THE PARTS OF SPEECH

By Syeda Ambreen Murtaza

Parts of speech

Noun Pronoun Verb Adverb Adjective Preposition Conjunction Interjection Punctuation Article

Countable & UncountableNoun

NOUN

COUNTABLE UNCOUNTABLE

The nouns which can be count in number

The nouns that can only be measure

The Uncountable & plural Countable

Some and any go with plural & uncountable nouns. We can use plural or uncountable nouns on their own, without some or any.

Noun after some, any, many / much

Plural Uncountable

Tom told some jokes

Do you know any joke ?

Tom usually tells jokes.

We had some fun

That won’t be any fun

We always have fun.

PLURAL & UNCOUNTABLE

MANY & A FEW MUCH & A LITTLE

We use them with plural nouns

There aren’t many bottles

I made a few sandwiches

We use them with uncountable nouns

I don’t drink much wine

There was a little bread left

How to make uncountable nouns countable

Carton , tins etc

Measurements

Piece , slice etc

A piece of information

Advice, information and news are uncountable nouns but we can use piece of , bit of and items of :

Can I give you a piece of / a bit of advice?

There are two pieces/bits of information we need to complete the questionnaire.

There’s a bit of / an item of news that might interest you.

The list of a few uncountable nouns Accommodation

Baggage

Behaviour

Equipment

Fun

Furniture

Homework

Housework

Litter

Luck

Luggage

Progress

Rubbish

Scenery

Traffic

Travel

Weather

Work

Nouns that can be countable or uncountable

Countable Uncountable

I’m peeling the potatoes

Melanie baked a cake for David

Vicky was eating an apple

Someone threw a stone at the police

Would you like some potatoes

Have some cake / a piece of cake

Is there apple in this salad ?

The house is built of stone

Often countable is specific & the uncountable noun is more general

Countable Uncountable

Rugby is a sport

That’s a nice painting over there

We heard a sudden noise outside

Do you like sport?

Paul is good at painting

Constant noise can make you ill.

Some nouns can be countable & uncountable with different meaning

Countable Uncountable

I bought a paper

I’ll have a glass of orange juice, please

Have you got an iron? ( for clothes)

I need some paper to write on

I bought a piece of glass for the window

The bridge is made iron

AGREEMENT

Subject & verb

The window is open .

She was upset.

It has been raining

The windows are open.

The door and the window are open.

Her eyes were wet.

Everyone, something, every , all etc

Everyone, something, every or each, we use a singular verb

After all and plural noun, we use a plural verb

After one of ….we use singular verb

After a number of…..we normally use a plural verb

When a plural comes after

Any of, either of, neither of or none of we can use either a singular or plural verb

Singular verb

After an amount of money, a distance , a weight or a length of time, we normally use a singular verb .

Ten thousand seems a fair price

A hundred metres isn’t far to swim

Ninety kilos is too heavy for me to lift.

Five minutes doesn’t seem long to wait.

SINGULAR & PLURAL

Some nouns have only plural form

Arms (weapon)

Belongings ( the things you own)

Clothes

Congratulations

Contents

Customs

Earnings

goods

Outskirts

Remains

Surroundings

Thanks

Troops

Some nouns have plural forms but take singular verb The word News

The subjects economics, mathematics / math, physics and statistics

The games billiards & darts

The illness measles

PAIR NOUN & GROUP NOUN

Nouns

Pair noun Group noun

The things made of two parts which are the same

A group noun can usually take either a singular or plural verb . We see the group as a whole or as individual people.

Group noun

The family is a very old famous one

The family are delighted with their presents.

The orchestra consists of eight –six musicians.

The orchestra don’t know what to play.

TWO NOUNS TOGETHER

Two nouns together

A bread knife

Bus driver

Animal hospital

Some exceptions A sports club

A goods train

A clothes brush

A sales conference

The use of adverbs & adjectives

ADJECTIVES

Adjectives

There are two places where we use adjectives ; before a noun and after a linking verb

Adjective

Before a noun After a linking verb

Claire’s got a new car

It was a dark night

This is good coffee

Claire’s car is new

It was getting dark

This coffee taste good

Adjectives & nouns

We sometimes use two nouns together ;

A glass door

A computer program

A heavy glass door

A useful computer program

WORD ORDER IN ADJECTIVE

O S A S C O M P

Word order

WORD ORDER

O OPINION

S SIZE

A AGE

S SHAPE

C COLOR

O ORIGIN

M MATERIAL

P PURPOSE

USE OF ING & ED IN ADJECTIVES

ADJECTIVE PAIRS

ING ED

Tom told amusing story.

The two hours delay was annoying .

I didn’t enjoy the party. It was boring.

The game was really exciting .

We were amused at Tom’s story .

The passengers were annoyed about the delay.

I went to the party, but I felt bored.

The united fans were excited .

ADVERB

Adverb

•Manner

•Time

•Place

•Frequency

Carefully , slowly, happily etc

Morning, 7 o’clock, early, Tuesday , fortnight etc

Here, there, up , down etc

Immediately, daily, sometimes etc

The ly ending

• e----ly……. nice , true etc

•Y----ily…easy, lucky

•Le---ly…possible, comfortable

•Ic-ically..dramatic, automatic

Nicely , truly

Easily , luckily

Possibly , comfortably

Dramatically , automatically

ADVERB & ADJECTIVE

Adverb & adjective

Adverb Adjective

Tom was hungry

The children seemed happy

My soup has got cold

Paul ate hungrily

The children play happily

The man stared coldly at us

Adjective ends with ly

Friendly

Ugly

Silly

Likely

Elderly

lovely

Compare the words

Adjective Adverb

We did some hard work

I came on the fast train

They sell cheap clothes in the market.

We worked hard

The train went quite fast.

They sell things cheap /cheaply there.

Words and different meanings

I tried hard, but I didn’t succeed.

Luckily I found a phone box quite near.

Rachel arrived late, as usual

We got into the concert free.

I’ve hardly any money left.

I nearly fell asleep in the meeting

I’ve been very busy lately

The animals are allowed to wander freely

Good & well

Good

Well

Good is adjective

Natasha is a good violinist

Our test results were good

Well is its adverb

She plays the violin very well

We all did well in the test.