Parts of Speech

1. A language is used for communication. And communication is driven by

logic. So always remember that logic drives grammar.

2. A language is made of words and the words are then divided into eight
functional groups called Parts of Speech: Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective,
Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction and Interjection.

3. It is important to be able to identify the different parts of speech because

they combine to become sentences.

NOUN
• Noun: is the name of a living, non-living or imaginary thing. If a word
answers the question, “what/ who/ whom” in a sentence, it must be a
noun.
• A pronoun replaces a noun in three scenarios: 1) to avoid repetition of the
noun, 2) when the names of nouns are not known or 3) when it is
impossible to enumerate the names of nouns.
• A noun or a pronoun has three features: Number, Gender and Person.
• If a noun goes from one to two, it is a countable number. We don’t have to
know the last number. Also, if a noun has a plural form, it must be
countable: book, books.
• If a noun remains one only, it is an uncountable number. They will never
have the plural form.
• There are four genders possible:
a. Masculine (Living thing and can be determined to be a male)
b. Feminine (Living thing and can be determined to a female)
c. Common (Living thing and can only be from Masculine or Feminine:
teacher, scientist etc.)
d. Neutral: Living or non-living or imaginary things (Where it is impossible to
call the noun masculine or feminine or common gender)
• The noun/pronoun doing the talking is first person; the noun/pronoun the
first person is talking to is the second person. The third person is the noun/
pronoun the 1st and 2nd persons are talking about.
a. I, me, we, us, our, ours : first person
b. You, your, yours : second person (Nouns can also be used)
c. He, she, it, him, her, them, their, theirs, hers, its: third person (Nouns can
also be used)

VERB
• Verb shows the state (hona ya rehna) or action (karna) of a noun or a
pronoun.
a. Ravi is a teacher. (hona)
b. Coffee tastes bitter. (rehna/hona)
• ‘Be, is, am, are, was, were’ when they come alone are called ‘to be’ verbs
and are part of ‘STATE’ verbs. STATE verbs is a big list with ‘to be’ verbs
making a small group within it.
• Go, come, sit, bathe etc. are action verbs.
• The time of the verb is called TENSE, i.e. the time of the action or the state
of a noun or a pronoun.
• If there is tense, there is always a noun or a pronoun. This noun or pronoun
is called the SUBJECT.

Subject + tense + no full stop/ question mark/ interjection mark = CLAUSE.

Clause(s) + full stop/ question mark/ interjection mark = SENTENCE

• The verb has FIVE forms : V1/V5 called the present form, V2 called the past
form, V3 called the perfect form and V4 called the continuous form.
• V3/ V4 coming without a helping verb from V1/V5 or V2 CANNOT show
tense.
• If there is only one verb, whether it is an action verb or a state verb, it will
be called the MAIN VERB in the sentence.
a. She is a great singer. (‘is’ is a to be verb and there is only one verb, so a
main verb)
• An action verb is always a main verb and state verbs minus the ‘to be’ verbs
are also action verbs.
a. He drank the wine. (Drank is an action and there is only one verb, so a main
verb)
b. The coffee tasted dreadful. (Tasted is a state verb and only one verb, so a
main verb)
• Every verb other than the main verb is a helping verb and there can be
more than one helping verb.
a. He has been living in Paris for the last twelve years. (there are two
helping verbs and there is one main verb: living)

ADJECTIVES
• Adjectives give extra information about a noun or a pronoun.
• Adjectives are of two types: Pure adjectives and pseudo adjectives.
• Questions to identify an adjective: how, how much, how many, whose,
what colour, what size etc.
• Adjectives can be spotted at three positions in a sentence: a) before a noun,
b) after a state verb or c) after a noun or pronoun.’
• If a word answers the question ‘how’ on a state verb, it is an adjective. If a
word answers the question ‘how’ on an action verb, it is an adverb.

ADVERBS
• Adverbs give extra information about a verb, an adverb, an adjective, a
preposition or a conjunction (in short, everything other than a noun, a
pronoun and an interjection)
• ‘-ly’ is a necessary sign of an adverb in 90% cases. In other cases, it can be a
sign of an adjective also.
• Questions to identify an adverb: how, when, where, how often, why, how
intense etc.
 PREPOSITIONS
• Prepositions are words that show the position/ relation of a noun or a
pronoun (on the right hand side of the preposition) with a word on the left
hand side of the preposition. A preposition must always be followed by a
noun or a pronoun.
• The noun/ pronoun that comes after the preposition is called the object of
the preposition. An object (a noun / a pronoun) may also come after an
action verb. That is, there are only two places where the object can come,
one after the preposition (must) and the other may come after an action
verb.

What is a phrase?
● It is a group of words with some sense and no tense (hence no subject).
● A phrase can act like a noun, an adjective or an adverb.
● A sentence has only two components: A phrase and a clause.
● A phrase is usually formed with the following two structures
(adjective/adverb)
o Preposition + (other words) + Prepositional object
o V3/V4 + (other words) + object
• Prepositional usage has to be learned by rote.

CONJUNCTIONS
• A conjunction logically links two words, two phrases, two clauses or two
sentences.
• There are four different types of conjunctions: Copulative, Disjunctive,
Illative and Conditional sentences.
• Copulative (and, not only/but also, as well as, together with, along with etc)
• Disjunctive (There are two classes:
a) Reversers: but, yet, however, nevertheless etc.
b) Alternatives: or, nor, either/or, neither/ nor etc.
• Illative (conjunctions showing cause: because, as, due to etc. and
conjunctions showing result : so, therefore, thus, hence etc)
• Conditional conjunctions: conjunctions which create a condition and result:
if, unless, until, till, whenever etc)
• Conjunctions can be single words or groups of words (as well as, together
with, due to etc). Conjunctions with multiple words are called phrasal
conjunctions.