CLASSIFICATION OF NOUNS, PRONOUNS, ADJECTIVES,

ADVERBS, AND CONJUNCTIONS

NOUNS
Nouns are primarily either Common or Proper.
A Common Noun is the name of each thing of a class of things of the same kind.
For example man, horse, gun, bus and chair are common nouns.

A Proper Noun is the name of a particular thing that distinguishes it from others
of its class. For example John, Kampala and Mercedes Benz are proper nouns.

We have three kinds of common nouns. These are concrete nouns, collective
nouns and abstract nouns.
A Concrete Noun is the name of something we can see, hear, smell, taste or
touch. It is distinct from something abstract. For example the colour blue, noise,
scent, bitter or soft.
A Collective Noun is the name of a collection of persons or things. For example,
herd, crowd, flock, committee.
An Abstract Noun is the name of a quality, state, or action. For example, anger,
childhood, goodness, flight. An abstract noun is therefore the name of a mental
conception. If a person is good, we say that they have the quality of goodness.
This quality is abstract and is separate from the thing that possesses it.

PRONOUNS
Pronouns are divided into eight classes.
1. Personal Pronouns
First Person Pronouns are pronouns standing for the person speaking. For
example, I, me, we, us.
Second Person Pronouns stand for the person spoken to. For example, you.
Third person pronouns are pronouns standing for the person spoken about.
Examples are: he, him, she, her, it, they, them.

2. Possessive pronouns
These are pronouns that denote possession. In first person, we have mine, ours.
In second person we have yours. In 3rd person, examples are: his, hers, its, theirs.

3. Emphasising Pronouns
When we add the suffix -self (-selves), we get the emphatic form of personal
pronouns.
Examples:
- The president himself gave the farewell speech.
- We could not attend the party ourselves.

4. Reflexive pronouns
Different from emphasizing pronouns that also end in -self, reflexive pronouns
are used in the object or after prepositions, and stand for the same person or
thing as the subject. Examples:
- He hurt himself.
- He gained a lot of respect for himself.
- They came by themselves.

5. Demonstrative pronouns
These pronouns point out the person or thing to which they refer. Examples:
this, that, those, such, same. Examples:
- This is obvious.
- What is that?
- He told me the same.
- He is kind although he does not behave as such.
- Those are good shoes.

6. Interrogative Pronouns
These are used in asking questions: who, whom, whose, which, what. Examples:
- Who is it?
- Whose is that book?
- What is that?
- What did he say?
- Tell me what you mean.
 7. Relative pronouns
The relative pronouns are: who (whom, whose), which, that, what, and
sometimes as and but.
Who indicates persons; that indicates persons or things; which and what
indicates things. A relative pronoun heads an adjective clause. It is used to
connect a clause or phrase to a noun or pronoun. Examples:
- The cat that killed the rat is back.
- He is the only president who will be remembered for kindness.
- The man to whom I was speaking is my son.
- A parent whose children are drunkards is a sad one.
- At the end of the street was the building, which was so
dilapidated.
- What is done cannot be undone.
A relative pronoun acts both as a conjunction joining two clauses and as a
pronoun used as subject, object, or after a preposition. It is called relative
because it relates to a noun or pronoun, which generally precedes it, and which
is called the antecedent. The antecedents in the sentences above are president,
man, parent, building. What is called a compound relative and contains its
antecedent in itself.
NB: Read about continuative and restrictive relative pronouns on your own.

8. Pronouns of number or amount

These include numerals (one, two, three…) and indefinite pronouns (any, all,
each, few, much, more, many, little, enough, either, neither…, anybody,
something, everyone...
Examples of pronouns of number:
- John gave me four oranges.
- Only one letter was found.
Examples of pronouns of amount (indefinite pronouns denote a vague number
or amount):
- Many are called, but few are chosen.
- Each ate one plate of food.
- All cheered after the speech.
 - Somebody told me to come here.

ADJECTIVES
The names of many adjectives are the same as those of pronouns. In order to
distinguish the adjective from the corresponding pronoun remember that an
adjective is always used with a noun, whereas a pronoun stands alone in place
of a noun.
Descriptive adjectives describe a person or thing; e.g. good, handsome,
useless.

Possessive adjectives include my, our, your, his, her, its, their.

Emphasising adjectives: own, very. See examples below:

- I am my own master.
- The very children shunned him.
-
Demonstrative adjectives: This, that, these, those, such, same
- He came into this room.
- What are those drawings?
NB: “The” is a demonstrative adjective, and is called the “definite article”. “An” is
called an indefinite article.

Interrogative adjectives: what and which.

- What book did he take?
- Which way did he go?

Relative adjectives: Which and what are sometimes used with nouns to
introduce relative clauses –
- Drive which car you prefer
- John went through university, during which period he gained a lot of
expertise.
- Mary used what material she could find.
Adjectives of number or amount. These include numerals and indefinite
adjectives.
Cardinal numerals:
- One car, four girls, etc.
Ordinal numerals (showing position in a series)
- First place, second place, third place, etc.
Most of the indefinite pronouns can be used as indefinite adjectives:
- Few students did the examination.
- Other students sat the examination.
- Each student had a different opinion.
- Some students had no money.

ADVERBS
Simple adverbs:
These denote time, place, manner, number, reason, degree, etc.
- Mary came early.
- They were talking loudly in the house.
- I have never seen him so happy.
- He has run away twice, but he will not do so again.
- Therefore I shall not agree to the proposal.

Interrogative adverbs:
These are used in asking questions. They are where, when, how, why.
- Where did you put the books?
- When will you complete the work?
- How are you?
- Why did you go there?

Relative adverbs:
These rare similar to relative pronouns in that they relate to an antecedent and
connect to two clauses, e.g.
- This is the school where he studied.
- Tell me reason why you acted so unfairly.
- December is the month when weddings are popular.
In the above sentences the relative adverbs introduce subordinate adjective-
clauses. In the sentence below, “where” is a continuative relative.
- He came to Uganda, where (=and there) he lived for 40 years.

CONJUNCTIONS
Co-ordinating conjunctions:
These connect words or phrases or clauses that are of equal rank, and rae,
therefore, independent of one another.
- John and I cannot go together. (connecting words.)
- Sam is always to be found in the library or in the classroom. (connecting
phrases.)
- I argued with Moses for a very long time but I could not bring him to my
point of view. (Connecting co-ordinate clauses.)
Other examples of co-ordinating conjunctions are: still, yet, so, for, therefore.

Correlative conjunctions:
These are co-ordinating conjunctions used in pairs. See examples below:
- Both John and Mary agreed to sail together.
- You either take this blue book or that red one.
- He is not only a good player but also a good manager of the team.

Subordinating conjunctions:
Subordinating conjunctions join subordinate noun or adverb clauses to main
clauses. The common ones are: how, that, because, as, when, than, why, since,
after, if, unless, though,
b