The Notion of Grammar

1. Introduction

Almost everybody knows the role of grammar in the teaching and learning of a language but almost
nobody can describe or define it with some degree of exactitude. This is owing to the fact that the
concept may mean different things to different people. In this module, you are going to be introduced
to the meaning of grammar from two basic approaches: Modern English Approach and Systemic
Functional Approach. In simple terms, grammar is the study of the relationship between words in a
sentence. Jombadi (2015, p. 17) opines that grammar refers to the “systematic rules about how a
language should be written or spoken”. Grammar may also be described as the rules and principles
that govern the construction of sentences. Grammar is a systematic study of scientific method which
provides us information and guidance necessary to learn a language (Murthy 2007, p.2) Murthy
observes further that the science of grammar teaches us how a language is spoken and written
correctly and effectively. It can, therefore, be said that grammar is primarily concerned with the
formation and classification of words and sentences and practical significance in daily life. The rules
of grammar are many and complex. They include the concept of plurality and singularity in nouns
and verbs, the rules concerning agreement of sentence elements, rules concerning the use
of tenses and many more. These rules of grammar are many and complex. For instance, there are
those between words that form phrases, those between phrases that form clauses or sentences and
those between clauses that form sentences.

2. Scope of grammar

The scope of grammar is very wide. For example, it describes all the factors that affect words in
sentence contexts, e.g.:
(a) gender, number and case in nouns;
(b) voice, mood, tense and aspect in verbs and sentences;
(c) those of complementation between verbs and nouns or adjectives;
(d) those of modification between adjectives and nouns as well as between adverbs and verbs;
(e) those of determination between determiners and nouns as well as government between
prepositions and noun phrases;
(f) those of sentence embedding and other sentence processes; and,
(g) the aspects of usage and the expression of meaning in grammatical structures.
(Egbe, 2000, p. 4)

3. Types of grammar

Although the aim of this module is not to bore you with the types of grammars across languages, a
brief mention of their typologies is, however, necessary at this point to enable you get greater insight
to some grammatical concepts that you will be introduced to later in this module and several other
modules in this course.
 1. Traditional/ Modern Grammar

This grammar is highly prescriptive and notional. It gives names to sentence constituents, sets up
parts of speech and describes how the various units relate to one another in the sentence. Modern
English grammar (MEG) has, however, improved some of the deficiencies of traditional grammar for
pedagogical convenience.

1. Structural Grammar

This grammar is different from both traditional and modern grammar in its approach by eliminating
meaning from grammatical descriptions. It uses the notion of contrast and minimal pair to establish
phonemes, substitution and contrast to identify morphemes and slots in sentence frames to set up
the class of every word.

1. Generative Grammar

This grammar looks at sentence structure from a different point of view. It seeks to generate all and
only the grammatical sentences of a language. It therefore, applies a finite set of phrase-structure
rules to generate an infinite set of sentences. This grammar is highly mentalistic (Egbe 2000, pp. 17-
18).

1. Systemic Functional Grammar

As the name implies, this grammar is functional. It conceives of language of a system of choices
which language users could draw to service in different communicative situations. This grammar
sees language as behaviour and matching form to function and the incorporation contextual
evidence (Melrose, 1995 p. 24). This model of grammar consider language as network of choices. In
its functional potential, language is regarded as a social behaviour.

The importance of grammar in general

communication
1. Importance

Grammar plays a significant role in our day-to-day communication. Exchanges between interlocutors
will be ineffective if the rules of grammar are not strictly adhered to. Commenting on the nature and
the practical importance of grammar in our daily communication, Murthy (2007) notes that:
(a) grammar is primarily concerned with the study of language. It explains to us the difficulties and
problems involved in learning a language and guides us how language is effectively used in our day-
to-day life;
(b) grammar tells us how words are formed and why they are classified into various categories. It
also instruct how words are combined and grouped into sentences. We also know when and where
a particular word should be used. We understand the historical reference and significance of
different words with the help of grammar;
(c) what we study in grammar is the sentence structure. As a matter of fact, sentence structure is
very essential in every language. Grammar makes us familiar with these sentence patterns. It enable
us to understand how sentences are patterned and how they are used in our practical life for
practical and effective communication;
(d) grammar surveys and defines various parts of speech in detail and studies their functions
elaborately. It provides adequate information as to where, when and how these parts of speech are
used in our speech and writing. Grammar might be considered to be standard reference for parts of
speech;
(e) grammar is essential and beneficial to writers, journalists and poets who are in the literary field.
It creates proper opportunities for those who wish to perfect their written English. It trains us how
paragraph, essays and letters should be written in simple and dignified style. It discusses the
different stylistic devices to better our writing skills. Grammar is regarded as an introduction to
literary composition;
(f) Grammar is a science which equip us with the powerful communicational abilities and aids. It
enable us to impress people with our speech. A professor or a politician cannot be successful in their
profession unless they are well-equipped with linguistic skills. It is in this area that grammar plays a
crucial role because it deals communication in different domains. It is from this vantage point that
grammar is considered as a science of communication (pp.3-4).

Terms and concepts in English grammar

1. Terms and concepts in grammar

Terms and Concepts in English Grammar

In this section you will be introduced as far as possible to a simple and clear discussion of the major
terms and concepts that are frequently deployed to use in English grammar.. For all practical
purposes, these terms and concepts refer to grammatical processes and operations in the English
language. They signal various relationships that obtain among the units and tools for grammatical
analysis. Essentially, they will enhance our understanding of the grammatical organisation of English
sentences (Egbe 2000, p.33).
Because these grammatical terms and concepts are very complex, you will be provided with only a
short but informative description of each term and concept while leaving out the complexities and
controversies that may surround them. Technical terms and concepts are significant in grammar but
there are quite a number that we may not be able to cover in this section. We shall only focus on the
major and significant ones especially those that are crucial for the description and analysis of the
grammar required for this level of learning.

2. Concepts and terms relating to nouns and pronouns

Concepts and terms relating to nouns and pronouns

There are quite a number of terms and concepts associated with nouns and pronouns which relates
fundamentally to their forms and functions within sentence contexts. These terms and concepts
include:

1. 1. Gender

This refers to the state of being masculine, feminine or neutral. In English language, it relates to
such distinctions as:
(i) Personal and Non-personal, and,
(ii) Sex
When items are marked as „personal‟, they are used to refer to human beings only. When they are
non-personal, they are used for other creatures or objects. For example:
Fig. 1

ITEM PERSONAL NON-PERSONAL

I Interr.Pro. who, whom, whose, which, what
Ii Rel.Pro. who, that which, that

As for sex distinction, such items as:

MALE FEMALE Fig. 2

I He/him/his She/her
Ii Himself herself

Example sentences:
(a) The man at times says what he is not sure about.
(b) Mary took her children to school last week.
ACTIVITY: 1. Pick a prose passage from any text of your choice and make a list of twenty names
and indicate their gender.

1. Construct one sentence with each of the names listed.

Number
(A) Forms
Number refers to the idea of one (singular number) or more than one (plural number). In English,
both nouns and verbs, by and large, change their forms to signal number, very much unlike the
indigenous languages which change the forms of their nouns only to reflect number. For example:
Fig. 3

SINGULAR PLURAL
i Girl Girls
ii bottle bottles
iii kiss kisses
iv wish wishes
v knife knives
vi seraph seraphim
vii millennium millennia
viii index indices
ix complexity complexities
x locus loci
xi stadium stadia
xii cargo cargoes
xiii I we
xiv He/she/it they
They add either the plural morpheme -s(as in (i) and (ii) or -es (as in (iii) and (iv) to form their plurals.
Those borrowed from other languages add such plural morphemes as reflect their origins.
One pronoun and some nouns however do not change their forms for number (e.g.: you, sheep),
some change their forms by adding -en (e.g. ox - oxen), some form their plurals by mutation
(e.g.: man - men), some have plural forms (e.g.: mumps, measles) and some have plural meanings
only (e.g. people).
(B) Count and Non-count
Generally, nouns like those in the table above (which have both singular and plural numbers) are
count. Others, which have only the singular number (e.g.: cowardice, furniture), are non-count.
ACTIVITY: Watch any animal movie or documentary of your choice and write the plural forms of the
names of any ten animals you have seen in the movie or documentary.

1. 3. Case

This is a change in the form of a word as a result of its relationship with other words in the sentence.
In English, nouns, pronouns and possessive adjectives show cases as follows:
Fig. 4

Subject Object Genitive

i He Him His
ii She her her
iii I me my
iv We us our
v Ayo Ayo Ayo’s
vi Jamal Jamal Jamal’s
Example sentences:
(a) She brought out her new dresses.

1. GEN. OBJ.

(b) Jamal has taken Miss Ayo‟s telephone number.

SUB. GEN.
OBJ.
(c) I advised him to be patient.
SUB. OBJ.

(d) He sent his child here yesterday.

1. GEN. OBJ.

The element in the sentence that makes words adopt some cases are discussed below.

1. 4. Subject and Object cases

(A) Subject: This is the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that relates directly to the verb (e.g.: carrying
out the action of the verb or being involved in a state portrayed by the verb) in the sentence. Such a
noun or pronoun is said to be in the subject or nominative case.
(B) Object: This is a noun, pronoun or phrase to which the action of the verb has been done. This is
the direct object. For the indirect object, it is the result of the action that is in question. Example
sentences:
(a) I didn‟t touch the table.
SUB. VERB OBJ.
(b) The government gave the school some books.

1. VERB INDIR.OBJ DIR. OBJ.

Thus, the books suffers the action giving and the school is the beneficiary of the action.
A pronoun, noun or noun phrase can also be the Object or Complement of a preposition in a
prepositional phrase. Verbs and prepositions thus enable nouns and pronouns to be in subject and
object cases.
Fig. 5

PREPOSITION OBJECT/COMPLEMENT
i to me
ii with Tomi
iii in the bathroom
Example sentences:
(c) He threw the ball to me.
(d) We spoke with Tomi before.
(e) I saw her in the bathroom. (Egbe, 2000, p.41).
These objects of verbs and prepositions are in the objective or accusative case. The complement of
a preposition is also in the same case but complement of a linking verb is not always in the objective
case as in indicated in the example sentences below.

(i)it was she that stole the book.

(ii) it they who won the prize.
In the examples above, both she and they are in the subjective case as it which is the subject also in
the nominative case.
ACTIVITY: 1. Construct ten sentences using prepositions and explain how the preposition in each
sentence influenced the case of the nouns they govern.
2. Write ten sentences that contain nouns used in both subjective and objective cases.

1. 5. Determination

The determiner system is an important concept in grammatical analysis. This is because it borders
on the construction of structures such as phrases, clauses, and sentences.
Determiners provide more information about nouns, which they often co-occur with. For instance,
they could provide information about definiteness, number, possession, etc. They also identify or
point to the nouns or entities they refer to. They following are the categories of determiners:

1. Articles: a/an (indefinite articles), the (definite article)

2. Numerals: five, seventh, eighth, etc.
3. Demonstrative adjectives: this, that, these, those
4. Indefinite adjectives: a few, a little, some, etc.
5. Possessive adjectives: her, our, his, my, etc.

ACTIVITY: 1. Write six examples of indefinite adjectives or pronouns and construct two sentences
with each of them.
2. Pick any news story from any newspaper of your choice and identify and correct the
wrong use of determiners identified in the story.

6. Antecedent
This is a word or phrase to which another word, often a pronoun, refers to in a sentence. The
antecedents come before the words that refer to them. Consider the following example:
 1. The boys eat whatever they like.

In the above example, the phrase „the boys‟ is an antecedent of the pronoun „they‟. „They‟, which is a
personal pronoun, still points to „the boys‟.
You must note that number of an antecedent must agree with that of the word that refers to it. As
seen in the above-stated example, „the boys‟ and „they‟ are plural. Therefore, they agree. If the
antecedent were singular, the appropriate pronoun would be a singular one.
7. Person
This refers to the perspective of the person speaking (1st person), the person spoken to (2nd
person) or the person/thing spoken about (3rd Person). Each of these persons can be in the
subjective or object case. Also, they could also be in the singular or plural forms, as indicated in Fig.
6 below.

Fig. 6

PERSON Singular Plural

↓
1st
(Subjective) I we
(Objective) me us
2nd
(Subjective) you you
(Objective) you you
3rd
(Subjective) he, she, it they
(Objective) him, her, it them
3. Concepts and terms relating to nouns and pronouns

There are quite a number of terms and concepts associated with nouns and pronouns which relates
fundamentally to their forms and functions within sentence contexts. These terms and concepts
include:

1. 1. Gender

This refers to the state of being masculine, feminine or neutral. In English language, it relates to
such distinctions as:
(i) Personal and Non-personal, and,
(ii) Sex
When items are marked as „personal‟, they are used to refer to human beings only. When they are
non-personal, they are used for other creatures or objects. For example:
Fig. 1

ITEM PERSONAL NON-PERSONAL

i Interr.Pro. who, whom, whose, which, what
ii Rel.Pro. who, that which, that

As for sex distinction, such items as:

MALE FEMALE Fig. 2

I He/him/his She/her
Ii Himself herself

Example sentences:
(a) The man at times says what he is not sure about.
(b) Mary took her children to school last week.
ACTIVITY: 1. Pick a prose passage from any text of your choice and make a list of twenty names
and indicate their gender.

1. Construct one sentence with each of the names listed.

Number
(A) Forms
Number refers to the idea of one (singular number) or more than one (plural number). In English,
both nouns and verbs, by and large, change their forms to signal number, very much unlike the
indigenous languages which change the forms of their nouns only to reflect number. For example:
Fig. 3

SINGULAR PLURAL
i Girl Girls
ii bottle bottles
iii kiss kisses
iv wish wishes
v knife knives
vi seraph seraphim
vii millennium millennia
viii index indices
ix complexity complexities
x locus loci
xi stadium stadia
xii cargo cargoes
xiii I we
xiv He/she/it they
They add either the plural morpheme -s(as in (i) and (ii) or -es (as in (iii) and (iv) to form their plurals.
Those borrowed from other languages add such plural morphemes as reflect their origins.
One pronoun and some nouns however do not change their forms for number (e.g.: you, sheep),
some change their forms by adding -en (e.g. ox - oxen), some form their plurals by mutation
(e.g.: man - men), some have plural forms (e.g.: mumps, measles) and some have plural meanings
only (e.g. people).
(B) Count and Non-count
Generally, nouns like those in the table above (which have both singular and plural numbers) are
count. Others, which have only the singular number (e.g.: cowardice, furniture), are non-count.
ACTIVITY: Watch any animal movie or documentary of your choice and write the plural forms of the
names of any ten animals you have seen in the movie or documentary.

1. 3. Case

This is a change in the form of a word as a result of its relationship with other words in the sentence.
In English, nouns, pronouns and possessive adjectives show cases as follows:
Fig. 4

Subject Object Genitive

i He Him His
ii She her her
iii I me my
iv We us our
v Ayo Ayo Ayo’s
vi Jamal Jamal Jamal’s
Example sentences:
(a) She brought out her new dresses.

1. GEN. OBJ.

(b) Jamal has taken Miss Ayo‟s telephone number.

SUB. GEN.
OBJ.
(c) I advised him to be patient.
SUB. OBJ.

(d) He sent his child here yesterday.

1. GEN. OBJ.

The element in the sentence that makes words adopt some cases are discussed below.

1. 4. Subject and Object cases

(A) Subject: This is the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that relates directly to the verb (e.g.: carrying
out the action of the verb or being involved in a state portrayed by the verb) in the sentence. Such a
noun or pronoun is said to be in the subject or nominative case.
(B) Object: This is a noun, pronoun or phrase to which the action of the verb has been done. This is
the direct object. For the indirect object, it is the result of the action that is in question. Example
sentences:
(a) I didn‟t touch the table.
SUB. VERB OBJ.
(b) The government gave the school some books.

1. VERB INDIR.OBJ DIR. OBJ.

Thus, the books suffers the action giving and the school is the beneficiary of the action.
A pronoun, noun or noun phrase can also be the Object or Complement of a preposition in a
prepositional phrase. Verbs and prepositions thus enable nouns and pronouns to be in subject and
object cases.
Fig. 5

PREPOSITION OBJECT/COMPLEMENT
i to me
ii with Tomi
iii in the bathroom
Example sentences:
(c) He threw the ball to me.
(d) We spoke with Tomi before.
(e) I saw her in the bathroom. (Egbe, 2000, p.41).
These objects of verbs and prepositions are in the objective or accusative case. The complement of
a preposition is also in the same case but complement of a linking verb is not always in the objective
case as in indicated in the example sentences below.

(i)it was she that stole the book.

(ii) it they who won the prize.
In the examples above, both she and they are in the subjective case as it which is the subject also in
the nominative case.
ACTIVITY: 1. Construct ten sentences using prepositions and explain how the preposition in each
sentence influenced the case of the nouns they govern.
2. Write ten sentences that contain nouns used in both subjective and objective cases.

1. 5. Determination

The determiner system is an important concept in grammatical analysis. This is because it borders
on the construction of structures such as phrases, clauses, and sentences.
Determiners provide more information about nouns, which they often co-occur with. For instance,
they could provide information about definiteness, number, possession, etc. They also identify or
point to the nouns or entities they refer to. They following are the categories of determiners:

1. Articles: a/an (indefinite articles), the (definite article)

2. Numerals: five, seventh, eighth, etc.
3. Demonstrative adjectives: this, that, these, those
4. Indefinite adjectives: a few, a little, some, etc.
5. Possessive adjectives: her, our, his, my, etc.

ACTIVITY: 1. Write six examples of indefinite adjectives or pronouns and construct two sentences
with each of them.
2. Pick any news story from any newspaper of your choice and identify and correct the
wrong use of determiners identified in the story.

6. Antecedent
This is a word or phrase to which another word, often a pronoun, refers to in a sentence. The
antecedents come before the words that refer to them. Consider the following example:
 1. The boys eat whatever they like.

In the above example, the phrase „the boys‟ is an antecedent of the pronoun „they‟. „They‟, which is a
personal pronoun, still points to „the boys‟.
You must note that number of an antecedent must agree with that of the word that refers to it. As
seen in the above-stated example, „the boys‟ and „they‟ are plural. Therefore, they agree. If the
antecedent were singular, the appropriate pronoun would be a singular one.
7. Person
This refers to the perspective of the person speaking (1st person), the person spoken to (2nd
person) or the person/thing spoken about (3rd Person). Each of these persons can be in the
subjective or object case. Also, they could also be in the singular or plural forms, as indicated in Fig.
6 below.

Fig. 6

PERSON Singular Plural

↓
1st
(Subjective) I we
(Objective) me us
2nd
(Subjective) you you
(Objective) you you
3rd
(Subjective) he, she, it they
(Objective) him, her, it them

ACTIVITY: 1. Write a short story not less than one page using the first person narrative technique.
2. Write a conversation involving at least three characters. The dialogue must be written
in both first and third persons.

1.2.2 Terms and concepts related to verbs

There are specific terms and concepts that are deployed to use when talking about verbs. These
terms and concepts relate to the forms and functions and types of verbs. An appreciable knowledge
of these terms and concepts will enable understand the various descriptions of English verbs. Some
of these terms and concepts include:

1. a. Number
Number in English grammar has to do with singular and plural. Singular means one while plural
means more than one. The manner in which verbs change their forms to reflect number is indicated
in figure 7 below.
Fig.7

PLURAL SINGULAR
i have has
ii go goes
iii teach teaches
iv stand stands

The plural form of the verb in the present tense is called the BAS FORM. It is used by 1st and
2nd persons (singular and plural) as well as 3rd person (plural). The singular form of the verb is called
the S FORM. It is used by the 3rd person (singular) only.
ACTIVITY: Write the singular forms of ten regular verbs and use their plural forms to construct ten
sentences.

1. b. Tense

Tense is an important feature of the verbs and it crucial in every grammatical description. Tense is
defined as the inflectional affix of the verb in expressing time relation. It may also be defined as the
morphological and syntactic changes that a verb undergoes in order to relate event to time. Tense is
the property of the lexical verb. The lexical verb changes its form to indicate two tenses in English.
These are present and past. These are the two tenses recognised in modern English grammar. The
multiplicity of tenses as we have in traditional grammar has been criticised by modern grammarians
and the focus of contemporary of the duality of tense. This is because English verbs change their
forms to show whether or not the time of the action or state expressed by each of them is past or
present (Egbe 2000, p.44). Egbe further observes that ``modern grammarians claim that tense is a
compulsory element in every finite clause or sentence and also that it is either PRESENT or PAST
(capitals his). This is indicated in the example sentences below.
Travel: (a). Demilade travels to London every month. (present)
(b). Kimberly spoke to the president yesterday. (past).
Be: (a). The students are preparing for the examination (present)
(b). They were at that time, returning from church. (past)
Will: (a) I will soon learn how to play the piano. (present)
(b). He not listen to you. (past)
It is important for you to not that the first element of a finite verb phrase (including a single verb with
–S form or past- ED form indicates the tense of a sentence. The present tense, along with the modal
auxiliary is used to indicate future time and not future tense. Similarly, the present or past tense
together with the –ING or ED participle is used to show progressive and perfect aspects. This is
indicated in the example sentences below.
(a) I have seen it pretty earlier (present)
(b) You hadn‟t met before now (past)
(c) He is writing a story now (present progressive)
(d) She was just kidding you (past progressive)
(e) Tomi has awarded the student (present participle -ED)
(f) He had reported the matter to the police before he went to see the chairman (past participle -
ED).
ACTIVITY: Pick any news story from any newspaper of your choice, identify errors of tenses and
rewrite the story correcting the identified errors of tenses in the story.

1. c. Aspect

Aspect in English grammar may be defined as the internal temporal constituency of a situation. It
explicates how the verb changes to either indicate continuity or perfection of an action. That is, it
refers to the form that a verb takes to signal to the following ideas:
(a) that the action (or state) of the verb is continuing (PROGRESSIVE ASPECT), and,
(b) that the action or state expressed by the verb is completed (PERFECTIVE ASPECT).
Example sentences:
(a) She is jumping. (PRESENT PROGRESSIVE ASPECT)
(b) She has stopped. (PRESENT PERFECT ASPECT)
(c) I was sleeping when he returned. (PAST PROGRESSIVE ASPECT)
(d) I had woken up before she called. (PAST PERFECTIVE ASPECT)

1. d. Mood

This refers to the forms that verbs take in order to perform three different functions in their
sentences. These functions are taken in turn and explained below:

1. Indicative Mood: here, the sentence is expressing a fact or making an assertion, and so, its
verb takes the form that is called the indicative mood. Example sentences:

(a) We meet every day at school.

(b) Kamal was absent in class.

1. Imperative Mood: here, the sentence is giving an order or making a request, and so, the verb
assumes a form called the imperative mood. Example sentences:

(a) Clean the board, please.

(b) Please, write the notes immediately.
 1. Subjunctive Mood: here, the sentence expresses a doubt about, or a condition for, certain
other action, and so, the verb assumes a form called the subjunctive mood. Example
sentences

(a) If I were in his shoes, I wouldn‟t collect the money.

(b) We demand that every student attend classes regularly this semester.
ACTIVITY: Write ten sentence using the indicative, imperative and subjunctive moods.
NOTE: All the three types of mood are finite.

1. e. Voice

This refers to the forms that an English verb can take in order to indicate that:
1) the subject of the sentence acts or performs the action of the verbs – Active Voice, and,
2) the subject of the sentence is acted upon or receives the action of the verb – Passive Voice.
Example sentences:
(a) James washed the plates.
(Active Voice: James is the subject and performs the action of the verb.)
(b) James was taken down by the lift.
(Passive Voice: James is the subject but the action of the verb was performed upon him by the lift.)
ACTIVITY: Write a short story in the active voice and rewrite another version of the same story
in the passive voice.

1. f. Operator

An operator is the first auxiliary element or the only auxiliary element of the verb phrase in a
sentence and if there is no auxiliary in a statement, DO is used as an operator when the statement is
turned into a question. The operators are underlined in the example sentences below:
(a) She could have helped you.
(b) The man has slept.
(c) The ladies wrote to you. – Did the ladies write to you?

4. The structure of the English Sentence

In this section, you will be introduced to the structure of the English sentence. Your knowledge of the
structure of sentences will enable you do in-depth grammatical analysis different sentences no
matter how complex. Your knowledge of the various constituents of a sentence from both Modern
Grammar and Systemic Functional Grammar perspectives will enable you analyse the units of a
sentence more accurately. The structure of a sentence bothers on how grammatical units are
arranged in accordance with the grammatical rules of the language to form phrases and sentences.
It is related to how language users fuses together the units to form individual sentences and their
parts. For you to have a fair mastery of the structure of a sentence, you must come to terms with the
constituent parts and the constituents of a sentence. This, from Modern English Grammar
perspective, is illustrated as S + V + O + C +A and S + P + C+A from Systemic Functional Grammar
perspective.
From Modern Grammar perspective, we may have the following examples:
1) Tola came to school yesterday.
S V P O C
2) The boy deceived the mum cleverly.
S V O A
From Systemic Functional Grammar‟s perspective however, we may have the following structural
elements of a sentence.
1) She clutched Wilhelmina.
S P C
2) Kunle was brave.
S P C
3) I took Joke by the hair.
S P C

Glossary of terms
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Antecedent: A word or expression to which another word refers in a sentence.

Aspect: The forms that a verb can take to either show the continuity or completion of an event in an
utterance.
Generative grammar: A type of grammar that uses finite type of rules to generate infinite sets of
sentences.
Grammar: A notion in English that explains the principles and rules that govern the construction of
meaningful expressions.

Mood: The forms that a verb can take in order to perform different functions in sentences.
Operator: The first auxiliary verb in a string of verbs.
Systemic Functional Grammar: A type of Grammar that conceives of language not only as a social
phenomenon, functional, but also as meaning in choice.
Tense: A deitic category that is simultaneous with time of utterance.
Traditional grammar: A type of grammar that is highly prescriptive and notional.
Voice: The forms that a verb takes to indicate whether the subject of sentence performs an action or
an action performed towards it.

Word Classes
1. Word Classes

WORD CLASSES/PARTS OF SPEECH

Just as the human body has parts, and each part plays a particular role for the proper
functioning of the body as q whole, every word in English Language falls into a particular
group or class; and each word has a particular function to perform in every given
sentence. The knowledge of the parts of speech is fundamental to all learners who may wish
to understand how sentences are constructed to convey meaning. A learner who has not
mastered parts of speech- also word classes- and their various functions can be likened to an
engineer who does not know much about the components of the engine, and therefore,
cannot work well on the engine. The word classes discussed are Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs,
Adjectives, Adverbs, Propositions and Conjunctions.
This refers to the class the words of a language belongs according to the work that they do in
sentences. In a sentence, some words name, some describe, some modify, and others join
other words or structures together, while others show relationship between words.
There are two types of word classes. They are the open or major word class and the closed or
minor word class. We can add new words or experiences to the open system but this is not
possible with the closed system.
Examples of the open class are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Prepositions,
pronouns, conjunctions, articles and interjection belong to the closed class system as
illustrated below.
WORD CLASSES
OPEN CLASS
nouns
verbs
adjectives
adverbs
CLOSED CLASS
pronouns
preposition
conjunction
determiner
interjection

Types of Word Classes/Parts of Speech (Open Class)

Nouns Pronouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs Propositions Conjunctions.

1. Nouns
Nouns: A noun is a naming word. It names people, places or things. Nouns are also labels for
person or things. Words are classified as nouns based on their functions and their derivational
suffixes in sentences instead of their meaning. We also recognize words as nouns based on the
words that signal them in sentences.

e.g.
the a
My an

Types of nouns.
(i) Proper nouns: These types of nouns refer to specific people and places and are usually written
with an initial capital letter. They do not appear after the determiner „a‟ and „the‟.
Examples.
Stephen
Mary
Abubakar
Africa
Nigeria
Lagos

(ii) Common nouns: common nouns classify things into types of general categories.
Examples
Car
Dog
Flower
Chair
Road
Market

(iii) Concrete nouns: concrete nouns refer to physical things like people, objects and places,
things that can be observed and measured. They may be singular or plural.
Examples
Guitar
Table
Clothes
Door
Box
Bag

(iv) Abstract nouns: Abstract nouns refer to ideas, processes, occasions, times and qualities;
they cannot be touched or seen.
Examples
Happiness
Weak
Birth
Confinement
Joy
Love

(v) Count nouns: count nouns are distinguished in terms of singular and plural. They take
plural inflections or markers and obey the rule of number.

Changing nouns to plural forms

Nouns ending in –y form their plurals by changing the –y into –ies
e.g
story stories
penny pennies
lorry lorries

2. Nouns ending in -o, -s, -sh, -tch and x often form their plurals by adding –es
e.g
mistress mistresses
box boxes
flash flashes
watch watches

3. Nouns ending in –f (except –ff) or –fe change to –ves in the plural

e.g.
hoof hoves (sometimes hoofs)
life lives
wife lives
knife knives

4. Irregular nouns change a vowel or use a suffix different from –s

e.g.
mouse mice
tooth teeth
ox oxen
child children

5. Some nouns have the same form for both singular and plural
e.g.
sheep sheep
fish fish (sometimes fishes)
water water
sand sand

(vi) Non-count nouns: Non- count nouns refer to substances and qualities that cannot be
distinguished in terms of singular and plural. They have no plural forms. They may be
concrete or abstract.
Examples
silver silver
information information
hockey hockey
traffic traffic

(vii) Collective nouns: Collective nouns refer to groups of people, animals or things.
Examples
A crowd of people
A hive of bees
A galaxy of stars
A fleet of cars
Noun derivational suffixes
ment accomplish + ment accomplishment
ance accept + ance acceptance
al arrive + al arrival
ant assist + ant assistant
y deliver + y delivery
ure depart + ure departure
or conduct + or conductor
er teach + er teacher
ion accumulate + ion accumulation

The possessive case.

Both regular and irregular singular and plural nouns are used in sentences to show possession
E.g

(a) add ‟s to singular nouns and plural nouns not ending in –s:
A child‟s voice
Russia's exports
The people‟s choice
The horse‟s mouth
The government‟s decision
Men‟s clothes

(b) add the apostrophe alone (‟) with plural nouns ending in –s:
A girls’ school
The eagles’ nest
The smiths’ car

(c) Nouns ending in ‘s’ take the apostrophe alone:

Mr. Jones‟s / Jones‟s house
Yeats‟s / Yeats‟ poems
Charles‟s /Charles discovery

(d) In compound nouns and titles the last word takes the ’s:
my brother-in-law‟s guitar
Henry the Eight‟s wives

(e) In compound plural nouns, the apostrophe comes after the „s in the last noun element.
e.g. my sister-in-laws‟ apartment
my brother-in-laws‟ house

Read through the extract below and list all the nouns in it.
EXERCISE:
CHRISTMAS EVE
Something dead strange has happened to christmas. It‟s just not the same as it used to be
when I was a kid. In fact I‟ve never really got over the trauma of finding out that my parents
had been lying to me annually about the existence of Santa Claus.
Assignment:
write the plural forms of the following nouns.
1. baby 11.man
2. child 12.photo
3. country 13.piano
4. aircraft 14. sheep
5. foot 15. shelf
6. key 16. storey
7. kilo 17. thief
8. woman 18. story
9. leaf 19. tooth
10. loaf 20 wife

Gender
Gender has to do with sex of animals and human beings. There are three genders associated
with nouns. These are;
1. Masculine gender associated with the male sex for both human beings and animals.
2. Feminine gender associated with female sex for both animals and human beings.
3. Neuter gender associated with inanimate things.

Examples:
masculine feminine
1. boy girl
2. bridegroom bride
3. husband wife
4
. widower widow
5. brother sister
6. father mother
7. nephew niece
8. son daughter
9. uncle aunt
10. actor actress
11. king queen
12. waiter waitress
Nouns Pronouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs Propositions Conjunctions.
2. Verbs

The verb is usually seen as the nucleus of the English clause and sentence. Verbs usually bear the
weight of tense, person and number in the sentence and these three features constitute the markers
of agreement in the clause and sentence. There are two types of verbs – Lexical and
Auxiliary. Examples of lexical verbs are talk, play, classify, sweep, etc. Two classifications of
auxiliary verbs are identified in English: Primary (do, have, be) and Modal (can, may, shall, will;
could, might, should, would; must, ought to, used to, need, dare). The lexical verbs are open, while
the modal auxiliaries are closed system verbs.

1. Lexical Verbs

There are five basic verb forms of the lexical verbs:

1. Base (V): walk, sing, cut.

2. –s forms (3rd Person singular present) (V -s): walks, sings, cuts
3. Past (V –ed1): walked, sang, cut
4. –ing Participle (present participle) V –ing: walking, singing, cutting
5. –ed Participle (past participle) V –ed2: walked, sung, cut
Exercise 1

1. Identify the kinds of verbs represented by each of the three examples of verbs in the
discussion on the verb forms.
2. Give three representative examples of your own.

1. Regular and Irregular Verbs

Another way of classifying verbs with respect to morphology is the difference between regular and
irregular verbs. As can be seen in the previous section on verb forms, the structure and spelling of
the examples in numbers 3 and 5 (V-ed 1 & 2) indicate the structural difference in the three words
used to illustrate the forms of verbs.

V BASE kick love fry

V –ing -ING PARTICIPLE kicking loving frying
V–s -S FORM kicks loves fries
V -ed PAST/-ED PARTICIPLE kicked loved fried

These verbs are regular because it is possible to predict their other forms with the knowledge of their
base. Most English verbs are in this category. Derived verbs from other classes like nouns also fall
into this category – even if they are irregular words in their primary classes. For example, „man‟ is an
irregular noun. However, it becomes „manned‟ as a V –ed form of a derived verb.
In spite of the possibility of predicting the forms of regular verbs, we should note that each regular
verb must still be learned individually because of other spelling peculiarities and rules that inform the
inflection of verbs in English; e.g. doubling of root consonants at the point of affixation:

1. Permit permitting permitted

Another instance is the treatment of –y:

1. lay/lays laid

hurry/hurries hurried
lie/lies lying
It can be seen in each of the three examples above that –y is treated differently.

1. The dropping of –e is another manifestation of inconsistency in the spelling of regular verbs in

English.
save saving saved
dye dyeing dyed
The rule of –e dropping is observed in the case of „save‟ but not so with „dye‟ as seen in this
example.

Exercise 2
Identify other instances of inconsistencies in the application of the three spelling rules discussed
above.
Irregular Verbs in English have a varying number of distinct forms which make them to be
problematic for even L1 users of English. Those using the language as a second language must
therefore take pains to learn each irregular form on its own.
Attempt to describe the trend noticed in the following set of irregular verbs:

*Indicate the BASE (V) V –ed1 V –ed2

classification
e.g. all alike Put put put
All different Write wrote written
Come came come
Sing sang sung
Spell spelt spelt
Spoil spoilt spoilt
go went gone
Sleep slept Slept
Cut cut Cut
Catch caught caught
Bind bound bound
Read read Read
Saw sawed Sawn
Slide slid Slid

1. The Auxiliary Verbs in English (do, have, be) also present an interesting picture. They can
function as lexical verbs especially when they occur in the sentence as the only verb form.
For instance, in: I have the book. Have is a lexical verb because it is the only verb in the sentence.
Compare with this sentence: The boys have written the essay. The words in italics are verbs; have is
the auxiliary, while written is the lexical verb.
Let us briefly discuss them in turns.

1. Have

Base have
-s form has
Past had
-ing form having
-ed participle had (but it occurs only as lexical verb)

1. Be

The base form of this verb is be and it has eight different forms:

1. 1st person singular present am: I am going home.

2. 3rd person singular present is: She is my sister.
3. 2nd, 1st and 3rd persons plural present are: You/We/They are invited.
4. 1st and 3rd person singular past was: I/She was invited.
5. 2nd person, 1st and 3rd person plural past were: You/We/They were invited.
6. –ing form being: He is being foolish.
7. –ed participle been: I/They/You/ have been invited.

These eight forms are to be mastered and should not be misused or misrepresented in our
sentences.

1. Modal Auxiliaries

The modal auxiliaries of English are: can/could; may/might; shall/should; will/would; must; ought to;
used to; need and dare.
An informed combination of auxiliaries and main verbs in English can produce over a hundred
different sentences. It is therefore expedient for a second language user of English to master the
auxiliary verbs and their uses.

1. Finite and Non-Finite Verbs

We can identify four features to differentiate between finite and non-finite verbs.
 1. Finite verbs are marked for tense; e.g.

He plays/played football in Lagos.

1. Finite verb occurs as the verb element of a clause. In this case there is always an indication of
agreement/concord between the subject and the finite verb.

I am coming.
You/We/ They are coming.
He/She/It is coming.
However, if there is a modal auxiliary between the subject and the main verb, there is no concord
because the modal auxiliary bears the weight of agreement; e.g.
I/you/she/we/they will play football in Lagos.

1. Finite verb phrases have mood. Mood refers to the disposition or attitude of the speaker to the
proposition expressed in the sentence, especially as it affects the addressee. There are three
main moods in English: declarative (indicative/ statement of facts), imperative (expressing
commands) and interrogative (questions). A non-finite verb does not express moods.
2. The non-finite forms are infinite (to play), the –ing participle (playing), the –ed participle
(played), and the bare infinitive – it has the to-infinitive as its underlying structure (have).

Finite Non-finite
He plays very well. To play football in London is my ambition.
He is playing football. Playing football in London is fashionable.
He had been playing football before. Having been playing football in
London, he
was given a free passage.
Let us have him play football.
(This form has special uses as seen
in the example.)

As can be noticed from the examples, the clauses with only non-finite verb phrases cannot stand
alone, because the absence of the finite verb deprives them of complete senses. Let us avoid
constructing sentences that do not have finite verbs; e.g.
*Having cleaned the room does not make a complete sense. This kind of construction is called a
non-finite clause and it is a subordinate clause. It needs a finite clause to make sense; e.g. Having
cleaned the room, Bisi spread the mat on the floor. The underlined portion is a finite clause.

E. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

The last classes of verbs to be discussed in this chapter are the transitive and intransitive verbs.
Transitive verbs transfer action from the actor to the direct object; e.g. verbs such as kick, sweep,
build, play, write, etc.
Ade kicked the ball. In this sentence, we recognise that the actor Ade, performed an action on the
ball, which is the direct object.
Intransitive verbs do not transfer action in this way; i.e. these verbs do not need a direct object to
realise their meanings and make complete sense. Examples are: sleep, dance, arrive, etc.
Davido danced yesterday.
Some other verbs can take more than one object; they are called ditransitive verbs, e.g. give.
Ade gave Sammy the book. Both Sammy and the book are objects of the verb gave. While the
book is the direct object, Sammy is the indirect object.
Exercise

1. Find five examples each for the transitive and intransitive verbs in English.
2. Find two more examples of ditransitive verbs and use them in correct sentences.

3. Adjectives

An adjective is a word that qualifies a noun or a pronoun. It provides extra information about nouns
by giving details of physical qualities like colour and shape, and psychological qualities like
emotions, and by providing evaluative judgments.
E.g.
Some green leaves
A heavy sack
A funny film
A good story
A foolish excuse

CHARACTERISTICS OF ADJECTIVES
(i) Position in relation to nouns.
Adjective can come before nouns (attributive adjectives) and after verbs (predicative adjectives)
e.g.
The large balloon (attributive).
A pure white stallion (attributive).
The balloon is large (predicative).
The essay is very good (predicative).
(ii) Grading: Adjectives can be graded in terms of positive/absolute (base), comparative (er, ier)
and superlative (est, iest) degrees so that nouns can be compared.
E.g.
A big car.
A bigger car
The bigger car.
The biggest car.
We form the comparative and superlative degrees of polysyllabic and some disyllabic adjectives by
using ‘more’ and ‘most’ before the adjectives.
E.g.
Fortunate more fortunate most fortunate
Grateful more grateful most grateful
Diligent more diligent most diligent
Careful
Serious
Peaceful
Prayerful
Attentive

(iii) Irregularity: Some adjectives are irregular as in the following patterns.

Bad worse worst
Good better best
Little
Order of Adjectives
When we use two or more adjectives together before a noun, we must put them in a certain order.
Several variations are possible but a fairly usual order is:

• Possessive adjectives such as (my, your, his) and this, that, those, these come first.

• Adjectives of size e.g. big, small, large, wide etc. come next.

• Adjectives of size are followed by general description adjectives e.g. dirty, smart, ugly, beautiful,
agile etc.

• The Adjectives of shape follow e.g. round, square, oval etc.

• After these adjectives, we have the adjectives of age e.g. Old, young, new etc.
• The next adjectives are the adjectives of colour. E.g. blue, green, yellow, white etc.

• This is followed by the adjectives of material. E.g. steel, wooden etc.

• This is followed by the adjectives of origin. E.g. Austrian, Nigerian, French, English etc.

• These adjectives are followed by the adjectives of purpose. E.g. dining, reading etc.

Types of Adjectives

There are different kinds of adjectives in English. Some of them include:

• Demonstrative adjectives: These types of adjectives point to the objects they qualify in sentences.
They include words like; that, this, these those etc.

• Adjectives of quality: These types of adjectives show the quality of a thing. Some examples include
such words as dry, good, happy, small etc.

• Distributive adjectives: These types of adjectives distributive qualities to certain things or objects.
They include such words as each, every, either, neither etc.

• Quantitative adjectives: These types of adjectives quantify objectives or things. Some common
examples are; Some, any, many, much, little, few, etc.

• Interrogative adjectives: These types of adjectives are used interrogatively. They include such
words as which, what, whose, who, etc.

• Possessive adjectives: These types of adjectives show possession. Some common examples are;
my, your, his, its, our, their etc.

Some special uses of adjectives

• In English, adjectives of quality have the same form in the singular , and plural and for all genders.
Some notable examples are; a good boy, good boys, a good girl, good girls, a good film, good films
etc.

• When two or more adjectives follow a verb, we put and before the last one. Example: The day was
cold, wet and windy.

We can put but if there is contrast of ideas. Example: The bag was small but heavy

• When two or more adjectives of colour precede a noun, we put and before the last one, but we
don`t need and when there is only one adjective of colour e.g. A blue and brown bag but a big brown
bag.

• We can use both present and past participles as adjectives as in the following examples: The play
was boring (adj.), The audience was bored(verb)The noise was terrifying (adj.), every one was
terrified ( verb)

4. Adverbs
An adverb is a word that either modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb like itself. It is used to
show how, where, when, how often or to what extent an action takes place. This assertion is
indicated in the sentences below:

• I am dreadfully tired. (Here, the adverb modifies the adjective tired)

• Don`t speak so slowly. (In the second example, the adverb so modifies the adverb slowly).

• He is here. (In the last example, the adverb here modifies the verb is).

Adverbs are generally mobile, this implies that they can come at the beginning, middle and final
positions of sentences e.g

• Slowly, the boy won the race.

• The boy slowly won the race.

• The boy won the race slowly.

Kinds of adverbs

• Adverbs of manner: These types of adverbs show the manner in which an action took place. They
answer the question how. Some examples include; bravely, fast, happily,hard,quickly, well etc.

• Adverbs of place. These types of adverbs indicate the place where an action came on and they
answer the question where. Some examples include; school, down, here, near, there, up etc.

• Adverbs of time: These types of adverbs show the time of an action and they answer the question
when. Some examples include; now, soon, still, then this morning etc.

• Adverbs of frequency: These types of adverbs show how often an action comes up and they
answer the question how often. They include such words as; always, everyday, never, often, twice
etc.

• Adverbs of degree: These types of adverbs indicate the extent to which an action comes on and
they answer the question to which extent. Some common examples are; almost, fairly, rather, quite,
very, so, too etc.

• Adverbs of reason: These types of adverbs show the reason for an action and they answer the
question why. Some examples are; because, for, therefore, since etc.

• Adverbs of condition: These types of adverbs show the condition under which an action could
come on and they answer the question under which condition. Some common examples include; if,
only, provided unless, etc.

• Adverbs of concession: These types of adverbs show allowance or what is conceded and they are
introduced by such words as; though, although, even though, even if etc.

• Adverbs of result: These types of adverbs show the result of an action and they are introduced by
such words as that, such that, therefore consequently etc.
 Adverbs with the same forms as adjectives

The following are some examples of adverbs that have the same forms as adjectives.

back far left low still early fast little much straight enough ill
long more well

Adverbs Adjectives

• The train went too fast This is the fast train

• She went straight home Draw a straight line

• You can dial London direct The direct route is best

Comparative and superlative forms of adverbs

This may vary with regular one syllable adverbs and two or more syllables and irregular adverbs e.g.

Regular

Regular (one syllable): hard harder hardest

light lighter lightest

strong stronger strongest

Regular (Two or more syllables): quickly more quickly most quickly

slowly more slowly most slowly

Irregular

Irregular forms: badly worse worst

far farther farthest

little less least

much more most

well better best

Order of adverbs

Like adjectives, when two or more adverbs come in a string, they usually follow a particular order as
indicated below.

• Adverbs of manner usually follow adverbs of direction e.g. (i) Janet walked away slowly. (ii) Laide
ran off happily etc.
• Adverbs of manner usually come before adverbs of place e.g. (i) They were playing noisily outside
(the house) (ii) You can buy fruits more cheaply here

• Adverbs of time often come last e.g. A thief bugles their house usually at night

Synopsis and Learning Outcomes

There are four skills you need for your all-round communication, namely, listening, speaking, reading
and writing skills. The first two are referred to as skills of oracy while the last two are skills of literacy
being the skills necessary for writing and reading. As an oracy skill therefore, listening forms part of
the essential skills you need to possess in order to relate meaningfully with people around you.
Listening is an aspect of oral communication. It is an aspect that has been taken for granted
because it lacks any formalized training. Looking through the stages of teaching, writing, speaking
and reading in schools, listening obviously is taken for granted. But listening is no less important
than speaking, reading or writing because one‟s ability to produce a well-articulated speech (either
through speech or writing) is not only dependent on reading but on the ability to listen. Your
proficiency in communication therefore is corroborated by your listening ability.
In this module, you will learn the act of effective listening as an aspect of oracy. We shall
proceed from describing what really constitutes the act of listening, types of listening to showcasing
the process of evolving an effective listening habit.
At the end of this module, you should be able to:
(i) identify what listening is;
(ii) identify what listening is not;
(iii) describe advantages of effective listening;
(iv) demonstrate the skill of listening in your everyday encounter; and
(v) demonstrate the skill of listening in your class interactions.

What Listening is and What Listening is Not

1. What Listening is

Listening is a deliberate process through which we seek to understand and retain aural (heard)
stimuli for a future use (Gamble and Gamble, 1996 p. 181). From this definition, we can highlight
some basic features of listening.
(a) Listening is a process – A process is a series of actions or operations performed in order to do,
make or achieve something. Listening involves a rapid operation that includes actions, interactions
and reactions for the purpose of obtaining a viable end such as information elicitation, opinion
comparison, facts deduction etc.
(b) Listening includes understanding – A good evidence of listening act includes a balanced
involvement of all senses and attitudes (emotional and psychological) aimed at evaluating and
retaining facts and opinions.
(c)Listening is purposeful – A good listener, like a writer, sets a target for listening. This purpose
therefore engenders conscious participation with proceeds that launch the desired objective of the
listener.

2. What Listening is Not

What listening is not
Some of the things we do in the name of listening are not really so and knowing what listening is not
would make you understand better what it is.
(a) Listening is not retention – Some believe they are listening when they hear information for the
purpose of retaining them. The aftermath of listening exceeds retention - facts must be understood,
evaluated, analyzed and opinion raised from the information conveyed.
(b) Listening is not nodding – People often maintain pretentious posture by looking at a speaker,
nodding and at the same time uttering seemingly cordial remarks such as “ugh”, “uhm”, etc all in a
bid to make others feel that they are listening to them. While nodding could sometimes portray a
good listening posture, it is not always so as nodders sometimes adopt the outward appearance of
listener.
(c) Listening is not absent mindedness – There are gap-fillers who stick their gazes on the
speaker pretending to be enthused by what is being said. While the talk goes on, they occupy their
thinking with other things other than the one being said. This practice is most common in official
settings where status quo must be upheld in form of compulsory attendance of meeting, seminars,
lectures, etc. People also absent their minds from a speech when they want to secure an opinion
they hold. They feel threatened by another person‟s contrary view and sulk over what is being said
as a way of shielding their rigid mindsets from the wave of possible repentance.
(d) Listening is not prejudice or selective judgement – A good way to listen to someone is not to
assume that you already know what is going to be said about a topic thus jettisoning a speaker‟s
message before it is enunciated. Similar to this is the practice of concentrating on those aspects of
speaker‟s remarks that interest you. Other areas are considered unimportant and thus rejected.

The meaning of a sentence

It is necessary for you to get familiar with what a sentence is all about, such as definitions, types,
structures, functions with relevant examples. Sentence originates from a group of words that is
complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question,
exclamation, or command, and consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate
clauses, which are most times based on the natural quest to use language.
You can as well define a sentence as a set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a
subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command, and consisting of
a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses. A sentence starts with
a capital letter when written. Ideally, a sentence requires at least one subject and one verb.
Sometimes the subject of a sentence can be hidden, but the verb must be visible and present in the
sentence. From the above definition, you will notice that a verb is regarded as the heart of a
sentence. Let us look at some examples to illustrate the points raised.
Examples:

1. Derayo must write us a letter.

2. Where is Chioma‟s pen?
3. This is incredible!
4. Ade and I are working on a project.

From the above examples, you should note that every sentence begins with a capital letter as well
as ends with „.‟, „?‟, or „!‟. You should have it in mind that in written form, a sentence begins with a
capital letter and ends with a period (i.e., a full stop „.‟), a note of interrogation (i.e., a question mark
„?‟), or a note of exclamation (i.e., an exclamation mark „!‟.
1. Basic sentence structure

From the discussion in previous sections, you should notice that every word in a sentence serves a
specific purpose within the structure of that particular sentence. According to grammatical rule,
sentence structure can sometimes be quite complicated. For the sake of simplicity, however, the
basic parts of a sentence would be further discussed in this section. You should know that the basic
parts of a sentence are the subject and predicate. These parts will be further illustrated in specific
terms. We should start with a subject of a sentence. The subject of a sentence is the person, place,
or thing that is performing the action of the sentence. The subject represents what or whom the
sentence is about. You should also note that the simple subject usually contains a noun or pronoun
and can include modifying words, phrases, or clauses. Examples of words and phrases are; “The
Police Officer”…, “The dog”…, “A Student”…, “They”…, and so on. On the other side of a sentence
is the predicate which expresses action within the sentence. You should note that the simple
predicate contains the verb and can also contain modifying words, phrases, or clauses. This is the
part that carries the verb and the object. The verb in general term is the action of the sentence while
the object is whoever or whatever receives the action. Examples of predicate are as follows. a. The
Police Officer/”is very competent.” b. The dog/”barks till day break.” c. A student/”submitted their
assignment yesterday.” d. They/ “are coming for you.” The subject and predicate make up the two
basic structural parts of any complete sentence. In addition, there are other elements, contained
within the subject or predicate, which add meaning or detail. These elements include the direct
object, indirect object, and subject complement. All of these elements can be expanded and further
combined into simple, compound, complex, or compound/complex sentences, which we shall be
discussing in subsequent sections.
It is necessary for you to get familiar with what a sentence is all about, such as definitions, types,
structures, functions with relevant examples. Sentence originates from a group of words that is
complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question,
exclamation, or command, and consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate
clauses, which are most times based on the natural quest to use language.
You can as well define a sentence as a set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a
subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command, and consisting of
a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses. A sentence starts with
a capital letter when written. Ideally, a sentence requires at least one subject and one verb.
Sometimes the subject of a sentence can be hidden, but the verb must be visible and present in the
sentence. From the above definition, you will notice that a verb is regarded as the heart of a
sentence. Let us look at some examples to illustrate the points raised.
Examples:

1. Derayo must write us a letter.

2. Where is Chioma‟s pen?
3. This is incredible!
4. Ade and I are working on a project.

From the above examples, you should note that every sentence begins with a capital letter as well
as ends with „.‟, „?‟, or „!‟. You should have it in mind that in written form, a sentence begins with a
capital letter and ends with a period (i.e., a full stop „.‟), a note of interrogation (i.e., a question mark
„?‟), or a note of exclamation (i.e., an exclamation mark „!‟.

2. Direct object
The direct object receives the action of the sentence. The direct object is usually a noun,
pronoun or noun phrase that is receiving the action of the verb. According to Kit Kittelstad,
the following can best use as a guide, “subject+verb+who or what.” Let us walk through a few
more direct object examples:
Bola beats the boy.
Al-amin loves sitting by the sea.
Omolabi hugged him with all his might.
Let us consider the first example, “Bola beats the boy”. Here, the subject is “Bola” and the verb is
“beats”. What did Bola beat? “The boy”. This is simple enough, right? This is also applicable to other
examples listed above.

Types of sentence
1. Structural types of a sentence:

Considering our discussions in the previous sections, it is necessary to look into the various types of
sentence. Since a sentence is defined by Richard Nordquist as “a word or group of words that
expresses a complete idea which includes a subject and an object. It should be of note that there are
different ways in which a sentence can be categorized. As a result of this, Nordquist categorizes
sentence to simple, complex, compound and compound-complex sentences.

 A simple sentence has a single clause (a single verb) which is independent, and it cannot take
another clause.

Example:

1. I always wanted to become a writer. (One clause – one verb)

2. Uthman is a great man. (One clause – one verb)
3. Sola should come with the books. (One clause – one verb)

 A compound sentence has two (or more) simple sentences joined by a conjunction or an
appropriate punctuation mark. It is a sentence that has at least two independence clauses (a
clause that has a subject and verb forming a complete thought) joined by a comma, semicolon
or conjunction.

Examples:

1. Bola claims to be a strong woman; it appears she is very lazy at cooking. (You will notice
that the highlighted sentences are independence clauses joined with a semicolon.
2. Our house will host you, so you are most welcome. (You will notice that the highlighted
sentences are independence clauses joined with a comma and a conjunction.
3. Omolabi can cope with the students, and he is capable of handling them. (You will notice
that the highlighted sentences are independence clauses joined with a comma and a
conjunction).
 A complex sentence is a sentence that contains an independent clause (or main
clause and at least one dependent clause (a clause that cannot stand alone, even with a subject
and a verb present). This combines independent clauses with dependent clauses to make a
sentence. This means that the clauses are not equal; they use a co-ordinating conjunction that
changes the rank of one or more clauses to make it less equal.

Examples:

1. Aminu was happy to have won the prize, even though the prize is a pen.
2. Although he was wealthy, he lacks happiness.
3. Richard returned the computer after he noticed it was faulty.

Note: You will notice that all the bold part of the above complex sentences are dependent clauses.
These help to give additional knowledge to the independent clause in the sentence.

 A Compound-complex sentence has to do with two or more independent clauses and at least
one dependent clause. These are the most complicated sentences in English grammar. It helps
us to express more complicated and longer thoughts, with more parts than other types of
sentences. This is highly recommended for explaining complicated ideas or describing long
chains of thought.

Examples:

1. Ada doesn‟t like vegetables because it makes her sick, so she doesn‟t eat it.
2. The Landlord was upset because the gatekeeper was sleeping when he arrived, and he fires
him.
3. Joseph went the salon; Moses went to the field, while Mary went to the market.

2. Functional Types of Sentences

Functionally, there are four types of sentences in English language. These are categorised on the
basis of the meaning that they convey (purpose). These are: declarative, interrogative, exclamatory
and imperative.

1. Declarative sentence are sentences that make a statement or give information about an action
with a full-stop or period. The usual arrangement of a declarative sentence is subject and
verb. This could be positive or negative. Examples:

i. The boy is a perfectionist.

ii. The three men are living together.
iii. Lion is the king of the jungle.

1. Interrogative sentence is a type of sentences that come as a question. As the name implies, it
is best used when asking questions. This means that, the sentence ends with a question
 mark, unlike the other types of a sentence. This type of sentence is marked by inversion of the
subject and predicate, meaning that the first verb in a verb phrase appears before the subject.
Examples are as follow:

i. Is the boy a perfectionist?

ii. Do you live around here?
iii. How well do you understand GNS 101?
In the above examples of interrogative sentences, you will notice that each sentence is asking a
certain question, as well as reordering the words of its declarative counterpart. You can see this in
the first example under interrogative sentence; The boy is a perfectionist, (declarative).

1. Imperative sentence is a type of sentences that give orders or command, which usually end
with a full stop and sometimes with an exclamation mark. This is mostly used in issuing an
instruction, make a request or offer advice.

i. Leave him alone!

ii. You should get this done before evening.
iii. Wait for Dr. Haruna.
iv. Please be attentive.
In the above examples, you will notice that each sentence is issuing a command. This is how an
imperative sentence functions.

1. Exclamatory sentences show strong emotions such as excitement, surprise, happiness,

sadness, and anger, which end with exclamation mark (!). Examples:

i. I got an A in GNS 101!

ii. My God is great!
iii. It feels great to be here!
In the above examples, you will notice that each sentence expresses a certain concern of emotional
state. This is how an exclamatory sentence functions.

Direct and indirect speech

1. Introduction

As a Speaker of English you should have two different ways of reporting words of another person:
through a direct quote or indirect quote, otherwise known as direct speech and indirect speech. A
direct speech contains the exact words spoken by the other person, while indirect speech expresses
the content of what was said, but not the speaker‟s exact words. As such, both direct and indirect
speeches are staple of everyday communicative life that speakers of language use to illuminate
reality to suit their intents and purposes.

2. Direct Speech
What is direct speech? Direct speech is the reporting of the exact words which someone else has
spoken. Put differently, it is the actual words or the quote of a speaker‟s or writer‟s words or
sentences. When we write such words or sentences, we enclose or set off the quoted words in
quotation marks or inverted commas. This means that there is no addition or subtraction in the
original words of the speaker, e.g.
“I shall probably go to Lapai next week”, said the lecturer.
In the above example, the inverted commas are used to enclose the actual word spoken by the
lecturer followed by a comma. The sentence is therefore a direct speech. It is easy to recognise
direct speech in a written passage because the actual spoken words are enclosed in inverted
commas.
2.1. The rules of direct speech
You should carefully study the following rules when dealing with Direct speech:

1. After the subject (speaker) and the verb, put a comma

2. Put quotation marks before you start writing the first word of the quoted speech
3. Write in capital letter the first letter of the first word of the quoted speech
4. Put the appropriate punctuation marks at the end of the speech, e.g. a full stop, a question
mark, or an exclamation mark
5. Finally, close the speech with quotation marks

2.2. Indirect Speech

Often times however, we give an account of a conversation, or speech after it has been said and
reports such a speech in our own way, i.e. we alter the speech slightly so that we are not using
words of the speaker though we are trying to convey as nearly as possible the correct sense that
was said. When this is done, we engage in second hand or indirect reporting known as indirect or
reported speech. In other words, indirect speech or reported speech is the paraphrasing of an
utterance without quoting verbatim the actual words to convey, as closely a s possible. It is to be
noted that we do not use inverted commas (No quotation marks in indirect speech). Thus, our
sentence above will become:
The lecturer said that he would probably go to Lapai the following week.
2.3. The rules of indirect speech
In reported speech or indirect speech, the following rules must be observed:

 After mentioning the speaker (subject) and the verb, the reported speech is introduced with the
conjunction „that‟ where appropriate.
 Make sure that you do not distort or alter the speaker‟s speech or intended meaning.
 If you summarise the message, which is sometimes necessary, try to avoid distortion and
misplacement of remarks.
 Take care not to add to a speaker‟s message or subtract from it.

TENSES
1. DEFINATION OF TENSES
What are Tenses?
Tenses are defined as verbs used to indicate or denote the time of occurrence of an action or event.
These verbs that take up different forms to indicate the time of an action, event, or condition by
changing its form are called as tenses.
Tense is the relation of words or state of being to time. The tense of a verb helps tell when action
occurs or something exists.

2. TYPES OF TENSES

Tenses are primarily classified into three categories :

1. Past Tense: The verbs that are used to indicate an action, event, or condition that has
happened in the past are known as past tense.

2. Present Tense: The verbs that are used to indicate an ongoing event or an event that is
currently occurring in the present moment are known as present tense.

3. Future Tense: The verbs that are used to indicate an event that is going to occur in the future.

3. FUNCTION OF SIMPLE PRESENT TENSES

1. 1. FUNCTIONS OF THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

Present tense states present action or existence. It is used for

1. Habitual actions e.g (a) The baby cries. (b) The teacher teaches
2. Eternal truths e.g (a) The earth is round. (b) The sun shines.
3. Commands e.g (a) Go home now. (b) Lock the door
4. Instructions e.g (a) Mix Garri and sugar. (b) Teach the students well.
5. Future actions on which decision has been taken. e.g (a) Examination starts……….. (b)
Lecture ends…………….

4. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE/CONTINOUS TENSE

PRESENT PROGRESSIVE/CONTINOUS TENSE

Present progressive tense is used for action taking place now but which is yet to be completed as in:
(a) We are reading our lecture notes (b) Dayo is cheating his parents.

5. PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

Present perfect tense tells of past action that may or does continue. It is used for an idea that has
just been completed. i.e the time of completion is not far from now as in: (a) The Vice chancellor has
just addressed us. (b) John has just written his promotion examination.

6. FUNCTIONS OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE

 1. 1. FUNCTIONS OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE

Past tense tells of past action or existence that has stopped

(a) Simple Past Tense
Simple past tense is used for:

1. An action that took place before now, as in:

(a) Final year students did well in the examination.

(b) Dr. Haruna passes the test

1. A state of being that existed before now as in:

(a) The boy married last year.

(b) The students protested last week.

1. After an action, as in:

(a) It is high time we left the University.

(b) If I were you, I would withdraw.

(c) I wish I were in his shoes.

(b) Past Progressive/Continous Tense

Past progressive tense is used for an action that took place over a period of time before
now, as in:

(a) Professor Jowilt was teaching History

(b) Dada was playing with snake.

(c) Past Perfect Tense

Past Perfect Tense states past action or existence completed before some other action or
existence is mentioned. It is used for an action that took place at a point in time before now
and which was completed a long time before now and which was completed a long time ago,
as in:

(a) I had married before he was born.

He had died before he was taken to the hospital

7. . SEQUENCE OF TENSES

. SEQUENCE OF TENSES
 Sequence of tenses refers to the rules of governing the relationship between the grammatical
tenses of verbs in a related clause or even sentence.
Rule 1: If the verb in the main clause is in the present tense or future, the verb in the subordinate
clause can be in the present, past or future tense. Examples include;
I love what Dada likes
I love what Dada liked
I love what Dada like
Rule 2: Nevertheless, if the verb is in the main clause is in the past tense, its subordinate clause
must retain the past tense as in;
We didn‟t know that he was good.
However, we have three exceptions to this rule
a) If the verb in the subordinate clause states a universal truth or a habitual fact the verb must be
in the present tense even if the verb in the main clause is in the past.
The lecturer said that the earth is spherical.
b) If the word „than‟ introduces the subordinate clause, the sense determines the tense required as
in;
The man hated me more than he hates Bayo.
He cared for others more than he cares for his parent.
Rule 3: If the subordinate clause is an adverb or adjective, the verb therein may be in any tense
according to the sense implied even if the verb in the main clause is in the past tense.
I don‟t like what she did.
Bala killed rats when he sees any.
He talks as if he were the king.
6. TENSE AND TIME

8. TENSE AND TIME

. TENSE AND TIME

Tense informs the listener/reader of the time an event associated with main verb occurs with
respect to the time of utterance. It could be before, after or during the time of utterance. Temporal
adverbs such as „tomorrow or now‟ are used.
Temporal connectives – informs the reader about the relationship between the event in the
main clause and the events in the subordinate clause as;
I was sleeping when he arrived.

9. TENSE AND Aspects

. TENSE AND ASPECTS

 Tense in the verbs expresses time. Aspect expresses how the speaker views the action of
verbs.
E.g. The house is burning right now.
The house will burn next year.
Verbs fall into 4 categories in terms of lexical aspects
Stative verbs – describes situations rather than action. They are continuous and unchanging. It could
be emotional, physical or cognitive.
He loves his wife
Activity verbs – verbs that express action that go on for an indefinite period.
I brush my teeth daily
Atelic verbs – verbs that lack end point.
He travels around the world.
He beats his child always.
Accomplishment verb – verbs that have termination that is logical in terms of their actions
He built a house.
He bagged a degree.

10. PILOT QUESTION

PILOT QUESTIONS 1 – 10
INSTRUCTION: FILL IN THE GAPS
PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE TEST PRESENT TENSE

1. Begin _____________ ________________

2. Blow _____________ blown
3. Fly flew ________________
4. Lead _____________ ________________
5. Begin _____________ ________________
6. Go _____________ ________________
7. Cry cried ________________
8. Teach _____________ ________________
9. Run _____________ ________________
10. Eat _____________ ________________

Grammatical Agreement
1. Introduction
In grammar the term agreement is used to describe the relationship between the inflectional forms of
different elements within a sentence (Afolayan& Newsum 1983, p.126). The duo explain further that
``verbs agree with their subjects in number and person. According to them, a singular subject
requires a singular form of the verb; a plural subject requires a plural form of the verb. These and
many other concord rules that will be discussed in the subsequent section enhance grammatical
sentences.

2. Concord rules

The following are the concord rules that must be strictly adhered to in any sentential construction
that will make meaning to the reader.
a. When two or more singular subjects are connected by and, the plural form of the verb is
required:

1. Tolu and her brother are hardworking students.

2. The boy and his mother have travelled out.

It is important to note however that when each of the singular subjects is considered individually, the
singular form of the verbs is used. This usage is most frequent such indefinite pronouns
as each and every : In this institution, every boy and girl works hard in order to pass.
Each man and woman encourages morality among the youth.
b. When the two singular subjects refer to the same person or thing, the form of the verb is used :
My sister and secretary of the company requires a new official car.
Rice and beans is a good meal.
c. Mathematical computations may take either a singular or plural form of the verb:
1. Six and six is twelve.
2. Six and six are twelve.
3. Two times three is six.
4. Two times three are six.
d. When two or more singular subjects are connected by or, nor, or but, a singular form of the
verb is used:
1. Kunle or Bolu is to be elected class governor.
2. Neither Kemi nor Anita has a ruler.
3. Not only the boy but also his mother was decorated.
4. Neither the Super eagles nor the Super falcons is the team likely to win.
e. When one of the two subjects connected by or, nor, or but is singular and the other is plural,
the verb agrees in number with the subject nearer to it. This type of concord is called proximity
concord:
1. Neither Kate nor his sisters were there
2. Not only the students but also their principal admires the new building.
f. When two subjects connected by or or nor differ in person, the verb agrees with the subject
nearer to it:
1. Kimberly or you are to represent the class.
2. Neither Melanie nor I have agreed to pay.
g. When this rule creates an awkward sentence, the idea should be restated in a form which is
both correct and normal. For example, rather than write:
1. Neither Bolu nor I am to represent the class, we can restate the sentence as
2. Bolu is not to represent the class neither am I.
h. When a singular is followed immediately by such words or expressions as; as well as, in
addition to, including, no less than, with, like, the singular form of the verb is required:

1. The man as well as the woman encourages me to work hard.

2. The lady together with her friends was rewarded.
3. The chairman no less than the treasury has recommended me for promotion.
4. The hall in addition to the store was painted.

i. This convention sometimes appears illogical because we have more than one individual or thing
as the subject. We may, therefore, rewrite the construction as follows:

1. Both the man and the woman encourage to work hard

2. The lady and her friends were rewarded.
3. A singular subject followed by a plural modifier requires a singular verb:
4. The attitude of these boys is not encouraging.
5. The leader of the rioters has been arrested
6. One of the students in the back seat looks sickly
7. A list of the names of successful applicants has been made public.

j. When such indefinite pronouns as anybody, anyone, each, either, everybody, nether,
nobody, no one, and somebody are used as subjects of a sentence, the singular form of the verb
is required:

1. Anybody who steals will be jailed.

2. Each of the students was handsomely rewarded
3. Everyone does whatever they like in this community

k. When the pronouns any or none are used as subject of a sentence, a singular or plural verb
may be used. However, in a formal style of writing, the singular form of the verb is most preferred:

1. Are any of you going to the cinema tonight?

2. None are expected to come late to the meeting.
3. None is expected to come late to class today.
4. Is any of you going to the cinema tonight?
l. When the subject of a sentence is a relative pronoun, the verb agrees with the antecedent of the
pronoun:

1. She is one of the women who counsel new students

2. One of the pastors who pray for the sick is leaving the country.

l. A collective noun takes a singular verb when the class it names is considered as a unit, but a
plural verb when the members of the class are considered individually:
Singular

 The jury is finally complete.

 The family holds an annual reunion.
 The clergy is well remunerated.

Plural

 The jury were divided in their opinion.

 The family have never been able to agree.
 The clergy are financing the new project.

m. Plural numbers take a singular verb when they are used in a phrase to indicate a sum of a unit:

1. Five million naira is a good deal of money.

2. Twelve years is a long to wait.
3. A thousand yards is more a half mile.

n. Certain nouns which are plural in form but singular in meaning generally take a singular verb.
Some examples of these nouns include; dynamics, economics, electronics, ethics, mathematics,
news, physics, semantics, statistics, linguistics, whereabouts etc.

1. Economics has been described the dismal science.

2. Statistics requires a lot of calculation.

o. The words `pains‟ and `means‟ may be used with either singular or plural verbs:

1. A great deal of pains has been taken.

2. A car is a good means of transport.

Morpheme
1. Morpheme

1.1 Morpheme
Morpheme is the smallest indivisible unit of the grammar of a language. There are two major
types of morpheme: free morpheme and bound morpheme.
1.1.1 Free morpheme
This morpheme can stand on its own to express meaning without depending on another element.
Examples are boy, cup, neat, way, idea, leave, easy, allow, emit, detain, glow, cap, dark, increase,
prevent, eat, stop, down, close, and so on. All these examples are morphemes because they cannot
be further broken down and they are of free type because without attaching them to any other form,
they refer to something or someone. They can also function as a word.
1.1.2 Bound morpheme
This morpheme is usually attached to a free morpheme to indicate class, number, comparison or
tense of the attached morpheme. To this end, a bound morpheme does not function alone without a
free morpheme. Read the illustrations below:
(7) „-s‟ in boys, cups, eats, drives, takes, allows, depends, emits,
glows, caps, increases, stops, ways, etc.
(8) „-es‟ in goes, glasses, focuses, classes, etc.
(9) „-or‟ in conductor, tormentor, fornicator, actor, solicitor, persecutor, etc.
(10) „-ing‟ in drilling, going, smoking, bribing, letting, dying, greeting, emitting, collecting,
bothering, etc.
(11) „-d‟ in wasted, bribed, pasted, tolerated, lied, ashamed, named, etc.
(12) „-ed‟ in started, delayed, branded, collected, waited, called, etc.
(13) „-r‟ in producer, miner, baker, maker, settler, wrestler, lover, giver, etc.
(14) „-er‟ in employer, bomber, player, engineer, molester, banker, etc.
(15) „-ee‟ in employee, payee, etc.
Others are „-ship‟, „-ster‟, „-ful‟, „-ness‟, „-ity‟, „-ment‟, „-al‟, „-en‟, „-ate‟, „-ly‟, etc.
Bound morpheme can be functionally classified into two: derivational and inflectional
bound morphemes. Derivational morphemes relate with the class of the free morphemes to which
they are attached as they either change the class or retain it. Examples of these morphemes are „-
or‟, „-er‟, „-hood‟, „-ian‟ „-ity‟, „-ment‟, „-ful‟, „-ness‟, „-ate‟, „-r‟, „-ly‟, „-al‟, etc.
Inflectional bound morphemes on the other hand relate with their free morphemes in terms of
number, comparison, tense and aspect. Number related inflectional bound morphemes are „-s‟, „-es‟,
„-en‟; comparison related inflectional bound morphemes are „-er‟, „-est‟, „-st‟; and tense and aspect
related inflectional bound morphemes are „-d‟, „-ed‟, „-ing‟, „-en‟. Examples are shown below:
(16) Number
(i) „-s‟ in boys, girls, cups, spoons, tablets, caps, biros, chairs, doors, attends, grows, increases,
tells, manages, etc.
(ii) „-es‟ in glasses, families, cronies, classes, passes, addresses, monies
(iii) „-en‟ in oxen
(17) Comparison
(i) „-er‟ in quicker, slower, bigger, faster, happier, naughtier, mightier, wiser
(ii) „-est‟ in quickest, slowest, fastest, happiest, naughtiest, mightiest, etc.
(iii) „-st‟ in wisest, latest, etc
(18) Tense
(i) „-d‟ in pasted, managed, arrived, polluted, silenced, produced, activated
(ii) „-ed‟ in accompanied, accomplished, corrupted, maligned, disturbed, etc.
(19) Aspect
(i) „-ing‟ in going, coming, eating, adding, paying, growing, caging, etc.
(ii) „-en‟ in taken, eaten, deafen, straighten, fallen, etc.

Word Formation Processes

1. Morphological Processes

Morphological Processes
This concept explains the ways and manners words are generated. Knowledge of these basic
processes offers insight into the understanding of vast potential and structure of the English
vocabulary.

Principles of Word Formation

Affixation
This explains the morphological process in which part element(s) is/are added to a base word. The
parts that are so added are called affixes. Affixes can be added at the beginning or end of the base
word.
Prefixation
The process of adding an affix before a base word is referred to as prefixation and an affix that is
added before the base is called prefix e.g. „un‟ that is added to the base word „happy‟ to generate a
new word „unhappy‟. The addition of a prefix to the base may or may not change the word class of
the base:
(i) important (adjective) - unimportant (adjective)
(ii) material (adjective) - immaterial (adjective)
(iii) pleasure (noun) - displeasure (noun)
(iv) frost (verb) - defrost (verb)
(v) react (verb) - over-react (verb)
(vi) congest (verb) - decongest (verb)
Suffixation
The process of adding an affix to the end of the base is called suffixation and an affix that is added
to the end of such a base is referred to as suffix. The addition of a suffix to a base may or may not
result in a change of the class of the added base:
(i) bank (noun) - banker (noun)
(ii) friend (noun) - friendship (noun)
(iii) king (noun) - kingdom (noun)
(iv) play (noun) - player (noun)
(v) social (adjective) - socialite (adjective)
Compounding
This is a morphological process in which two or more base words are joined together to form new
words e.g. These words are either separated by space as in hand made, call girl, horse race,
cooking pot, record keeper, etc.; or hyphen as in mouth-piece, day-dream, air-condition, etc. At
times, they are not even separated as in wristwatch, playboy, bandwagon, coursemate,
sunshine, etc.
Clipping
This is a process that involves shortening of a polysyllabic word to one or two syllables by deletion.
Such deletion may occur at the initial position of a word, final position of a word or both.
Deletion at the beginning of the word
(i) cab from taxicab
(ii) bus from omnibus
(iii) van from caravan
Deletion at the word final position
(i) taxi from taxicab
(ii) bra from brassiere
(iii) exam from examination
(iv) lab from laboratory
(22) Deletion at both initial and final positions
(i) fridge from refridgerator
(ii) flu from influenza
Backformation
This process involves reduction of a word to form another word. Two major features distinguish this
process from clipping. First, reduction usually takes place at word final position whereas in clipping,
reduction can equally take place at initial position, final position or both. Second, such reduction
causes a change in the class of the reduced word. Consider the following examples:
(i) televise from television
(ii) liaise from liaison
(iii) opt from option
(iv) enthuse from enthusiasm
(v) emote from emotion
Conversion
 This is a derivational morphological process in which a word is converted and made to
function in another class without subjecting it to the process of affixation. A noun, for instance, can
be converted and made to function as a verb and vice-versa:
Noun to Verb
(i) convict:
The convict fainted after the judgement.
Judging by the evidence before the judge, he might convict them eventually.
(ii) release:
His release was facilitated by bribery.
They will soon release your friend.
(iii) call:
The police swiftly responded to our call.
I will definitely call you if the need arises.
(iv) comb:
I bought my new comb at Shoprite.
Their trained dogs are to comb the flower in search of the pistol.
Adjective to Verb
(i) slow:
Your walk is slow.
Don‟t slow your pace.
(ii) empty:
His shop is empty
Don‟t empty your shop with your lazy attitudes towards business.
Reduplication
This is a form of compounding where two or more base words are either identical or slightly
modified. The two identical words are often (but not usually) separated by hyphens e.g. goody-
goody.
Blending
This is a morphological process in which fragments of existing words are put together to form
a new word in new combination. The result is the actualization of a different meaning as in the
following examples:
(i) tele(vision) + (broad)cast = telecast
(ii) tel(eprinter) + ex(change) = telex
(iii) sm(oke) + (f)og = smog
(iv) br(eakfast) + (l)unch = brunch
Acronym
This is a process of forming a word by putting together initials of other words e.g. FEPA,
LASU, KWASU, UNILAG, UNESCO, etc.
Neologism/Coinage
This is a process of inventing new words in a language. This is made possible through trade
contacts, technological advancement and literary creativity. Some relatively new coinages in English
are crane, xerox, kleenex, aspirin, etc.

PHRASES
1. Phrases

Phrase
A phrase is a group of related words that adds meaning to a word. For our purpose, the terms
„phrase‟ and „group‟ are used interchangeably. A phrase is different from a sentence because it is
not a complete idea with a subject and a predicate. A phrase forms a unit of thought but with
incomplete meaning. It also functions like a word.
Types of Phrases
In English, there are five different types of phrase, one for each of the main parts of speech.
In a phrase structure, the main word or what the phrase is all about is called the headword.
Elements that precede it (if any) are called modifier while the elements that follow (if any) are called
qualifier or post-modifier. Whereas the head is the obligatory element of phrase structure, other
items of the structure are optional. This explanation is captured in the formular - (m) h (q)
where m stands for modifier; h stands for headword; and q stands for qualifier.
Noun Phrase
This is a group of words that functions like a noun. It is headed by a noun or a pronoun. The lexical
items found before the headword are called modifiers while those after the headword are called
qualifiers or post-modifiers. In a noun phrase, one or more words work together to give more
information about a noun:
(1) the little man
m h

(2) all other questions

m h
(3) Men who beat their wives
h q
(4) a carrier of the ravaging infection
m h q
Grammatical Functions of Noun Phrases
Subject
 A subject is a structural part of a clause which tells us who or what performs the action
expressed by the verb in a structure. The noun phrases in bold below function as subjects:
(5) //The big car/is/my choice.//
(6) //Your woman/is/very beautiful.//
(7) //The head of a village/shouldn‟t be/a thief.//
(8) //Boys and girls/love to enjoy/their freedom.//
Complement
A complement is a structural part of a clause that is directly affected by the action of the verb.
(9) //The lion/tore/the hunter.//
(10) //I/actually/saw /your friend.//
(11) //We /prefer/a ransom.//
A complement also refers to the subject of a clause or sentence. Linking verbs (i.e. be, is,
was, am, are, were, been, and being) is usually involved in this process.
(12) //Their compound/is/the biggest.//
(13) //My friend/is/a civil servant.//
(14) //Those men/are/my neighbours.//
Appositive
Appositives are units that are identical in reference to each other thus establishing mutual
grammatical affinity. With reference to our discussion, a noun phrase functions as an appositive by
explaining a noun or noun phrase preceding it in a structure.
(15) //Bade, my only son,/is/the heir apparent to the throne.//
(16) //The governor, Mr. Ambode,/is/very humane.//
(17) //Our interest, the ten million,/is/the most important.//
In the examples above, my only son is in apposition to Bade; Mr. Ambode in apposition
to the governor; and the ten million in apposition to our interest.
Adjunct
An adjunct is an integrated part of a clause structure that adds to or completes the meaning
of the verb element(s) in the structure. The function of adjunct is realized by noun phrase in the
following examples:
(18) //He/appeared/dirty/that night.//
(19) //They/called/my friend/a lawyer.//
(20) //I/warned/you/that morning.//
Verb Phrase
In a verb phrase, one or more words work together to add more meaning to a verb. Unlike the noun
phrase which combines other word classes, verb phrase comprises only verbal items consisting of a
combination of main verb and auxiliary verb(s). It is headed by a main verb, catenative or (at times)
auxiliary verb with auxiliary verb(s) as modifier and prepositions or to-infinitives as qualifiers.
(21) has instructed
m h
(22) must be seen
m h

(23) wish to be called

h q
(24) must have been advised to resign
m h q
(25) go!
h
Grammatical Function of Verb Phrase
Predicator
This is the central or obligatory part of the clause structure which expresses the attributes of
the verb i.e. an action, event or a state of being. Verb phrase occupies the predicator function.
(26) //They/have collected/the money.//
(27) //He/must have left/the money/on the table.//
(28) //They/raised/my expectation/for nothing.//
Adjectival Phrase
This is a group of related words working together to give more information about an adjective. It
functions like an adjective by describing a noun or pronoun. It is headed by an adjective:
(29) so interesting
m h
(30) earnest in her prayer
h q
(31) so elevated that it can be viewed from any angle.
m h q
(32) good
h
Grammatical Function of Adjectival Phrase
Complement
The complement function of the adjectival phrase refers to a context in which an adjective
describes the subject of a clause or sentence.
(33) //Your demand/is/too high.//
 (34) //The room/was/so stuffy that we had to rush out.//
(35) //They/are/so unpredictable.//
Adverbial Phrase
This is a group of related words working together to give more information about an adverb. It
functions like an adverb by modifying a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It is headed by an
adverb.
(36) virtually
h
(37) most seriously
m h
(38) brutally enough
h q
(39) more seriously than we had anticipated
m h q
Grammatical Function of Adverbial Phrase
Adjunct
Adverbial phrase functions as adjunct of the clause structure by adding to the information expressed
by the verb or verb phrase of the structure.
(40) //You/appear/somehow dirty.//
(41) //He/left/hurriedly.//
(42) //The teacher/spoke/fairly convincingly.//
Prepositional Phrase
This is a group of related words working together to give more information about time, location,
place, etc. It is headed by a preposition and obligatorily has a noun or a nominal entity as qualifier
while another preposition serves as modifier.
(43) at
h
(44) in the bar
h q
(45) from above the sky
m h q
Grammatical Function of Prepositional Phrase
Adjunct
Prepositional phrase functions as adjunct of the clause structure by adding specific information
relating to place, time, instrument, etc. to the entire structure.
(46) //I/don‟t want to go/at the moment.//
(47) //Around evening,/he/left/without permission.//
(48) //She/will help/you/without any condition.//
The knowledge of these structural classifications enhances appreciation and comprehension
of the system of a language and improves grammatical usage.