Word classes - English For Open High School

The NounThe PronounThe VerbThe AdjectiveThe AdverbThe ConjunctionThe Preposition

A noun is a word which is used to denote a person, a place and a concrete entity. Nouns indicate a unit referent.

Examples

PianistPrime MinisterRailway station

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Pronouns are usually treated as a special sub-class of nouns. This is because they stand in for a noun or group of nouns. They are limited in number and belong to what is called a closed set.

ExamplesI, you, he, she, our, its, something, anyone and so

on.Instead of saying, Bill’s in the lounge, it

prefers He’s in the lounge.

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The verb is the 'action' word that tells the listener or reader what is happening in the sentence.

Examples

Verbs can be ‘action’ words like run, initiate, judge, throw etc.

They can also denote less active notions and have more to do with mental processes and perceptions, like see, know, think and so on. Return

An adjective gives the reader or speaker extra information about a noun or delimits it in some way.

It can occur in two positions in a phrase:

ExamplesBefore the noun :

clear water - beautiful beaches - a terrible decision.

Following any form of the verb be (e.g. am, is, was, been) and similar verbs (seem, appear,become) :

The water became clear - the beaches are beautiful.

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The main function of the adverb is to qualify the action of the verb in the clause in some way, but they can also be used to add more information to an adjective or other adverb.

ExamplesThe government moved quickly to rescue the food

victims.This was awfully good.It is incredibly slowly.

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Conjunctions serve to connect two or more clauses, phrases or words together to make longer constructions.

Examples

The coffee was strong, but sweet.We can go to the match or watch it on TV.She has a dog and two cats.

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Prepositions allow us to talk about the way in which two parts of a sentence are related to each other.

Examples

 IN ONUNDER BESIDETHROUGH INSIDE BEFORE OPPOSITE Return

Foley, Mark & Hall, Diane. (2009) Advanced Learners´Grammar: A self-study reference and practice book with answer. Ninth impression. China. Longman.

Brinton, Lauren J. & Brinton, Donna (2010) The Linguistic Structure of Modern English. Retrieved From http://books.google.com.mx/books?id=1EeND5SyUuwC&printsec=frontcover&hl=es&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

TESOL-direct (s.f.)Guide to English Grammar for international learners & teachers of English. Retrieved From http://www.tesol-direct.com/guide-to-english-grammar/word-classes