PARTS OF SPEECH

PARTS OF SPEECH

            All the words in English are classified into following eight groups called Parts of Speech. The same word is sometimes used in different parts of speech.

Note: The articles (a, an, the) are not included in parts of speech as they are basically adjectives.

I.NOUNS :  These are naming words.

 
Names of persons, places, things, animals, species, religions, books, feelings, qualities, groups (of people, things etc.), races, buildings, languages etc.

Eg: Raju, Delhi, pen, dog, Tommy, boy, Hindu, Hinduism, happiness, Ramayana, beauty, hardness, army, bundle, Indian, French, Taj, Telugu etc.

                                                            
PROPER NOUNS                 COMMON NOUNS              ABSTRACT NOUNS

                                                                                                                                                                                            

Eg: Raju, Tommy, Delhi              Eg: boy, dog, place                     Eg: ambition, pain

         

      COUNTABLE NOUNS               

     Eg: - book, pen, boy (common) 
      UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
     Eg: - sugar, salt, oil (common),hope, ambition (abstract), peace, pain (abstract)              

II. PRONOUNS: These are used instead of nouns.

Eg: I, you, he, she, it, they

PRONOUNS (10 TYPES):

1. PERSONAL PRONOUS : (I, you, we, he she, it, they )

           

2. POSSESIVE PRONOUNS : (mine, our, ours, your, yours, his, hers, theirs)

3. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS : ( this,  that, these, those)

4. REFLEXIVE  PRONOUNS : (myself, yourself, yourselves, ourselves, himself, herself, itself,                                                              themselves)

 5. INDEFINITE PRONOUNS : ( someone, somebody, anyone, anybody, none, nobody)

                                                                                                      

6. PRONOUNS OF NUMBER  AND  QUANTITY : one, two, three

 

7. RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS : (each other, one another)

8. DISTRIBUTIVE PRONOUNS : (each, either, neither)

 

9. INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS

(who, whom, whose, which, what)

10. RELATIVE PRONOUNS

( who, whom, whose, which, that)

               

 HOMONYMS:  Homonyms are words with same spelling and pronunciation but with different meanings.

Eg: bank – bank of a river

       bank – place where money is saved

HOMOPHONES: Homophones are words with same pronunciation but with different spellings and meanings.

Eg: break = divide violently onto pieces

      brake = a device for slowing or stopping motion

     one = single

      won = past tense of win

HOMOGRAPHS: Homographs are words with same spelling but different pronunciation and meaning.

Eg: bow = bend forward /baυ/

       bow = weapon / bəʊ /

      read = present tense / ri:d /

      read = past tense / red/

QUESTIONS: 

1. This is a lead pencil. The lion leads the Hawks. The underlined words in these sentences are called _________________.

2. He did not want to look at Indu too directly because two of his colleagues are observing him. The underlined words in these sentences are called _________________.

GENETIVES: adding apostrophe + s

Eg: 1) Anil’s house, Vilas’s house          

           Archimedes’s house (x)            

          Archimedes’ house (✔ )[ for famous persons there is no need of  ‘s’ after apostrophe]

       2) women’s hostel(✔)

           boys’s hostel(x)

           boys’ hostel(✔)

  

       3) brother – in – law’s house (one person)

           brothers – in – laws’ houses (more than one person)

          

POSSESIVE ADJECTIVES:

          my, our, your, her, his, its, their

          mine, ours, yours, hers, his, theirs

III. ADJECTIVES: These are used to qualify or modify or add something to the meaning of a noun or a pronoun.

Eg: beautiful flower, fast bowler, bald head, Kiran’s book, a girl(article), Chinese food, she is beautiful.

NOTE: a) When more than one adjective is used to describe a noun then the order is : 

 
Adj of quality → Adj of size/age/shape → Adj of colour → Adj  of origin → -ing/-ed words used as adjectives →   nouns used as adjectives

Eg: 1. She has a pretty, small, red Sri Lankan polished ruby necklace.

      2. The house was spacious, modern and well – maintained.

     

    b) When there is more than one adjective before a noun, place a comma after the first adjective of quality. But when there is more than one adjective after a verb, separate them by ‘and’( when there are only two); by commas and the last two by ‘and’ (when there are more than two).

Eg: 1. She loved the simple, kind large – hearted villagers.

      2. My clothes are clean and new.

      3. Your sister is clever, polite and affectionate.

Adjectives are of seven kinds –

1. Descriptive Adjectives – showing the kind or quality of a person or thing 

Eg: small village, good boy

2. Adjectives of quantity – indicating how much

Eg: some sugar

3. Numeral Adjectives – indicate number

Eg: several points , two rupees

4. Demonstrative Adjectives – to point out

Eg: that girl, such persons

5. Interrogative Adjectives – for questioning

Eg: where, when, what

6. Emphasizing Adjectives – for emphasis

Eg: This is the very book, I was looking for.

       Mind your own business.

7. Exclamatory Adjectives – for expressing surprise, shock or any other sudden feeling

Eg: How great it is!

       What a wonderful fellow you are!

DEGREES OF COMPARISON

                  Adjectives (and some adverbs also) are compared to each other in three ways known as Positive, Comparative and Superlative Degrees of Comparison.

Positive Degree: It simply describes the features of a noun/pronoun. It is also used for comparison when two persons, things etc. have the same quality.

e.g.: as tall as, as clever as, as fat as etc.

Comparative Degree: It is used to compare two persons, things etc of different qualities or quantities. It always takes ‘than’ (exceptions – inferior to, superior to etc).

e.g.: taller than, more beautiful than.

Superlative Degree: It is used to compare two or more persons, things etc.

 e.g.: the tallest of all, the most intelligent girl

Following is a list of the three degrees of some Adjectives –

POSITIVE DEGREE small big intelligent beautiful good/well bad/ill little many/much far fore in old late clever

COMPARATIVE DEGREE smaller bigger more intelligent more beautiful better worse less more farther/further former inner older/elder later cleverer/more clever

SUPERLATIVE DEGREE smallest biggest most intelligent most beautiful best worst least most farthest/furthest foremost/first innermost oldest/eldest latest(adj) / last(adv) cleverest/ most clever

MODEL – I

Rajesh is the tallest boy in the class (OR)

Rajesh is the tallest of all boys in the class (SUPERLATIVE)

Rajesh is taller than all other boys in the class (OR)

Rajesh is taller than any other boy in the class (COMPARATIVE)

No other boy in the class is as (so) tall as Rajesh.(POSITIVE)

MODEL – II

Rajesh is one of the tallest boys in the class (SUPERLATIVE)

Rajesh is taller than many (most) other boys in the class (COMPARATIVE)

Very few boys in the class are as (so) tall as Rajesh (POSITIVE)

MODEL – III

Rajesh is not the tallest boy in the class (SUPERLATIVE)

Rajesh is not taller than all other boys in the class (COMPARATIVE)

Some boys in the class are at least as tall as Rajesh (POSITIVE)

MODEL – IV

Rajesh is taller than Ramesh (COMPARATIVE)

Ramesh is not as (so) tall as Rajesh (POSITIVE)

MODEL – V

Rajesh is not taller than Ramesh (COMPARATIVE)

Ramesh is at least as tall as Rajesh (POSITIVE)

EXERCISE

1. Mount Everest is the highest peak in the world.

2. Suman is quicker than anyone in the group.

3. Pune is closer to my village than Nagpur is.

4. Mother is not as tall as her sister.

5. No player in the team is as tall as Prabhakar.

6. Asha’s house is farthest from the city than all ours.

7. Nitin’s watch is less expensive than anyone else’s.

8. Of all the children, Sudha is the closest to her father.

9. Maharastra is one of the largest states in the country.

10. Kamala has fewer chocolates than all her friends.

IV. VERBS: These are used to express action, condition (state, being), possession or tell/assert something.

E.g.: i) He is playing (action/ work)

       ii) He is a doctor (being)

       iii) She is sick (state)

       iv) He has a car (possession)

       v) The sun rises in the east (assertion)

Kinds of Verbs –

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs:

Transitive verb: a verb which has an object. The action passes from the doer to the object.

Eg:  1.   Dilip      eats    mangoes

           Subject    verb     object

        2.     He       goes   to school

             Subject   verb

        3.        He       gave       me         a book

        indirect     direct

               Subject    verb     object       object

Intransitive verb: a verb which has no object. It doesn’t have passive voice.

Eg: The child  is sleeping.

         Subject     verb

        He    goes  to school

    Subject verb

         He   gave      me       a book

Subject   verb   indirect     direct

                            object       object

Ergative Verb: A verb which can be used both as an intransitive and transitive verb is called ergative verb.

Eg:  The door opened (Intransitive verb)

        She opened the door (Transitive verb)

Auxiliary Verbs: These are Helping verbs which are used along with the main verbs to form tenses, moods and voices. These are 24 in number.

Finite and Non – Finite Verbs: Verbs which are limited by person and number are called finite verbs.

Eg: Shekhar likes mangoes (finite verb)

Shekhar likes to eat mangoes (non-finite verb)

Shekhar likes eating mangoes (non-finite)

Modal verbs: Modal verbs or Modals are auxiliary verbs. They are used to express the speaker’s attitudes and beliefs with regard to the action represented by the main verbs.

Following are the thirteen Modal verbs in English –

Can, could, may, might – used to ask or give permission and to make requests

Will, would – to make requests, to invite, to offer something

Shall, could, might – to make suggestions

Can, could – to show ability

Will, may, might, could, would, should, ought to – used to indicate degrees f possibility.

Eg:  Satish is at home now (fact)

        Satish will be at home now. (certainty)

        Satish should/must be at home now. (likely/probable)

        Satish might/could be at home now (possible, not very certain)

Must, have to – necessity, compulsion

Need not – no compulsion, prohibition

Should, ought to – moral or social obligation, duty

Must, need, have to, should, ought to – to give advice

Shall – order, command, threaten

Dare to – to express fearlessness

Used to – to refer to habits in the past

Forms of Verbs:

V1 – Present Tense – e.g.: eat/eats

V2 – Past Tense – e.g.: ate

V3 – Past Participle – e.g.: eaten

V4 – Present Participle – e.g.: eating

Regular and Irregular Verbs:

Regular verbs: Verbs whose past tense (V2) and the past participle (V3) forms are formed by adding 'd’ or ‘ed’ to the simple present(V1)

Eg: wonder – wondered –wondered

           V1               V2                    V3

Irregular verbs: Verbs whose past tense (V2) and past participle (V3) forms are formed in other ways i.e. not by adding/ed to the simple present (V1)

Eg:  eat –  ate –   eaten

         V1      V2        V3

Three/ four forms of some Verbs:

PRESENT TENSE (V1)	PAST TENSE (V2)	PAST PARTICIPLE (V3)	PRESENT PARTICIPLE (V4 / ‘ing’ form)
bring buy help give forget fly flow lie sit learn fix cut hurt set rise sew	brought bought helped gave forgot flew flowed lied/lay sat learned/learnt fixed cut hurt set rose sewed	brought bought helped given forgotten flown flowed lied/lain sat learned/learnt fixed cut hurt set risen sewed/sewn	bringing buying helping giving forgetting flying flowing lying sitting learning fixing cutting hurting setting rising sewing

V. ADVERBS: Adverbs are words used to qualify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs and sometimes complete sentences. They may be single words or may be a group of words.

Eg: i) He  ran    fast.

                verb   adverb

ii) He  ran  very   fast.

          verb  adv2  adv1

iii) I am terribly  tired.

                adv         adj

iv) She is the most intelligent   girl  in the class.

                         Adv         adj       noun

v) Honestly, you are my best friend.

     Adverb             sentence

Note:

1. Adverbs are formed by adding ‘-ly’, ‘-ily’, -wards, -ways or –wise to other adverbs or nouns.

Eg: slowly, happily, upwards, clockwise, lengthways.

2. Few words can be used both as adjectives and adverbs.

Eg: fast, hard, early

i) He wakes up early.

                             Adv  

ii) He is an early riser.

                     Adj 

3. Adverbs that consist of a group of words include prepositions such as in, on, by etc.

Eg: We went to the farm on foot.

               Verb                       Adverb

4. Adverbs are used to describe manner, place, time, frequency and degree of an incident/action. They are also used to strengthen or negate the meaning of the words which they qualify.

Eg: i) It is raining heavily. (manner = how)

ii) There is water everywhere.

     They drove to Vizag. ( place = where / in which direction)

iii) Let’s meet tomorrow.

The meeting is on Wednesday. (time = when)

iv) He practices the violin regularly. 

Your mobile rang four times. ( frequency = how often)

v) We nearly lost the race.

I almost fell down.(degree = how much/ to what extent)

vi) He never drinks tea.

I am no more confused about the topic. (negation)

vii) He is only joking.

Frankly, I am confused. ( strengthen = focus/show one’s attitude or opinion)

5. The appropriate order of adverbs in a sentence is MPT ( manner, place, time)

Eg: He drove slowly round the park in the evening.

                           M                 P                       T

6. When there are more than one time-adverbs in a sentence, the appropriate order is time, day, date, year.

Eg: I met her at 5 O’ clock in the evening on Thursday, 6 September, 2004.

7. Some adverbs have forms for degrees of comparison –

POSITIVE                                              COMPARATIVE                                                  SUPERLATIVE

Well/good                                             better                                                                  best

Late                                                        later                                                                     last (latest = adj)

Far                                                          farther/further                                                  farthest/furthest

Quietly                                                   more quietly                                                      most quietly

VI. PREPOSITIONS

            A preposition is a word which shows the relation between a noun/pronoun and some other word/sentence.

Kinds of Prepositions:

i) Single word prepositions:

e.g.: on, in, at, with, by, for, from, of, to, upon etc.

ii) Phrasal Prepositions – two or more words joining together to act as a single preposition.

Eg: on account of, instead of, in spite of, with respect to etc.

iii) Certain verbs, nous, adjectives and participles take only specific prepositions after them. Such prepositions are called Appropriate prepositions.

Eg: listen to, fond of, based on, compare with etc.

Prepositions have different functions. They are used to indicate –

 1. time

e.g.: Sudha returned at 6 o’ clock.

i) point of time

e.g.: by 4o’clock,since Monday, from 10:00 pm, before noon etc

ii) period of time

e.g.: in an hour, within four days, for two months

2. position

Eg: Rahul sat between Ram and Raj (‘between’ is followed by ‘and’)

3. movement and direction

Eg: Rekha went from Hyderabad to Tirupathi (from……… to)

4. reason

Eg: The college remained closed because of strike.

5.purpose

Eg: We went to the market for vegetables.

6. instrument

Eg: Jaya cut the lemon with a knife.

7. means

Eg: Let’s go to Mumbai by bus.

8. concession

Eg: In spite of getting less marks, the teacher praised him.

9. comparison

Eg: She looks like an angel.

10. manner

Eg: She does all her work with great care.

11. source

Eg: She copied all her assignments from her friend’s notes.

Examples of words followed by specific prepositions:

VERB                                PREPOSITION                                       OBJECT OF PREPOSITION

congratulate                           on                                                  something

compare                                  with                                               similar things, persons

compare                                  to                                                    dissimilar things

recover                                   from                                                illness

laugh                                       at                                                     a person, thing

knock                                       at                                                     a door etc.                                             

die                                            of                                                     disease

die                                            for                                                    country, cause

                                                                                                                                               

NOUN                              PREPOSITION                                       OBJECT OF PREPOSITION

knowledge                             of                                                       something

surprise                                  at                                                       something

thirst                                       for                                                     something

quarrel                                   between                                          two persons

quarrel                                   among                                              more than two persons

attitude                                  towards                                            something

ADJECTIVE                       PREPOSITION                                       OBJECT OF PREPOSITION

ashamed                           of                                                             something

answerable                       to                                                             someone     

deprived                            of                                                             one’s right etc.

moved                                to                                                             tears

indebted                            to                                                            someone

popular                              with                                                        men, women, people etc.

The words that follow prepositions are called their objects and the prepositions are said to govern them.

QUESTIONS FROM JUNE 2014 PAPER

1. I wanted to exchange my watch _____ a camera, but the shop manager didn’t oblige me.

2. Harish attends _____ his duties very sincerely.

3. The student failed to cope ______ with the exam pressure.

VII. CONJUNCTIONS

            A conjunction is a word used to join together words, phrases, clauses or sentences.

Kinds of Conjunctions

1. Subordinate Conjunctions – used to join subordinate clause with main clause / principal clause.

Clause : group  of words forming a part of a sentence and having a subject and a predicate of its own.

I cannot attend school  because I am not well.

     Main clause                  Subordinate clause

Because = subordinate conjunction

Eg: as, it, because, lest, since, that, though, although, unless, weather, till, until, before, after, when, while etc.

2. Co-ordinate Conjunctions – used to join two clauses of equal rank/co-ordinate clauses.

Eg: and, but, both, or, not, else, still, yet, for, therefore, so, hence, wherefore, consequently, then, also, too, only etc.

Eg: I went to Delhi and my brother went to Bombay.

3. Correlative Conjunctions – used in pairs

Eg: either-or, neither-nor, though-yet, both-and, so-as, as-as etc.

Eg: Either come with me or go home.

4. Phrasal Conjunctions –

Eg: as far as, as though, in as much as, so that, in order that etc.

VIII. INTERJECTIONS

                An Interjection is a word which expresses some sudden and strong feeling such as joy, sorrow, fear, surprise etc.

Eg: Hurrah!, Ah!, Oh!, Alas!, Ho!, Wow! etc.