Teach English in Wulong Zhen - Tianshui Shi

This unit focuses on the introduction to Grammar that is the Parts of Speech. Each word in a sentence can be further classified according to its purpose and the meaning it adds. This is what we refer to as Parts of Speech. This first Grammar unit is primarily concerned with recognizing and classifying these Parts of Speech. They can be classified as follows; To begin, Nouns; a noun names people, animals, things, qualities, and state. Main types of nouns include; -Common nouns such as person, teacher and chair. -Proper nouns such as John, Italy (begin always with a capital letter. -Compound nouns (two nouns joined to have a new noun) such as textbook, Bus driver and Post office. - Abstract nouns (something we experience as an idea) such as beauty, intelligent and development. -Collective nouns ( name of a group of individuals as if they were one) such as flock and family. Noun plurals are usually created by adding an ?s? if the noun ends in ch, sh, x and s we usually add ?es?. For example cats, buses and wishes. A noun that end in a consonant plus y, the ?y? will usually change to ?i? then add es. Example family-families. A noun that ends in an ?f? will usually change to ?v? and then add es. Example thief-thieves. Note that there are many more exceptions for plurals such as brief-brief, tooth-teeth, child-children and man-men. Other exceptions such as Sheep where the noun does not change between singular and plural. -Countable nouns such as people, pen, house (things that can be counted and can be preceded by article ?a?/?an?/?the? can be used in the plural. For example a car, an egg, the table. -Uncountable nouns are things that cannot be counted such as music, advice, rice. Note that some nouns can be countable and uncountable depending on the sense which they are used. For example; -We have chicken in the fridge (one whole chicken). -There is chicken on the menu tonight (we cannot state exactly how much chicken). Also ?much? and ?a little? are used for uncountable nouns while ?many? and ?a few? are used for countable nouns. To add, Adjectives; we use adjectives to describe nouns such as people and things. Examples are; big, small, expensive and cheap. Types of adjectives include; -Comparative adjectives which are formed as such (adjective) + ..er than. An example is Peter is taller than Gary. Note that a few short adjectives change the final ?y? into ?I? such as easy-easier, happy-happier. Others double the final consonant n, t, or d when preceded by a single short vowel such as thin-thinner, hot-hotter. Adjectives of more than two syllables do not add ?er because it is too unwieldy to say but are preceded by the word ?more'. -Superlative adjectives are regularly formed as such the (adjective) +--est. an example is in our class Peter is the tallest. Adjectives with three syllables or more are preceded by the word ?most? to form the superlative. Note again that a few short adjectives change the final ?y? into an ?I? such as easy-easiest, happy-happiest. Others double the final consonant n, t or d when preceded by a short vowel such as thin-thinnest, hot- hottest. There are also a few irregular comparative and superlative forms. Some examples include; Adjective Comparative Superlative Good better best Bad worse worst More still, Articles; there are two types of articles in English definite (the) and the indefinite (a and an). The use of these articles depend on whether you are referring to any member of a group or a specific member of a group. -Indefinite article ?a? and ?an? indicate that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group. The rules are; -A + singular noun beginning with a consonant. Example a ball, a bag. -An + singular noun beginning with a vowel. Example an elephant, an orange. -A + singular noun beginning with a consonant sound, example a uniform ( this sounds like ?yooniform? that is begins with a consonant ?y? sound so ?a? is used. -Some + plural noun; some balls, some Elephants. If the noun Is modified by an adjective, the choice between ?a? and ?an? depends on the initial sound of the adjective that immediately follows the article rather than the noun itself. Examples include; -a broken egg. -an unusual carrot. Note also that in English the two indefinite articles are used to indicate membership of a category or group as in a profession, nation, type of plant or religion. Examples -I am a teacher -Seamus is an Irish man. The definite article ?the? is used before singular and plural nouns when the noun is particular or specific. ?The? is also used when a noun refers to something which is unique. Examples include; -The White House. -The Theory of Relativity. Do not use ?the? before: -Names of cities, towns or states -Names of countries -Names of continents -Names of lakes and bays -Names of mountains etc. ?The? is also used with uncountable nouns that are made of more specific by a limiting modifying phrase or clause, making an uncountable noun specific . for example: -the coffee in my cup is too hot to drink. ?The? is not used with nouns referring to something in a general sense. This is often referred to as the Zero article. For example: -Coffee is a popular drink. Again, Verbs; a verb is a ?doing? word, it is used with a subject to form the basis of a sentence. However ?doing? does not really cover everything, action verbs can also refer to states. Some action verbs are; go, watch, cook, play Some state verbs are; be, seem, appear. All verbs are either transitive or intransitive. A transitive verb is a verb that is followed directly by an object. examples are: eat, cook, read, and repeat. An intransitive verb is a verb that cannot be followed by an object, examples are: go, fall, arrive and depart. These verbs or action are often related to time, place and frequency. Infinitive refers to the action as a whole and it is formed by preceding the base form with ?to?. Examples: to go, to cry, to eat. Verb forms; English verbs have four principal forms that is Base form, Past simple, Past participle and Present participle. With regular verbs the past participle and past simple end in ?ed?. Examples are; Base form Past simple Past participle Present participle Hope hoped hoped hoping Stop stopped stopped stopping With irregular verbs the past simple and the past participle do not end in ?ed?. Examples are; Base form Past simple Past participle Present participle Begin began begun beginning Blow blew blown blowing Auxiliary verbs are helping verbs, they help form structures, questions, negations, short answers and tenses. Examples are; -John is having a shower at the moment -Do you smoke? Auxiliary forms: Base form Present Past simple Past participle Be am, is, are was, were been Do do , does did done Have have, has had had Moreover, Adverbs, in general these add meaning or information to the verb. There are five main types of Adverbs which include; -Manner such as well, hard, slowly. -Place such as above, here, up. -Time such as now, then, soon? -Degree such as very, much, really. -Frequency such as once, twice, sometimes. Most Adverbs are usually formed by adding ?ly? to an adjective. Example slow-slowly. Furthermore, Gerunds; a gerund is the ?ing? form of a verb used as a noun. Note that verbs such as admit, consider and delay are usually followed by the gerund form when another verb is used. For example:- He admitted stealing the money. More still, Pronouns, these are words that are used in the place of a noun in a sentence. Types of pronouns include: -Personal ? I, me, he, she -Possessive ? mine, yours, his, hers -Reflexive ? who, which, that, whose (used to connect clauses in a sentence). Again, Prepositions/Conjunctions; prepositions shows the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and some other word in a sentence. The main types of prepositions include; -Time ? at, on, by, before -Movement ? from, to, in, onto, over -Place/position ? in, at, on, by, above, between. Note that there are some common prepositions that do not neatly fit into any of the above categories such as ?of? and ?with?. Conjunctions join words of the same class that is parts of Nouns/Adjectives/Verbs/Phrases. Some examples are:- and, both?..and, either?.or. Conjunctions also join clauses of sentences. Examples are:- as, as soon as, before. To conclude, what I have personally learnt from this unit is that each word in a sentence can be further classified, according to its purpose and the meaning it adds. This is what we refer to to as Parts of speech. Also, I have learnt the different types of Parts of speech which are:- Nouns, Adjectives, Pronouns, Conjunctions, Adverbs, Prepositions, Verbs, Gerunds and Articles and their various meanings and uses in English.