Structure of English

Week 5

DR. SEDAT BECEREN

[email protected]
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING DEPARTMENT
ÇANAKKALE ONSEKIZ MART UNIVERSITY
 Introduction to Parts of Speech

 Look at the following words.

system, in, big, communicate, between, confidentiality, relevant, obey, under, shatter,
blizzard, warn, weary, beside, rebellion, happy

1. On a separate sheet of paper, make 4 columns. Label these columns

Group A, Group B, Group C and Group D as you see below.
2. Without using a dictionary or any other reference tool, try to place the
different words that you think belong together in the different columns.
The first four words have already been done for you as a sample.
Group A, Group B, Group C Group D
System in big communicate
 Introduction to Parts of Speech

 Your grouping of the words in the first list probably looks like this:

Group A Group B Group C Group D

system in big communicate
confidentiality between relevant obey
rebellion under weary shatter
blizzard beside happy warn
Nouns Prepositions Adjectives Verbs
 Parts of Speech—Context and Function

 Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but how the word is used.
In fact, the same word can be a noun in one sentence and a verb or adjective in
the next.
 The context let you guess what word class some of these words belonged to. The
following sentences illustrate again the importance of context in assigning
function and/or class
Books are made of ink, paper, and glue.
 In this sentence, ``books'' is a noun, the subject of the sentence.
 Deborah waits patiently while Bridget books the tickets.
 Here ``books'' is a verb, and its subject is ``Bridget.''
 We walk down the street.
 In this sentence, "walk" is a verb, and its subject is the pronoun "we.«
 The mail carrier stood on the walk.
 In this example, "walk" is a noun, which is part of a prepositional phrase describing where the
mail carrier stood.
 Discovery Activity 1: Context

 Look at the following pairs of sentences.

 Think about how context alters the function and meaning of the words
in each pair.
 Consider how in English form is not equal to function. Use the
questions below to help you.
1. I present many speeches. 1. What differences and similarities are there
between present in Sentences (1), (2) and (3)?
2. I gave her a nice present. 2. Does present have the same function in both
3. The students are all present. sentences?
3. Does it have the same form? Why or why not?
 Discovery Activity 1: Context

 The purpose of this activity is to highlight the importance of context in understanding

the meanings and functions of individual words. Words that look the same may have
different meanings and functions depending upon where they occur in a sentence.
 In Sentence (1), present is an action word (verb) referring to what I (the subject) is doing.
 In Sentence (2), present refers to a thing (noun).
 In Sentence (3), present is describing something about the students. It is being used
as an adjective.
 Phonological Difference
 The verb form of present (sentence1) is accented on the second syllable: pre sent´
The noun and adjective form of present (sentence1&2) is accented on the first
syllable: pre´sent.
 The “s” of present has a “z” sound when functioning as a verb and an “s” sound when
functioning as a noun or adjective
 Parts of Speech
 Traditional grammar classifies words based on eight parts of speech:
1. the noun
Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but
2. the verb,
how the word is used.
3. the pronoun,
4. the adjective,
5. the adverb,
6. the preposition,
7. the conjunction,
8. the interjection.
Words and Grammar are often thought of as being separate entities. In fact,
in learning any Word, we are also learning something about its grammar.
Parts of speech

Understanding the different

parts of speech is important in
understanding how words can
and should be joined together to
make sentences that are both
grammatically correct and
readable. An understanding of
the parts of speech is also
important for knowing how to
correctly punctuate sentences.
 Nouns

 The popular definition of a noun is that it describes a person, a place, a

thing or an idea. In fact, we use nouns to express a range of additional
meanings such as concepts, qualities, organizations, communities,
sensations and events. Nouns convey a substantial proportion of the
information in most texts.

 What are the nouns in this text?

Definition, noun, person, place, thing, idea, fact, nouns, range, meanings,
concepts, qualities, organizations, communities, sensations, events, Nouns,
proportion, information, texts.
 The functions of nouns

 A noun can function in a sentence as a subject, a direct object, an indirect

object, a subject complement, an object complement, and an appositive.
1. Subjects--- A Lannister always pays his debts.
2. Direct Object--- The advertising executive drove a flashy red Porsche.
3. Indirect object--- Her staff gave her a bouquet of flowers.
4. Subject complement (Nouns give us more information about the subject)---
Brandon is a gifted athlete.
5. Object complement (Nouns that complete the direct object)--- They elected
Martin their president.
6. Appositive (nouns that rename other nouns) --- My friend, Marianne, likes
cupcakes.
 Types of Nouns
First Common Nouns—They are used to name a GENERAL Ex: girl, city, animal, friend, house, food
Type type of person, place or thing
Proper Nouns—They are used to name a SPECIFIC Ex: John, London, Pluto, Monday, France
person, place or thing.
Second Countable Nouns—They are nouns that CAN be Ex: Window, teacher, tree, lion, eye,
Type counted. They have a singular and a plural form and can cloud, pencil, heart, movie.
be used with a number.
Uncountable Nouns—They are nouns that CANNOT Ex: Substances: paper, wood, plastic
be counted. These are sometimes called Mass Nouns. liquids: milk, oil , juice
Ex: Furniture, money, advice, mail, news, equipment, gases: air, oxygen
luggage, work, coffee, information, weather, abstract ideas: happiness, time, love
Third Abstract nouns– They are nouns that have no physical Ex: love, time, happiness, bravery,
Type existence and are not concrete. They refer to ideas, creativity, justice, freedom,
emotions or concepts so you CANNOT see, touch, hear,
smell or taste something that is an abstract noun.
Concrete nouns – They are nouns which refer to Ex: dog, tree, apple, moon, coin, sock,
people and things that exist physically and that at least ball, water
one of the senses can detect (can be seen, felt, heard,
smelled/smelt, or tasted).
 Types of Nouns

Fourth Collective Nouns– Collective nouns are words that refer to a set or Ex: staff, team, crew,
Type group of people, animals or things. herd, flock, bunch, jury
In American English collective nouns generally take a singular verb, but
in British English they take a plural verb
Fifth Compound Nouns-- Compound nouns are two or more words that N+N--bus stop
Type create a noun. Compound nouns are sometimes one word (haircut), Adj+N—blackboard
words joined by a hyphen (son-in-law) or as separate words (bus stop). V+N--washing machine
The main stress is normally on the first part of the compound word N+V—haircut
(sunglasses, swimming pool) N+Pre-- check-out
N+Pre. Phrase--mother-
in-law
Pre+N-- underworld
 What clues are there for helping us to identify nouns?

 Semantic Clues--the standard definition of a noun as a person, place, or thing is

what is called a semantic definition because it categorizes words by definition.
 Structural Clues --Another way to identify word function is to consider structural
clues such as sentence position, and the co-occurrence of
other words. For example, nouns characteristically occur after articles such as the:
 the book -- the water -- the computer
 Derivational Clues -- certain derivational endings provide us with clues to
identifying class membership . the suffix –ment generally signals nouns as in
amazement, settlement, or movement.
 Morphological Clues -- you were introduced to inflectional endings and we saw
that certain inflectional endings go with nouns. These inflectional endings are the -s
for regular plural formation and the ’s to show possession.
 Discovery Activity 3: Nouns and “s”

1. Look at the following list of words.

2. Identify which nouns are plural and which ones are nouns that simply end
in s.
Example:
linguistics: noun that ends in “s”
fans: plural word
__________________________________________________
genius chess jeans news clothes parts
fans alias admirers scissors syllabus auctions
_____________________________________________________

jeans, clothes, and scissors are nouns with only plural forms
Discovery Activity 4: Count versus Noncount Nouns

 Many nouns that are generally uncountable can often also be used as
countable nouns; e.g. Would you like a coffee?
 Look at the nouns in the box below.
Fish, exposure, meat, steak, breast, lamb, unhappiness, dissatisfaction,
society, life, understanding, misunderstanding, soil
 For each noun decide whether it is generally countable © generally
uncountable (U) or both (C, U)
 If you answered both for any of these nouns, how is the meaning
affected by whether the use is countable or uncountable?
Discovery Activity 4: Count versus Noncount Nouns

Generally Countable Generally Uncountable Both

Breast Unhappiness, dissatisfaction, Society, life, fish, exposure, lamb,
understanding, soil, meat steak, misunderstanding

• These bras are specially designed for women with large breasts. ©
• Dick cradled her photograph against his breast. ©
• turkey breast (U)
• The meaning of life, fish, lamb, steak and misunderstanding as countable noun is closely related to the
meaning of the words as uncountable nouns.
• On the other hand, a society is quite different from society and an exposure is different form exposure.
• technology and its effects on modern society (UN)
• Britain is now a multi-racial society. ©
• Prolonged exposure to the sun can cause skin cancer. (UC)
• I have three exposures left on this roll. © It refers to TCP a length of film in a camera that is used to take
a photograph
 Structure Words that Signal Nouns

 There are certain words that precede nouns and therefore act to signal a
noun.
 Articles
English has two articles, the and a/n. When articles combine with nouns,
they form noun phrases:
 Article + Noun = Noun Phrase
a cat a cat
an elephant an elephant
the creature the creature
 Structure Words that Signal Nouns

 Demonstratives --this, that, these, those

 Demonstratives are another group of words signaling nouns. Demonstratives
precede nouns and indicate relative location or position.
 The choice depends on whether the noun is singular or plural and is relative
to the speaker’s mental and/or physical perception. Non-count nouns, since
they have no plural forms, can only take the singular demonstratives this or
that.
 Quantifiers --some, many, much, few, a few, little, a little, a lot of, no, less
 Quantifiers are another group of words that precede nouns and act as a signal
that the following word is a noun. Quantifiers function to indicate a general
number or quantity.
 Discovery Activity 5: Much, Many

 Mark the sentences that sound ungrammatical to you with an asterisk.*

(a) The Botanical Garden has many flowers from all over the world.
(b) Did it take much effort to collect these flowers?
(c) Much of the plants were donated by collectors.
(d) Many time has been devoted to gathering the plants and flowers.
(e) Has the Botanical Garden received many support from the town?
(f) It is encouraging that many people support the gardens.
(g) Much dollars have been raised during the fundraising campaign.
 Discovery Activity 6: Much, Many

 English requires the use of much with noncount nouns and many with
plural count nouns.
 Sentences (c), (d), (e), and (g) are ungrammatical because they violate
this rule:
 In Sentences (c) and (g), plants and dollars are plural count nouns and
need to be preceded by many.
 In Sentences (d) and (e), time and support are noncount nouns that
require much.
 Discovery Activity 6: Less, Fewer

1. Mark the sentences that sound grammatical to you with a G.

2. Mark the sentences that sound ungrammatical to you with UN.
(a) Fewer students than expected registered for night classes in spring
semester.
(b) During the long winter months, there are fewer daylight hours and less
people like to travel at night.
(c) When there is less demand for classes, the university hires less
teachers.
(d) With less classes offered, students have less choices.
(e) With fewer choices, students have less options in courses they can take
toward graduation.
 Discovery Activity 6: Less, Fewer

 The “rule” governing the use of fewer versus less states that fewer
comes before plural count nouns and less before noncount nouns.
 You will often hear less used with plural countable nouns in informal
spoken situations, but traditionally it is not considered to be correct:
 I've got less problems than I used to have. (traditionally correct usage:
fewer problems)
 We’ve got less pizzas than we need. There’s ten people and only eight
pizzas. (traditionally correct usage: fewer pizzas)