Parts of Speech

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SUIT: Lecture 2
FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION Week 2nd
Parts of speech: Part of speech is a class of words based on the word's

function, the way it works in a sentence.
Noun
A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns give names of concrete or
abstract things in our lives. As babies learn "mom," "dad," or "milk" as their
first word, nouns should be the first topic when you study a foreign language.
For the plural form of most nouns, add s.

bottle – bottles
cup – cups
pencil – pencils
desk – desks
sticker – stickers
window – windows
For nouns that end in ch, x, s, or s sounds, add es.

box – boxes
watch – watches
moss – mosses
bus – buses
For nouns ending in f or fe, change f to v and add es.

wolf – wolves
wife – wives
leaf – leaves
life – lives
Some nouns have different plural forms.

child – children
woman – women
man – men
mouse – mice
Nouns ending in vowels like y or o do not have definite rules.
baby – babies
toy – toys
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kidney – kidneys
potato – potatoes
A few nouns have the same singular and plural forms.

sheep – sheep
deer – deer
series – series
species – species
Countable nouns and Uncountable Nouns
Countable nouns: Can be counted as one or more.
pen, computer, bottle, spoon, desk, cup, television, chair, shoe, finger, flower,
camera, stick, balloon, book, table, comb, etc.
Take an s to form the plural.
 pens, computers, bottles, spoons, desks, cups, televisions, chairs, shoes,

fingers, flowers, cameras, sticks, balloons, books, tables, combs, etc.
Work with expressions such as (a few, few, many, some, every, each, these, and
the number of).
 a few pens, a few computers, many bottles, some spoons, every desk, each
cup, these televisions, the number of chairs,
Non-count nouns
Cannot be counted. They usually express a group or a type.
 water, wood, ice, air, oxygen, English, Spanish, traffic, furniture, milk, wine,
sugar, rice, meat, flour, soccer, sunshine, etc.
Generally cannot be pluralized.

Work both with and without an article (a, an, or the), depending on the context of
the sentence.
 Sugar is sweet.
 The sunshine is beautiful.
 I drink milk.
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 He eats rice.
 The wood is burning.
Work with expressions such as (some, any, enough, this, that, and much).
 We ate some rice and milk.

 I hope to see some sunshine today.
 This meat is good.
 She does not speak much Spanish.
 Do you see any traffic on the road?
 That wine is very old.
Possessive nouns : are used to indicate ownership.

Possessive nouns usually are formed by adding an apostrophe (') and s.
 John's book
 Kerry's car
 Grandma's mirror
When a noun is plural and ends in s, just add an apostrophe (').
 The kids' toys

 My parents' house
 The teachers' lounge
If two people own one thing, add the apostrophe and s to the second person only.
 John and Mary's new house

 David and Sue's wedding
 Tom and Doug's car
If two people own separate things, add the apostrophe and s for each person.
 Susan's and Beth's books

 Jean's and Dan's pants
Ben's and Jim's offices
Pronouns
A pronoun takes the place of a noun.
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Mary is one of the heads of the ToJi Corporation. Mary works with Mr. James and
Mr. James' son Tom. Mr. James and Mr. James' son Tom are experts in
biochemistry. Mary, Mr. James, and Tom researched and invented a drug for
cancer treatment.
If the story above is written using pronouns:
Mary is one of the heads of the ToJi Corporation. She works with Mr. James
and his son Tom. He and his son Tom are experts in biochemistry. They researched
and invented a drug for cancer treatment.
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns refer to a person:
 I go to school.
 You are a student.
 They are Koreans.
 He works here.
 We gave her food.
The word ‘it' refers to an object:
 I drank it.
 It is big.
 They cut it into halves.
'Be' Verbs
A verb shows action or a state of being.
I go home. Home is my place to rest. I like the smell of my house. I feel totally
relaxed. Home refreshes me. At home, I get ready for a new day.
"Be" verbs indicate a state of being.
Verbs must match subjects.
 I am a doctor.
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 He is sleepy.
 We are here.
Negative sentences need ‘not' after the verb.
 I am not a doctor.
 He is not sleepy.
 We are not there.
The verb comes first in interrogative sentences.
 Am I a doctor?
 Is he sleepy?
 Are we there?
"Are not" (is not) can be shortened to "aren't" (isn't).
 He isn't sleepy.
 We aren't there.
Remember the variations of "be" verbs:
Present Negative Interrogative

I am I am not Am I?
You are You are not (aren't) Are you?
He is He is not (isn't) Is he?
She is She is not (isn't) Is she?
It is It is not (isn't) Isn't it?
We are We are not (aren't) Are we?
You are You are not (aren't) Are you?
They are They are not (aren't) Are they?
Action Verbs
Action verbs express action and are the most common verbs.
 He eats bread.
 She walks to the station.
 It floats on the sea.
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Adjectives
Adjectives generally appear immediately before the noun.
 A pretty girl
 Red flowers
 A long stick
 Heavy boxes
 Warm weather
Commonly, adjectives of opposite meaning are formed by adding a prefix such

as un, in, or dis.
 clear – unclear, important – unimportant, predictable – unpredictable,

believable – unbelievable, common – uncommon, aware – unaware,
ambiguous – unambiguous, conventional – unconventional, certain –
uncertain
 definite – indefinite, correct – incorrect, comparable – incomparable,
complete – incomplete, evitable – inevitable, expensive – inexpensive
able – disable, similar – dissimilar.
Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Comparative adjectives compare two things. Superlative adjectives compare more
than two things
Commonly, adjectives that contain only one syllable or end in 'y' use 'er' to form
comparatives and 'est' to form superlatives. For adjectives ending in y, change the
'y' to 'i' before adding the 'er' or 'est'.
 old – older – oldest

 young – younger – youngest
 pretty – prettier – prettiest
 long – longer – longest
 short – shorter – shortest
 bright – brighter – brightest
 close – closer – closest
Adjectives with two or more syllables do not change but instead add more to form
comparatives and most to form superlatives.
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 respectable – more respectable – most respectable

 beautiful – more beautiful – most beautiful
 preferable – more preferable – most preferable
 hardworking – more hardworking – most hardworking
Some adjectives have different forms of comparatives and superlatives.
 good – better – best

 bad – worse – worst
 little – less – least
 much (many) – more – most
The word than typically appears in comparative sentences.
 Amy is smarter than Betty.

 Chad is stronger than Dan.
 Greg is more diligent than his brother.
 I have more apples than he.
 She likes him more than me.
Superlatives are typically accompanied by the word the.
 Tom is the oldest man in town.

 Paul is the tallest boy in the neighborhood.
 That shade of blue is the most beautiful color.
Adverbs
An adverb is a part of speech used to describe a verb, adjective, clause, or
another adverb. It simply tells the readers how, where, when, or the degree at
which something was done.
Examples: The manager accepted the challenge very nicely.
Adverbs modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
An adverb tells more about a verb in the sentence.
o The fire engine runs fast.

o Listen to his speech carefully.
o I browse the web frequently.
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o It rained hard.
An adverb describes more about an adjective in the sentence.
o The news is very surprising!

o The coffee is extremely hot, so be careful.
o Nature is really amazing!
An adverb modifies another adverb in the sentence.
o It rains very hard.

o Computers run much faster these days.
o I clean my room less frequently because I am busy.
Commonly, adjectives can be changed to adverbs by adding 'ly'.
• slow – slowly
• quick – quickly
• comfortable – comfortably
• loud – loudly
• clear – clearly
To change adjectives ending in 'y' into adverbs, change the 'y' to 'i' and add 'ly'.
• happy – happily
 easy – easily
PREPOSITION
A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase
modifying another word in the sentence. Therefore a preposition is always
part of a prepositional phrase. The prepositional phrase almost always
functions as an adjective or as an adverb. The following list includes the
most common prepositions:
The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then
she quickly disappeared.
CONJUNCTION
 A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses.
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and... but... or... while... because

A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses, and indicates the relationship
between the elements joined. Coordinating conjunctions connect grammatically
equal elements: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet. Subordinating conjunctions connect
clauses that are not equal: because, although, while, since, etc. There are other
types of conjunctions as well.
The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she
quickly disappeared.
INTERJECTION
 An interjection is a word used to express emotion.
Oh!... Wow!... Oops!
An interjection is a word used to express emotion. It is often followed by an
exclamation point.
Wow! What a beautiful weather.

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1

Parts of speech: Part of speech is a class of words based on the word's

For the plural form of most nouns, add s.

For nouns that end in ch, x, s, or s sounds, add es.

For nouns ending in f or fe, change f to v and add es.

Some nouns have different plural forms.

A few nouns have the same singular and plural forms.

Take an s to form the plural.

 pens, computers, bottles, spoons, desks, cups, televisions, chairs, shoes,

Generally cannot be pluralized.

 We ate some rice and milk.

Possessive nouns : are used to indicate ownership.

When a noun is plural and ends in s, just add an apostrophe (').

 The kids' toys

 John and Mary's new house

 Susan's and Beth's books

Ben's and Jim's offices

If the story above is written using pronouns:

The word ‘it' refers to an object:

"Be" verbs indicate a state of being.

Verbs must match subjects.

Negative sentences need ‘not' after the verb.

The verb comes first in interrogative sentences.

"Are not" (is not) can be shortened to "aren't" (isn't).

Remember the variations of "be" verbs:

Present Negative Interrogative

Commonly, adjectives of opposite meaning are formed by adding a prefix such

 clear – unclear, important – unimportant, predictable – unpredictable,

able – disable, similar – dissimilar.

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

 old – older – oldest

 respectable – more respectable – most respectable

Some adjectives have different forms of comparatives and superlatives.

 good – better – best

The word than typically appears in comparative sentences.

 Amy is smarter than Betty.

Superlatives are typically accompanied by the word the.

 Tom is the oldest man in town.

Examples: The manager accepted the challenge very nicely.

Adverbs modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

An adverb tells more about a verb in the sentence.

o The fire engine runs fast.

An adverb describes more about an adjective in the sentence.

o The news is very surprising!

An adverb modifies another adverb in the sentence.

o It rains very hard.

Commonly, adjectives can be changed to adverbs by adding 'ly'.

and... but... or... while... because

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