word

classes
AN INTRODUCTION
 word
classes

Word classes, or also known as parts of speech, refer to the way in which particular words are used.
Some words can be classified as more than one word type, and they change type according to the sentence
they belong to.
 word
classes

Words can be divided into classes according to the way in which they are used. The eight main word classes
are Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, Pronouns, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections.
 Nouns

Adjectives

Verbs

Adverbs
Word Classes
Pronouns

Prepositions

Conjunctions

Interjections
Nancy M. Sullivan. Essential Grammar for Today’s Writers, Students, and Teachers. (New York: Routledge,
2015), 3.
 Noun
s known as “naming” words. Every sentence must include at least one noun or pronoun. Words like tree,
The things, animals, and people in the world around us all have names. These names are called nouns. Nouns
are often
tiger, brother, teacher, student and dinosaur are nouns. We can easily describe them as they physically exist.
We call these as concrete nouns. There are also nouns for things that don’t physically exist. They are called
abstract nouns. Words like love, hatred, loyalty and betrayal are abstract nouns.
Nouns (or pronouns) and verbs are the only essential components of a sentence.
 Proper
Nouns
Proper nouns refer to specific people, places, things and ideas that are unique. They are often written with
initial capital letters and include:
The names of individual people and places
Joko Widodo, Jakarta
The names of organisations, institutions, publications, films, TV programmes, pieces of music and other
things that are unique
Nurul Jadid, Jawa Pos, Dangdut
People's titles when used to refer to an individual, with or without their personal name
the Professor, the Governor of East Java, the President
Note that this does not apply when the title is used generically some
professors, the former presidents
 Common
Nouns
Words, like tree, brother, teacher and singer are called common nouns because they don’t talk about one
specific thing or person. You can use the noun tree about any tree, and the noun brother about anyone’s
brother. All nouns except for proper nouns fall into this group.
Common nouns can be countable or uncountable.
 Countable
Nouns
Most common nouns have singular and plural forms, because they refer to things that can, in theory at least, be
counted. A singular noun talks about just one thing. A plural noun is used for more than one thing.
Most English nouns make their plural forms by adding -s or -es like student➟students,
picture➟pictures, box➟boxes, hero➟heroes, etc. A very small number either have a completely
irregular plural forms, like child➟children, mouse➟mice, woman➟women and person➟people or
have the same form for both singular and plural, like sheep➟sheep and deer➟deer.
 Uncountable
like Nouns
Some nouns don’t have a plural. They only have singular forms. These are called uncountable nouns. Words
milk, music, money, furniture, oil, information, help and education are uncountable nouns because we
can’t count them.
Since proper nouns refer to specific people, places, things and ideas that are unique, they are, by
definition, uncountable.
 Noun
s -age
Nouns can often be recognised by their endings.
: advantage, pilgrimage, usage, marriage, courage,
-ation, -tion, -sion, -ion : beverage explanation, education, nation, division,
-er, -or : invasion, objection writer, painter, doctor, actor, proctor
-ity : reality, immunity, accountability, acidity
-ment : appointment, experiment, establishment,
-ness : harassment happiness, brightness, readiness
-ist : guitarist, pianist, specialist,
-ing : biologist building, saving, writing,
gathering
 Proper
Nouns

Nouns
Countable

Common
Nouns
Uncountable

John Seely. Grammar for Teachers: Unlock Your Knowledge of English. (Triverton: Oxpecker,
2007), 47.
 Adjectives
Adjectives tell us what people, animals, and things are like. They describe nouns and tell you more about
them. They might tell you what things look, sound, or feel like.
- a luxurious car
- an expensive smartphone
- many young students
- some green trees
- the tasty meatballs
 Attributive & Predicative
Adjectives
We often put an adjective before the noun that it is describing such as “a colourful ball”, “a huge
building”, and “the new president”. Placing an adjective before a noun is called attributive use of
adjectives.
You can also put adjectives after the noun, such as after verbs (linking verbs) like be, look, feel, seem,
become, stay, or turn such as “the sun is hot”, “the meatballs look yummy”, and “I feel nervous”. This use is
described as predicative.
It’s up to you to choose where you put the adjectives in your sentence. You can say, “this is
a delicious cake” or “this cake is delicious”.
 Comparison
Adjectives can be used to compare nouns or pronouns.
- There are many big cities. Surabaya is a big city, but Jakarta is bigger than Surabaya. New York is the
biggest of all.
Adjectives have three forms
Positive Comparative Superlative
big bigger biggest
long longer longest
happy happier happiest
annoying more annoying most annoying
intelligent more intelligent most intelligent
good better best
bad worse worst
 Adjectives
Adjectives can often be recognised by their endings.
-able, -ible : acceptable, suitable, capable, credible
-al : accidental, seasonal, political, pictorial
-ful : careful, faithful, doubtful, shameful
-ic : romantic, dynamic, dramatic, historic,
-ish : Islamic childish, foolish, bluish
-ive : comprehensive, affirmative, active,
-less : destructive
-ous : careless, hopeless, harmless, reckless
-y : dangerous, famous, glorious,
-ed : ambitious tasty, moody, hungry, heavy
abandoned, sophisticated, developed
 Attributive Adjectives

Adjectives

Predicative Adjectives

Sidney Greenbaum. The Oxford English Grammar. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996),
134-136.
 Verbs
Verbs describe actions, such as fly, study, and fall. The person or thing that does the action of the verb is the
subject. The subject always comes before the verb.
- The birds fly.
- The students study.
- The rain falls.
Sometimes the verb has to change a little to match the subject. We add -s or -es to the end of the verb if the
subject is a single thing that you can call he, she, or it.
- All dogs bark. This little dog barks. It barks a lot.
Some verbs change in different ways to match the subject.
- This car is blue but those cars are red.
 Verbs
The subject of a verb comes before the verb. It tells you who or what does the action of the verb. Some verbs
need something else after them, otherwise the sentence doesn’t make sense. The person or thing that comes after
the verb is called the object. The object tells you who or what receives the action of the verb.
- Ayu saw. (incomplete, needs an object)
- Ayu saw Maryam. (complete)
We call the verbs that need an object as transitive verbs.
But some verbs don’t need an object and make sense on their own. Those verbs are called intransitive verbs.
- Tigers roar.
- The flower grows.
 Main
Verbs
We can classify verbs into main verbs and auxiliary verbs.
Main verbs are also called 'full' or 'lexical' verbs because they are verbs which contain meaning (you can
look them up in a dictionary and find a definition). The transitive and intransitive verbs are main verbs.
Most main verbs can be allocated to one or more of three groups. They are transitive verbs,
intransitive verbs, and linking verbs.
 Main Verbs
Linking verbs are verbs that link a subject with its complement.
- I am the son of a king.
- This seems like a lovely place to live.
-Hot coffee always tastes good to me.
Common linking verbs are
appear be become look smell
feel get sound seem taste
 Auxiliary
Verbs
Auxiliary verbs are also known as ‘helping’ verbs. They help the main verbs in a sentence for example by
forming tenses. We can group auxiliary verbs into primary auxiliaries and modal auxiliaries.
The primary auxiliaries are be, have, and do.
- The students are listening to the teacher.
- I have bought a new smartphone.
-Do you always come late to class?
Primary auxiliaries are all irregular.
Be has eight forms: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been.
Have has four forms: has, have, had, having.
Do has five forms: does, do, did, done, doing (but done and
doing are not used as auxiliary forms).
 Auxiliary
Verbs
Modal auxiliaries are
will shall would should
may might
can could
mus
t

- ought
I can speak three languages.
to
- You shouldn’t wear a hat in a class.
- May I make an appointment?
 Verbs
Verbs can often be recognised by their endings.
-ate : translate, abbreviate, incorporate, assassinate, associate
-en : brighten, darken, strengthen, toughen
-ify : clarify, magnify, beautify, amplify
-ise, - : maximise, computerise, popularize, summarize
ize
 Transitive
Verbs
Main Verbs Intransitive
Verbs
Linking Verbs
Verbs
Primary
Auxiliaries
Auxiliary
Verbs Modal Auxiliaries

John Seely. Grammar for Teachers: Unlock Your Knowledge of English. (Triverton: Oxpecker,
2007), 47.
 Adverbs
Verbs tell you what things do. For example, “tigers roar” and “birds sing“. Adverbs tell you how, when,
where and how often a thing is done. Adverbs are mostly connected to verbs.
Adverbs can be categorised into:
1. Adverbs of manner
2. Adverbs of time
3. Adverbs of place
Most adverbs end in -ly, and they usually come after verbs. Adverbs that tell you how someone does
something are called adverbs of manner.
 Adverbs of
manner
Adverbs of manner tell us how an action is performed. Adverbs of manner usually come after the verb they
describe. We can change most adjectives into adverbs by adding -ly to the end of the adjective.
- Snails are slow movers. They move slowly.
- We had a happy day on the beach. We played happily all day.
- Ahmad gave me a cheerful smile. He smiled cheerfully.
Some adverbs don’t end in -ly, but they are still adverbs if they tell you how something is done.
- Rabbits can run fast.
- The team played well today.
- We always study hard.
- Juliette often arrives late.
 Adverbs of
- It’stime
Adverbs of time tell us when something happens. Adverbs of time don’t usually end in -ly
my birthday today.
- I met some cute girls yesterday.
- We’re going on vacation tomorrow.
- I don’t want to do my homework now. I’ll do it later.
 Adverbs of place
Adverbs of place tell us where something happens. They don’t usually end in -ly.
- We can sit there.
- I’ve looked everywhere, but I couldn’t find my keys.
- The teacher is waiting upstairs.
- There are many cafés nearby.
 Adverbs of manner

Adverbs Adverbs of time

Adverbs of place

Sheila Dignen. DK Visual Guide to Grammar and Punctuation. (New York: DK Publishing,
2017), 46-50.
 Pronoun
s the noun.
Sometimes we don’t want to keep repeating the same noun over and over again. Instead, we can use a pronoun
to replace
- I saw Ahmad this morning. Ahmad came early to get Ahmad’s books.
- I saw Ahmad this morning. He came early to get his books.
In the next slide, there is a table of personal pronouns arranged according to “person”. You will work
out what “person” means in grammar as you study the table.
 Person Subject Pronouns Object Pronouns Possessive Pronouns Reflexive
Pronouns

First person I me my, mine myself

First person plural we us our, ours ourselves

Second person
you you your, yours yourself, yourselves
singular &
plural he him his, his himself
Third person she her her, hers herself
singular it it its itself

Third person they them their, theirs themselves

Ruth Colman. The Briefest English Grammar and Punctuation Guide Ever! (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press Ltd,
2010), 11.
Subject Pronouns

Object
Pronouns Pronouns
Possessive
Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns

Ruth Colman. The Briefest English Grammar and Punctuation Guide Ever! (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press Ltd,
2010), 11.
 Preposition
ssuch as on, in, to, and with. We usually use prepositions for place and time.
We use prepositions to show how different nouns relate to each other in a sentence. Prepositions are small
words,
See how the prepositions link the nouns and pronouns in the following sentences.
- The children are playing with a ball in the yard.
- I got into the room through a secret door.
 Prepositions of
place
Some prepositions tell us where something is or which direction it goes in.
Prepositions of place are used to relate the position or location of one thing to another. Using a different
preposition usually changes the meaning of a sentence.
- The books are on the table.
- Monas is in Jakarta.
-Ahmad met me at the café.
Some prepositions of place are,
on in at under
through over along behind
above between in front of opposite
 Prepositions of
time
Some prepositions tell us when something happens or how long it lasts.
Prepositions of time are often used to talk about schedules and routines.
- I don’t work on Sundays.
- I leave the house at 6.30 a.m. everyday.
- I was born in 2003.
Some prepositions of time are,
on at past
in
to until since during
by before after
 Other
prepositions
Some prepositions link nouns in other ways such as expressing relationships other than place and time, such as
origin, ownership and absence.
- I go to campus by bus.
- You can’t go outside without your shoes.
- I want a job with a good salary.
- I’m watching a documentary about santri.
 Prepositions of place

Prepositions Prepositions of time

Other prepositions
 Conjunction
ssame sentence, you can use a conjunction to link the ideas.
Some sentences are quite simple and only give one idea. If you want to join more than one idea together
in the
- Orang Utans live in Indonesia. Orang Utans eat fruits and insects.
- Orang Utans live in Indonesia and they eat fruits and insects.
- Let’s go inside. It starts to rain.
- Let’s go inside because it starts to rain.
 Coordinating
Conjunctions
The conjunctions and, but, and or are called coordinating conjunctions because they link words,
phrases, and clauses of equal importance.
- Whales live in the oceans and they eat fish.
- I like badminton but my brother prefers football.
- Do you like an apple or a banana?
The common coordinating conjunctions are
and or
but nor
then yet
so
 Subordinating
Conjunctions
Conjunctions that aren’t coordinating conjunctions are called subordinating conjunctions. Subordinating
conjunctions are used to connect words, phrases, and clauses of unequal importance. They’re used to say why,
where, or when something happens.
- Tigers only hunt when they are hungry.
- You can’t ride a motorcycle because you’re too small.
-You can cook a noodle if you’re hungry. The
common subordinating conjunctions are
after as because
although
before if since so
though unles until (that)
where s while when
when
 Coordinating Conjunctions

Conjunctions

Subordinating
Conjunctions
 Interjection
and s
An interjection is a single word that expresses a thought or feeling. You often shout or say interjections loudly,
so they are often followed by an exclamation point.
- Wow! That was amazing.
- Hey! What are you doing?
- Shh! I’m concentrating. Don’t make any noise!
- Congratulations! You’ve won.
 References
Colman, R. 2010. The Briefest English Grammar and Punctuation Guide Ever! Sydney: University of New South Wales Press Ltd
Dignen, S. 2017. DK Visual Guide to Grammar and Punctuation. New York: DK Publishing
Greenbaum, S. 1996. The Oxford English Grammar. New York: Oxford University Press
Seely, J. 2007. Grammar for Teachers: Unlock Your Knowledge of English. Triverton: Oxpecker
Siklos, J. and Singer, S. (Eds.). 2016. English for Everyone: English Grammar Guide. New York: DK Publishing
Sullivan, N.M. 2015. Essential Grammar for Today’s Writers, Students, and Teachers. New York: Routledge