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NOUN
A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing and abstract idea. Nouns are usually the first words which small children learn.

The underlined words in the following sentences are all nouns:

Late last year our neighbours bought a goat.
Portia White was an opera singer.
The bus inspector looked at all the passengers' passes.
According to Plutarch, the library at Alexandria was destroyed in 48 B.C.
Philosophy is of little comfort to the starving.

A noun can function in a sentence as a subject, a direct object, an indirect object, a subject complement, an apposite, an adjective or an adverb

Countable and Uncountable Nouns
Nouns may be divided into two groups:
1. Countable Noun is a noun that has both a singular and a plural form.
The plural form is normally made by the addition of "-s".
Ex:

apple an apple apple1 apple2 apple3 three apples

2. Uncountable Nouns has no plural.
These nouns are sometimes called mass noun.
Ex:

wind wind water water soil soil

Collective Nouns
A collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could count the individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as a whole is generally as one unit. You need to be able to recognise collective nouns in order to maintain subject-verb agreement.

A collective noun is similar to a non-countable noun, and is roughly the opposite of a countable noun. In each of the following sentences, the underlined word is a collective noun:

The flock of geese spends most of its time in the pasture.
The collective noun "geese" takes the singular verb "spends." The jury is dining on take-out chicken tonight. In this example the collective noun "jury" is the subject of the singular compound verb "is dining." The steering committee meets every Wednesday afternoon. Here the collective noun "committee" takes a singular verb, "meets." The class was startled by the bursting light bulb.
In this sentence the word "class" is a collective noun and takes the singular compound verb "was startled".

Common and Proper Nouns
Noun may also be classified as common noun and proper noun. One thing that you have to remember is that common noun are general names it has no capital letter unless it begins a sentence or part of a title. Proper nouns are specific names thus it requires capital letter.

A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place or thing in a general sense - - usually, you should write it with a capital letter only when it begins a sentence. A common noun is the opposite of a proper noun.

In each of the following sentences, the common nouns are underlined.

According to the sign, the nearest town is 60 miles away.
All the gardens in the neighbourhood were invaded by beetles this summer.
I don't understand why some people insist on having six different kinds of mustard in their cupboards.
The road crew was startled by sight of three large moose crossing the road.
Many child-care workers are underpaid.

Sometimes you will make proper noun out of common nouns:

The tenant in the Garnet Apartments are appealing the large and sudden increase in their rent.
The meals in the Bouncing Bean Restaurant are less expensive than meals in ordinary restaurants.
Many witches refer to the Renaissance as the Burning Times.
The Diary of Anne Frank is often a child's first introduction to the history of the Holocaust.

Possessive Nouns
In the possessive case, a noun or a pronoun changes its form to show that it is closely related to something else. Usually, nouns become possessive by adding a combination of an apostrophe and the letter "s".

You can form the possesive case of a singular noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and "s", as in the following sentences:

The red suitcase is Cassandra's. The only luggage that was lost was the prime minister's. The exhausted recruits were woken before dawn by the drill sergeant's screams. The miner's face was covered in coal dust.

You can form the possesive case of a singular noun that ends in "s" by adding an apostrophe alone or by adding an apostrophe and "s". You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and "s" You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does end in "s" by adding an apostrophe.

PRONOUN
A pronouns is a word that substitute a noun or anoun phrase.
There are a number of different kinds of pronoun.

Types of Pronoun:
1. Demonstrative Pronoun - points to and identifies a noun or a pronoun.

Ex: this (singular) these (plural) refer to things that are nearby
that (singular) those (plural) refer to things that are farther away

2. Subjective Personal Pronoun - indicates that the pronoun is acting as the subject of the sentence.
Ex: I, you, he, etc.

3. Possessive Pronoun - indicates that the pronoun is acting as a marker of possession and defines who owns a particular object or person.
Ex: mine, yours, his, etc. (shows ownership)

4. Reflexive Pronoun - refer back to the subject of the clause or sentence.
Ex: myself, yourself, herself, etc.

5. Interrogative Pronoun - used to ask questions.
Ex: who, what, where, etc.

6. Negative Pronoun -
Ex: nothing, no, nobody, etc.

7. Reciprocal pronoun -
Ex: each, other, etc.

8. Relative pronoun - used to link one phrase or clause to another phrase or clause.
Ex: who, whose, which, that, etc.

9. Quantifier -
Ex: some, any, something, much, many, little, etc.

10. Indefinite Pronoun - referring to an identifiable but not specified person or thing. An indefinite pronoun conveys the idea of all, any, none, or some.
Ex: everybody, anybody, somebody, all, each (function as a noun)

VERB
Verb is one of the major grammatical group and perhaps the most important part of a sentence. It refers to an action (walk, run, work, do etc.) or a state (be, like, own, etc.). There are two types of verb, regular verb and irregular verb.

REGULAR VERB

Basic Structure: Positive ( + ) subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
Negative ( - ) subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb
Interrogative ( ? ) auxiliary verb + subject + main verb
Base Form
Past
Past Participle
Present Participle
explain
explained
explained
explaining
   
PAST
PRESENT
FUTURE
  Simple
do + base form
(except future)
will + base form
(+)

(-)
(?)
  I did explain.
I explained.
I did not explain.
Did I explain?
  I did explain.
I explained.
I did not explain.
Did I explain?
  I will explain

I will not explain
Will I explain?
  Simple Perfect
have + past
participle
(+)
(-)
(?)
  I had explained.
I had not explained.
Had I explained?
  I have explained.
I haven't explained
Have I explained?
 
I'll have explained
I'll haven't explained
Will I have explained?
  Continous
be + ing
(+)
(-)
(?)
  I was explaining.
I wasn't explaining.
Was I explaining?
  I am explaining.
I am not explaining.
Am I explaining?
 
I will be explaining
I will not be explaining
Will I be explaining?
 
Continous Perfect
have been + ing
(+)
(-)

(?)
 
I had been explaining
I had not been explaining
Had I been explaining?
  I am explaining.
I am not explaining.

Am I explaining?
 
I will be explaining
I will not be explaining

Will I be explaining?

Click here to download our list of regular verb.

IRREGULAR VERB

Irregular verbs are used more on speaking and less on writing. The difference between regular verb and irregular verb is simple, for regular verb. The past simple and past participle always end in "-ed".

But when it comes to irregular verb there are no rules.

   
Base Form
Past
Past Participle
  Sometimes the verb changes completely
ring
rang
rung
  Sometimes there is only half change
bend
bent
bent
  Sometimes the verb never change
cost
cost
cost

Click here to download our list of irregular verb.

ADVERB
An adverb is usually defined as a word that gives more information about a verb, an adjective or another adverb. Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives and adverbs in terms of such qualities as time, frequency and manner.

Types of Adverb:

1. Adverb of Manner - modifies a verb to describe the way the action is done. Ex: She did the work carefully.
("carefully" modifies the verb to describe the way the work was done, opposed to quickly, carelessly, etc.)

2. Adverb of Place or Location - shows where the location is done. Ex: She live locally.

3. Adverb of Time - shows when the action is done, or the duration or frequency. Ex: We did it yesterday. (when)
She is permanently busy. (duration)
She sometimes does it. (frequency)

4. Adverb of Degree - increases or decreases the effect of the verb. Ex: I partially agree with you.
("partially" decreases the effect of the verb,
whereas "completely" increases it.)

5. Adverb Modifying Adjective - the adverb precedes the adjective, except "enough" which comes after. Ex: That's really good.
It was a terribly difficult time for all of us.
It wasn't good enough. ("enough" comes after the adjective)

6. Adverb Modifying Adverb - the adverb that modifies another adverb precedes the other but as with adverb modifying adjective "enough" is an exception again. Ex: She did it really well.
He did come last night, happy enough.

7. Adverb Modifying Nouns - modifyies a noun to indicate time or place. Ex: The concert tomorrow.
The room upstairs.

8. Adverbs Modifying Noun Phrases - some adverbs of degree can modify noun phrases. Ex: We had quite a good time.
They're such good friends. (others examples are rather, what)

9. Adverb Modifying Determiners, Numerals & Pronouns - examples are almost, nearly, hardly, about. Ex: Almost everybody came in the end.

ADJECTIVE
An adjective modifies a noun. It describes the quality, state or action that a noun refers to. There are two types of adjectives the regular adjective and the irregular adjective. The regular way to make comparative/superlative adjectives is to add -er/-est or to use more/most. A small number of adjectives, however, are irregular and some of these can be regular or irregular.

Regular Adjective
Comparative
Superlative
pretty
prettier
prettiest
old (general use)
older
oldest
beautiful
more beautiful
most beautiful
convenient
more convenient
most convenient
Irregular Adjective
Comparative
Superlative
good
better
best
well (healthy)
better
best
bad
worse
worst
far
farther
farthest
old (in the family)
elder
eldest

ADJECTIVE RULES:
1. Adjectives can come before nouns. Ex: a new car

2. Adjectives can come after verbs such as be, become, seem, look, etc. Ex: that car looks expensive

3. They can be modified by adverbs. Ex: a very expensive car

4. They can be used as a complements to a noun. Ex: the extras make the car expensive

PREPOSITION
A preposition is a word that links a noun, pronoun or gerund to other words. They can have a variety of meanings. There are four types of preposition:

Types of preposition:
1. Direction - Ex: He is going going to the restaurant.
2. Location - Ex: It is in the cabinet.
3. Time - Ex: I will meet you at 10:00 PM tonight.
4. Possession - The Goverment of Japan

Some prepositional phrases can function like single word prepositions;
next to, in front of, etc.

CONJUNCTION
A conjunction is a word which connect other words, phrases or clauses.

Types of conjunction:
1. Coordinating Conjunction - connects two equal parts of a sentence.
The word "and", "or", "but", and "so" are the most common coordinating conjunction.

Conjunction
Meaning
Example
and
 
used to join and add words in a sentence
 
They will eat and drink tonight.
or
 
used to show choice or possibility
 
I will go to Tokyo in May or June.
but
 
used to show opposite or conflicting ideas
 
The hotel was nice but expensive.
so
 
used to show result
 
I was tired so I went back early.

2. Subordinating Conjunction - connects two parts of a sentence that are not equal and will be discussed more in another class.

after before unless as since when
although if until because than while

3. Correlative Conjunction - is a pair of conjunction that works together. both . . .and
either . . . or
neither . . . nor
not only . . . but also

INTERJECTION
An interjection is a short word or phrase used in speech to gain attention, exclaim, protest or command. It is used to show emotion such as surprise, pleasure, realization, resignation, pity, grief, repetition, inquiry, agreement, attention, pain, hesitation, etc. Interjections are often found at the beginning of a sentence and are commonly followed by an exclamation poin or a comma. Interjections have no other grammatical connection with or relationship to the rest of the sentence. Here are some examples:

  Well! What do we have here. (express surprise)
  Wow! This place is wonderful.
  Ah! (to exclaim in amazement, joy, or surprise)
  Ugh! That's really disgusting! (express disgust or horror)
  Goodness! (express mild surprise or shock)
  Darn! You beat me again.
  Ouch! You're stepping on my foot! (sudden pain)
  Oh! Dear!
  Oh, Nice house! (express surprise or desire)
  Eh! (ask for confirmation, repetition or inquiry)
  Great! That's a terrific idea!
  Er! I'm not really sure if he will like it. (express hesitation)
  Aha! I've found your secret! (express surprise, triumph, or derision)
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