Lecture 4

What is Part of Speech?

A part of speech is a category of words with

different grammatical functions.
There are 8 parts of speech in the English
Language Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective,
Adverb,
Preposition,
Conjunction
and
Interjection.
Each part of speech explains not what the
word is, but how the word is used.

Noun
Pronoun

Interjection

Preposition

Part of
Speech

Verb

Adjective

Conjunction
Adverb

By how word is used?

Why?

The same word can be of a certain

part of speech in one
sentence/context
A different part of speech in another
context.
E.g Noun Verb/Adjective

How the word is

used?
Same word, different function
Example1: Cook
a) Sharon bought a cook book.
(Adj)
b) My mother is a good cook.
(Noun)
c) She is trying to cook his favourite dish.
(Verb)

Other examples:
1. Amy has just bought a book. (Noun)
Do you want to book your flight ticket? (Verb)
2. We are swimming in the lake. (verb)
Swimming is a good hobby. (Noun)
3.

Group 2 will present their topic in front of class

today. (verb)
Will you be buying her a present for her
birthday? (noun)

4. Drink more water. It is good for your body. (verb)

Im thirsty. Buy me a drink. (noun)

1. Noun
Functions : to name a person, animal,
place,
thing, idea or concept,
emotion
and time
Person
~ doctor, smuggler,
employer
Animal
~ whale, elephant, horse
Place
~ path, beach, jungle
Thing
~ flag, clock, flower
Idea / concept ~ democracy, universe

Common & Proper Nouns

Common nouns are general names.
Proper nouns are the names of specific people,
animals, places, publications, movies, things,
time.
Person ~ Mr Lim, Hamdan, Tony
Place ~ Penang, Kedah,
Title
~ Readers Digest, Titanic
Thing ~ Panasonic, Proton Wira
Time ~ Tuesday, February

Concrete & Abstract Nouns

Concrete nouns - can be measured and

perceived.
Examples: Car, River, Rainbow

Abstract nouns - emotions, concepts, and

qualities.
Examples:
concept ~ death, religion
emotion ~ fear, excitement, joy, love
quality ~ intelligence, beauty, obedience

Compound nouns

2 or more words that forms a single

unit.
The new unit - different meaning from
the individual meaning of the words.
Can be written as separate words,
hyphen or as a single word.

Compound Noun

Example:
key
+

board

keyboard

Other examples:
swimming + pool = swimming pool
ball + room = ballroom
brother + in + law = brother-in-law

Collective Nouns
Used to name a number of people,
things or animal as a whole.
Ex: a) People -

a band of musiciansa team of football

players

Collective Nouns
Ex: b) Things -

a _____________ of
pictures

a ____________ of
beads

Collective Nouns
Ex: c) Animals -

a _____________ of
chickens

a ____________ of
bees

More Collective Nouns

People
a) a class of: pupils, students
b) a company of: actors, soldiers
c) a galaxy of: beautiful girls, film stars
d) a gang of: prisoners, robbers, thieves
Things
a) an album of: photographs, stamps
b) a book of: exercises, notes
c) a bunch of: flowers, bananas, keys
d) a bundle of: old clothes, firewood, hay

More Collective Nouns

Animals
a) a cloud of: fish, insects, flies,
locusts
b) a flock of: birds, geese, sheep
c) a litter of: puppies, kittens, piglets
d) a nest of: mice, ants, rabbits
e) a herd of: deer, elephants, goats

Countable & Uncountable

Nouns

Countable nouns - nouns that can be

counted.
Eg. weekend, Monday, tree, dollar, bus
Uncountable nouns are those cannot
be counted.
Eg. rain, oxygen, wind, furniture, money,
sand

Try this out

Westlakes residential area comes with standard
furniture for all students a closet, a bed, a
table and a chair.
Proper Noun Westlake
Common noun area, students, closet, bed, table,
chair
Concrete noun students, closet, bed, table, chair
Countable noun students, closet, bed, table,
chair
Uncountable noun area, furniture

Count the nouns

The Harry Potter novels revolve around
Harry Potter, an orphan who discovers that
he is a wizard. Wizard ability is inborn, but
children are sent to wizarding school to
learn the magical skills necessary to
succeed in the wizarding world. Harry is
invited to attend the boarding school called
Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry. Each book chronicles one year in
Harry's life, and most of the events happen
at Hogwarts. As he struggles through
adolescence, Harry learns to overcome
many magical, social and emotional
hurdles.

2. Pronoun

A word which refers or replaces a noun or

another pronoun.
must match the number and gender of the noun
Have the same functions as nouns: They may act
as
a) subjects and subject complements
b) direct or indirect objects
c) objects of prepositions.
The noun that a pronoun refers to is called the
antecedent of the pronoun.
In the sentence George wrote the essay in class
and typed it later the noun essay is the
antecedent of the pronoun it.

What is

Subject
The person or thing which
performing the verb/action.
Example: He complained about his
new job.
He = Pronoun as subject.

What is

Subject complements
A noun / adjective / pronoun that follows a linking
verb.
Example 1: It was he who won the match last night.
It = subject; was = linking verb;
he = pronoun as subject complement.
Example 2: Remember the amazing guitarist I

met? This is she.

This = subject; is = linking verb; she = subject
complement.

What is

Object
A noun/pronoun that is being acted on
by a verb/preposition.
Example: Please pass it to her.
it = direct object
her = indirect object
Direct object receives direct action from
the subject.
Indirect object receives secondary action
from the subject.

Identify the direct and

indirect object from the
sentences:
1.

Elsie gave her son a car.

2.

Mrs. Anderson wrote Dave a letter.

Identify the direct and

indirect object from the
sentences:

1.
2.

Elsie gave her son a car.

Mrs. Anderson wrote Dave a letter.

Answer:

Elsiegave
Mrs.Andersonwrote

indirectobject
herson
Dave

directobject
acar.
aletter.

Identify the direct and

indirect object from the
sentences:
1.

Elsie gave a car to her son.

2.

Mrs. Anderson wrote Dave a letter.

Identify the direct and

indirect object from the
sentences:

1.
2.

Elsie gave her son a car.

Mrs. Anderson sent a letter to Dave.

Answer:

Elsiegave
Mrs.Andersonsent

directobject
acar
aletter

indirectobject
toherson.
toDave.

What is

The object of preposition

The noun/pronoun which follows a
preposition.
Example: She sits near it.
He walked behind them.
The boy stands between us.

2. Pronouns

Pronouns can replace nouns or other

pronouns.
It can be classified into several types:
personal pronouns, demonstrative
pronouns, interrogative pronouns,
indefinite pronouns, relative
pronouns, and reflexive pronouns.

Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Number

singular

Person

Gender

Subject

Object

1st

male/femal
e

me

2nd

male/femal
e

you

you

male

he

him

female

she

her

neutral

it

it

1st

male/femal
e

we

us

2nd

male/femal
e

you

you

3rd

male/femal
e/neutral

they

them

3rd

plural

Demonstrative Pronouns
A demonstrative pronoun represents a thing
or things:
near in distance or time ( this, these)
far in distance or time ( that, those)

Interrogative Pronouns

We use interrogative pronouns to ask

questions. The interrogative pronoun
represents the thing that we don't know
(what we are asking the question about).
There are four main interrogative
pronouns: who, whom, what, which
Possessive pronoun whose can also be
an interrogative pronoun.

Interrogative Pronouns
person

subject

object

who

whom

thing

what

person/thin
g

which

person

whose

(possessive
)

Interrogative Pronouns
Who, Whom or Whose?

1.
2.

3.

________ pencil is this?

________ did he talk to when he was
in the cinema?
________ sent you the invitation
card?

Interrogative Pronouns:
Who, Whom, Whose

Who subject (do the action)

Whom object (receive the action)
Whose possessive (tell us the person
something belongs to)

Examples:
1)
Who invites you to the party?
2)
Whom did he invite to his party?
3)
Whose camera is this?

Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that introduces a

relative clause. It is called a "relative" pronoun
because it "relates" to the word that it modifies.
Here is an example:
The person who phoned me last night is my
teacher.

In the above example, "who":

- relates to "person", which it modifies
- introduces the relative clause "who phoned me
last
night"

There are five relative pronouns: who, whom,

whose, which, that

Relative Pronouns

Who (subject) and whom (object) are

generally only for people.
Whose is for possession.
Which is for things.
That can be used for people and things and
as subject and object in defining relative
clauses.

Relative Pronouns
Who, Whom, Whose, Which,
That

The girl who is talking to Jason was his

course mate.
The man whom I met in London last
month is one of my business partners.
That is my uncle whose son is a lawyer.
This is the camera which he bought.
This is the camera that I mentioned the
other day.

Relative Pronouns

Who, Whom, Whose, Which, That

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

The doctor ______ is on duty was my fathers

classmate.
That is my classmate ________ I talked to when I
was on my way to Singapore.
That is my classmate ________ sister is the
Manager of this company.
The guy ________ I dated 2 months ago is now
my best friends husband.
This is the fruit stall ________ I was talking about
the other day.

Reflexive Pronouns
We use the reflexive pronouns to indicate that
the person who realizes the action of the verb is
the same person who receives the action.

Singular

Subject
I
You
He
She
It

Reflexive
myself
yourself
himself
herself
itself

Plural

We
You
They

ourselves
yourselves
themselves

Indefinite Pronouns

An indefinite pronoun does not refer to any

specific person, thing or amount.
It is vague and "not definite". Some typical
indefinite pronouns are:
all, another, any, anybody/anyone, anything,
each, everybody/everyone, everything, few,
many, nobody, none, one, several, some,
somebody/someone

Count the number of indefinite

pronouns
This is a little story about four people named
Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and
Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was
Everybody's job.
Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but
Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody
when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

3. Verb

The most important part in a sentence.

Verb - express actions, events, or
states of being.
The verb is the critical element of the
predicate of a sentence.
Example 1:
Dracula bites his victims on the neck.
The verb "bites" describes the action
Dracula
takes.

Auxiliary Verb

The most common auxiliary verbs (helping verbs) are

"be", "do", and "have".
Auxiliary verbs are used together with a main verb to
give grammatical information.
To be:

Present tense
Past tense form
form
Examples:
am/is/are
was/were
1. She is talking to her best friend. (aux)
2. We were making apple pie. (aux)
3. She is very hardworking. (main)
4. We were residents here. (main)

Auxiliary Verb

To have:
Present tense
Has / have

Past tense
had

Past participle
had

Examples:
1. She has spoken to her brother regarding this.
(aux)
2. I had waited for 6 hours. (aux)
3. She has a brother who is a doctor. (main)
4. I had a dream last night. (main)

Auxiliary Verb

To do:
Present tense
do / does

Past tense
did

Past participle
done

Examples:
1. She does realize her mistake. (aux)
2. I did make that careless error. (aux)
3. She does her homework. (main)
4. I did my job well. (main)

Modal Auxiliary Verbs

Example: will, would, shall, should,

can, could, may, might, must, etc.

Subject

Modal
auxiliary
verb

Primary
auxiliary
verb(s)

Main verb

Object

Sarah

can

sing

opera

You

should

have been

watching

the baby

State-of-being verbs

State of being verbs are often called

linking verbs because they link the
subject of the sentence with
information about it.
Examples:
is / am / are
PREDICATE
was / were
SUBJECT

The teacher is tall.

In this sentence, is links the teacher

to the information about her - the
fact that she is tall.
That is her state of being.

This candy tastes so

sweet.

In this sentence, tastes links candy to

information about it - its sweetness.
Did you think taste was an action
verb? Well, it is - when the subject is
doing the tasting. But here, the candy
isn't doing any tasting. The candy
itself tastes sweet. That is its state of
being.

Action Verbs

Explode! Scream! Sneeze! Type!

Kick! What are these words doing?
They are expressing action,
something that a person, animal,
force of nature, or thing can do.
As a result, we call these words
action verbs

Action Verbs

Example 1:
In the library and at church, Michele
giggles inappropriately.
Giggling is something that Michele can do.

Example 2:
Carlos watched pretty women in skimpy
bikinis parading on the beach.
Watching is something that Carlos can do.

How many verbs can you spot

in this?
The Greek sea god, Proteus, was (like the sea)
capable of changing form in an instant. In order
to get any decent information out of him, you
had to grab him and hold on tight while he went
through his various forms lion, wild boar,
snake, tree, running stream it wasn't easy.
The verb To be is said to be the most protean
of the English language, constantly changing
form, sometimes without much of a discernible
pattern. Considering that we use it so often, it is
really too bad that the verb To be has to be
the most irregular, slippery verb in the
language.

4. Adjective
Functions : to modify a noun or a pronoun by
describing, identifying, or quantifying words.
In
other words, adjective tells us more about a
noun.
Examples: big, heavy, wonderful, sad,
delicious,
foolish, expensive, imported

Possessive Adjectives

We use possessive adjectives to show

who owns or "possesses" something.
The possessive adjectives are:
my, your, his, her, its, our, their

Possessive Adjectives
number

person

possessive
adjective

1st

my

2nd

your

This is my book.
I like your hair.

his

His name is "John".

her

Her name is "Mary".

its

The dog is licking its paw.

1st

our

We have sold our house.

2nd

your

Your children are lovely.

3rd

their

The students thanked their

teacher.

whose

Whose phone did you use?

singular
3rd

plural

example sentence

singular/ 1st/2nd/3r
plural
d

Demonstrative Adjectives

The demonstrative adjectives "this", "these", "that",

"those", and "what" are identical to the
demonstrative pronouns, but are used as adjectives
to modify nouns or noun phrases.
Example:
When the librarian tripped over that cord, she
dropped a pile of books.
In this sentence, the demonstrative adjective "that"
modifies the noun "cord" and the noun phrase "that
cord" is the object of the preposition "over.

Interrogative Adjectives

An interrogative adjective ("which" or "what") is

like an interrogative pronoun, except that it
modifies a noun or noun phrase rather than
standing on its own.
Examples:
1(a) Which car was involved? (Interrogative
Adjective
- modifies car)
1(b) Which is your favourite? (Interrogative
Pronoun)
2(a) What book are they reading? (Interrogative
Adjective - modifies book)
2(b) What is your hobby? (Interrogative Pronoun)

Indefinite Adjectives

An indefinite adjective is an adjective formed from

an indefinite pronoun.
The most common indefinite pronouns are: all, any,
anyone, anything, each, everybody, everyone,
everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several,
some, somebody, and someone.
When used as adjectives, these are known as
"indefinite adjectives".

Indefinite Adjectives
Examples:
1(a) There are several in the safe room.
(indefinite pronoun)
1(b) There are several people in the safe
room. (indefinite adjective)
2(a) I have seen some in the cupboard.
(indefinite pronoun)
2(b) I have seen some cartridges in the
cupboard. (indefinite adjective)

Indentify the Adjectives

Some people like to watch scary
movies. My brother too. This week he
plans to watch a Korean horror movie
called The Wig. He is not fainthearted.
Circle the adjectives in the paragraph.

However, if you are using several adjectives to describe facts

about the same thing, then use the following sequence:

Comparatives

Superlatives

Telling Pronouns and Adjectives

apart

Pronouns are used to replace a noun.

Adjectives are used to
describe/modify a noun
Pronouns are usually followed by beverbs/auxiliary verbs.
Adjectives are usually followed by
nouns.

Exercise:

Demonstrative (This/that, These/those)

This book is the one Ive lost two years ago.
This is the book Ive lost two years ago.

Interrogative (What, Which)

Which mamak stall is your favourite in Kampar?
Which is your favourite mamak stall in Kampar?

Indefinite (all, another, any, each, every, few, many,

one, several, some )
The exams are really tough. Many have tried. Few lived
to tell the tale.
The exams are really tough. Many students have tried.
Few students lived to tell the tale.

Find the adjectives

The Harry Potter novels revolve around
Harry Potter, an orphan who discovers that
he is a wizard. Wizard ability is inborn, but
children are sent to wizarding school to
learn the magical skills necessary to
succeed in the wizarding world. Harry is
invited to attend the boarding school called
Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry. Each book chronicles one year in
Harry's life, and most of the events happen
at Hogwarts. As he struggles through
adolescence, Harry learns to overcome
many magical, social and emotional
hurdles.

Just for the fun of it

Defense of the Ancients (DotA) is a
custom scenario for Warcraft III. The
objective of the scenario is for each team
to destroy the opponents' ancient, heavily
guarded structures at opposing corners of
the map. Players use powerful units
known as heroes, and are assisted by
allied heroes and AI-controlled fighters
called "creeps". As in role-playing games,
players level up their hero and use gold to
buy equipment during the mission.

Indentify the part of speech of the

words in blue in the sentences
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.

Don't talk like that.

Sally and Tom are coming back soon.
Some would like to try.
This is a pretty vase.
Let's do it.
Many customers complained about her attitude.
New York is a big city.
These students are smart.
I want the blue ball.
What am I going to do without you?
He will come.
She is the most intelligent child in the class.
Please pass the English textbook to me.
This is my favourite song.