Preparatory College English

ELC400 SEMINAR 1

PARTS OF SPEECH
NOUNS PRONOUNS VERBS

ADVERBS

ADJECTIVES

PREPOSITIONS

CONJUNCTIONS

ARTICLES

NOUNS

1. Countable Nouns things can be counted. Function: names of people, animals, places, objects (concrete nouns) Example: Many students in universities are not able to afford cars. There are four printers in the computer lab.

2. Uncountable Nouns cannot be counted,

cannot add s to show how many they are and cannot put a or an before them.

*unless put them into a glass, a pack, a cup or a sack

Function: feelings, states, qualities, ideas (abstract nouns) Example: The information provided by the officer was inaccurate. She adds sugar and flour into the mixer.

3. Mass Nouns uncountable nouns that describe types of something or amount of food and drink. Can sometimes take an s. Example: Would you like some bread? The store sells different breads. (types) I made five jams yesterday. (types) Waiter! Three coffees please. (three cups of coffee)

4. Other functions of nouns.

Subjects The officer is in charge of this project. Direct and indirect objects The mobile phone cost Ahmad RM2400.(indirect object) Azman keeps a squirrel as a pet. (direct object)

 Subject and object complements. My father is a lecturer at UiTM. (subject complement) I consider the mobile phone a luxury. (object complement)
Appositives. Her husband, John, likes to take evening walks. Adjectives. The driver crashed into a brick wall.

PRONOUNS

1. Subject Pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they) Function: to replace nouns as the subjects of sentences. Example: My neighbours dog is fierce. It barks every time I passes by the house. That cute girl is my niece. She is 4 years old.

2. Object Pronouns (me, you, her, him, it, us, you, them) Function: as the objects of verbs and prepositions.
Example: My friends treated me for lunch today. They are taking him to juvenile school. She fried the chicken and ate it. They are starting to make us angry.

3. Reflexive Pronouns (myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, themselves, yourselves, ourselves)
Function: to replace an object which refers to the subject. Example: You need to take care of yourself when you are abroad. He cut himself while shaving. They blamed themselves for the accident.

4. Interrogative Pronouns (who, whom, which, whoever, whomever, whichever) Function: to link phrases
Example: Jim, who scored highest in Science, actually loves literature. They hired the man, whom we interviewed last week.

5. Possessive Pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, its, theirs, ours) Function: to show possession
Example: Group A has submitted their assignment. Ours will be sent to you soon.

That red car is a birthday present from his parents.

6. Indefinite Pronouns Function: to talk about people/ things, but may not know who or what they are. For people: anybody, anyone, everybody, everyone, nobody, no one, somebody, someone

Everybody/ everyone/ somebody : include all the people.

Anybody/ anyone/ someone: refer to just one person or do not know the person or people we want to include. Example: Does everybody know what happened to Sam? (looks like everyone knows)

Does anyone know what happened to Anne? (one or more may or may not know)

For things: anything, everything, nothing, something Example: Is there anything in the bottle? Something is going wrong. Everything he does seems meaningless. Nothing can we do to change her mind.

ARTICLES

Function: to show whether a noun refers to something in general or specific. 1. Indefinite articles (a, an) A dog makes a good pet. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
2. Definite articles (the) The dog ran away with my newspaper. I need to sit for the exam to pass this course.

VERBS

1. To describe an action. This taxi is going to Banting. Kamal often asks questions in class.
2. To describe situations. Raju likes video games. We know that smoking is a bad habit. 3. State verb : be (is, are, was were), do (does, do,did), have (has, have, had), believe, know.

Basic Form
When do we use the basic verb? 1. In some negative and questions forms. I did not see Sarah for quite sometime. 2. After will, must, can, may and other modal verbs. The minister will visit Taman Negara. They might go home early tonight. 3. After to. Id like to know the answer. Nowadays, people prefer to communicate via sms.

ADVERBS

1. To describe verb. Salmi answers the test seriously. 2. To describe adverb. Amir walks too fast that his friends are left behind. 3. To describe adjective. She wears a very beautiful dress.

4. To add information to a clause or another word. Adverbs of time (soon, now, later, then) Salimah will be shifting to a new place soon. Adverbs of place (out, up, there, everywhere) He went there to get a better offer. Adverbs of manner (slowly, quickly, well, hard) James quickly ran for shelter. Adverbs of degree ( much, very, almost, quite) They were very happy with the news.

ADJECTIVES

 To describe nouns. In a sentence, an adjective is used: 1. Before a noun (to explain things better) 2. After the be verb Example: I would like to buy a leather bag. Show me the one on the top shelf. The weather is gloomy.

PREPOSITION

Function: to link nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. Prepositions of time (before, around, at, during) He was caught cheating during the exam. We have to be in class before the lecturer comes. Prepositions of place (in, on, at, to) Sarah has lived in Australia for three years. I want to go to her room later.

Prepositions of position (above, across, against, along) The boys ran across the road even though there was heavy traffic. The broom is leaned against the wall. Prepositions of manner (at, with, by) He is good at learning foreign languages.

CONJUNCTIONS

Function: to link words, phrases and clauses

1. Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, so, yet) Germans and Austrians speak the same language. 2. Correlative conjunctions (bothand, eitheror, not onlybut also, neithernor) We can have either seafood or western food for dinner.

TENSES
SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE
CONTINUOUS TENSE

SIMPLE PAST TENSE

FUTURE TENSE

PRESENT PERFECT

PAST PERFECT

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

1. SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

Use basic form of a verb (3rd person) He, She, It, They, or name After he, she, it and other singular words, add s. She lives in Melaka and she drives a Honda. Verbs ending with o, -ss, -sh, -ch, take es. Ahmad passes the ball to Rosdin. Verbs ending ry, -dy, -ly, take ies. He studies engineering at UiTM and applies for a part time job at 7eleven.

FUNCTION
1. To express the idea that an action is repeated or usual. The action can be a habit, a hobby, a daily event, a scheduled event or something that often happens.

E.g:

She reads newspaper before she has her breakfast everyday. I sleep at 11pm every night and I wake up as early as 4am every morning.

2. Talking about things which are generally true.

Example: Ramlah has three sisters and a brother. The sun rises from the east. Water freezes at 0 degrees.

2. SIMPLE PAST TENSE

Function: to describe situations, activities or actions which happened and ended in the past.

There are two types of verbs in simple past tense: 1. Regular verbs (add ed to the basic verb form) 2. Irregular verbs (verbs that do not end with ed)

FORM

3. SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE

1. Will Personal Pronoun (Subject) + WILL + Infinitive (Verb)

Example: I will send you the information when I get it. I will translate the email, so Mr. Smith can read it. I will not do your homework for you. I won't do all the housework myself.

2. Be going to (for actions which are not very far in the future) Personal Pronoun (Subject) + Verb to be (am/is/are) + GOING TO + Infinitive (Verb) Example: They are going to spend their vacation in Hawaii. Michelle is going to begin medical school next year. They are going to drive all the way to JB. Who are you going to invite to the party?

3. Present continuous (for things which are carefully planned or arranged)

Personal Pronoun (Subject) + Verb to be (am/is/are)+ Verb-ing

Example: The government is giving 1 and half month bonus to all government servants. I am seeing Lela tonight. Do you want to come along?

4. PERFECT TENSES
Function: UNCLEAR TIME UN- PERFECT TIME

Present Perfect Past Perfect

4.1 PRESENT PERFECT

Form:

has/have + past participle

She has done it. He has gone home. It has eaten the food. They have been patient. We have given them happiness.

 Function: To show an action that took place at an unspecified time in the past. To show an action that took place not too long ago in the past. To show an action that began in the past and is still continuing now. To show an action that has been repeatedly done in the past.

EXAMPLE
I completed my work last night. < Simple Past I have completed my work. PRESENT PERFECT Clues: just, lately, already, recently, since, for, up to now, so far. I have already completed my work I have completed my work since last week. I have taught in UiTM for 3 years. I have raised one kid up to now.

4.2 PAST PERFECT

Form:

had + past participle

had gone had left had taken had given

Function: To show an action that happened first before another action in the past. The first action: PAST PERFECT The later action: Simple Past

EXAMPLE
After I had eaten, I went to class. Before I went to class, I had eaten. My father had slept by the time I arrived home. By the time I arrived home, my father had slept.

It had rained when I went out. When I went out, it had rained.
The teacher went out of the class as soon as all her students had left. As soon as all her students had left, the teacher went out of the class.

CONTINUOUS TENSES
Present Continuous

Past Continuous

Present Continuous
Form: verb to-be + -ing Am/is/are + going/leaving/ Function: To refer to an action that is in progress at the time of speaking. Clues: NOW, RIGHT NOW, AT THE MOMENT E,g. I am teaching now. She is currently writing. They are still listening. Presently, we are studying. At the moment, you are talking.

Present Continuous
NEGATIVES I am NOT teaching now. She is NOT currently writing. They are NOTstill listening. At the moment, you are NOT talking. QUESTIONS Am I teaching now? Is she currently writing? Are they still listening? At the moment, are you talking?

PAST CONTINUOUS
Form: verb to-be + -ing was/were + going/ leaving. Function: to talk about something that was in progress at a duration of time in the past. E.g. I was teaching from 2-4 pm yesterday. They were discussing their assignments for 2 hours last night.

Negatives I was NOT teaching from 2-4 pm yesterday. They were NOT discussing their assignments for 2 hours last night. Questions Was I teaching from 2-4 pm yesterday? Were they discussing their assignments for 2 hours last night?

LETS TRY!
It had been hot day until the rain (had fell/ had fallen). Maria (walks/walked) into her cool new house and (slumps/slumped) into a large chair. She (kicks/kicked) off her shoes and (drops/dropped) her head into her hands.

Then she (hears/heard) a cough. There (is/was) someone in the house! (is/was) someone there? she asked. (show/showed) yourself, whoever you (are/were)
Her only answer (is/was) dead silence.

Q&A

THANK YOU