Grammar:

Parts of Speech
BBI 2409
English for Academic Purposes
Pn. Joyce Morris Kapong
What you’ll learn in this class:

8 Parts of Speech
 Parts of Speech
Words are divided into 8 different
classes which we call
Parts of Speech (POS):
1. Nouns 5. Adverbs
2. Pronouns 6. Prepositions
3. Adjectives 7. Interjections
4. Verbs 8. Conjunctions
 Parts of Speech
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. Examples:
1. The book is on the table. (noun)
2. Please book two concert tickets for me.
(verb)
 Nouns
Words to name a person,
place, thing, quality, state
or an action.
1. My mother is a beautiful woman.
2. There is a cat meowing outside.
3. We are studying in a university.
4. The fear of worms can be
traumatic.
5. The joy of having your first child
is indescribable.
6. She could hear laughter coming
from the empty room next door.
 Countable & Uncountable Noun

Nouns that can be counted (countable):

duck, car, trophy, child, pencil

Nouns that cannot be counted

(uncountable):
water, hair, sand, dust, oil
 Countable Noun

1. I saw a white duck by the pond

2. There are many cars on sale at the car
exhibition.
3. I won this trophy at the science fair.
4. Only one child is missing.
5. Nora has five pencils on her desk.
 Uncountable Noun
1. Please get me some water. I’m
thirsty.
2. My hair is a little bit oily. I think I’ll
wash it today.
3. Jack has sand in his shoes.
4. There’s dust in my eyes.
5. The cooking oil is spilled on the
table.
 Singular & Plural Noun
Singular: a noun that denotes one
person, place or thing.
girl, cup, file, child

Plural: a noun that denotes more than

one person, place or thing.
girls, cups, files, children
 Singular & Plural Noun
Singular Plural
A girl came to my house to The girls were auditioning
see my son. for Malaysian Idol.
I use this cup to drink Sarah broke two tea cups.
coffee every morning.
I bought a file at the Please keep ten files in
stationery shop. each cabinet.
The child cried for her There are children playing
mother. in the snow.
 Pronouns
Words that are used to
replace a noun or another
pronoun.
1. She decided to go to a movie.
2. The men demanded their wages from
the employer.
3. His negative remark hurt my feelings.
4. Please return the book to me because
my friend needs it.
5. My sister and I are leaving for the
States tomorrow.
 Adjectives
Adjectives are words which
describe or qualify nouns or
pronouns. Adjectives usually
come before the nouns or
pronouns they are referring to.
 Adjectives
There are several types of adjectives:
• Descriptive (quality) – green, round,
fierce, tired
• Comparison – happy, happier,
happiest
• Possessive – my, yours, hers
• Quantity – five, several, some, all,
much, little
 Adjectives
1. The big, green bowl belongs to
Dad.
2. I was happy living in China, but
I’m happier now in my own
country.
3. Dave saw five chickens crossed
the street.
 Verbs
A verb is a word which describes
the action performed by a person
or an object. A verb is a doing
word. It can also express the
state of being. It is also the only
POS that changes its form to
reflect the time it is used.
 •Regular
•Irregular
•Auxiliary
 Regular Verbs
To make the past tense or past participle form
of most verbs (regular verbs) we simply add
“ed” at the end.
Examples using the verb “walk”:
• Past Tense: I walked through the maze.
• Past Participle: I have walked through the
maze.
(The past participle form is used in the present perfect, past perfect, and future
perfect tenses. The above example is written in the present perfect tense.)
 Regular Verbs
1. The man jumped over the fence.
2. My mother baked a cake this
morning.
3. Sally had wanted to buy a new sofa,
but she changed her mind.
 Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs are not that simple. We
sometimes need a dictionary to help us
write the different forms of irregular
verbs.
Examples using the verb “see”:
• Past Tense: We saw the secret maps.
• Past Participle: We have seen the
secret maps.
 Irregular Verbs
1. I brought you some tea.
2. I bought you some tea.
3. He did his work perfectly.
4. Have you fed the cat?
 Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary verbs help complete the form
and meaning of main verbs. The most
common auxiliary verbs are be, have,
and do.
 Auxiliary Verbs
(main) (main) (main)
be, being, have, do,
been, had, does,
am, are, is, has. did.
was, were.

will, would, may,

can, could, might,
shall. should. must.
 Auxiliary Verbs
1. She is the chief engineer.
2. The tea cups are in the china cabinet.
3. Garth does this kind of thing frequently.
4. My roommates and I do the laundry every
second week.
5. I can't complete my assignment because he
still has my notes.
 Adverbs
Adverbs are traditionally defined as
words that describe verbs. Adverbs
answer any of the following questions
about verbs: how? when? where? why?
Most adverbs usually ends with –ly.
 Adverbs
Here are several kinds of adverbs:
• Adverbs of manner – quickly, bravely
• Adverbs of time – soon, yesterday,
now
• Adverbs of place – here, there
• Adverbs of frequency – often, seldom,
always
 Adverbs
1. The boy quickly grabbed the sweets
and took off.
2. The Prime Minister is visiting us soon.
3. We are here.
4. She always give excuses not to join
us.
 Prepositions
Prepositions are words that specify place,
direction, and time. There are three types of
prepositions.
• Time – defines time – in, at, on, for,
during, while
• Place – clarify the place of someone or
something – in, on, at, in front
• Direction - clarify the direction of someone
or something – under, over, right,
left
 Prepositions
1. Please meet the manager at
10 o’clock tomorrow morning.
2. He will meet you in front of his
office.
3. Just turn left at that corner, and you
will see his door.
 Interjections
An interjection is a word added to a
sentence to express sudden feeling or
emotion. It is not grammatically
connected to any part of the sentence.
Interjections have an exclamation
mark ( ! ) at the end.
 Interjections
1. Ouch! That hurts!
2. Hey! Put that down.
3. Oops! I did it again.
4. Hello! What are you doing here?
5. Oh! You scared me!
6. Alas! If only he had listened to me,
he wouldn’t have failed.
 Conjunctions
Conjunctions are used to link
words, phrases, and clauses.
 Conjunctions

for, and, but, or, yet, so,

although, before, while,
if, until, however,
furthermore, meanwhile
 Conjunctions
To join words/phrases/clauses:
1. Ali and Ahmad are good friends.
2. Everyone but the old woman had
an umbrella.
3. Do your homework, or daddy will
scold you.