Grammar: Main Parts of Speech

Nouns

• Common nouns: refer to any type of people, places or things
  • The dog is under the umbrella.
• Proper nouns: refer to specific people, places or things
  • Joseph put the ball in the basket.
• Countable nouns: refer to nouns you can count
  • There are three candles in the bedroom.
• Uncountable nouns: refer to nouns you cannot count, like liquids or abstract ideas
  • There is no more milk and sugar in the kitchen.

Articles

Must always be used with singular countable nouns

• Indefinite articles a, an
  • An apple can be red or yellow.
• Definite articles the
  • I like the coffee you gave me.
  • The sugar is white.
• Don’t use articles for proper nouns
  • I’m going to Germany.

Quantifiers

Used to express quantity

• With countable nouns: many, few, a few, fewer, several
  • I have a few pencils.
  • There are several plants in my living room.
• With uncountable nouns: much, little, a bit of
  • I have little patience for your attitude.
  • I’ll have a bit of milk in my tea, please.
• With both: all, some, any, lots of, plenty of, enough
  • I have plenty of energy for the hike.
  • That’s enough coffee for me, thanks.

Pronoun

A word that replaces a noun or noun phrase that has already been mentioned in a text or conversation.

• Personal pronouns (subject): I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they
  • This is my best friend. She is beautiful.
• Personal pronouns (object): me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them
  • Look at the beautiful flowers. Sally planted them.
• Possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their
  • This is my phone.
  • Her father is very tall.
• Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, yours, theirs
  • This is my phone. It’s mine.
  • They have found their seats. Can you see ours?

• Reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

  • Refer to the person or animal that is the subject of the verb.
    • Jane likes herself in red.
  1. As the objecto of the verb:
     • Joe blames himself for the mistake.
  2. As hte objecto of the preposition:
     • Look at yourself!
  3. As the indirect object of a verb:
     • She helped herself to a sandwich.
  4. To emphasise a noun or personal noun:
     • Alex herself baked this amazing pie.

• Reciprocal pronouns: each other, one another

  • When two or more people do the same thing together

    • Jessica and Tom sent each other letters.
    • We sent ona another flowers.
    Warning

    Don't confuse reciprocal pronouns with possessive pronouns!
     • Ted and Lola talk to each other regularly.
     • Ted and Lola talk to themselves regularly.
    

• Demonstrative pronouns: this, these, that, those

  	Near/ close by	far
  Singular	this	that
  Plural	these	those

• Relative pronouns:
  who, whom
  whose
  which
  that

  • We use relative pronouns to introduce relative clauses, which is a sentence used to clarify or add information about who or what we are talking about.
    • Marie Curie is the woman who discovered radium.
    • I’m reading Wild, which is my favourite book, for hte third time.

• Interrogative pronouns: who, what, where, whom, which, whose

  • We use interrogative pronouns to ask questions.
    • Who is that girl you were with?
    • Which shoes should I wear tonight?
      Warning

      Don't confuse who's and whose!
       • who's = who is (person)
       • whose = (possessive)
      

• Indefinite pronouns: somewhere, anyone, nobody…

  	Person	Place	Thing
  All	everyone everybody	everywhere	everything
  some (positive)	someone somebody	somewhere	something
  any (negative)	anyone anybody	anywhere	anything
  None	no one nobody	nowhere	nothing

Adjective

A word used to describe nouns, such as people, objects, events, substances, and ideas.

• Only 1 form:
  • tall, fat, cute, simple, long
• Adding a prefix to an adjective:
  • legal - illegal
  • sensitive - insensitive
  • honest - dishonest
  • famous - infamous
• Adding a suffix to a verb:
  • attract - attractive
  • enjoy - enjoyable
  • hate - hateful
  • create - creative

Adjectives can be used in 3 ways in a sentence:

• Between an article and a noun:
  • I’m eating a juicy strawberry.
  • The kind man lent me his jumper.
• After a linking verb :
  • The classroom is empty.
  • Ben is handsome.
• After a noun or an indefinite pronoun:
  • Is there anything special I should buy from the shop?
  • I spoke to the person concerned.

Cumulative adjectives (different categories)

Used when the adjectives are from different categories (e.g., size, age, or quantity) and must be used in a specific order.

Coordinate adjectives (same category)

Individually modify a noun and are separated by a comma.

• Usually, adjectives from a same category than can be used in any order with a comma between them

1. Positive: She is smart.
2. Comparative: She is smarter than her brother.
3. Superlative: She is the smartest in the family.

• Adjectives with 1 or 2 syllables:
  • add -er to form the comparative
  • add-est to form the superlative
    • sweet-sweeter - sweetest
    • pink-pinker - pinkest
• Adjectives with 2 or more syllables:
  • use more and than to form the comparative
  • use the most to form the superlative
    • beautiful – more beautiful than – the most beautiful
    • pleasant - more pleasant than - the most pleasant

• Special rules

• Irreqular adjectives

• Equal attribute: as + adjective + as
• Equal quantities: as + adjective for quantity + noun + as

Adverbs

An adverb is a word used to describe or modify verbs, adjectives, and prepositions.

• To emphasize or intensify adjectives or adverbs:
  • That was an incredibly moving performance.
  • You went to bed rather early for a Friday night.
  • This flower is remarkably red.
• At the beginning of a phrase, usually to emphasise a point:
  • Finally, we found the toy we were looking for.
  • Suddenly, she started crying.
• In the middle of a phrase, before a verb:
  • She quickly ran ahead.
• At the end of a sentence, or after a verb or clause:
  • She cried desperately.
  • He called for help loudly.

• Categories of adverbs

• Adverbs of manner: She hugged him happily.
• Adverbs of time: I ran 10 miles yesterday.
• Adverbs of place: I like shopping here.
• Adverbs of degree: The coffee is too cold to drink.
• Adverbs of certainty: She’ll probably arrive late.
• Interrogative adverbs: Who is that?

• Comparatives & Superlatives:

  • easily - more easily than - the most easily
  • dangerously - more dangerously than - the most dangerously

• Irreqular adjectives

  Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
  Short adverbs that do NOT end in -ly hard, fast, late	harder, faster, later	hardest, fastest, latest
  badly	worse	worst
  far	farther/ further	farthest/ furthest
  little	less	least
  well	better	best

Prepositions

A word, or a combination of words, used to show the relationship between a noun or pronoun in a sentence to another word in the same sentence.

Prepositions can be combined with nouns, adjectives, and verbs, and are always followed by a noun or pronoun.

A preposition must always be followed by a noun or pronoun!!

• Simple prepositions: in, on, off, over, at…
  • The house is in Italy.
• Double prepositions: into, upon, out of…
  • Pour the cream into the bowl.
• Compound prepositions: across from, in addition to, from beneath…
  • My husband sits across from me at the dinner table.

• Prepositions of position or place: in, on, at, above, under, between, near to…
• Prepositions of movement or direction: to, into, at, along, towards…
• Prepositions of time: in, on, at, for, during, until, after…
• Prepositions of purpose: for, because of, from…

Conjunctions

A word that connects similar words or groups of words like phrases, clauses and sentences.

• Coordinating conjunctions, also called coordinators, are used to link two or more main clauses or nouns
  • and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so
    • I bought a new jumper, and my sister bought shoes.
• Subordinating conjunctions, also called subordinators, are used to link a dependant clause to an independent one:
  • after, although, because, as, though, once…
    • I’ll email my teacher once I’m finished with my essay.
• A correlative conjunction is a pair of words that work together to connect two grammatically equal parts of a sentence
  • either…or, neither…nor, both… and, whether…or
    • I don’t know whether she’ll end up dating Jason or Arnold.

Interjections

• Interjections are a single or combination of words that are used to express surprise or emotion.
• Don’t use them in formal or written business English!

Verbs

Indicate an action, occurrence, or state of being.
All sentences require a verb

1. Action verbs:
   • Indicate an action or possession
     • I saw Joe at the supermarket yesterday.
     • I have two black dresses.
   1. Transitive action verbs:
      • Have a noun that receives the action of the verb
        • Molly buys shoes.
        • I eat vegetables every day.
   2. Intransitive action verbs:
      • Never have a direct or indirect object
        • I ran across the street
2. Linking verbs:
   • Describe how the subject of a sentence is feeling
     • Joey feels excited.
3. Auxiliary verbs:
   • Helping verbs are used before action or linking verbs to give extra information
     • The dog is walking.
     • The dog was walking.
   • Modal auxiliary verbs: can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, would
     • Laura might learn how to drive
     • Laura must learn how to drive
     • Can I ask you a question?
     • Could I ask you a question?
     • May I ask you a question?