ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

MPU 3022

Word Classes
• Prepositions
- place
- time
- movement and direction
- manners
- means
• Conjunctions
- Coordinating conjunctions
- Subordinating conjunctions

• Interjections
 PREPOSITION
• A common preposition is a word that shows the
relationship between a noun or a pronoun and
another word in the sentence.
• The man swam under the bridge. ( Under
connects the idea of swam and bridge.)
• She walked down the aisle. (Down connects
walked and aisle.)
• Julie walked around the campus and toward
town. (Around connects walked and campus.
Toward connects walked and town. )
Commonly used preposition
• But is a preposition only when it can be
replaced by the word except.
• e.g. “All but Teddy went inside,”
– but is a preposition since it connects All and Teddy
and can be replaced by the word except.
Compound preposition
 Adverb or preposition?
• The difference between a preposition and an adverb is that an
adverb answers the questions, Where? When? How? To what
extent? by itself.
• A preposition requires an object/ followed by a noun.
• Both common and compound prepositions need more than
just themselves to answer the same questions:
– He fell down. (Down is an adverb because it takes only one
word to tell where he fell/ does not take object)
– He fell down the stairs. (Down is a preposition because it
takes more than a single word to tell where he fell/
followed by object)

– Trey walked aboard.

– Trey walked aboard the ship.
Preposition of Place
• Prepositions of place are used to show the
place where something is located such as at,
in, on, while, during, near, over, under,
between, behind, etc.
For example:
• Dog is on the floor.
• My home is near to the office.
• My home is behind the metro station.
• Mom is in the room.
 Preposition of Time:

• Prepositions of time are used to indicate time

of an action or time relationship between
nouns in the sentence. Such as at, to, in, etc.
For example:
• I go to school daily at nine o’clock.
• My result gets declared in March.
 Preposition of Direction

• Prepositions of direction are used to indicate

direction of someone or something in the
sentence such as over, under, to, on, into, in,
onto, right, left, etc.
For example:
• It's time to go to
• The train is going into the tunnel.
• We are going over the bridge.
 Prepositions of manner
• are about the way something happens or how
something is done. They often use the
word by. Some examples of preposition of
manner are by, in, like, on and with.
For example:
• We went there by taxi.
• The supplies were dropped by parachute.
• She reacted with anger to what he said.
 prepositions of means
• show how, why, with what and what for.
• They are those little words that play a big role in communication and
understanding.

• ** Showing LIKE or HOW

AS = in the capacity of someone's profession/ habit

He takes over as managing director next month.

• ** Showing WHAT FOR or PURPOSE

FOR = the express purpose

This machine is used for making computer screens and televisions.

 prepositions of means
** Showing WHAT WITH or BY WHAT

BY = A. instrument (human or object) B. means C. agent (in the

passive) D. author / creator

A. He was killed by a falling boulder.

B. You'll have to come by air if you want to get here before
Thursday.
C. The new shopping mall was built by a private company.
D. Have you read the new book by Stephen King?
 conjunctions
• A conjunction connects words or group of words .
• There are three types of conjunctions:
coordinating conjunctions , correlative
conjunctions , and subordinating conjunctions.
• A coordinating conjunction is a single connecting
word. These seven words are for, and, nor, but,
or, yet, and so.
– The boys and girls worked at the fair. ( And joins the
names boys and girls. )
– Paula or Jeannine can go with you tonight. ( Or joins
the names Paula and Jeannine. )
 Conjunctions
– I would like to help you, but I will be busy tonight.
( But joins two sentences or complete ideas.)
– We must leave early so we can get to the wedding
reception on time. ( So joins two sentences or two
complete ideas.)
• Remember the made-up word FANBOYS when
you memorize the coordinating conjunctions.
Each letter in this word ( For, And, Nor, But, Or,
Yet, So) stands for a coordinating conjunction.
• Correlative conjunctions are pairs of connecting
words. These five pairs of words are both/and,
either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also, and
whether/or.
– Both Henry and Henrietta are leaving the dance now.
(The correlative conjunctions join two names.)
– Not only will they leave now, but they will also not be
here to help clean up. (The correlative conjunctions
join two sentences or complete ideas.)
– Either go with them or stay here and help. (The
correlative conjunctions illustrate a choice.)
– He went neither to the stadium nor to the concert hall
during this vacation. (The correlative conjunctions join
two prepositional phrases.)
• A subordinating conjunction is a word that
connects a main clause to a subordinate clause.
• A main clause is an independent clause that can
stand alone by itself as a sentence.
• For example, the sentence "The student failed the
test" is an example of a main clause.
• A subordinate clause is a dependent clause that
adds some extra information to the main clause.
These phrases cannot stand by themselves, and
their meaning is dependent upon that of the
independent clause.
• "The student failed the test because she didn't
study.“
• “Although I’ve been here before, he’s just too
hard to ignore”

– “because she didn't study." is not a complete idea

and cannot stand on its own.
– “Although I’ve been here before”

– Other sub conjunctions: when, unless, once etc

 Interjections
• An interjection is a word that expresses strong
feeling or emotion:
• An interjection usually comes at the beginning of
the sentence.
• An interjection is often followed by an
exclamation point (!) when the emotion is strong
or a comma (,) when the emotion is mild.
• Do not overuse interjections.
• Include one when you want to make your point. If
you use too many interjections, your writing loses
its power and effectiveness.
Examples of interjections