PARTS OF SPEECH 

All the words in our language have been divided into eight groups. These word groups
are called the parts of speech. They are; Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs,
Prepositions, Conjunctions, Interjections, Pronouns and Articles.

NOUNS

A noun is a word which names a person, place, thing or an idea. ​For example

Persons Maria, Friend, Joseph, Parent

Places Home, Miami, City, Laboratory

Things Football, Homework, Secret

Ideas Happiness, Trouble, Friendship

Kinds of Nouns​:

▪ A ​proper noun is a Specific name of a person, place, thing or idea (they are

always capitalized) for

​example, ​Kigali, Rwenzori Mountains,​ ​Prison​ ​Break​ and many others.

▪ A ​Common Noun ​is the general name of a person, place, thing or idea (they are

not capitalized) for

​example, ​woman,​ ​fort​, ​mountain,​ ​team​ and many others.
▪ Concrete Nouns name things that can be touched or seen, for example, ​magazine,​

cactus​, ​black
​board​, and many others.
▪ Abstract Nouns ​name things that cannot be seen or touched, for example, ​love​,

democracy​, ​happiness​, and many others.

▪ A ​Singular Noun names one person, thing or idea while a ​plural noun names more

than one person,

​place, thing or idea for example;
 Singular Note paper Pencil

Plural Notes papers Pencils

▪ Compound Nouns are names formed from two words for example, ​headmaster,​

head​ ​of​ ​state​,

​head boy​, and many others.
▪ Collective Nouns are names given to groups, for example, ​a fleet of cars, a herd
of​ ​cattle, a flock​ ​of sheep​, and many others.
 
Plurals of Nouns​ are formed using specific rules as follows:
i) Nouns that end with ‘y’ after a consonant form their plurals by dropping the ‘y’
and we add
‘ies’.
Examples​:
fly - flies spy - spies cry - cries deny -denies fry
- fries
lady -ladies body - bodies baby - babies lorry - lorries
story -stories

ii) Nouns with ‘y’ after a vowel, we simply add ‘s’ in front of the ‘y’.
Examples​:
donkey -donkeys toy- toys key -keys tray - trays
monkey -monkeys boy - boys pay - pays

iii) Nouns/words that end with ‘o’, we add ‘es’ to their plurals.
Examples​:
tomato - tomatoes mango - mangoes mosquito -mosquitoes
potato -potatoes hero -heroes

iv) Common words or nouns ending in a single ‘f’ or ‘fe’, usually change to ‘-ves’
in their plurals.
Examples​:
life -lives leaf -leaves knife -knives thief -thieves loaf -loaves

But there are a few exceptions to this rule.

Exceptions​; chief -chiefs roof -roofs handkerchief
-handkerchiefs
 v) Some nouns form their plurals in a completely irregular way.
Examples​:
man -men child -children tooth -teeth

woman -women goose -geese louse -lice

ox -oxen mouse -mice foot -feet

vi) A few names of living creatures don’t change at all when forming their plural
forms.
Examples​:
sheep -sheep deer -deer fish-fish
But one can say ‘fishes’ when using it as a verb.

vii) Some nouns do not change in the plural because they already have an ‘s’ in
singular.
Take note of the following statements;

❖ The aeroplane is a ​means​ of transport.

❖ There are several ​means​ of transport.

❖ Corn is a ​species​ of grass.

❖ Those ​species​ of grass which are used for food are called cereals.
A means​ = method or way.
​A species​ = a kind or type especially in Biology.

viii) Some nouns are usually written in plural- they don’t have the singular form.
Examples​:
scales (for weighing) scissors pliers shears

glasses (spectacles) trousers pants shorts

people (persons) cattle clothes the police

binoculars braces

All nouns that stand for things that are made of two parts, if we want to count
them, we have to use the word ‘pair’ so we say:
❖ One pair of trousers (correct)
​NOT
❖ One trousers (wrong)
But the words ‘of pair’ may be left out- so we can say:
❖ I have lost my scissors​.
All people who belong to the police organization are called collectively ‘The
police’ but one member is
called ‘policeman’.
When numbering cattle, we talk about so many heads of cattle.

The word ‘people’ only takes an ‘s’ on few/rare occasions when it means ‘races’
of people.
Example​:
❖ The peoples of Africa.

Take keen interest to note that the word ‘clothes’ is different from the word
‘cloth’ in both pronunciation
and meaning and it has no singular form-it is a much easier word to use than the word
‘dress’.
​Examples​:
❖ He has joined the police.

❖ The police is a fine organization.

❖ Okello owned two hundred heads of cattle.

❖ My clothes are all stolen.  
PRONOUNS 
A pronoun is a word which is used to replace a noun. Pronouns help in avoiding
repetition.
Types of Pronouns 
▪ Personal Pronouns 
These are used to substitute nouns that name persons, for example, ​I, we, our, us, me,
you, she, he, her and they.
Classes of Personal Pronouns 
Sincerely personal pronouns are used to refer to persons speaking, the person spoken to,
or the person or thing or place spoken about. They have the following classes:
(i) The first person pronouns 
These include the following: I mine we
ours
my me our
us
(ii) Second person pronouns
These include the following:
you your yours
These pronouns are used to refer to the person that is being spoken to.
 (iii) The third person pronouns 
These include the following: he his hers their them
its
she her they theirs it
The above pronouns are used to refer to persons or things that are being talked
about.
Points to remember 
The above forms of personal pronouns have both singular and plural forms.
Example​: ‘I’ is singular.
‘We’ is plural.
The third personal pronouns have masculine, feminine and neuter forms.
Example:​ ‘He’ is masculine.
‘She’ is feminine.
‘It’ is neuter.
We can further take a closer look at personal pronouns by studying their different
categories.
● Subjective (Nominative) pronouns 
The subject form of a personal pronoun can substitute a noun used as the subject of a
sentence.
Take a quick look at the following sentences.
❖ He fasted for two days.

❖ I came late yesterday.

❖ She is absent.

❖ They promised to come today.

❖ You are my best friend.

❖ It was presented on UTV.

The words; I, you, he, she, it are subjective pronouns in the above sentences.
A subject pronoun can replace a noun used as a predicate.
Example
❖ The Kenyan president is Uhuru Kenyatta. The Kenyan president is ​he​.

❖ The winners are Catholics. The winners are ​we​.

In order to ensure that you use the correct pronoun when it has been used with a
noun, for sometimes, the
additional word with which the pronoun is combined.
 ● Object​ Pronouns 
These forms of pronouns can replace a noun which is used as a direct object.
Example
❖ Joan bought two books. Joan bought ​them​.

❖ John took Mary. John took ​her​.

Therefore, in the above examples, ​them and ​her are object pronouns. Some of the
others are ​me​, ​us​ and ​it​.
The object pronouns are usually used after words such as;
with by for to
These words are called prepositions.
Examples
❖ The police went with ​her​.

❖ Is that prize for ​us​?

❖ Paul was called by ​them​.

❖ Please give that pen to ​me​.

*​Number of possessive pronouns

Singular ​my mine its hers your
Plural our ours their theirs yours
Points to remember​. 
The possessive pronouns are written without an apostrophe.
Examples
ours theirs hers his
BUT NOT;
our’s their’s your’s
Sometimes, possessive pronouns are confused with other words. Do not be a
culprit.
Examples
Possessive pronouns  Confused words 
▪ Your ▪ You’re (you
▪ Their are)
▪ They’re (they
▪ Its
are)
▪ Their
▪ It’s (it is)

▪ There
▪ Reflexive Pronouns 
These pronouns are also called ​reflexives​ or ​compound personal​ pronouns.
They show that the action is being done or something had been done to a person.
These pronouns use the word ‘​self’​ in singular and ‘​selves’​ in plural.
Examples
Singular  Plural 
myself ourselves
yourself yourselves
himself themselves
herself themselves
itself themselves

Examples
❖ We did it ourselves.

❖ I bought it myself.

❖ Annet has been given a watch itself.

❖ He gave Jenifer new orders himself.

Points to remember 
A reflexive pronoun should never be placed next to the subject.
Example
❖ He himself did it. (Wrong) He did it himself.
(Correct)
Sometimes we may also use ‘one’ + self thus ‘oneself’ instead of you, he or she.
​Example
❖ One is always expected to care for herself. (Wrong) One is always expected to
care for oneself. (Correct)
However, never use ‘it’ with himself, herself or yourself in the same sentence.
 
▪ Demonstrative Pronouns 
These are pronouns that direct particular attention to a specific person, thing or place.
They include; this, that, these, there and those.
Example
❖ That is a well written letter.

❖ Are those your books?

❖ This is my pen.
 ‘​This​’​ is used when referring to a person or thing very near you or here.
Example
❖ Whose pen is this?

‘​That​’​ is used when referring to a person or thing not very near you or there.
Example
❖ That boy is sick.

‘​This’​ and ‘​that’​ are singular demonstrative pronouns.

‘​There​’ is used when referring to people or things very near you or here.
Example
❖ The ball is there.

‘​Those’​ is used when referring to people or things not very near you or there.
Example
❖ Those boys are students.

‘​This’​ and ‘​these’​ are used when referring to what is happening now.

‘​That’​ and ‘​those’​ are in the past tense.

▪ Relative Pronouns 
(who, whom, that, which, whose) 
Before we define what relative pronouns are, take a quick look at the following
sentences.
❖ The man ​who​ lives next to us is a catholic.

❖ The dog ​which​ had rabies was killed.

❖ Films ​that​ show violence are unsuitable for children.

❖ The boy ​whom​ the teacher helped across the road is blind.

❖ The girl ​whose​ sweater was stolen was given a new one.
The words ​who, which, that, whom, whose​,​ are relative pronouns- why?
Relative Pronouns are used to replace personal pronouns (he, she, they, it) to refer back
to (or identify) the people or things spoken about. We also use them to add extra
information about the subject or object in the sentence.
The parts of the sentences (clauses) with who, whom, which, that and whose are
called ​relative clauses​.
A clause is a part of a sentence with a subject and a verb.
 (I) The use of ‘who’ and ‘whom’​. 
‘​Who’​ is used when the relative pronoun is the ​subject​ of the relative clause.
Example
❖ The lady ​who gave Annett a bicycle is her aunt. (Meaning: Annett’s aunt gave
her a bicycle)
‘​Whom’​ is used when the relative pronoun is the object of the relative clause.
Example
❖ The man ​whom​ I visited is my uncle. (Meaning: I visited my uncle)

(II) The use of ‘which’ and ‘that’​. 

Both ‘​which’​ and ‘​that’​ are used when referring to things not people.
However, ‘​that’​ is used to refer to people in some sentences instead of ‘​who’​.
Examples
❖ The loaf of bread that/which she bought was stale.

❖ The person that/who stole our bread is still unknown.

❖ A cat is an animal that/which never seems to fall on its back.

❖ Those are the shoes that/which she ordered from school.

(III) The use of ‘whose’​. 

‘​Whose’ is primarily used to refer to people but also animals and things (especially
places) but showing their possessive form or ownership.
Take a quick look at the following examples​.
❖ The boys ​whose​ parents had an accident have gone home.

❖ The girl ​whose​ bag was stolen is there.

❖ That is the man ​whose​ bicycle was stolen.

 
ARTICLES 
There are two types of articles in the English language, that is;
▪ The indefinite article (​a​) and (​an​).
▪ The definite article (​the​).
As a general rule, all singular nouns are used with the indefinite article ‘a’ or
‘an’.
Example
❖ He remembered hearing the doctor tell about a certain thing that people ill for
two or three weeks must
 seek serious medical attention. (and threatened to make him lose a finger.)
❖ The old lady sank down in a chair and laughed a little.
‘a’​ means ​‘anyone/anything of a kind’​.
So,
a certain thing means; any one thing.
a chair means; any one chair.
Remember that when ‘a’ is used with an uncountable noun, the noun becomes
countable. A suitable word is placed before it.
Example
❖ When one is young, one has time to play. (Time, here is uncountable, but when
we say ‘a lot of time’ it means much time, which makes it countable).
‘​a​’ is used with words that begin with consonant sounds while ‘​an​’ is used before
words with vowel sounds at their beginning and also with words that start with
consonant sounds and they are silent.
Examples
a pig a blade a door a man
an hour an ailment an honour an egg

Words that begin with vowel letters but have consonant sounds take on ‘​a​’.
Examples
a university a union
However, there are cases where singular nouns are not used with articles.
Example
❖ I am going to school.
❖ Put the baby to bed.

Take keen interest in learning that when something is mentioned for the first
time, ​‘a’​ or ​‘an’​ is used but when the same thing is repeated for the second time or
many other times, the definite article ​‘the’​ is used.
Take keen interest to also learn that ​‘a’​ and ​‘an’​ can carefully and properly be
omitted before plural and uncountable nouns.
Examples
❖ Kato pretended to have bad teeth. (Plural)
❖ She was given advice. (Uncountable noun)
❖ She was given a piece of advice. (Singular)
❖ Kato pretended to have a bad tooth. (Singular)

The use of the definite article ‘the’.

Before we show the uses of the definite article ‘the’ let’s take a quick look at the
following sentences.
❖ Can you count ​the​ number of friends you have.
❖ It is true ​the​ earth rotates round ​the​ sun.
‘The’ is placed before a noun to show that it is definite or specific in meaning.
It is used when the speaker or listener knows exactly what is being talked about.
So ‘the number of friends’ means that the listener knows how many friends the speaker
is talking about. All of us know the earth or sun, they are specific so ‘the’ is used with
them.