• Nouns

WORD CLASS
P R E PA R E D B Y H A Z R I S H A H R E E N H A S H I M
•
•
Verbs
Adjectives
• Adverbs
INTRODUCTION
English has four major word classes
 Nouns  Pronoun
 Verbs  Determiner
 Adjectives  Preposition
 Conjunction
 Adverbs
 Interjection

Many words belong to more than one word class

1. It’s an interesting book.
2. We ought to book a holiday soon.

3. He loves fast cars.

4. Don’t drive so fast.
 AN ANATOMY OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH

Noun Verb Det Noun Prep Noun Conj Verb Adv

Joe threw some stones at Ann and laughed loudly

when a small stone hit her head. “Ouch!” she cried.

Conj Article Adj Noun Verb Pronoun Noun Inter Pronoun Verb
NOUNS
One of the four major word classes; largest word class

Refers to a person, place, animal, or thing

cont.

boy place dog student president

girl picture Maria Lennon John
man woman love book Manchester
bird teacher computer tree name
idea mother
 Common
Used to name people, places or things
in general. It refers to the class or type
of person or thing (without being
specific).
Example:
girl, city, animal, house, food, etc.
Countable
Have a singular and a plural from and
can be used with a number or a/an
before it.
Example:
car, desk, cup, house, bike
Proper
Used to name a specific (or individual)
person, place, or thing. Proper nouns
begin with a capital letter.
Example:
John, London, Pluto, France, etc.
Uncountable
Cannot be counted. Often refer to
substances, liquids, and abstract ideas.
Example:
milk, air, happiness
 Concrete
Refer to people of things that exist
physically and that at least one of the
sense can detect.
Example:
dog, tree, apple, moon, sock
Compound
Two or more words that create a noun.
Can be written as one word, joined by a
hyphen, or written as separate words.
Example:
rainfall, son-in-law, credit card
Abstract
Have no physical existence. Refer to
ideas, emotions, and concepts you cannot
see, touch, hear, smell, or taste.
Example:
love, time, fear, freedom
Collective
Refer to a set or group of people,
animals, or things. Often followed by OF
+ PLURAL NOUNS (bunch of flowers).
Example:
team, pile, stack, flock, bunch:
ADJECTIVES
A word that describes a person, thing, or place
 Describe or denotes the qualities of something

Positive Comparative Superlative

(normal)
-er -est
Regular and good better best
irregular adjectives bad worse worst
Add more or most Polite more polite most polite
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
GENERAL FORM

adjective noun
 CAN WE USE MORE ADJECTIVES IN A SENTENCE?
Opinion Size Age Shape Colour Nationality Material Purpose Noun
old brown Persian carpet
fast modern blue fishing boat
two silk scarves
beautiful
small round table
VERBS
A verb is a word which says what a noun or pronoun does
 Denotes an action or state of being

Every sentence MUST have a verb

 Wrong
She at the bus-station.
He back home.
The food delicious.
She tired.
They angry with me.
The children sleepy.
Correct
She is at the bus-station. “is” is a
verb?
He went back home.
The food tastes delicious.
She feels tired.
They are angry with me.
The children looked sleepy.
FOUR INFLECTIONS CAN BE USED WITH ENGLISH
VERBS
1. -s of third person singular present tense verbs
 Sue jogs every day.

2. -ed of past tense verbs

 She jogged yesterday.

3. -en of the past participle

 He has seen the movie three times already.

4. -ing of the present participle

 I am teaching three courses this term.
ADVERBS
A word that gives more information about a verb, an adjective or
an adverb
 Modifies verbs and contribute meaning of various sorts of sentences

Common adverbs are

1. Direction
 Jim pointed there.
2. Location
 Isabel shops locally.
3. Manner
 The choir sang joyfully at the ordination.
4. Time
 Soon Rachel will retire.
5. Frequency
 We visit our friends in Selangor occasionally.
HOW TO IDENTIFY ADVERBS?
Sentences
He counts slowly up till twenty.
The children ran happily to their mother.
He speaks loudly to the audience.
He works very hard to support his family.
He can work very fast.
Get up early in the morning.
He can play badminton very well.
Susan plays the guitar well.
He goes there to eat.
We will meet next week.
PRONOUNS
A word that takes the place of a noun
 Refers to or replace nouns and noun phrases within a text

Some pronouns
1. Subject
2. Object
3. Possessive
4. Demonstrative
5. Etc.
 Pronouns Examples
Subject I, you, he, she, it, we, they
Object me, you, him, her, it, us, them
Reflexive myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself,
ourselves, themselves
Possessive (Pronouns) mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs
Demonstrative this, that, these, those
Relative Pronouns who, which, whose, whom, that
Indefinite Pronouns everyone, everybody, everything,
someone, somebody, something, anyone,
anybody, anything, nobody (takes singular
verb)
Interrogative Pronouns who, whom, which, whose, what,
DETERMINERS
Articles
 The
 An
A

Demonstratives
 This
 That
 These
 Those
PREPOSITIONS
A word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun with another
word in a sentence

Prepositions are usually one word

 In
 To
 At
 Under
 Of
 On

Can be two or three words

 On top of
 Out of
CONJUNCTIONS
A word which joins words, phrases, or clauses

There are two types of conjunctions

1. Coordinating conjunctions
2. Subordinating conjunctions

Conjunctions
 And
 But
 Because
 Although
 Etc.
TYPES OF CONJUNCTIONS
Coordinating Conjunctions
Join elements that are grammatically equal
1. Marianne and Diane wrote this book.
2. Diane lives in Selangor, but Marianne live in
Shah Alam.
Subordinating Conjunctions
Join subordinate clause to a main one
Independent Clause + Dependent Clause
1. It was hard to write a book together because
they live so far apart.
2. Although Marianne and Diane live far apart,
they are still friends.
INTERJECTIONS
A word which expresses
strong emotion