basic spoken english language - Parts of Speech
Basic Communication
Session
A : Parts of Speech
1 Suggested Study Plan
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Material
|
Focus Area
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Time
|
|
Parts of
Speech
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Types
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10 min
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Attempt practice exercises
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Application of POS
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10 min
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2 Objective
At the end of the session,
participants will
• understand the parts that form a meaningful
sentence
• be able to form sentences which are complete
and comprehensible
• also understand the application and how each
part takes up different forms in specific contexts
3 Overview
Communication
is all about making sense of what you say. All it takes is the right components
structured to produce a meaningful sentence.
This
self study module is designed to reinforce your awareness of the parts in a
sentence that provide a complete thought.
4 Understanding Parts of Speech
The English language consists of
the parts of speech listed below. Every word you will ever say or write falls
into one of these categories (with the exception of the articles “a,” “an,” and
“the”). Some words fall into more than one category depending upon their use in
a sentence.
4.1 Noun
Noun is a word used to name a
person, place, thing, or idea. A Noun can be a proper noun or a common noun.
Examples
• Narendra Modi, Arundhati Bhattacharya
(people, proper nouns), man, woman (people, common nouns), Corbett National
Park, Bombay, (places, proper nouns), playground, town (places, common nouns) cricket
bat, tennis ball (things) independence, freedom (ideas)
4.2 Pronoun
Pronoun is a word that replaces a person,
place, thing, or idea.
Pronouns can act as subjects or
objects, and some can show possession.
Examples
• I, you, he, she, it, we, they (nominative
case acts as subject) me, you, him, her, it, us, them (objective case acts as
object)
my, mine,
your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs (possessive case
shows possession)
4.3 Adjective
Adjective is a word used to
describe, or modify, a noun or a pronoun. An adjective describes “what kind,”
“which one,” “how many,” or “how much? ”
Examples
• the brown dog (Which dog? ), the colonial
house (What kind of house? ), the two cars (How many cars? ), She is blonde.
(What kind of hair? ), He is tall. (What kind of height? )
4.4 Verb
Verb is a word that shows action or
that indicates a condition or a state of being.
Examples
• I run.
• Sri talks.
• The boys eat.
• I am sick.
• She is tired.
• The people are free.
Note: It is best to use strong action verbs that
paint a vivid picture in the readers’ mind (e.g. race, waddle, chomp). The verb
“to be” (e.g. is, are, was, were) is not descriptive, so requires the use of
adverbs.
4.5 Adverb
Adverb is a word used to describe,
or modify, a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. An adverb describes how,
when, where, or to what extent the verb performs.
Examples
• I run fast. (How fast do I run? )
• The boys are eating now. (When are the boys
eating? )
• I am very sick.
• She is extremely tired.
• The people are finally free.
These examples all show to what
extent the verb performs.
4.6 Preposition
Preposition is a word used to show
a relationship between a noun or a pronoun and some other word in the sentence.
Prepositions often show direction, location, or time.
Examples
• in the morning, up in the sky, down south,
in a minute, at 2:00 p.m., before bed, by my side, without a doubt, over the
hill, after school, through the door, across the street, around the world
4.7 Conjunction
Conjunction is a word that connects
other words or groups of words to each other. There are three types of
conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating, and correlative.
Examples
• Anu and Arun are going to the store.
(coordinating)
• Anu is going to the store because she likes
Arun (subordinating)
• Anu likes Arun whether he likes her or not.
(correlative)
4.8 Interjection
Interjection is a word used to
express emotion that has no grammatical relationship to other words in the
sentence. Interjections should be used
sparingly .
Examples
• Uh oh, I made a mistake! Oh no, I forgot to call Sindhu. Well, what are
you going to do?
Traditional grammar classifies
words based on eight parts of speech. The verb, the noun, the pronoun,
the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the
interjection which we had an insight into.
Each part of speech explains
not what the word is, but how the word is used. In fact, the same
word can be a noun in one sentence and a verb or adjective in the next. The
next few illustrations show how a word’s part of speech can change from one
sentence to the next, and following them is a series of sections on the
individual parts of speech.
1. Books are made of ink, paper, and glue.
In this
sentence, “books” is a noun, the subject of the sentence.
2. Leena waits patiently while Sona books
the tickets.
Here “books”
is a verb, and its subject is “Sona.”
3. We walk down the street everyday.
In this
sentence, “walk” is a verb, and its subject is the pronoun “we.”
4. The mail carrier stood on the walk.
In this
example, “walk” is a noun, which is part of a prepositional phrase describing
where the mail carrier stood.
5. The town decided to build a new jail.
Here “jail”
is a noun, which is the object of the infinitive phrase “to build.”
6. The sheriff told us that if we did not leave
town immediately he would jail us.
Here “jail”
is part of the compound verb “would jail.”
7. They heard high pitched cries in the
middle of the night.
In this
sentence, “cries” is a noun acting as the direct object of the verb “heard.”
The baby cries all night long and all day long.
But here “cries” is a verb that
describes the action of the subject of the sentence, the baby.
5 Practice Exercises
5.1 Identify the parts of speech for each word in
the sentence.
1. The lazy man slept in the afternoon, and he
was very tired at night.
2. A red car is dangerous for policeman , but it
is incredibly beautiful.
3. The slim dancer stopped for a cup of coffee in
the crowded diner.
4. In the summer, the happy children play
enthusiastically before they eat their dinner.
5. The thief stole my bicycle, so I walked to
John’s house.
6. The cute puppy rested on the couch, and it was
very energetic in the afternoon.
7. The black cat ran quickly down the street, but
the dog found it immediately.
8. The cute puppy rested on the couch, and it was
very energetic in the afternoon.
9. The black cat ran quickly down the street, but
the dog found it immediately.
10. The very tall teacher talked to her old friend
on her new cell phone.
11. Yesterday, the secretive students whispered
softly during the difficult examination.
12. He lives here, in this incredibly ugly house.
5.2 Write the correct forms of the words in brackets.
1. Decide how much you can spend, and shop
________.(ACCORDING)
2. I received an ________from Toshiba yesterday
telling me that they were considering my application for the job. (ACKNOWLEDGE)
3. We’re having some________made to our house.
(ALTER)
4. There has been an________of 50% in property values. (APPRECIATE)
5. Foods that are ___________produced in
laboratories are threatening our health. (ARTIFICIAL)
6. Although he started learning English a few
months ago, he speaks it__________. (FLAW)
7. I locked myself out of the house__________. ERROR
8. Their job was to_______________identify enemy.
(COLLABORATE)
9. Mike had a _________with another player and
broke his leg.(COLLIDE)
10. His employers paid him $5000_______for his
broken leg. (COMPENSATE)
11. There was widespread international_________of
the bombing. (CONDEMN)
12. Most computer users have never received any
formal keyboard training.
____________,
their keyboard skills are inefficient. (CONSEQUENCE)
13. Women suffering from iron________can take
supplements in the form of tablets. (DEFICIENT)
14. Passengers said the cabin shook violently
during the plane’s __________. (DESCEND)
15. Power is shared between three main branches of
government: the_________, the legislative, and the judiciary. (EXECUTE)
16. Though Vivaldi earned a great deal of money in
his life time, his________was such that he died in poverty. (EXTRAVAGANT)
17. Recently there has been___________towards the
Prime Minister from members of his own party. (HOSTILE)
18. ___________is now running at over 16%. INFLATE
19. Millions of people oppose U.S. military__________overseas.
(INTERVENE)
20. There are a number of very_______ players in their team.( TALENT)
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