to make meaningful sentences in English is explained in chapter five. Furthermore, the functions of phrases and clauses are also dealt with in this chapter. In chapter two, the basic sentence structures are explained, including their functions and types. Chapter seven covers subject verb agreement, an idea that poses a lot of difficulties for learners of English as a second language. The rules of subject verb agreement have explained with suitable examples in each case. Chapter eight present some common errors in the use of sentences. The arrangement of words within a sentence can in most cases lead to ungrammaticality or in some cases ambiguity. Thus, aspects such as parallelism, fused sentences, sentence fragments, and the wrong use modifiers are elucidated. Chapter nine deals with the basic rules of changing sentences from the active voice to the passive voice, and chapter ten deals with how sentences are changed from direct speech to indirect speech.

Part three of this book covers developing vocabulary in English Language. In order for learners to be comfortable in the use of any language, they need to be familiar with a variety of lexical items of that language. Learners need to know how words are composed. In this regard, learners have been provided with some techniques on enriching their vocabulary with distinguishing between roots, prefixes and suffixes in English. We can increase our stock of vocabulary by being familiar with prefixes or suffixes that could be attached to root words to give us new meanings.

Part four covers an important aspect in writing which has to do with the use of punctuation marks and mechanics. Much of what one writes can be misunderstood because of the use of wrong punctuation marks. Chapters twelve and thirteen deal with punctuation marks and chapter fourteen with mechanics, mainly focusing on the use of capital letters.

In part five, readers have introduced to continuous writing. This has been broadly categorised under essay writing and letter writing. In each case, the different types of essays and types of letters are explained.

Part six deals with reading comprehension. In the West African Senior Certificate Examination, candidates are always tested in these areas. It is expected that candidates should be able to read a given passage, which is based either on comprehension or summary. Some guidance has been provided on how to answer comprehension and summary questions, after which some passages on both comprehension and summary have been provided for readers to practice.

In order to enable readers to practice, some questions have been provided on both essay writing and letter writing. This is intended to make readers confident in their writing, which they could prepare them for examinations. At the end of this book, answers have also been provided for most of the exercises. Readers are encouraged to try the exercise first before comparing their answers with those provided in the book. Answers were not provided for some of the exercise for which no one answer suffices. For these exercises, readers are encouraged to be creative in providing the correct answers which can be compared with others readers.

As a way of helping learners to practice, exercises have been included in every chapter covering grammatical areas. These exercises are aimed at consolidating the readers’ understanding of the grammar rules discussed.

PART 1

PARTS OF SPEECH

CHAPTER 1

NOUNS AND PRONOUNS

A noun is a naming word. All words that name people, animals, places, things, or ideas are nouns, and all human languages have systems or patterns of naming The following are some common examples of nouns: table, decision, love, football, family, Kailahun, Ngo Blama, Jarju, goat, Banjul, classroom, dining table.

EXERCISE 1

Underline the nouns in the sentences below.

1. My best game is politics.

2. Timoh, Joseph, and Amina are best of friends.

3. Evolution is part of nature.

4. The enthusiasm is in the air.

5. Sunday was the coldest day of the month.

6. My brother is a prominent lawyer.

7. Is it time to go, Fodeiwa?

8. The horse is in Fandu.

9. The chair is old and has a missing leg.

10. When will the boys arrive?

EXERCISE 2

Underline all the nouns in the passage below.

On my way to school this morning, I witnessed a serious fight between two in-laws; both were elderly men. It was in Bakau car park, and a huge crowd were excitedly watching, shouting, laughing, and clapping for the fighters. They fought for some money that was given to them by a driver. The two men had helped the driver to load his vehicle, so he gave them some coins and leones as compensation for their effort. According to one bystander, the man who handled the cash attempted to hide with it. He was later found behind one of the abandoned cars in the corner of the park, eating nyebeh and bread he had bought with the money. When he failed to produce the money, the other man hit him with an iron bar. He was bleeding and swimming in the pool of his blood. Police officers were immediately called to the scene. The bleeding man was taken to the hospital, while the other man was arrested and taken to the police station for investigation.

Types of Nouns

There are six different types of nouns: proper, common, concrete, abstract, collective, and compound.

Proper Nouns

A proper noun is the particular or specific name given to a person, place, animal, or thing. Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter. Some examples include: Sierra Leone, Banjul, Kailahun, John, Fatoumatta, Omar, Blacky, Bundung, House of Assembly, God, Gabriel, Serrekunda, Gambia, Monday, August, Easter.

EXERCISE 3

Underline all the proper nouns in the passage below.

On Friday morning, Alfred left for Kailahun to go play football for his club, Kailahun United. Kalahun United played the match with Kambo Warriors, the most famous club in the country. Kailahun United has Amara, Osman, Tommy, and Sahr as its star players. The Head of State donated Le 500,000 to each of the teams. Mr John Jusu from Nyandehun, was the referee for the match. When he blew his whistle to start the game, Modou of Kailahun United passed the ball to Lamin. From him the ball went to Mustapha, who crossed it to Tamba.

Bubakar of Kambo Warriors, the man of the match, scored the first goal in the tenth minute. At the end of the ninety minutes, it was Kambo Warriors 3, Kailahun United 2. The National Stadium was jam-packed with jubilant fans from all corners of the country. Among them were Muslims, Christians, ChrisMus, and freethinkers, all sitting together to watch the match.

Common Nouns

Common nouns do not refer to any specific person, animal, place, or thing. A common noun is a general name for kinds of people, animals, places, things, or ideas; for example, boy, father, goat, town, village, government, month, building, country.

EXERCISE 4

Underline all the common nouns in the passage below.

The youths nowadays have no patience about life. This impatience may be one of the reasons many young people act in ways that cause them regret. Let us imagine that a young man and a young woman run into each other today, propose marriage tomorrow, and the next day are a couple. They do not ask for any parental advice or blessing, nor do they give themselves enough time to observe each other. Such marriage is always temporary. My brother engaged in one such marriage in the past. He met the girl in a nightclub when he was celebrating his eighteenth birthday. Two weeks after, he informed the family that he had met a woman he loved and wanted to marry. To our greatest dismay, he did not even know the actual name of the girl, her tribe, her home, or a single member of her family. Realizing this, our father thanked him and asked him to lead us to the girl’s family, which he was unable to do. He was ridiculed.

Compound Nouns

A compound noun is formed from two or more words. Closed compound nouns are written as single words and are often formed from two nouns: classroom, playpen, bookcase, software, firewood, tablecloth. Hyphenated compound nouns are formed from two or more words, usually including at least one noun but often other parts of speech as well: brother-in-law, passers-by, merry-go-round. Open compound nouns are written as two or more separate words that function grammatically as a single noun: high school, city hall, head of state, secretary general, state house, dining table.

EXERCISE 5

Underline all the compound nouns in the passage below.

Nowadays, football is the best game in the world. It is written about in every newspaper around the globe. The grandchildren of my brother-in-law have vowed to have it as their future career. Their late grandmother loved to play volleyball and basketball. She had many playmates when she was in the game. On the Merry-Go-Round Day in Kailahun, she won several prizes. Among them were toothbrushes, a tablecloth, gunpowder, a teacup, and a penknife. When these grandchildren decided to play football, I expected they would be famous in future, especially since their landlords have constructed a pitch for them and bought them a cupboard full of the necessary textbooks about the game. Among the books were some with teaspoons and baseball pictures on the cover. They were the most important ones for their training. Now Kailahun hopes to produce world-class footballers. Fodei Lahai told us that he saw these promising boys last year on Tobaski Day, Christmas Day, and Easter merrymaking in and around Fandu Neiwuibu in Nyadehun Mambabu, Kailahun District, eastern province of Sierra Leone.

Collective Nouns

A collective noun is a name for a group or collection of animals, people, or things which act or are referred to as single unit. All collective nouns are singular in number but plural in meaning: family, congregation, audience, crew, flock, class, mob, band, committee.

EXERCISE 6

Underline all the collective nouns in the passage below.

Most communities in the world today are prone to violence. Youths these days can be easily fashioned into destructive weapons that will destroy their own society and even their own lives. For instance, two days ago, a mob of youths attacked and killed a trader for not selling to them what he hadn’t in his shop. In another incident, some groups among the spectators attacked one another after an argument had broken among them. The audience in Community Centre in Kailahun set fire on the building when one of the actors left the stage earlier than expected. Why is the world so violent these days? Is it because of the way families bring up their children? Psychologists and sociologists must work hard to find out how peace in society must be maintained. One thing we must do is to ask the congregations in the churches and mosques to pray for world peace.

EXERCISE 7

Underline all the collective nouns in the sentences below.

1. My family is part of the congregation that worship in St Pius Parish X in Bo.

2. The violent mob demonstrated against the act of the crew.

3. The team did not play to the expectation of their fans.

4. This community set up the committee to monitor the work.

5. The destruction of the swarm was the staff’s decision.

6. I was part of the band that entertained the harem of the king.

7. The light from the galaxy exposed the gang of thieves in hell.

8. Maintaining groups within the club may lead to division.

9. I saw our couple in the huge crowd that came to welcome us.

10. A herd of cattle destroyed the colony of termites.

Concrete Nouns

A concrete noun names physical objects—including things, animals, people, or places—that we can see or touch: Paul, city, school, chair, table. It is the opposite of an abstract noun.

EXERCISE 8

Underline the concrete nouns in the sentences below.

1. The action of the actors did not please the audience at the theatre.

2. The consumption of the unpleasant food causes illnesses.

3. Any community with many happy families is less violent.

4. Most lovers love entertainment but hate tedious jobs.

5. I see no honour in the behaviour of dignified people these days.

6. God created the heaven and earth for all mankind.

7. Football has become the major game in the world.

Abstract Nouns

Abstract nouns refer to ideas, feelings, or qualities that we cannot see or touch. Examples include sorrow, relief, love, patriotism, language, air, God, Tobaski Day.

EXERCISE 9

Underline all the concrete nouns and circle the abstract nouns in the passage below.

My grandfather, Kennie Fodei Lahai, then the paramount chief of Luawa chiefdom in Kailahhun district, was a philosopher. One afternoon, he expressed to me the confusion and concerned about creation. God Almighty, together with His angels, created this universe and everything in it. He did the creation through words in His own language. It is only we the humans God used his hand to create. That makes us very special from all the other creatures. That is even the reason why He gave us dominion over everything He created. This also shows that He loves us more than any other creature. Love, loyalty, honesty and perfection are among the things Almighty God demands from us in return for His love for us. Love and perfection are the greatest of all. Allah wants us to love one another and be perfect like Him. But how can this be possible? Will the life be normal if it happens as He wants? For instance, all of us are made in His own image, but no one is perfect like Him. Again, if we are all perfect like Him, and we love one another like ourselves, how can the lawyers, judges, police, criminals, doctors and clergy men get their daily bread? There will be no crimes, so those who live on crime will have no source of income; no case will go to court for lawyers and judges. There will be no sickness for doctors to treat and get money. There will be no need for religion since everyone will be perfect and commits no sin. This is the great wonder about Him that no one can understand. Anyway, let us pray for His mercy to reign on us on the Judgment day. I told him slowly when he finished speaking.

EXERCISE 10

1. State the differences between a proper noun and a common noun.

2. What is the difference between a compound noun and a collective noun?

3. State the differences between a concrete noun and an abstract noun.

Please carefully read and understand this fact about the kinds of nouns discussed above: All nouns are either proper or common; they are either concrete or abstract. Collective or compound nouns can also be a proper noun, common noun, concrete noun or abstract noun. Observe the examples.

Eg: ‘Foundation Day’ and ‘Almighty God’ are examples of proper noun, compound noun and abstract noun. ‘Love’, ‘truth’ and ‘sadness’ are examples of common noun and abstract noun. ‘Banjul’, ‘Africa’ and ‘John’ are examples of proper noun and concrete nouns. ‘Table’, ‘book’, ‘dog’ and ‘boy’ are examples of common noun and concrete noun.

EXERCISE 11

Place the nouns below in the appropriate categories they belong. Note that a noun can fit into more than one category.

For example the noun ‘Tobaski Day’ can be appropriate in the categories of proper noun, abstract noun and compound noun.

Now do the rest.

bread, butter scot, family, Peter, Banjul, Easter Sunday, mob, beauty, water, marriage, grandmother, honesty, Serrekunda, committee, ignorance, laptop, crowd, doctor, God, sister-in-law, freedom, New York, angel, happiness, Tom, teaspoon, football, patriotism, peace, Tuesday, Head of State, congregation, toothbrush, Kailahun, community, secretary general, sweet heart, boy, air, stone, prayer, holiday, John, table, sin, children, audience, authority, opinion, money etc.

Unique Features of Nouns

Nouns have some characteristics that distinguishes them from other parts of speech. There are four distinctive features of nouns. If these features are properly understood, one can easily distinguish nouns from the other parts of speech in sentences. The four features include the following:

a) Nouns are either singular or plural, countable or uncountable.

b) Nouns indicate or show possession or ownership (possessive case)

c) Nouns could be derived from other word classes (parts of speech) by taking suffix.

d) Articles such as ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ come before nouns. (determiners).

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Nouns can be either countable or uncountable. Countable nouns are nouns that we can count. Humans, animals, stones, books, houses etc. are examples of countable nouns. Nouns that we cannot count are known as uncountable or mass nouns. Gas, liquid, water, milk, sugar, rice, sand, flour, oil, kerosene, etc. are examples of uncountable nouns. Most mass nouns could be counted by their containers. For example, a gallon of paint, three bags of rice, two gallons of petrol, four cups of water.

a) Singular and plural Nouns: In grammar, only two numbers exist; they are one (singular) and more than one (plural). Most nouns change form to show number. A singular noun names one person, place, animal, thing or idea; while a plural noun names more than one person, place, animal, thing or idea. Plural of most nouns is formed by adding the suffix ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ to the singular form. Formation of plural of most nouns involves spelling change. In studying the ways nouns form their plurals, we study about regular and irregular nouns.

Regular nouns: Regular nouns are those nouns that form their plural by adding ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ to the singular form. Some grammarians say, no spelling change occurs in regular nouns. Instead, the suffix (‘-s’ or ‘-es’) is added. Here are some examples: table-tables, chair-chairs, pen-pens, bench-benches, box – boxes, mango - mangoes etc. Below are some common rules to form the plural of nouns.

i) Add ‘-s’ to form the plural of nouns that end with ‘o’ if the ‘o’ is preceded by a vowel sound:

Eg video-videos, radio-radios, stereo-stereos etc.

ii) Add ‘-es’ to form the plural of some nouns ending in ‘o’ if the ‘o’ is preceded by consonant sound.

Eg: hero-heroes, zero-zeroes, echo-echoes etc.

iii) Also add ‘-s’ to form the plural of most nouns naming musical instruments with their spellings ending in ‘o’, even if the ‘o’ is preceded by a consonant sound.

eg piano-pianos, solo-solos, banjo-banjos.

iv) Add ‘-s’ to form the plural of nouns that end with ‘y’, if the ‘y’ is preceded by a vowel sound.

Eg: boy-boys, key-keys, tray-trays, etc.

Form the plural of a noun that ends in ‘y’ by changing the ‘y’ to ‘‘‘ and add ‘es’, if the ‘y’ is preceded by consonant sound. Eg: lady-ladies, lorry-lorries, body-bodies etc. (irregular noun)

v) Add ‘s’ to form the plural of any proper noun ending in ‘y’; it doesn’t matter which letter precedes the ‘y’. Eg Brady - Bradys, Mansaray - Mansarays, Tarawally - Tarawallys, Touray - Tourays etc.

vi) Add ‘s’ to form the plural of some nouns ending in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ if the ‘f’ or ‘fe’ is preceded by vowel sound. Eg: hoof-, hoofs, proof-proofs safe-safes etc.

Note that some nouns are exceptions to this rule. Eg: wife-wives, knife-knives, leaf-leaves, loaf - loaves.

vii) Form the plural of most nouns ending in f or fe by changing the f or fe to v and add es. eg half-halves, self-selves etc

viii) Add ‘-es’ to form the plural of nouns ending in ‘ch’, ‘sh’,’s’, ‘x,’ ‘z’. Eg: church-churches, clash-clashes, class-classes, glass-glasses, box-boxes, buzz-buzzes etc

Irregular nouns: These are nouns that do not follow any specific rule in forming their plurals. In some cases,