English Language

Word class Function Example

Noun Naming words London, book
Adj Describe nouns Large, sunny
Verb Doing words Jump, read
Adverbs Describes verbs Steadily, sadly
Pronouns Instead of nouns You, him
Conjunctions Connecting words And, or, but
Prepositions Show rel between words in Before, underneath
terms of time, space and
direction
Determiners Info about the noun A, the, his, few, two
(quantity or possession)
Adjectives and nouns:
- Proper Nouns: people, places, brands
- Common nouns:
→ Concrete: you can touch or see them
→ Abstract: You cannot touch or see; concepts, states, qualities and emotions
→ Collective: Groups of people, animals or things
- Count nouns: can be counted (one/two brick/s one/two mouse/mice)
- Mass nouns: can’t be counted; no plural (information)
- Count and mass can be mixed; war is evil; war in general therefore mass but the
war is evil; specific war therefore count noun.
- Modified nouns give more information;
→ Pre-modifiers; come before the noun (very dangerous animal)
→ Post-modifiers; after the noun (examination in progress)
→ Head word; the noun, the rest are there to modify it
- Adjectives describe nouns:
→ Attributive; pre-modifying (sudden noise)
→ Predicative; post-modifying (revision is brilliant)
- Comparative adj; -er (longer) (more)
- Superlative adj; -est (longest) (most)
Verbs and adverbs:
- Main verbs: identify the action of the sentence (she sings like a hyena)
- Auxiliary: Go before the main verb in a sentence; extra info about main
 → Primary; do, have, to, be; I do like you & can also be main verbs; I have a
surprise for you
→ Modal; can only occur with reference to the main verb; can-could, shall-
should, will-would, must-may (I can play the drums)
- Present tense; I write, he writes. Past tense; I danced. Future tense; will and shall.
- Adverbs are used to modify verbs; Adverbs of:
→ Manner; how? Unnecessarily, rudely
→ Place; where? Here, there
→ Time; when? Tomorrow, soon
→ Duration; how long? Temporarily, permanently
→ Frequency; how often? Sometimes, never, often
→ Degree; the extent to which something is done; completely, fully, partially
→ Direction; Emma walked towards the door, I drove into a tree, across
→ Some adverbs can also express feelings (hopefully) or link sentences
together (however).
Pronouns and determiners:
- Personal pronoun; I, you, she, it, they
- Possessive; mine, ours, yours (her, your, their are determiners because they come
before a noun and not replace it.
- Reflexive; myself, yourself
- Demonstrative; this, that, these, those
- Indefinite; someone, anyone, something, anything, nothing
- Relative; who, whom, whose for people, which for things, that for both
- Interrogative; who? Which? Whose? What? (why, when, where, how are adv)
- Determiners show what the noun is referring to
→ Definite article ‘the’ is specific and indefinite article ‘a’ is general.
→ Numerals; cardinal (one, two) and ordinal (first, second)
→ Possessive determiners; my, his, their, its, out (possessive pronouns)
→ Quantifiers; show quantity (few, many, enough)
→ Demonstrative adjective; this, that, these and are followed by a noun.
Prepositions and conjunctions:
- Prepositions show the relationship between things in terms of place, time or
direction. Up, around, onto, opposite, per, past, toward, under, beyond, above
- Conjunctions are linking words;
 → Coordinating conjunctions (fanboys); for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so; they
connect single words or phrases and clauses; Robert and Bet – connects two
names & neither is given more importance. A white shirt or a pink shirt –
links two phrases. He kissed her and she ran away – links two equal
statements.
→ Subordinating conjunctions; since, although, because, unless, whether,
whereas, while, where, that and if – link a main clause to one that is less
important to the subject of the sentence; some people may find it difficult,
whereas others find it easy.
- They are important cohesive devices and makes sentences more fluent.
Phrases and clauses:
- Phrases are units of language built around a head word that identifies the type of
phrase; Noun phrase – the new mayor of Bradford (pre-mod – noun – post-mod)
Verb phrase – should have passed (modal auxiliary – primary auxiliary – head
word)
- A clause is a unit of a sentence; clauses are separated using conjunctions and can
be made up of subject (s), verb (v), object (o), complement (c) and adverbial (a).
→ Complement; more info about the subject or object; Harry is a great
guitarist – subject complement while Harry found the film appalling –
object complement.
→ Adverbial; word/s that refers back to the verb; describe time (t), place (p)
and manner (m). Harry kicked the ball quickly (manner)
- Clauses are defined by status;
→ Main clauses; an independent clause can stand alone and still make sense;
Harry played.
→ Coordinate clauses; where there are two or more independent clauses
(joined together by a coordinating conjunction – and or but) The band
played for two hours but I had to leave early.
→ Subordinate clauses; can’t stands alone, so always with a main clause; gives
extra info about the main clause and is led by a subordinating conjunction;
Will you pop in to see me while you’re here?
→ Combining clauses; He went to London and she went to Manchester
because of a terrible row – coordinating clause – coordinating conjunction
– coordinating clause – subordinating conjunction subordinating clause.

Sentences:
 - Simple; Has a subject and a verb; The snow falls
- Compound; an independent clause linked to another independent clause by a
coordinating conjunction. I went to Manchester and I went to Liverpool.
- Complex; main clause and a subordinate clause linked by a subordinating
conjunction. The workers left the building when they heard the noise.
Discursive/Argumentative/Problem-solution essays:
Essay Description Plan
Discursive A discussion about the Intro: state topic without
(For and against) topic or issue, providing opinion
points for and against or Par 2-3: arguments for and
advantages and justifications
disadvantages. Par 4-5: arguments against
and justifications
Conc: show your opinion
but not forcefully
Argumentative Present your opinion or Intro: state topic and your
(Opinion) view about the topic; opinion
include opposite viewpoint Par 2-4: viewpoints and
and provide arguments to reasons or examples
refute it Par 5: opposing viewpoint
and reason or example
Conc: summarize or restate
your opinion
Problem-solution The problems or causes are Intro: state problem and its
identified and analysed, cause and effect
and possible solutions are Par 2-5: suggestions and
presented together with results with examples
results and consequences Conc: summarize opinion