Unit 02: Parts of Speech (Word Classes)

Lesson 01: Content Words (Open class):

1.Nouns
A noun is a word that names people, places, concepts, or objects. A noun in a sentence can play the role of
(functions as):
a) Subject: a part of a sentence that contains the person or thing performing the action (or verb) in a
sentence. It is a grammatical term used to describe the nouns, pronouns, and noun phrases that occur
before the verb in a sentence.
b) Object: the person, place or thing that's being acted upon by the subject's verb / (the thing/person
that the action is done to).
c) Direct object: a noun that receives the action performed (done) by the subject.
d) Indirect object: a noun that is the receiver of a direct object).
e) Subject complement: a word or phrase that defines or describes the subject.
f) Object complement: a word or phrase that follows a direct object and describes or renames it.
Example:
g) Appositive noun: a noun that comes right after another noun in order to further define or identify it.

Some types of nouns include:

Proper nouns vs. Common nouns
►A proper noun is a specific name of a person, place, or thing, and is always capitalized. Ex: Jupiter,
Allen, Germany.
►A common noun is the general name of an item in a class or group and is not capitalized unless appearing
at the beginning of a sentence. Ex: chair, house, day, city.
There are few types:
a) Concrete nouns: They are things you can see or touch such as puppies, trees, flowers, sticks, stones.
b) Abstract nouns: are concepts, feelings, ideas, states of mind, and attributes. For example, honor,
loyalty, courage, truth, and freedom.
c) Collective nouns A collective noun denotes a group or collection of people or things. They are often
followed by “of” + “plural noun”. Ex: pack, flock, stack, team, collection, fleet, herd, pride, school,
caravan/train.

Countable nouns vs. Uncountable nouns

►Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted. They can be used with a/an, the, some, any, a few,
and many. Ex: cat, chair, finger…
►Uncountable nouns are nouns that come in a state or quantity which is impossible to count. They are
always considered to be singular, and can be used with “some, any, a little, and much”. Ex: water,
information, sugar, air.

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Plural nouns
A plural noun is the form of a word that refers to more than one person or thing.
How to form plural noun

2.Verbs
A verb is a doing word that shows an action, an event or a state. In other words, a verb is a word that
informs about an action, an existence of something or an occurrence. A phrase is a word or a group of
• A verb describes what the subject is doing. two or more words that express a
• The verb is the main word in a sentence. single idea but do not form a
• No sentence can be completed without a verb. complete idea/sentence.

There are two kinds of verbs: Lexical verbs (main verbs) and Auxiliary verbs (helping verbs)

A. Lexical verbs (main verbs)

A lexical verb represents the main verb in a sentence.
Lexical verbs are also known as main verbs. They stand on their own and do not need another verb to
make a sentence significant. They provide vital information about what is happening
a) Transitive verbs
A transitive verb is a verb which requires (needs) a noun phrase to complement it. The noun
phrase is the direct object that receives the action. Subject + Main verb + Object
Some transitive verbs: address, borrow, bring, discuss, raise, offer, pay, write, promise, have.

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 b) Intransitive verbs
An intransitive verb is a verb that doesn’t require any further noun phrase to compliment it. It
means that it doesn’t need an object. Subject + Main verb (+ adverb/prepositional phrase).
c) Ditransitive verbs
A ditransitive verb is a verb that requires two noun phrases as compliment. The first functions
(works) as the indirect object and the second as the direct object.
d) Intensive verbs (usually called linking verbs or copular verbs)
An intensive verb is a verb that requires a single compliment which can take the form of:
- noun phrase (NP): Alfred is a doctor.
- adjective phrase (AP): She looks very beautiful.
- prepositional phare (PP): Players were at home.
Intensive verbs are used to describe the subject and its state.
Some intensive verbs are: is/are/am/were/was, look, feel, smell, taste, seem…etc.
e) Prepositional verbs
A prepositional verb is an idiomatic expression that combines a verb and a preposition to make a
new verb with a distinct meaning. Some examples of prepositional verbs in English are: care for,
long for, apply for, approve of, add to, resort to, result in, count on, and deal with.
f) Complex transitive verbs
A complex transitive verb is a verb that requires a direct object and an object compliment.
g) Stative and Dynamic Verbs
►A dynamic verb (action verb) means that the verb describes an action rather than a state.
Example: She plays tennis every Friday. She is playing tennis right now.
Some action verbs are: eat; drink; go; type; read; write; listen; speak; watch; say; grow; work;
sleep; cook; talk.
►A stative verb means that the verb describes a state rather than an action.
Example: He believes in UFOs.
Stative verbs cannot normally be used in the continuous forms.
Some stative verbs are: love; hate; like; see; hear; sound; think (meaning "have an opinion");
mind (meaning "care about"); recognize; seem; have (meaning "own"); prefer; doubt; consist of;
mean.
B. Auxiliary verbs (helping verbs)
An auxiliary verb (or a helping verb) is used with a main verb to help express the tense, mood, or
voice of the main verb.
The list of auxiliary verbs include: be, have, and do [these three can also be lexical, though with
different senses (meanings)] and can/could, will/ would, shall/should, may/might, and must.
Be, have and do are sometimes called primary auxiliaries. This serves to contrast them with the
rest, which are all modal auxiliaries.
[1] Daisy finished the work. [2] Max writes beautiful stories.
[3] Daisy will win the competition. [4] Max could write a good essay.
[5] Daisy has filled the pool. [6] Daisy is filling the pool.
[7] The pool is filled. [8] Nothing was broken.
These examples show that, in a sequence of verbs,
a. it is always just the first verb – whether lexical or auxiliary – that displays

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 the tense distinction between present and past;
b. auxiliary verbs (if there are any) always precede (come before) the lexical verb;
c. the form of a verb is determined by the verb that precedes it.
The examples above contain only one auxiliary each. However, there can be up to four auxiliaries
representing the verb of a sentence.

I. Primary Auxiliaries
1. Do (does, did) [Aux] (helps express negation, ask questions, and can also be used for
emphasis in positive sentences)
‘Do’ as an auxiliary is used to add the negation particle [Neg] “not” in order to create a negative
sentence. Lexical verbs other than do, be, and have cannot take the negation particle ‘not’.
Example: Emma love not ice cream. ✖ Emma does not love ice cream. ✓
They play not football. ✖ They do not play football. ✓
She bought not a cake. ✖ She did not buy a cake. ✓

2. The perfect auxiliary — Have (has, had) [PERF]

Followed by a past participle, the auxiliary have is used to form the 'perfect' tenses:
Present Perfect: He has understood the lesson.
Past Perfect: She had done a great job.
Future Perfect: They will have finished by tomorrow.
3.
A. The progressive auxiliary — Be (am, is, are, was, were, being, been) [PROG]
The present progressive (auxiliary verb be + verb ending in -ing) is used to express a current action,
an action in progress or an unfinished action: The children are sleeping in the large room.
It can be used with modal auxiliary verbs: They should be sleeping by now.
B. The passive auxiliary — Be [PASS]
A second use of the primary auxiliary be is found in the formation of passive verb
phrases/sentences. The passive consists of the auxiliary be followed by a verb in the past participle.
Sentences that include the passive auxiliary verb be are said to be in the passive voice.
The child was served alcohol by the clueless waiter.
The books are shelved in the evenings.
How to distinguish between progressive be and passive be?
The answer lies in the form of the following verb. After the progressive be, a verb adopts (takes) the
progressive participle form (V-ing – e.g. stealing).
On the other hand, after the passive be, a verb adopts the passive participle form (e.g. stolen).

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 II. Modal Auxiliaries
They are used with main verbs to express expectation, permission, ability, possibility,
obligation, advice, capability, or requests. Modal auxiliary verbs never change form, but they
have a different form for past tense.
Present Tense Past Tense

Will: indicates a ‘willingness’ to do something Would: indicates general or repeated

in the future. willingness in the past. It also indicates
►I will play tomorrow. preference in the present.
►We thought that people would buy this book.
►I would like to make a toast.
Could: indicates ability with an option and
possibility.
Can: indicates ability and possibility. ►I could do it. (The subject ‘I’ is not sure about
►I can do it. (The subject ‘I’ is sure about his/her ability)
his/her ability) ► It could rain later.
►The temperature can rise this month.
(Had to):
Must: indicates necessity. ► I had to leave then.
► He must study hard.
May: indicate possibility. Might: indicate possibility but might can
► It may rain later. suggest that there is less possibility than may.
► It might rain later.
Shall: indicate future action. It is most
commonly used in sentences with "I" or "we," Should: indicates obligation and probability.
for polite questions and is often found in ► You should come home early.
suggestions. ► There should be an extra key for the lock in
► Shall I help you? (suggestion) the drawer. (probability)
► I shall never forget where I came from.
(promise)

3.Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns: enormous, silly, yellow, fun,
fast. They can also describe the quantity of nouns: many, few, millions, eleven.
• Many adjectives have the possibility of taking the comparative “er”. Ex: Big → Bigger
• And the superlative “est”. Ex: Big → Biggest
• Other adjectives are modified by adverbs of degree to take the comparative and superlative form.
Ex: Beautiful → (comparative) more beautiful → (superlative) most beautiful.
Some types of adjectives include:
a) Gradable and Non-gradable adjectives
► Gradable adjectives are normal adjectives that might have levels of difference in them.
Example: ‘cold’ is gradable – you can be extremely cold, quite cold, and even not at all cold.
By combining the adjective with adverbs like ‘extremely’, ‘quite’ and ‘not at all’ you can show
the degree of the adjective being used.

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 ►Non-gradable adjectives are extremes (the extreme limit of the adjective.) Some adjectives
might be extremes without any option of variation.
Example: “The water is freezing.” Water can’t be “a bit freezing” or “very freezing”.
Another type of adjective that can’t be graded are absolute adjectives – these describe a state or
situation that cannot be changed.
Example: “The plant is dead.” The plant can’t be “a little bit dead”.

Non-gradable Gradable
tiny small
excellent good
boiling warn/hot
enormous big
terrible bad
freezing cold
exhausted tired
*Use adverbs to make adjectives weaker or stronger.
*Adverbs with gradable adjectives – very, extremely, a bit, slightly
*Adverbs with non-gradable adjectives – absolutely, completely, totally.
*’Really’ is used with both.
b) A proper adjective is an adjective derived from a proper noun.
Example: “The English language”, “The Indian Ocean”. “Shakespearean poetry”
c) A descriptive, qualitative or attributive adjective is an adjective that shows the kind and
quality of a person or thing.
Example: “A brave person.”, “A beautiful house.”, “A vicious dog.”
d) A quantitative adjective shows how much (quantity) of a thing is meant.
Examples: I did not eat any apple. He ate much bread. You drink little milk.
A quantitative adjective is always followed by a singular material or abstract noun.
e) A numeral adjective is one that shows the number or serial order of persons or things. They are
further divided into two main classes.
►Definite numerals show some exact number. They are of three kinds:
Cardinals (One, two, three, four)
Ordinals (First, second, third, fourth)
Multiplicatives (Single, double, triple, quadruple)
►Indefinite numerals do not show an exact number: all, some, enough, none, many, few, several
etc.

4.Adverbs
Adverbs are words that are used in sentences to describe or change the meaning of a Verb or Adjective
or even another Adverb and add information about them. They add a description to the sentence to make
it more detailed.
a) Adverbs of Time/Frequency (When?)
Adverbs of time/frequency indicate time or frequency of the action in the sentence. They answer
the question ‘when/how frequently is the action performed?’.
Always, never, often, eventually, now, frequently, occasionally, once, forever, seldom, before,
Sunday, Monday, 10 AM, 12 PM, etc. are common adverbs of time/frequency.
Example:

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 I went to school a little late yesterday. He always gets a good result.
I will leave Monday. He smokes occasionally.
b) Adverbs of Place/Direction (Where?)
Adverbs of place/direction that indicate place/direction of the action in the sentence. They
answer the question ‘where is the action performed?’.
Across, over, under, in, out, through, backward, there, around, here, sideways, upstairs, in the
park, in the field, in that place, etc. are some common adverbs of place/direction.
Example:
I went through the jungle. He plays in the field.
Alex is going to school. He is staying at my home.
c) Adverbs of Degree (How Much?)
Adverbs that express the importance/degree/level of the action in the sentence are called adverbs
of degree. They answer the question ‘how much is the action performed?’.
Completely, nearly, entirely, less, mildly, most, thoroughly, somewhat, excessively, much, etc.
are common adverbs of degree.
Example:
She completely forgot about her anniversary. I read the newspaper thoroughly.
I am so excited about the new job. Robin hardly studies
d) Adverbs of Manner (How?)
Adverbs that express the manner/approach/process of the action in the sentence are called
adverbs of manner. They answer the question ‘how is the action performed?’.
Beautifully, equally, thankfully, carefully, handily, quickly, coldly, hotly, resentfully, earnestly,
nicely, tirelessly, etc. are common adverbs of manner. These adverbs usually end in “ly”.
Example:
Let's divide the prizes equally. Please, handle the camera carefully.
Mike is walking slowly. He is running fast.

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