In the English
language, words can be considered as the smallest elements that have
distinctive meanings. Based on their used and functions, words are categorized
into several types or parts of speech. This article will explain about 5 major
parts of speech in English grammar; they are noun, verb, adjective, adverb and
pronoun.
Noun
Noun is a word
that identifies a person, animal, place, thing, or idea. There are two kinds of
nouns, they are concrete nouns and abstract nouns.
Concrete
Nouns
Concrete nouns
used for identify the tangible things. There are 4 classifications of concrete
nouns, they are :
- Proper nouns, includes : name of the person (ex.
: Nadia, Linda, Peter, etc.) and geographical name (like name of the country,
continent, mountain, nationality, river, etc.)
- Common nouns, is a noun which refer to the
common things that we usually see on our daily life. Example : chair, bag,
table, book, pen, clock, pencil, car, jacket, etc.
- Material nouns, example : gold, silver, wood,
platinum, granite.
- Collective nouns, is names for a collection or a
number of people or things. Example : committee, group, herd, swarm.
Abstract
Nouns
Abstract nouns
used for identify the intangible things, it means the object cannot be seen or touched.
Example :
fear, beauty, wisdom, freedom, courage, joy, etc.
Noun is also
divide into two, they are countable nouns and uncountable nouns.
Countable
nouns
Countable
nouns are for things we can count using numbers. They have a singular and
plural form. The singular form can use a determiner “a” or “an”. If you want to
ask about the quantity of a countable noun, you ask “How many?” combined with
the plural countable noun.
Singular
|
Plural
|
One dog
|
Two dogs
|
One horse
|
Three horses
|
An idea
|
Two ideas
|
A banana
|
Four bananas
|
One shop
|
Two shops
|
Uncountable
nouns
Uncountable
nouns are for the things that we cannot count with numbers. They may be the
name for abstract ideas or qualities or physical objects that are too small or
too amorphous to be counted (liquid, powders, gasses, etc.). Uncountable nouns
are used with a singular form. They usually do not have a plural form.
Example : tea, sugar, flour, water, rice, knowledge, love, money, etc.
Verb
A verb can be
considered as one of the most important parts of sentence. You probably already
know that a sentence must be composed of a subject and a predicate. Well, the
verb is the main component of a predicate. Without it, there won’t be a
sentence, just a bunch of words with an incomplete thoughts. Simply defined,
the verb is the part of speech which is used to demonstrate an action or a
state of being. The verb divided into three, they are physical verb, mental
verb and state of being verb.
Physical
verb
Physical verbs
are action verbs. They describe specific physical actions. If you can create a
motion with your body or use a tool to complete an action, the word you use to
describe it is most likely a physical verb.
Example : Let’s
run to the corner and back.
Mental
verb
Mental verb
have meanings that are related to concepts such as discovering, understanding,
thinking, or planning. In general, a mental verb refers to a cognitive state.
Example : She recognized
me from across the room.
State
of being verb
Also known as
linking verb, state of being verbs describe conditions or situations that
exist. State of being verbs are inactive since no action is being performed.
These verbs are usually complemented by adjectives.
Example : I am
a student. ; We are circus performer.
There are also
several types of verbs, they are :
a. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
Transitive
verbs is followed by a noun phrase. These noun phrases are not called
predicate nouns, but are instead called direct objects because they refer to
the object that is being acted upon. Example : My friend read the
newspaper. ; The teenager earned the speeding ticket.
Intransitive
verbs is one that doesn’t have a direct object. Intransitive verb may be
followed by an adverb (a word that addresses how, where, when, and how often)
or end a sentence. Example : The woman spoke softly. ; The athlete ran
faster than the official.
b. Regular and Irregular Verbs
Regular
verbs are those verbs that formed their past participle with ‘d’ or ‘ed’.
These verbs do not undergo substantial changes while changing forms between
tenses.
Example : share – shared ; scare –
scared ; want – wanted
Irregular
verbs are those verbs that undergo substantial changes while changing forms
between tenses. The changed forms of these verbs are often unrecognisably different
from the originals.
Example : go – went ; run – ran ; think –
thought
Adjective
Adjective are
word that used to describe nouns and pronouns and to quantify and identify
them. In a nutshell, adjective are what define nouns and give them
characteristics to differentiate them from other nouns.
There are some
kinds of adjective, they are demonstrative adjective, distributive
adjective, quantitative adjective, possessive adjective, numeral
adjective and descriptive adjective.
Demonstrative
adjective
Demonstrative
adjective are used to point out or indicate a particular noun or pronoun using
the adjective. Example : that bag ; this house ; these
paintbrushes ; those flowers
Distributive
adjective
Adjective
which are used to refer people or things individually among many. Distributive
adjective are always followed by a singular noun and a verb. Example : Each
student is responsible for littering classroom. ; Every laptop comes
with a free bag.
Quantitative
adjective
These
adjectives help to show the amount or the approximate amount of the noun or
pronoun. These adjectives do not provide exact numbers, rather they tell us the
amount of the noun in relative or whole terms. Example : There are some
students in the classroom. ; I don’t have any novels. ; He drank too
much water. ; I have many friends. ; He bought a lot of
apples yesterday.
Possessive
adjective
Possessive
adjectives are used to show possession or ownership of something. These
adjectives are always followed by the noun. Example : my book; your
bag; his pencil; their school; her car; its food; our
house.
Numeral
adjective
Numeral adjective
are used to show the number of nouns and their place in order. Numeral
adjective which used to show the number of nouns is called cardinal numeral
adjective. Meanwhile, numeral adjective which used to show noun’s place in
order is called ordinal numeral adjective. Example : cardinal (one book,
two cats, three cars) ; ordinal (first person, second
car, third bag).
Descriptive
adjective
Descriptive
adjective are used to describe a character or situation of things, people, or
animal. Example : beautiful girl ; tall boy ; smart boy ; white
horse ; black cat.
There are
certain rules regarding the placement of different kinds of adjectives in a sentence.
The general order followed is :
1.
Determiner
2.
Observations or quantity and opinion (few, most,
ugly, difficult, beautiful, etc.)
3.
Size (big, small, huge, little, tiny, etc.)
4.
Age (old, young, teenage, mature, etc.)
5.
Shape (circular, crooked, oval, triangular,
etc.)
6.
Color (black, blue, white, pink, green, etc.)
7.
Origin (Indonesian, Southern, Mexican, Korean,
etc.)
8.
Material (wooden, plastic, steely, metallic,
etc.)
9.
Qualifier
Adverb
An adverb is a
part of speech used to describe a verb, adjective, clause, or another adverb.
It simply tells the reader or listener how, where, when, or the degree at which
something was done.
Basically,
there are four kinds of adverbs, they are adverb of time, adverb of
place, adverb of manner, and adverb of degree.
Adverb
of time
Adverb of time
are those words which tell us about the time of any action that takes place in
the past, present or future. In other words, adverbs of time tell us how long,
how often and when. Examples : She is going to have a baby soon. ; We
are going to church on Sunday for prayer. ; I go to movies often
with my sister.
Adverb
of place
Adverb of
place are those adverbs which indicate the location, direction and distance of
action which takes place. Adverb of place are generally placed after main verb
in a sentence.
Example : The
dog is waiting there. ; He went westwards. ; His house is 10
miles far from here.
Adverb
of manner
Adverb of
manner are used to express way or style of doing any action. Adverb of manner
answer the question how and are often formed by adding –ly or –ily to the
adjectives.
Example : The
small child is looking innocently at his teacher. ; The baby is crying loudly
in the crib.
Adverb
of degree
Adverb of
degree are used to show to what extent or how much has an action been done or
will be done. Example : She almost finished the homework. ; They were completely
surprised by the windfall.
Pronoun
A pronoun is
used in place of a noun or noun phrase to avoid repetition. Here are the pronoun
for subject, object, possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns
Subject
|
Object
|
Possessive Adjectives
|
Possessive Pronouns
|
I
|
me
|
my
|
mine
|
You
|
you
|
your
|
yours
|
He
|
him
|
his
|
his
|
She
|
her
|
her
|
hers
|
It
|
it
|
its
|
-
|
We
|
us
|
our
|
ours
|
They
|
them
|
their
|
theirs
|
Example :
Pronoun for
Subject (We are interested in music. ; You go to campus every
day.)
Pronoun for
Object (They are looking for me. ; She is not mad at you.)
Possessive
adjectives (This is their house. ; They are our friends.)
Possessive
Pronouns (This pencil is mine. ; That house is ours.)
References :
Sukur,
Silvester Goridus. 2007. Complete English
Grammar For The Toefl®
Test Langkah Jitu Melejitkan Score Toefl® Test. Yogyakarta : Indonesia
Cerdas.
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