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Parts of Speech

Nouns

What is a noun? A noun is the name of anything. The thing a noun

names may be:
-A living or an inanimate thing having physical existence: as girl, cat,
chair
-A mental or spiritual concept: as life, peace, love
-Some quality, property or condition belonging to an object: as
weakness, strength, depth,
-An action: as dancing, singing, cooking
Note: In the sentence, Running is a good exercise, running is a noun
because it is the name of an act and is the subject of the verb is: but
notice that in He is running a short distance, running is not a noun; it
is a part of the verb is running, which tells what he is doing.
Classification of Nouns
Nouns have generally 2 classes:
-Common Noun- name belonging to all the members of a class of
objectsthat is, the name is common to all members of that class such
as school, plane, man, religion, lake
-Proper Noun-is the distinctive name of an individual member of a
class as Philippines, Juan, Catholic
Special Classes of Nouns
-Abstract Nounname of a mental or spiritual concept(meaning
something you cannot touch nor see, not material), or some quality or
condition of an object as love, strength, depth
-Collective Nounname of a collection or group of similar objects; as
staff, band, jury, nation
-Compound Nounmade up of 2 or more nouns or a noun and some
other word or words, which form a unit idea; as grandson, commanderin-chief, sister-in-law, Manila Hotel
Properties of Nouns
Numberindicates whether one object or more than one object is
designated
-plural
-singular
Gender-sex is distinguished
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-masculine
-feminine
-neuter (object without sex: as water, stone, city)
-common (either masculine or feminine: child, parent, cousin, animal)
Case-helps to show the relation of the noun to the other words in the
sentence
-nominative caseused primarily in the subject of a verb and in the
predicate noun
ex. The man spoke rudely.
Dave is an artist.
-objective caseused primarily in the object of a verb or of a
preposition
Ex. The policeman caught the thief.
They came from the city.
-possessive casenormally denotes possession
Ex. This is the boys watch.
I have my CD.
Note: As a general rule, the possessive case is not used with inanimate
objects, a phrase with of is employed in its place. There are however,
a few exceptions to this rule.

Is 'data' plural or singular?

I was asked a question before about when to use a singular or a plural

verb for the word data. This is the answer.
Data is a plural noun, and it usually takes a plural verb. However, if it's
used as a collective noun, when the group or quantity is regarded as a
noun, it takes a singular verb (the data is convincing).

Unfamiliar Plurals, Singulars and Gender Endings

Many times, I hear some people say datas and criterias. Sometimes,
Im itching to tell them that its not right to say that, but I just try to
ignore it, so that they wont get embarrassed. However, in this post, I
would like to show you some nouns which have unfamiliar singulars,
plurals and gender endings, for you to avoid making the same mistakes.
The singular form of the word bacteria is bacterium. The singular for
data is datum and the singular for dice is die.
Alumna is singular and alumnae is its plural form. They both refer to
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females. Alumnus is singular and alumni is plural. Both refer to

males. The plural form of the word analysis is analyses. Crisis is
singular and crises is its plural form. Strata is the plural form of
stratum.
An aviator refers to a guy, and an aviatrix is his female counterpart.
A gander is male and a goose is a female. A stag is a male deer.
An abbot is the male version of an abbess.

Uses of Nouns

Principal Uses of Nouns

SUBJECT OF A VERBwhat is being talked about in the sentence
Ex. The house was wrecked.
Here comes the teacher.
PREDICATE NOUNusually placed after the verb and answers the question
what or who; it is the same person or thing as the subject
Ex. The prince became a beggar.
The supervisor is Janice.
DIRECT OBJECT OF A VERBthe receiver of the action indicated by the
verb and answers the question what or whom; represents a person/thing
different from the subject (unlike the predicate noun)
Ex. The girl lost the bag.
The robber killed the policeman.
INDIRECT OBJECT OF A VERBtells to whom or to what, or for whom or
for what something was done
Ex. The girl wrote her father a letter.
Kate bought Dianne a new purse.
Note: With an indirect object though, to or for is never mentioned in
the sentence; if it were expressed, the noun would be the object of the
preposition and not an indirect object.

OBJECT OF A PREPOSITIONanswers the question what or whom after

the preposition.
Ex. The murderer found shelter in the forest.
The bus came from Pampanga.
APPOSITIONanother name for the same person/thing represented by the
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subject
Ex. My friend, the accountant, has just arrived.
We next went to Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines.
OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENTadded to the direct object to complete the
meaning expressed by the verb; without it the sentence would then become
vague and incomplete
Ex. We made Lea the manager.
We elected Rosa the muse.
NOMINATIVE ABSOLUTE-this kind of construction is made up of a noun
followed by a participle; when a noun used absolutely with a participle is
placed at the beginning of a sentence, it must be carefully distinguished from
a noun used as subject of the verb. For example, in the sentence, The guests
being hungry, dinner was served, guests is in the nominative absolute
construction with the participle being and dinner is the subject of the verb
was served. On the other hand, in The guests, being hungry, took their
places at the table, guests is not in the nominative absolute construction; it
is the subject of the verb took.
DIRECT ADDRESS
Ex. Kiandra, it is time to eat.
The room, Jelaine, has to be cleaned.
Kiandra and Jelaine are the names or words by which the persons are
addressed.
These are not the subjects of the verbs.
Any word having one of these nine uses in a sentence is a noun or nounequivalent in that sentence, although it may be another part of speech in
another sentence.
Ex. Is is a verb.
He mispronounced charismatic.
Nouns used as other parts of speechsome words which are ordinarily nouns
may be used:
As adverbs
As adjectives.

Pronouns
What is a pronoun? It's a word used to replace nouns. Why do we have to
replace nouns? Just imagine if you were to talk to someone about your friend
Eddy. You have a lot to say about Eddy...that Eddy is nice, Eddy is smart, Eddy is
like this and like that. Wouldn't it be so tiring and redundant to say his name
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over and over? That's why we need pronouns. So, instead of always referring to
someone or something by his/her or its name, we can use he, she, it, and other
pronouns. There are 7 types of pronouns: personal, impersonal, definite,
indefinite, relative, reciprocal and interrogative. Let's discuss them one by one
starting with Personal Pronouns.
Personal Pronouns -is the type of pronoun we're probably most familiar with
because they refer to the speaker, the one addressed and anyone or anything for
that matter. Personal pronouns have person, number, gender and case, just like
nouns.
Person
1st person-I, we (used when the subject is the speaker)
2nd person-you (when the subject is the one talked to)
3rd person-he, she, it, they (when the subject is spoken of)
Number
Singular-I, you, he, she, it
Plural-we, you, they
Gender
Masculine-he
Feminine-she
Common-I, we, you, they
Neuter-it
Case
Nominative-I, you, she, he, it, we, they
Possessive-my, mine, your, yours, his, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs
Objective-me, you, him, her, it, us, them
Pronoun Rules

When the pronoun is used as a subject of a verb, it should be in

the nominative case. (You would know if it's the subject of a verb when
that pronoun is the one doing the action expressed by the verb. For
instance, "He likes apples." 'He' is the one doing the action of liking, so
'he' is the subject of the verb 'likes'. 'He' is in the nominative case, that's
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why the sentence is right. If we used "Him", the sentence would be

wrong, because 'him' is in the objective case.
When the pronoun is used as the object of a verb, it should be in
the objective case. (How do we know if a pronoun is used as the object
of a verb? If the pronoun is being acted upon, meaning the verb
expresses an action done to the pronoun, then, it is in the objective case
and thus requires an objective pronoun. For instance, in the sentence, "I
called her." The one receiving the action of 'calling' is her, not 'I'; hence,
'her' is the object of the verb. The sentence is right because 'her' is in the
objective case.

When the pronoun is used as the object of a preposition, it should

be in the objective case. (In the sentence, "The food is for him," 'him' is
used as the subject of the preposition 'for'; thus, it's just right that the
pronoun used is in the objective case. Just imagine if we used 'he' instead
of 'him'. It would sound really weird. "The food is forhe.")

A pronoun should always agree with its antecedent in person. number and
gender. If the noun or pronoun antecedent is singular, first person,
female, the pronoun should also be like that.

The pronouns anyone, anybody, everyone, everybody, and each are

referred to by singular pronouns. (ex. Everyone is doing his best.)

If personal pronouns that already end in 's' are in the possessive case,
they are spelled without an apostrophe. (ex. yours, theirs, ours)

Pronouns used after words like am, is, are, was, were in order to complete
the verb's meaning or to identify the subject should be in the nominative
case. (ex. This is she.) 'She' is used after the word (copulative verb) 'is'
and 'she' identifies the subject; thus, the sentence is correct. However,
nowadays, although grammatically incorrect, people already use "This is
her/him," more often than we hear people say, "This is she/he." It has
become so widely used, I think it's become grammatically acceptable.

The pronoun 'who' should refer only to rational creatures and 'which'
should be used for irrational creatures and inanimate objects.

Each other is used when 2 people are being talked about, but one
another should be used if the people involved are 3 or more.

This topic will be continued in the next post. Thanks for reading. I know it might
sound difficult, but take it this way. At least it's not only your English skills that
get enhanced, but also your analytic skills.^^

A pronoun used in apposition (Apposition means the other word is just

used for additional explanation, but it refers to the same thing/person. For
instance, "They, Danny and Leila, are members of the organization."
Danny and Leila are the same as the "they" used in the sentence.) should
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be in the same case as the word/words it's in apposition. Thus, in

the sentence, "We, Harry and I will be there in a minute," 'we' refers to
'Harry and I', so they should be using the same case. 'We' is in the
nominative case; hence, I used "Harry and I" instead of "Harry and me".
('Me' is in the objective case and therefore will make the sentence
grammatically incorrect if I used it there.)
Don't complicate things by using compound personal pronouns when
single personal pronouns would have been enough. For instance, don't
turn "Is this for Dianne and me?" into "Is this for Dianne and myself?"

Don't let interrupters (expressions placed between who and its verbs)
affect the case of the pronoun.

Remember that 'whose' and 'who's' are different. 'Whose' asks who
owns something. 'Who's' is the contraction of 'who is'.

Verb Rules
Below are verb rules we should know:
1. Verbs should agree with the number of the subject.
ex. The three shirts I bought are all pink. (The subject 'three shirts' is plural, so
'are' is the verb used.)
2. Compound subjects that means only one person or thing should take a
singular verb.
ex. The CEO and Creative Manager of the company is Miss White. (Miss White
has two positions in the company-the CEO and Creative Manager, so the verb 'is'
was used.)
3. Compound subjects introduced by each and every are regarded as singular
and therefore takes a singular verb.
ex. Every bird, cat and dog is welcome at her place.
4. Subjects joined by 'either...or' and 'neither...nor' follows the number of the
subject nearer the verb.
ex. Either the boys or Riza is not telling the truth. (The subject 'Riza' is nearer
the verb, so the verb is singular.)
5. The number of a noun in a phrase does not affect the number of the verb. The
verb still follows the number of the subject and not the phrase.
ex. One of the girls is crying. (The subject is not the girls but just one of them.)
6. If a singular subject is followed by phrases like 'as well as', 'together with',
'along with, 'with' or 'including', the verb will still be singular.
ex. The mayor as well as his councilors is to be awarded this afternoon. (The
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subject is the mayor.)

7. 'It' is always followed by 'is'.
ex. It is the Jacintos, not the Dizons who will be there.
8. Both, several, many and few take plural verbs.
ex. Few are really listening.
9. Every, each, neither, either, anyone, someone, everyone,
everybody,and anybody take singular verbs.
ex. Each is entitled to his own opinion.
10. Not all nouns ending in 's' require plural verbs. Some nouns are plural in
form but take singular verbs. (ex. mathematics, measles, politics, physics,
billiards, mumps, civics, molasses)
ex. Politics is a dangerous game.
11. Some nouns have no singular form like pants, pliers, tweezers, tongs,
scissors, etc. They denote pairs and take plural verbs.
ex. Where are my glasses?
12. Collective nouns take singular verbs when the group acts as a unit, but if
they are thought of individually, they take plural verbs.
ex. The faculty is taking care of the new activity.
The faculty are going to take their lunch.
13. For Math computations, singular verbs are used.
ex. Seven and eight is fifteen.
(These are but some verb rules. There are others which I did not mention
anymore for they might be too complicated or they are already included in the
discussion of the tenses. )

Adverbs
What are adverbs and what are they for? This post answers those questions and
more.
Have you ever heard someone say, He runs fastly! or He came home lately,
thats why his wife got angry. If you have, then you might either be confused
with what that person wants to say or you just let out a smile. Some people are
confused in using adverbs. To help you out a bit, let me give you a refresher
about adverbs.
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What is an Adverb?
An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb.
She walks fast. (The adverb fast modifies the verb walks.)
She is really beautiful. (The adverb really modifies the adjective beautiful.)
She spoke too softly. (The adverb too modifies the adverb softly.)
Many adverbs end in ly. However, be warned that not all words ending in ly
are adverbs. Some of them might be adjectives, such as the following:
Deadly---Shurikens are deadly.
Manly---His behavior is so manly.
Kindly---His kindly manners
Also, there are some adjectives that can be used as adverbs such as:
far
late
deep
hard
loud
Some Adverb Rules
The following are some of the most common adverb rules:
I. An adverb is used to modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb.
ex. She cooks well. ('Well' is the adverb that modifies the verb 'cooks'.)
She is very pretty. ('Very' is the adverb that modifies the adjective 'pretty'.)
She is really very pretty. ('Really' is the adverb that modifies the adverb 'very'.)
II. Surely and really are used to modify a verb or an adjective.
III. Adverbs which have two or more syllables are compared by using the word
"more" to form the comparative and most for the superlative.
ex. Dianne dances more gracefully than Kelly.
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Loreine sings most confidently among her classmates.

IV. When youre only comparing two subjects, use the comparative form of the
adverb.
V. When three or more subjects are compared, use the superlative form of the
adverb.
VI. Do not use double comparatives such as more faster.
VII. Do not use double superlatives such as most fastest.

Adjectives (Rules)
This post is all about adjective rules. They are as follows:

The article 'a' (if you remember, it's a limiting adjective) is used before
words starting with a consonant sound. Remember, it's the sound we're
talking about here, not the letter. The word "uniform" for instance starts
with the vowel 'u', but it has the consonant sound of 'y' (it's pronounced
like 'yuniversity'); hence, we use 'a' before 'uniform', not 'an'. (ex. a
uniform)

The article 'an' (also a limiting adjective) is used before words beginning
with a vowel sound (not letter). (ex. an hour, an apple)

The demonstrative adjective (that, this, those, these) must agree with the
noun it modifies. For instance, if the noun is plural, it should also be
plural. (ex. These oranges are ripe for the picking.)

The comparative form of the adjective should be used when only 2

subjects are being compared. (ex. Jessie is taller than Edlyn.)

The superlative form of the adjective should be used only when there are
3 or more subjects being compared. (ex. Joyce is the most intelligent girl
in her class.)

Usually, when adjectives are of 2 or more than 2 syllables, their

comparative forms are made by adding the word 'more' (ex. more
beautiful) and for superlative forms, we add the word 'most' (ex. most
beautiful).
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There are some adjectives that cannot be compared. They are called
absolute adjectives. (ex. dead, round, final, empty)

Do not use double comparatives. (ex. 'more faster' is WRONG)

Do not use double superlatives. (ex. 'most tallest' is WRONG)

Some adjectives have irregular forms when being compared. For these
adjectives we do not add 'er' or 'est' nor do we use 'more' and 'most'.
(ex. good-better-best)

Position of Adjectives

Where can we find adjectives in a sentence? Usually, they come before the
noun they modify.
ex. She is a pretty and elegant woman.
Sometimes, however, for emphatic purposes, the adjective is placed after
the noun.
ex. She is a woman, pretty and elegant.
Adjectives can also be placed after a verb, thereby, connecting the
adjective to the subject. In this case, it's called a predicate adjective.
ex. He is a tall.
An adjective can also be put after the direct object of a verb. It might be
used to modify the object and at the same time complete the meaning of
the verb.
ex. She made her friend sing. (See here, 'she' did not make her friend.
'She' made her sing.)

Prepositions
This post is about the meaning of 'preposition', the kinds of prepositions and
how important it is to use the correct preposition in order to be understood
clearly.
Its quite common for people to misuse prepositions. At times, I even hear some
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people say Ill get down the train in the Central Station, when actually it should
have been, Ill get off the train at the Central Station. For non-native speakers,
this thing about using the appropriate prepositions is a little bit difficult and
confusing. However, I hope that this entry will be able to clear out some
confusion about the subject.
What is a Preposition?
Its a word that shows relationship between a noun or a pronoun and another
word. It takes an object and connects that object with some other word in the
sentence.
Kinds of Prepositions
I. Common Prepositions
about, above, after, among, at, against, before, from, for, except, behind, in, by,
near, inside,
of, into, concerning, off, like , down, on, to , during, over, toward, under, up,
with, within, without, from, like
II. Prepositional phrases
In the closet
For an hour
III. Phrasal Prepositions
apart from, as well as, along with, in spite of, in accordance with, in view of, in
addition to, because of, in place of, on account of, back of, together with, with
regard to, contrary to.

Conjunctions
Conjunctions are words in a sentence used to join words or groups of words.
There are 3 kinds of conjunctions:
1. Coordinating-They connect words, phrases, or clauses of the same rank. To
remember coordinating conjunctions well, remember the acronymFANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
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ex. Bacon and egg is his breakfast. ('And' joins two nouns-bacon and egg.)
Under the stars and over the sea he went to find her. ('And' joined two equal
phrases.)
Touya cooks the lunch, and Yukito prepared the table. ('And' joined two
independent clauses.)
2. Subordinating-They introduce dependent clauses and join them with
independent clauses. The most common subordinating conjunctions arewhen,
that, while, because, although, though, since, after, as, if, until, as if, as though,
so that, and in order that.
ex. I will stay here because I love you. (Because I love you is the dependent
clause joined with the independent clause I will stay by using the wordbecause.)
3. Correlatives-They are conjunctions used in pairs like as...as, both...and,
so...as, either...or, neither...nor, not...only, but...also, though...yet.
ex. Either Mike or Jerry will go to the farm.

Grammatical Accuracy

Some people wonder why there is a need to have grammatical accuracy in

English, when even some native English speakers commit grammatical
mistakes themselves. I used to ask that myself too, but as I listened more
carefully to how both (native English speakers and non-native English
speakers) express their thoughts, the reason dawned on me.
Native English speakers can say what they want without much difficulty due
to their familiarity of the language. If they have difficulty expressing a certain
concept/thought in a certain way, they can just use other ways of saying
those things. They may commit some mistakes in grammar, but the mistakes
do not distort or change the meaning of the sentences they want to convey,
thus, it doesnt give the listener much of a problem understanding them. On
the other hand, the mistakes many non-native speakers of English commit are
those that often change the meaning of sentences they want to express, and
thus create a misunderstanding. Thats exactly the reason why non-native
speakers have to study grammar more than native speakers.

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Common Mistakes in Grammar

Nouns
Ex. My neighbor has ten childrens.
(Children is already in the plural form, so theres no need to add s.)
Ex. There are three sheeps in the meadow.
(Some nouns such as sheep, deer, salmon and trout have the same form in
the singular as in the plural.)
Ex. My scissors is sharp.
(Certain nouns such as scissors, pliers, tweezers and tongs are always in the
plural form and need plural verbs. So, the is in the above sentence should
have been are.)
Ex. Picking the right candidate for the contest involves a lot of criterias.
(Criteria is already in the plural form.)
Pronouns
Ex. Everybody have their work to do.
(The indefinite pronouns each, anyone, anybody, , everybody and everyone
are referred to by singular pronouns. The sentence should have read
Everybody has his work to do.)
Ex. I watched a movie with my wife last night. He liked it very much.
(Hes talking about his wife and then he used he to refer to her afterwards.)
Adjectives
Ex. She is the most fairest girl I have ever seen.
(Fairest is already in the superlative degree of comparison, so using most
before it makes the meaning redundant.)
Ex. He is worst than my ex-husband.
(If only two things/people are being compared, worse should be used
instead of worst.)
Ex. I met little people in the conference.
(Little is used to refer to noncount nouns. Few should have been used in
the sentence above, unless of course the writer/speaker was referring to
midgets or dwarfs, or if he used the word little figuratively.)
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 Verbs
Ex. Few is expected to fail the test.
(The indefinite pronouns both, many, several and few take a plural verb.)
Ex. They hanged the old fiddle in the woodshed.
(Some are confused with hanged and hung. Hanged means to kill somebody
or yourself by fastening a rope around the neck and removing any other
support for the body. Hung, on the other hand, means to suspend or fasten
something so that it is held up from above. In this sentence, it seems as if the
old fiddle was killed, which of course doesnt make any sense.)
Ex. I go to school yesterday.
(The word yesterday indicates a past event, so the verb used should have
been went.)
Ex. She swimmed very fast the last time we were at the beach.
(Swam should have been used instead of swimmed.)
Ex. He dont know anything about it.
(Doesnt should be used instead of dont because the subject he is
singular.) Articles
What are 'articles' and how are they used in the English language? Read this
post to find out.
Is there a difference between She is a girl and She is the girl? If you hear
two guys talking about this topic, and youre the one they are referring to, you
might prefer the latter sentence to the former. Why? THE GIRL means a
specific girl whereas A GIRL simply denotes any girl at all. Indeed, there is a
huge difference in meaning just because of using two different articles (the and
a). What are articles anyway?
Articles are a type of determiner that indicate if the noun modified is specific or
not. The adjectives a, an and the are articles. A and an are indefinite articles and
the is a definite article. A is used when the word after it starts with a consonant
sound. An on the other hand is used when the word that follows it has a vowel
sound.
Bring me a book. (means any book)
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Bring me the book. (means a specific book)

He is an honest man. (although honest starts with the consonant H, it has a
vowel sound in this word).
He went to a university in Tokyo. (although university starts with U, it has the
consonant sound YU, thus needs the artcle a instead of an)
Subject and Predicate
How do we distinguish between subjects and predicates? It will be hard for
English learners to understand many concepts and rules on English if these two
are not that understood yet.
Subject-the person or thing being talked about in the sentence
Predicate-tells something about the subject
ex. He swims. (He is the subject and swims is the predicate.)
The old woman dressed in red looks very lonely. (The old woman dressed in
red is the subject and the predicate is looks very lonely.)
It is easy to find where the subject and the predicate is if we will try to find the
verb. The verb is the line that separates subjects from predicates.
Subject and Predicate
How do we distinguish between subjects and predicates? It will be hard for
English learners to understand many concepts and rules on English if these two
are not that understood yet.
Subject-the person or thing being talked about in the sentence
Predicate-tells something about the subject
ex. He swims. (He is the subject and swims is the predicate.)
The old woman dressed in red looks very lonely. (The old woman dressed in
red is the subject and the predicate is looks very lonely.)

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It is easy to find where the subject and the predicate is if we will try to find the
verb. The verb is the line that separates subjects from predicates.

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