Languages Training & Development

Parts of Speech and Grammar

Parts of Speech

Open-system items: nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs (the class is indefinitely extendible, new items are constantly being created)
Closed-system items: articles, demonstratives, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections

Nouns and the noun phrase

premodification postmodification
head
preposititional nonfinite relative
determiner(s) adjective(s) noun(s)  dictates concord
phrase(s) clause(s) clause(s)
Peter
a boy
the tall boys
all those tall boys with long hair
playing in
all those tall school boys with long hair
the park
playing in
all those tall school boys with long hair
the park

Specifications of the noun in the noun phrase

i. semantic categories
abstract / concrete
proper / common
collective / individual
animate / inanimate
dual case system
 common case uninflected, unmarked

 genitive case inflected, marked by ‘s, of construction, zero form

ii. syntactic categories

subject
object
complement
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 iii. morphological categories Word Formation
(nouns + other parts of speech)

1. affixation
a) prefixation un-, non, in, dis, mal, sub, over, under, super, sub, inter, trans, across,
fore, pre, post, ex, re, uni, mono, bi, multi, en, be
b) suffixation -er, ress, ship, hood, dom, an, ese, ist, ee, ment, ness, ity, fy, ise, en, ful,
less, like, ly, wards, wise
the word class changes NN, VN, ADJN, ADJV, NADJ, ADJADV
2. conversion -the word form remains the same but the word class changes
VN, ADJN, NV, ADJV, AUXN, SUFFIXN
-approximate conversion e.g. adviceadvise
-shift of stress e.g. ‘recordre’cord
3. compounds two or more bases put together
4. reduplicatives walkie-talkie, tick-tock
5. clipping telephonephone, photographphoto
6. blends motor+hotel=motel, breakfast+lunch=brunch, smoke+fog=
7. acronyms UK, TV, GHQ

the problem of countability

 singular / plural
irregular plurals (voicing, mutation, en plural, zero, foreign)
 use of quantifiers, articles

The verb phrase

Verb forms
 base present tense, imperative, subjunctive (after ‘that’), full infinitive
 -s form
 present participle / -ing form progressives, participle clauses
 past simple / -ed past
 past participle / -en form perfect forms, participle clauses, passive voice

2
The classification of verbs on the basis of function
 full or lexical
 primary auxiliary
- can be placed before the word “not”
- can be placed before the subject in questions
- can be placed after certain adverbs
- can be used as a proform
- some of them have positive contracted forms
- most of them have non-stressed forms
- are used for emphasis
 modal auxiliary
- permission, obligation, possibility, necessity, prediction, etc
- followed by the bare infinitive
- past equivalents can refer to past, present, future
- reference to progressive / perfective aspects
 semi-auxiliary
- have to, need, used to, happen to, etc
- usually have 2 forms: past & present
- (-) & (?) forms are made with the help of primary auxiliaries

dynamic / stative verbs

transitive / intransitive verbs
regular / irregular verbs
phrasal verbs
copular verbs (copula) have a subject complement (current or resulting) e.g. be, appear, feel, look,
become, seem, smell, sound, get, turn, go, grow, make

Adjectives

Syntactic functions
1. attributive used before nouns e.g. an ill mechanic, a real hero, a the same mistake
2. predicative used after verbs in subject complements and object complement e.g. glad of, aware of,
faint
3. central both attributive and predicative e.g. nice, big, kind
4. head of a noun phrase the poor, the British
5. verbless clause When ripe, these apples will be delicious.
6. exclamation Excellent!

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 Semantic functions
1. permanent / temporary tall / funny
2. gradable / non-gradable tall / financial, American
3. compound adjs good-looking, life-size
4. various kinds of adjs denoting age, colour, material, style, etc
5. absolute / comparative / superlative (synthetic / analytical forms)
–ing / -ed adjectives

Adverbs

1. Morphology
- simple just, only, well, too, back, today, if, then
- compound somehow, therefore
- derivational (open class) kindly, beautifully, forward, sideways, clockwise

2. The adverb as modifier

- modifier of adjective very, really, deeply, enough, indeed
- modifier of adverb so, very
- modifier of prepositional phrase The nail went right through the wall.
- modifier of noun phrase such, rather

3. Disjuncts
- present an independent tone unit
- frankly, naturally, unfortunately, funnily enough
4. Conjuncts
- enumerative to begin with, next
- reinforcing in addition, furthermore
- transitional incidentally, by the way
- summative in all, to sum up
- result as a result, therefore
- reformulatory in other words, better
- ETC.

4
Pronouns
substitute forms of noun phrases and sometimes clauses
Types of pronoun
1. central (personal, reflexive, possessive)
2. reciprocal each other, one another
3. relative
4. interrogative
5. demonstrative
6. indefinite somebody, nothing, all, both, every, half, several, etc.

Prepositions, prepositional phrases by means of, in front of

express a relationship between 2 parts of a sentence

Prepositional meanings
1. place: dimension, position, passage, direction, metaphorical use in trouble, out of danger
2. time: point, duration
3. adjuncts: cause, reason, motive, purpose, source, origin, manner, etc

Books recommended for further reading and practice

 Word Order in English Sentences by Phil Williams
 The Perfect English Grammar Workbook Simple Rules
and Quizzes to Master Today’s English Language by Lisa
McLendon
 Complete English Grammar Rules: Examples,
Exceptions, Exercises, and Everything You Need to
Master Proper Grammar (The Farlex Grammar Book
Volume 1)
 English Grammar Collins Cobuild