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Parts of speech CHAPTER 1

There are different categories of parts of speech. Each part of speech explains not what the
word is, but how the word is used. The main parts of speech are verbs, nouns, adjectives,
adverbs, determiners, conjunctions, prepositions and pronouns.

nouns
lexical verbs
LEXICAL/CONTENT adjectives
WORDS adverbs
PARTS
OF SPEECH pronouns
FUNCTION/STRUCTURE noun determiners
WORDS conjunctions
auxiliary verbs
prepositions

Lexical words and function words

Parts of speech can be grouped into two major families, depending on their function and on
their grammatical behaviour: Lexical words (or content words) and Function words (or
structure words).

LEXICAL WORDS
Lexical words are the main carriers of information in a text. They can be subdivided into the
following word classes (or parts of speech): nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Of all the
word families, lexical words are the most numerous, and their number is growing all the
time, they are members of open classes. They often have a complex internal structure and
can be composed of several parts: e.g. unfriendliness = un + friend + li + ness. They are
generally the words that are stressed most in speech.

1. Lexical Verbs
The most distinctive feature of lexical Verbs (also called Eg:
main verbs) is that they carry meaning. Some verbs I’m sure you did the rightthing.
express meanings related to actions or physical activity I believe it’s the rightthing to do.
(do, break, walk), others to mental or intellectual You seem very quiet today.
activities (think, believe). Finally, some lexical verbs
express meanings related to states and feelings (be,
seem, like, love). 7
 Parts of speech

2. Nouns
A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events, ideas
and feelings. Nouns can be the subject or the object of a verb; they can be modified by an
adjective and can take a determiner.
Nouns may be divided into basic categories: Countable nouns, uncountable nouns, proper
nouns, and collective nouns.

They live in a house. The family is watching TV.

How much water do you need? The family are quarrelling a lot

Tom is very good at Maths.

3. Adjectives
The main function of adjectives is to modify nouns or pronouns. They describe the qualities of
people, things and abstractions.

I´m carrying a heavy box. The situation is serious.

I think he is guilty. We consider her intelligent.

Adjectives in English cannot take plural or singular form.

He is a tall man. / She is a tall girl.

The student looked interested. / The students looked interested.

They can come before nouns (attributive use). They can come after verbs such as be,
become, seem, look and other linking verbs (predicative use). Some adjectives can be found
after the noun they modify (postpositive use).

I bought a new car. (attributive use)

That car is/looks/seems fast. (predicative use)

The students present will have to wait. (postpositive use)

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 Chapter 1
4. Adverbs
Adverbs add information about the I learned German quickly.
circumstances of a situation or an She was here earlier today.
event.They complete the meaning of Leave straightaway!
verbs stating how, when, where, how
often something happens.

They can also modify adjectives or other adverbs, often expressing

different shades of meaning related to degree and intensity. There are some other
roles that adverbs
You are totally wrong. It was slightly damaged. perform; however, at this
level we will just
Do it right now. / She can run very/really fast/quickly. consider only some.

FUNCTION WORDS
Function words can be categorized in terms of word classes such as prepositions, pronouns,
determiners, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs. They usually indicate meaning relationships
and help us to interpret units containing lexical words, by showing how the units are related
to each other. Function words belong to closed classes, which have a limited and fixed
membership.

1. Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary verbs lack meaning and are added to a main or lexical verb to serve various
functions. Auxiliary verbs can be subdivided into primary auxiliary verbs (be, have, do) and
secondary -or modal auxiliary verbs (will/would, can/could, shall/should, may /might,
must, need, dare). Modal auxiliary verbs are also called defective verbs because they have
only one verbal form each. For example, they cannot take the final ‘s’ inflexion for the third
person singular; they cannot be used in the progressive aspect or in the imperative mood.
Some multiword constructions can function like modal verbs (ought to, have to, used to, be
going to, (had) better, among others). Such constructions are called semi-modals or modal
idioms.
Both Primary and Secondary auxiliary verbs are used mainly in the formation of questions
(tag questions, echo answers) and in the formation of negative statements. Auxiliary verbs -
especially ‘do’- can also be used to create emphasis. Finally, only primary auxiliary verbs are
used in the formation of tenses and other grammatical constructions.

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 Parts of speech

PRIMARY BE: Progressive Tenses and Passive Voice.

AUXILARY HAVE: Perfect Tenses and Causative Use of Have.
VERBS DO: Simple Tenses and in Emphatic forms.

Eg: He is working hard these days. Can you drive?

Aux. lexical modal aux. lexical v.

He has been working hard lately.

Aux. aux lexical You’d better study more.
semi-modal
Does he like water sports?
Aux. lexical

Note that primary auxiliary verbs can also work as lexical verbs and as such
they carry menaing:

LEXICAL VERB AUXILIARY VERB

I am a teacher. I am waiting for the bus.

Gloria has green eyes. Gloria has just finished the exercise.

I did my homework lastnight. Does Alice like watersports?

2. Noun Determiners

A determiner restricts the meaning of a noun by limiting its reference.

articles

NOUN DETERMINERS possessive determiners

demonstrative determiners
quantifiers

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 Chapter 1
2a. Articles

Definite Article (THE) I saw a boy. The boy was wearing a cap.

Indefinite Articles (A / AN) The girls are chatting in the garden.

Zero Article (Ø) (Ø)Girls love clothes and (Ø) boys love football. / (Ø) Life is hard nowadays.

The first time a participant is introduced in a text, the indefinite article is the most
appropriate choice because neither the speaker nor the hearer knows exactly what boy they
are referring to. However, when referring back to the same boy already mentioned before,
the definite article is the best choice. In “the girls are chatting…” the speaker assumes the
hearer knows what girls he/she is talking about, i.e. there is previous shared knowledge.
Finally, Zero Article is the best choice used mainly in generalizations and to refer to
abstractions. Girls in general love clothes, not just the ones I know.

2b. Possessive Determiners

I love my job.
My, your, his, her, its, our, and their are possessive
determiners used with nouns to show possession or Their friends are coming this way.
ownership. That's my folder.

2c. Demonstrative Determiners

Demonstrative determiners (this, that, these,
Have a look at this tape
those) show whether the noun they refer to is
singular or plural and whether it is located near to I need those books.
or far from the speaker or writer.

2d. Quantifiers
A quantifier, as its name implies, expresses I need some coffee
quantity. Quantifiers can be a single word or a I´ve got (a) few tickets
phrase and are used with nouns. They can be used
They have two2 cars.
with both a countable or an uncountable noun to
express quantity or amount. If the quantity is The first3 day I went to school I felt terrible.
definite the quantifier may be referred to as a 2-3 Examples of numerals
numeral.

Some, much, many, (a) few, (a) little, a lot, half, three, second, are some of the most
frequently used quantifiers.
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 Parts of speech

3. Conjunctions
When you combine two clauses in a sentence, you may use a conjunction to link them and to
indicate the relationship between them. There are two kinds of conjunctions. They indicate
the different kinds of relationship between clauses in a sentence.
Coordinating conjunctions link two or more clauses of equal importance.
These are: and, but, or.

The boys shouted and rushed forward.

I asked if I could borrow her bicycle but she refused. Connectors also link clauses,
sentences or paragraphs in a
text. When they are just one
Subordinating conjunctions link two clauses, one of which depends on word they are adverbs as a part
the other. of speech.

When he stopped, no one said anything. The bellboy answered gently.

However, he was punished by
They were going by car because it was more comfortable. his superior for maltreatment.

Although the wound was healing, he could never be able to speak again.

4. Prepositions
Prepositions are linking words that introduce prepositional phrases, i.e., a preposition +
noun/noun phrase. E.g. about, after, by, down, from, into, towards, around, without, because
of, due to, apart from, despite.

He’ll go with one of the kids.

You can’t rely on any of that information.

He left without saying good-bye.

It’s important that the learner be aware of the fact that a preposition is always
complemented by a noun or noun equivalent, for example, an –ing form (gerund).

I’m looking forward to my holidays. / I’m looking forward to going on holidays.

I’m fond of music. / I’m fond of playing music.

Compare:
I was used to (accustomed to) red wine/drinking red wine. (‘to’ – preposition)

I used to drink wine. (‘to’ – part of the to infinitive)

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 Chapter 1
5. Pronouns
Pronouns fill the position of a noun or a whole noun phrase. They can be classified as:

Subject pronouns: I, you, he/she/it, we, you and they.

Object Pronouns: Me, you, him/her/it, us, you, them.

Possessive Pronouns: Mine, yours, his/hers/its, ours, yours, theirs.

Reflexive Pronouns: Myself, yourself, himself/herself/itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

Indefinite Pronouns: Nobody, somebody, anybody, no one, everybody...

Reciprocal Pronouns: Each other, one another.

Interrogative Pronouns: Who, which...

I won’t tell you how it ended. Nobody knows the answer.

She never introduced herself. They loved each other.
Ours is better than theirs. Who’s that?
He introduced himself.

It is worth pointing out that some determiners can work as pronouns. For example, that, this,
those and these. When these determiners function as pronouns they are called demonstrative
pronouns.

E.g. I don’t like these apples. Give me those.

n. det + NOUN dem. pronoun

Pronouns can perform referential functions, i.e., they either refer to something that has
already been mentioned or that is going to be mentioned. The reference of a pronoun is
usually made clear by its context.

My brother and I attended a boarding school. We had a hard time because it was a very
strict one. Mr. Fox, the headmaster, was a cruel guy. He would beat us whenever.

We / us: my brother and I He: Mr. Fox

It / one: the school

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 Activities
1. Read the following sets of sentences and identify the part of speech of the words in bold.

1. He was in his car. _______________

2. They shook hands and went in. _______________
3. A few years ago jogging was the in thing. _______________
4. These are the ins and outs of the situation. _______________
5. Each individual flower is tiny. _______________
6. Several trees will flower this year for the first time. _______________
7. I love this flower pot. _______________
8. She has moved to a smaller house. _______________
9. We had to drink the restaurant’s house wine. _______________
10. Local authorities will house homeless people. _______________
11. She told me that you were here. _______________
12. What is that? _______________
13. That shirt is too expensive. _______________
14. The show was not that bad. _______________
15. I have a different view on the subject. _______________
16. He is not subject to the normal police discipline code. _______________
17. He subjected her to four years of beatings and abuse. _______________

2. Identify the part of speech of each word in the following sentences.

1. The garden industry is booming.

___________________________________________________________________

2. We advise everyone to ring before they leave.

___________________________________________________________________

3. We believed we were fighting for a good cause.

___________________________________________________________________

4. Advances have continued, though actual productivity has fallen.

___________________________________________________________________

5. Howard has been working hard over the recess.

14 ___________________________________________________________________
Activities
6. My receptionist will help you choose the frames.
___________________________________________________________________
7. Prices have been rising faster than incomes.
___________________________________________________________________
8. Old people work the hardest.
___________________________________________________________________
9. Football has become international.
___________________________________________________________________

3. Read the text and fill in the chart by grouping the same parts of speech.

Charlie Tait and Willie Tait are identical twin brothers. Charlie is married to Lisa, and Willie is
married to Dawn. Surprisingly, Lisa and Dawn are sisters. Both couples have got three children.
Charlie and Lisa have got one son and two daughters: Kevin, Kylie, and Claire. Willie and Dawn have
got two sons and one daughter: Michael, Scott, and Becky. They all live in Newcastle. Both have a
very large house next to a park.

Nouns Adjectives Adverbs Verbs Prepositions Determiners Pronouns Conjunctions

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 Activities
4. Read the text below and look for one example of:

countable noun _____________ pronoun _____________

proper noun _____________ preposition _____________

auxiliary verb _____________ coordinating conjunction _____________

lexical verb _____________ subordinating conjunction _____________

adjective _____________ possessive determiner _____________

adverb _____________ article _____________

quantifier _____________

Humphrey Bogart was born on Christmas Day in 1899. He grew up in New York
City and started studying to be a doctor; but in 1918 he left college and joined
the US Navy. He fought in the First World War and when he returned to the US
he decided to become an actor. He got a job in the theatre in New York. But in
the 1930s he moved to Hollywood and started working in some films. There he
met and fell in love with Lauren Bacall. They got married very soon after they
met. She was his fourth wife. Although he won an Oscar for best actor for his
role in The African Queen in 1951, his most famous role was as Rick in
Casablanca, which is probably the greatest love story ever on film.

5. Determine the part of speech of the words in bold.

Pets
A pet or companion animal is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or
protection, as opposed to working animals, sport animals, livestock, and laboratory
animals, which are kept primarily for performance, agricultural value, or research. The
most popular pets are noted for their attractive appearances and their loyal or playful
personalities.

Extracted from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet

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