ENG 103: Structure of English

❖ Class Orientation • Non-countable nouns – are nouns that cannot be counted i.e.,
• PVMGO water, sugar, oil, rice.
• Introduction to the course and its content and • Compound nouns – It is composed of two or more words. It
policies usually combines a noun + noun or adjectives + noun and
• Gender Equity and Inclusivity Related Topics many others. Compound nouns act as single units and can be
❖ The k12 English Curriculum modified by adjectives and other nouns.
❖ Structure of English – An Overview Compound nouns have Three Forms:
❖ Word: The Definition and Criteria o Open or spaced – there is a space between words.
❖ Grammatical Categories o Hyphenated – there is a hyphen between words.
• Nouns o Closed or solid – there is no space or hypen
▪ Classes between words.
▪ Inflection and Declension
▪ Properties
• Pronouns Inflection and Decletion
▪ Properties
▪ Classes Inflection is of forming new words by adding a word to
• Adjectives the base form. “Inflection”, Latin word: inflectere = to bend. It is
▪ Classes formed when a word is changed or altered to achieved a new,
▪ Position specific meaning. Most words inflected are verbs, they change in
▪ Properties form to reflect tense, mood, aspect, person and speech known as
• Adjectives conjugation.
▪ Comparison
▪ Numerals Conjugation is the change that takes place in a verb to express
▪ The Articles tense, mood, person and so on. Conjugating verbs essentially
means altering them into different forms to provide context.

Nouns are inflected for number and case only i.e., boys,
Philosophy – The Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng San Pablo is deeply classes, (from singular to plural) and boy’s and women’s
committed towards the integral formation of the human person, (possessive case).
with a profound faith in God, in his fellow men and himself by
providing its students the full development of their physical, Noun inflection is called declension.
intellectual, social and cultural endowment for effective
Declension is formed when nouns, pronouns, adjectives
participation in various professions and industrial occupations and
or articles change to indicate number, case, or gender. Most nouns
to enable them to enjoy reasonable quality of life to be able to
don’t change but in some cases they do. Declension tells the gender
contribute to the upliftment of the human society.
of the noun and changes the form of accompanying adjectives.
Vision – The Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng San Pablo is a Center of
The inflection of Nouns, Adjectives, Pronouns, and
Excellence upholding glocally – responsive education dedicated to
Participles to denote gender, number, and case is called
transform lives and empower communities.
Declension, and these parts of speech are said to be declined. The
Mission – To strengthen and synergize instruction, research and inflection of Verbs to denote voice, mood, tense, number, and
extension, administration and student development creating a person is called Conjugation, and the verb is said to be conjugated.
learning community that ensures the generation of God-loving and
holistic graduates prepared for civic engagement and academic and
life success. Properties of Nouns

• Nouns have three major characteristics:

Grammar – A system of rules that gives the foundatin for ▪ Gender
producing acceptable formal expression and that acceptable form ▪ Case
that helps reader comprehend a text. ▪ Number

Gender names something masculine (male) and feminine

(female), neutral/neuter (inanimate objects) and common (either
Noun – A noun is a word that names something, such as a person, sex).
place, thing, or idea.
Masculine Feminine Neuter Common
Classes/Types of Nouns Duke Duchess Table Ruler
mister mistress building cousin
• Proper nouns – Sometimes called proper names. It refers to
specific names of a person, place, thing or idea and is always
capitalized no matter where they fall in a sentence. Case refers to a manner of categorizing nouns, pronouns,
• Common nouns – It is a common name for one item in a adjectives, participles and numerals according to their traditionally
class or group. corresponding grammatical functions within a given phrase, clause,
• Collective nouns – are used when reffering to a group of or sentence.
people, animals, concepts, ideas as single entity or things e.g.,
bucket of water, cast of clowns, choir of singers, class of There are three major noun cases: nominative, objective, and
students and many more. possessive.
• Concrete noun – It points a physical object. It can be Nominative Objective Possessive
identified through taste, touch, sight, hearing and/or smell. 1. For singular nouns,
• Abstract noun – Is an idea or concept that does not exist in Subject of a verb Dative add apostrophe and
the real world. – the subject of a (indirect s (‘s) for singular
• Countable nouns – are in fact the nouns that can be counted. sentence object) possessive. For
Countable nouns can take an article: a, an, the.
 ENG 103: Structure of English

(People seek To whom, plural nouns add • To make plurals from nouns ending in a -y where the letter
freedom.) what? only apostrophe (‘). before the -y is a consonant, change the y to an i and add an -
For whom, 2. For nouns that do es.
what? not end with s add
apostrophe and s city – cities; country – countries
Predicate (I bought (‘s).
Nominative – the them a box of 3. For proper nouns • If the noun ending in a -y is preceded by a vowel, its plural
noun that doughnuts.) ending in s, z, or x, is formed by adding an -s.
completes a add apostrophe (‘).
boy – boys; tray - trays
linking and mean 4. Of phrase is placed
the same as the after a noun. • To make plurals of nouns ending in the letter -f or -fe,
subject Accusative The nephew of the change -f and -fe to -v and add an -es.
(The Anti (direct dean.
Terrorism bill is object) The son of the wife – wives
already a law.) What or CEO.
who? 5. In case of inanimate There are a few exceptions to this rule. The nouns
objects, a prepo- ending in an -ff take an -s in the plural form.
(They like sitional phrase ‘of’
cliff – cliffs
Appositive – a him.) is use instead of ‘s
noun that explains when we are talking The nouns ending in -ief, -oof, eef, ff, or -rf generally
another noun it about inanimate take -s to form plurals.
follows. things or use noun
(Father Randy, our Object of a noun compound. belief – beliefs; dwarf – dwarfs; gulf – gulfs
friend, is a priest. preposition The door of the
Answers the garage or garage • To make plurals of nouns ending in the letter -o, add -es. If -o
question, door. is preceded by a vowel, just add -s.
what? Or 6. For things, places,
hero – heroes; foe – foes
Direct Address – whom? After or concepts use ‘of’
name of person or the preposi- phrase. If -o is preceded by a vowel, then just add -s.
thing is directly tion. a box of candy, a
addressed cup of sugar radio – radios; photo – photos
(Come. Paolo, let (The boquet 7. For abstract
us prepare for the of flowers is concepts and ideas, • Some nouns remain the same when pluralized.
party.) from me.) use apostrophe and
s (‘s or only fish – fish; deer – deer
apostrophe (‘)
• Irregular nouns follow no specific rules, so it’s best to
depending on the
memorize these or look them up in a good dictionary.
need.
a day's work, a man – men; mouse – mice
week's wage.
Possessive – Indicates that a person or a thing owns something. • Some irregular plurals are formed by changing the vowels.
The possessive form of a noun is usually formed by adding an
apostrophe (') or an apostrophe s ('s) foot – feet; goose – geese

• Some nouns ending in -us can be made plural in two ways:

Number of Noun
There are two kinds of number nouns: Singular; Plural.
Singular noun refers to one person, place, animal, or
thing or a single referent. It refers to the count of only one of a
noun or pronoun.
Plural noun refers to two or more persons, places,
things, animals or groups referent of two or more numbers. It refers
to the count of more than one of a noun or pronoun.
Rules in forming the plurality of nouns (Research)
by changing the -us to -i and by adding an -es.
cactus – cacti or cactuses; radius – radii or radiuses;
stimulus – stimuli or stimuluses; terminus – termini or
terminuses
• Certain words that end in -us and have come to the
English language from Latin become plural by replacing -us
with -i.
alumnus – alumni; stimulus – stimuli
Words that end in -us and do not have a Latin origin
don't come under this rule.

• The general rule in English to form plurals is to add an -s. status – statuses; octopus – octopuses

Boy – boys; pea – peas • If the singular noun ends in -is, the plural ends in -es.

• To make the plurals of nouns ending in -s, -x, -sh, -ch, -ss or axis – axes
-z, add an -es.
• If the singular noun ends in -on, the plural ends in -a.
bus – buses; box – boxes; bush – bush; church –
churches; glass – glasses; buzz – buzzes phenomenon – phenomena

• Some nouns ending in -s or -z are made plural by the -s or -
z being doubled prior to adding the -es.
quiz - quizzes
• Some nouns have no plural form.
Alphabet; furniture; money; Fruit
• Some nouns have no singular form.
 ENG 103: Structure of English

Alms; spectacles; trousers
Invariable Nouns
• Uncountable and proper nouns have only one form.
• Each belonging to these subclasses is either singular ir plural.
• Invariable nouns fall into two groups; singular invariables
and plural invariables.
o Singular invariable nouns take singular verbs.
▪ Concrete uncountable nouns – milk, copper;
▪ Abstract uncountable noun – anger, safety;
▪ Proper nouns – Mount Everest, Shakespeare;
▪ Some nouns are added, with the suffix -s: news,
linguistics, Wales;
▪ Substantivised words reffering to abstract
notions – the picturesque
o Pulral invariable nouns take plural verbs.
▪ Objects made of two similar parts: shorts,
trousers, princers
▪ Proper collective nouns – people, police, cattle;
▪ Some nouns derived by means of the suffix -s –
goods, thanks, looks;
▪ Proper nouns in -s – Niagara Falls;
▪ Substantivized words reffering to people – the
blind, the disabled
Index indexes (in books), indices (in algebra)
Penny pennies (separate coins), pence (sum of money)
Staff staves (poles), staffs (bodies of assistants)
Pronoun – A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun, often to
avoid the need to repeat the same noun over and over. Like nouns,
pronouns can refer to people, things, concepts, and places. Most
sentences contain at least one noun or pronoun.
10 Classes of Pronouns
1. Personal Pronouns – is used as a simple substitute for proper
nouns. Personal pronouns serve as a stunt double of grammar;
they replace names of people, places, animals, things, etc.
They enable us to avoid too much repetition of proper nouns
in passages.
a. Gender – The pronoun antecedent which refers to the noun
that the pronoun replaces can be masculine, feminine or
neutral. This pronoun antecedent determines which pronoun
could be used to replace the noun.
CASSEY went to the Peoples Park. SHE went to park.
b. Case – refers the functions of a pronoun in a sentence;
nominative, objective, or possessive. Since nouns can
function as both subject and object so can pronouns.
SHE is a playful kid; HER mother is tired of
shouting and that playground is OURS.
c. Number – The number of a pronoun depends on its
antecedent. If there is only one, a singular pronoun should
be used and if there are more than one, a plural pronoun will
be used to replace the noun.
SHEENA AND KATRINA HALILI are both
actresses. THEY are also cousins in real life.
d. Person – Person property refers to the point of view or
relationship of the speaker and the pronoun antecedent.

Nouns of Differntiated Plural i. First person refers to the person that is speaking.
I got caught doing mischief.
The plural form of some countable nouns has
developed additional meanings altogether different from the ii. Second person refers to the person who is being
meanings of the singular form: spoken to.
did you just call me?
Arm – an upper limb of the human body
iii. Third person refers to who or what is being spoken
Arms – weapon, heraldic bearings about.
He got caught bullying his younger brother brother.
-s can mark the plural and at the same time
acquuire a word formative function i.e., customs; colors. Case Case Objective Possessive
Some uncountable nouns have developed meanings
Number Singula Plura Singula Plura Singula Plural
different from the basic ones. Such meanings are marked by the r l r l r
plural form:
First I We Me Us Mine Ours
Moral – the principle contained in a fable
Morals – rules of conduct Secon You You You You Yours Yours
d
Person

Regard – careful thought or attention

Third He, They Him, The His, Their
Regards – greetings that show respect She, It Her, It m Hers, s
its
Some nouns have different forms of plural which bear
different meanings:
2. Reflexive Pronouns and Intensive Pronouns
Singular Plural
Brother brothers (by birth), brethren (of a society) Reflexive pronouns tell us that the doer of the action in
a sentence is also the receiving end of that action. It can be a direct
Die dies (for coining or stamping), dice (for play) object, indirect object or object of a preposition in a sentence.
Reflexive pronouns are mostly compound personal
Fish fishes (separate fish), fish (collective) pronouns. Ex: I secretly praised myself for doing a good job.
 ENG 103: Structure of English
Compound Personal Pronouns
Person Number
Singular Plural
First Myself Ourselves
Second Yourself Yourselves
Third Himself, herself, Themselves
it-
3. Intensive/Emphatic Pronouns
Intensive pronouns precede the noun which is often the
noun immediately before the pronoun. They are used for emphasis.
Example: The actress received the award herself.
The actress herself received the award.
Since intensive pronoun are used only for emphasis, they
can be removed without affecting the meaning of a sentence. This
is not true with reflexive pronouns because it will cause a change
in meaning if you remove them in sentences.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns – Demonstrative pronouns show,
point or exhibit. These are: this, that, these, those.
Exampe: These are the items I bought afterspending 2
hours in the grocery.
5. Indefinite Pronouns – Indefinite pronouns refers to any
person or thing specifically like: few, some, all, none.
Example: Only few committed to attend the online
meeting.
6. Interrogative pronouns – are used to make question. These
are: who, whom, whose, what, which.
Example: Who were lucky enough to hit the jackpot?
7. Distributive pronouns – denote persons or things of group
separately that's why they always become singular and
followed by the singular verbs. These are: neither, either, each,
everyone, any, none, no one, etc.
Example: Each student has to purchase an access card
to the Millennium ball.
8. Reciprocal Pronouns – are pronouns which express mutual
or reciprocated relationship such as "each other" and "one
another". When you refer to more than two people, you will
likely to use “one another.”
Examples: We gave each other a hug after winning the
dance competition. The students were excited to see one
another after the summer break.
9. Relative Pronouns – are pronouns which join to clauses and
relate or refer back to their antecedent. These are: who, which,
that, what, as, but, etc.
Examples: The man who claimed he can stop a calamity
was mocked by people.
The children, whom we cared for dearly, are now
successful people.
10. Possessive Pronouns – are pronouns which show possession
or ownership such as: his, her, my, our, and their.
Example: Her health is her greatest wealth.
11. Independent Version of Possessive Pronouns – These
includes: mine, yours, ours, his, hers, theirs, its. Example:
She forgot her jacket, so I gave her mine.
Adjectives – a modifier.
An adjective is a word that modifies or describes a noun
or pronoun. Adjectives can be used to describe the qualities of
someone or something independently or in comparison to
something else. Adjectives modify or describe nouns and pronouns.
They can be attributive (occurring before the noun) or predicative
(occurring after the noun). Predicative adjectives typically follow
a linking verb (such as forms of the verb “to be”) that connects the
subject of the sentence to the adjective.
The role of adjectives as modifiers of noun and pronouns
and other adjectives will look into different types or classes or
adjective.
1. Coordinate Adjectives – These are small groups of adjectives
used to describe some attributes of the same noun or subject.
They are seperated by a comma to avoid confusing the
adjectives as singular modifier and not a coordinate pair.
Examples: She wore a blue and white blouse yesterday.
It was dark, gloomy and thunderous afternoon in
Boracay.
2. Demonstrative adjectives – refer to " which" noun or
pronoun are you speaking about. A demonstrative adjective
comes before all other adjectives in the noun phrase. Some of
the common demonstrative adjectives are this, that, these and
those.
Examples: Would you like these shoes?
This car used to be his.
She doesn’t want that gown.
3. Descriptive Adjectives – These adjectives generally modify a
noun. They give the noun a quality or attribute, i.e., the good
son, the majestic mountain.
Examples: He hurt her feelings when he called her lying
bitch; The pitiful dog got trapped in the filthy cage.
4. Distributive Adjectives – These adjectives point out specific
entities and single out a particular noun or pronoun in order to
modify, or draw attention to it. Some of these adjectives are
any, each, either, every, neither. They stand before the noun
they modify.
Examples: I don 't like to hear any news about COVID
19.
Don’t touch every plant you see in the garden.
She bought each cellphone model in that store.
5. Indefinite Adjectives – point to non-specific items. They are
similar to indefinite articles. Some of these are any, few,
many, no and several.
Examples: I don 't like to hear any complaints from you.
Do you have many units in stocks?
There are no teachers in the faculty room.
6. Interrogative Adjectives – pose a question and need a noun
or pronoun by their side. Some of these are what, which and
whose.
Examples: What brand do you prefer for a laptop?
Which dress do you want to wear tonight?
Whose mother is here to see the principal?
7. Possessive Adjectives – show possession. Some of these
adjectives are his, her, my, our, their, and your. They come
before their corresponding noun/s.
Examples: Is that their house?
Don 't touch our Ferrari.
8. Predicate Adjectives – They come after a linking verb. These
linking verbs include am, is, are, was, were, etc.
Examples: She is intelligent.
We are so poor.
9. Proper Adjectives – These adjectives are capitalized
adjectives derived from proper nouns.
Examples: I love Korean cuisine.
 ENG 103: Structure of English

10. Quantitative adjectives/Numerical adjectives/Cardinal Comparison of Adjectives – adjectives often describe the degree
adjectives – Theses describe the quality of something. They of modification. These forms are positive, comparative, and
answer the question, “how much?” Numbers zero through superlative.
nine must be written in words while for anything 10 and
above, numerals must be used. • This boy is tall. (positive)
Examples: She has four siblings. • This girl is taller. (comparative)
Soon, I hope to have three children. • The last boy in the row is the tallest. (superlative)
I'll take the whole pizza. A. Positive degree – is used to describe one item, group, or
11. Sequence adjectives – are similar to quantitative adjectives, person. Example: The lady in white is beautiful.
they are also called ordinal adjectives. B. Comparative degree – describes two item, people or
Examples: This is my third take for the licensure groups.
examination. There are two ways to form a comparative adjective:
She celebrated her eighteenth birthday. ✓ Short adjectives: add “er”
There are also adjectives that illustrate the orderof things ✓ Long adjectives: use “more”
without using numbers. For example:
I watchd the latest movie sequel of Spiderman. Short Adjectives: add “er” Examples
This is her next album. One-syllable “I” adjectives Young, quick
12. Articles as adjectives – Articles such as a, an, and the act as Two-syllable “I” adjectives Pretty, easy
adjectives. They stand beside their nouns. ending in-y
Examples: She is the daughter of the president. RULE: add “e-er” Fast – faster
I just saw a comet fall. Variation: if the adjectives end Late – later
in -e, just add-r

Order of Adjectives/Cumulative Adjectives

Long Adjectives: use more Examples
Placement Type of Adjective Examples Two-syllable adjectives not Silent, polite
1 Article, ending in-y
Demonstrative A, an, the Short Adjectives: add-eer Examples
determiner or This, that, those, these Variation: if it ends in Hot – hotter
Possessive My, your, his, our
consonant, vowel, consonant,
determiner
2 Quantity One, three, ninety-nine double the last consonant.
3 Opinion or Beautiful, clever, witty, Variation: if it ends in-y, Lazy – lazier
observation well-manered change the y to i
4 Size Big, medium-sized, small Adjectives with three or more Amazing, beautiful
5 Physical quality Thin, lumpy, cluttered syllables
6 Shape Square, round, long RULE: use “more” Elegant – more elegant
7 Age Young, middle-aged, old Amazing – more amazing
8 Colour/Color Red, blue, purple
9 Origin or religion French, Bhuddist
10 Material Metal, leather, wooden With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use “er” OR
11 Type L-shaped, two-sided, all- “more”.
purpose
12 Purpose, or Mixing, drinking, o quiet - quieter/more quiet
attributive noun cooking, service, football, o clever - cleverer/more clever
head. o narrow - narrower/more narrow
o simple - simpler/more simple
Examples: My first, yellow, taxi cab. EXCEPTION: The following adjectives have irregular
a handmade mixing bowl. forms:
The examples above can not be interchanged because o good – better
they are comulative adjectives, therefore, they must follow a o well (health) – better
correct sequence. o bad – worse
o far – farther

Coordinate Adjective – These are multiple adjectives modifying
the same nouns but their order is LESS IMPORTANT because they
can be used INDIVIDUALLY with a noun. They do not cumulate
their meaning with other adjectives. Coordinate adjectives are
separated with commas or “and” to make it clear that they are not
cumulative adjectives. These adjectives can be reversed or
separated with a comma or “and”.
C. Superlative degree – describe THREE or MORE items,
• White, uneven spots.
• White and uneven spots.
• Uneven, white spots.
• Uneven and white spots.
Use of Comparative Adjectives – Often the comparative
adjective is followed by “than.”
• He is taller than John.
• Philippines is big but America is bigger.
• I will buy more powerful personal computer.
• Is Mandarin more difficult than Korea?
groups, or people.
Example: Benito has the highest grade in the class.
Superlative adjectives are formed by adding -est to an
adjective. When forming adjectives, a few basic spelling
rules must be followed:
 ENG 103: Structure of English

• One-syllable words: Add -est to the word, as in largest

and tallest. Sometimes it requires you to double the final
letter of the original adjective, as in saddest.
• One and two-syllable words ending in silent e: Add -
st to the word. Example: rarest, finest, sanest.
• Two-syllable words ending in the letter y: Change the
" y " to an "i" and add -est. For example: silliest and
craziest.
• All other two-syllable words and words with
additional syllable: These words are made into a short
adjective phrase by adding either most or least before
the adjective. For example: most careful, least
restrictive.

MIDTERM EXAM IS ON APRIL 13, 2023 AT 10:00 TO 11:00