UNIT 01

PART OF SPEECH
(Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs, and Adverbs)

What is a Part of Speech?

A part of speech is a group of words that are used in a certain way. For example, "run," "jump," and "be" are all used
to describe actions/states. Therefore they belong to the VERBS group. 
In other words, all words in the English language are divided into eight different categories. Each category has a
different role/function in the sentence.

Same Word – Several Parts of Speech

In the English language many words are used in more than one way. This means that a word can function as several
different parts of speech.
For example, in the sentence "I would like a  drink" the word "drink" is a noun. However, in the sentence
"They  drink  too much" the word "drink" is a verb. So it all depends on the word's role in the sentence.

Nouns
A noun is a word that names a person, a place or a thing.
Examples:
Sarah, lady, cat, New York, Canada, room, school, football, reading.
Example sentences:
 A noun often comes before a verb Children play.
 A noun often comes after a determiner like a, the, The dog barked.
some, his, our or this.
 A noun can come after an adjective. The angry dog barked.
 A noun can come after a verb. The girl gave cookies to her friend.
 A noun comes after a preposition. She keeps papers in boxes.

There are different types of nouns namely:

Types of Nouns Example
An abstract noun is a noun that names an idea, not a physical hope, interest, love, peace, ability,
thing. success, knowledge, trouble
A concrete noun is a noun that names a physical thing.  boy, table, floor, coffee, beach, king,
rain, children, professor
A common noun is a noun that names a general thing, not a boy, girl, city, country, company,
specific thing. planet, location, war
A proper noun is a noun that indicates the specific name of a Robin, Alice, London, Sweden, Google,
thing. It begins with a capital letter. Earth,  Eiffel Tower, Civil War
A countable noun is a noun that indicates something you window, teacher, tree, lion, eye, cloud,
could actually count.  pencil, heart, movie
For example, you could count pigs: one pig, two pigs,
three pigs... 
However, you couldn't count water: one water, two water
– no, it doesn't work...
A countable noun has both a singular and a plural form,
and it can be used with the indefinite articles (a/an).
An uncountable noun is a noun that indicates something you advice, mail, news,  equipment,
cannot count.  luggage, work, coffee, information,
An uncountable noun has only one form (no plural), and it furniture.
cannot be used with the indefinite articles (a/an).

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Adjectives
An adjective is a word that describes a person or thing.
Examples:
Big, pretty, expensive, green, round, French, loud, quick, fat
Example sentences:
 An adjective most often comes before a noun. The red dog barked.
 An adjective can be joined to a noun with a stative verb The dog is red.
such as be, feel or seem.
 An adjective can come after a noun with the verbs of She made her brother angry.
causation (get, have, make).

Determiners Example sentences:

A determiner is a word that comes before a noun to show  I have a red hat.
which person or thing you are talking about.  Please give me my bag.
Example:  Some people decided to leave.
a, an, the, my, your, some, any, several, enough, any
Some people consider determiners to be a type of Incorrect: He has the my ticket.
adjective. What's special about determiners is that you Correct: He has my ticket / He has the
usually can use only one determiner at a time. ticket.

Nouns that act like adjectives Examples:

Sometimes nouns function as adjectives. In other words, Sports car, Orange juice, Television
they come before another noun and describe it. station, Coffee shop, Book cover

Comparative adjectives Example sentences:

"Comparative" means "comparing something to  She is a better student than her
something else." brothers.
Comparative adjective show us which thing is better,  He seems healthier.
worse, stronger, weaker, and so forth.  You are more beautiful than her.
Examples:
better, worse, bigger, smaller, nicer, fatter, thinner, more
dangerous

Superlative adjectives Example sentences:

"Superlative" means "of the highest degree."  You are my best friend.
Superlative adjectives show us which thing is the best, the  Even the smallest donation helps.
strongest, and so forth.  This is the most expensive restaurant
Examples: I've ever heard of.
best, worst, strongest, smallest, cheapest, most expensive

Verbs
A verb is a word or group of words that express an action or a state.
Examples:
Go, jump, sleep, eat, think, be, change, become, drive, complete.
Example sentences:
 A verb often comes after a noun. The baby cried.
 A verb can come between two nouns. The boy hit the ball.

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 Types of Verbs Example
Auxiliary Verbs (also called "helping verbs")  They are students.
Auxiliary verbs are verbs that are used together with the main  We were waiting for hours.
verb of the sentence to express the action or state.   Is she sleeping?
The main auxiliary verbs are be, am, is, are, was, were, do,  He didn't know the answer.
did, have, has, had.  We have gone a long way.
 Do you smoke?
Compound Verbs  They were discussing their future.
A compound verb = auxiliary verb + main verb.  I have finished my homework.
 She will meet us there.
Phrasal Verbs  I ran into Joe yesterday.
A phrasal verb is a verb that is combined with an adverb or a  It never happened. He made the
preposition. The combination creates a new meaning. whole thing up!"

Adverbs
An adverb is a word that describes or gives more information about a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or even the
entire sentence.
Example sentences:
 An adverb can come after a verb. She walked slowly.
 An adverb can come between a helping verb and its He has quietly done his homework in
main verb. the corner since three o’clock.
 An adverb can come before an adjective. The bag was extremely heavy.
 An adverb can come before another adverb. She talked very quietly.
 An adverb can come at the beginning of a sentence. Unfortunately, he lost his wallet.
 An adverb can come at the end of a sentence. He lost his umbrella, too

Functions of adverbs: Example

An adverb can describe a verb: She sings beautifully.
An adverb can describe an adjective: She is a beautifully dressed women.
An adverb can describe another adverb: She is a truly beautifully dressed women.
An adverb can describe an entire sentence: Naturally, you don't have to come.
In many cases (but not always!) adverbs have the following form:
Adjective + "-ly" Quick + ly = quickly
Strange + ly = strangely
List of -ly adjective in English
costly early friendly kindly likely
lively lonely daily manly hourly
weekly monthly nightly yearly lovely

Types of Adverbs Example

Adverbs of degree  He is very concerned with you.
Adverbs of degree show us the strength or degree of the  You are totally right.
action or state.  We almost made it to the train.
Examples:
very, highly, totally, perfectly, partially, almost
Adverbs of manner  He handled the situation well.
Adverbs of manner show us the way the action is done.  She listened secretly to their

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 Examples: conversation.
well, badly, nicely, slowly, loudly, quietly, happily, sadly,  The children ran happily to their
secretly, weakly father.
Adverbs of place  We are here.
Adverbs of place show us the location of the action or state.  He went home.
Examples:  We found him outside.
home, here, there, outside, inside, away, around, anywhere,
abroad, up, down, out
Adverbs of time  I will do it later.
Adverbs of time show us the time of the action or state.  He promised to write back soon.
Examples:  What are you doing tomorrow?
now, soon, later, yesterday, tomorrow, early, before, lately,
recently
Adverbs of frequency  I always brush my teeth after a
Adverbs of frequency show us the frequency of the action or meal.
state.  We often meet and chat.
Examples:  He is usually here on time.
always, never, sometimes, often, rarely, usually, occasionally

Exercise 1 – Many words can be more than one part of speech. The part of speech a word belongs to depends on how
the word is used in a sentence. Read each sentence, and then decide the part of speech of the bold word.
1. Canberra is the capital of Australia. 21. This pile of mail must be delivered today
2. Many German financial institutions are not 22. Mail the letter today!
located in the capital city. 23. Please read your mail soon!
3. People who consume too much food become
24. The mail system in the United States is
overweight.
efficient.
4. After my return from holiday, I felt much
25. Today we must complete the project.
better.
26. Andy approached the intersection
5. Max had to dress quickly to make it to work
cautiously.
on time.
27. He seems especially competent.
6. Does your company have a dress code?
28. Did you see the schedule there?
7. She decided to wear a suit instead of a dress
29. The prosecutor did not question him
to the interview.
further.
8. She shows a lot of interest in her studies.
30. Small, independent business are becaoming
9. The land is divided up into equal shares for
numerous.
each child.
31. We have six franchises in four states.
10. Doug prefers a casual work environment
32. That chain of health clubs started as a small
11. Susan arrives at work early each morning.
operation.
12. The entire department will work overtime to
33. Her resume is just one page long.
finish the project.
34. Stacy submitted her application to become a
13. Volunteers do important work in the
management trainee.
community.
35. The potential market for that product is
14. This company manufactures the equipment
excellent.
used to make contact lenses.
36. My company markets a wide range of IT
15. The date of manufacture of the jewellery has
products.
not been authenticated.
37. You have some highly marketable skills.
16. Many jobs in manufacturing were lost during
38. Leaders of industry and commerce met at
the recession.
the summit in Paris.
17. Advertisements promised instruction from a
39. She is developing the commercial side of the
master teacher.
organization.
18. Few students can master Web design in a
40. The marketing campaign is starting with four

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 short course. online commercials.
19. Warren Buffet is a master in the field of
investing.
20. Our mail is late today.

Suffixes
Suffixes are the endings on words. For example, the underlined parts of the following words are suffixes.
For example: tasteless, difference, categorize, sadly
The suffix controls the part of speech. For example, the following words all come from the root word create. Notice
the part of speech of each word.
verb adjective noun adverb
create creative creation creatively
By learning which suffixes are used for which part of speech, you can easily recognize the part of speech of many
words. This can expand your vocabulary and solve many word form problems in your writing. It can also help you to
understand sentences more clearly when you read.

Exercise 2 – Write a sentence using one of the example words for each ending. Circle the example word and
underline the ending.
VERB Endings

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 -ate refrigerate Participate Demonstrate
-en lengthen Listen Brighten
-ify satisfy Intensify Classify
-ize recognize Customize Prioritize

ADVERB Endings
-ly happily Certainly Quickly

NOUN Endings
-ism socialism Capitalism Patriotism
-nce difference Attandance Setence
-ness kindness Kindness Brighness
-ion pollution Celebration Ovation
-ment shipment Invesment Announcement
-ty security Diversity Generosity
-age damage Courage Heritage
-ship friendship Leadership Championship
-er/-or Employer/actor Conductor Inventor
-ist chemist Biologist Jurnalist
-cian musician Electrician Magician

ADJECTIVE Endings
-ent/-ant different Assigment Student
-ful beautiful Colorful Joyful
-ic economic Scientific Artistic
-less painless Endless Hopless
-ive creative Imaginative Innovative
-ous dangerous Gracious Mysterious
-al regional Personal Emotional
-able/-ible comfortable Likeable Immposible

Exercise 3 – Underline the suffix in each word below. Write N (noun), V (verb), Adj (Adjective) or Adv
(Adverb) beside each word.
1. _V____ heighten 14. _Adj____ heinous
2. _N____ remembrance 15. __N___ realism
3. __Adj___ beautiful 16. __Adj___ diffident
4. __Adj___ technical 17. __N___ approbation
5. __Adv__ differently 18. ___V__ terrorize
_ 19. __N___ kinship
6. ___N__ beauty 20. __N___ deformity
7. ___N__ management 21. __Adj___ unpredictable
8. ___V__ organize 22. __Adv__ thoughtfully
9. ___Adj__ creative _
10. __Adj___ hopeless 23. __Adj__ imaginative
11. ___N__ contortionist 24. __Adj___ hilarious
12. __V___ terrify 25. __N___ tiredness
13. __N___ tendency

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