Distinguishing Word Clases

Noun

Noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea;

People             farmer, mechanic, father, Professor Haskins, Editor, and Marcia

Places              ocean, Canada, porch, Spain, classroom

Things             giraffe, pen, smiles, skateboard

Ideas               love, inspiration, courage, anxiety, happiness

In a sentence, *noun have two function, as the subject or object.

Nouns are either common or proper noun;

A common noun names of any person, place, or thing. Examples are wizard, coin, woman, classroom, and pen

A proper noun names of a particular person, place or thing and begins with a capital letter. Examples are James Smith, Mr. Richard Turner and Chicago.

You may see the differences between common noun and proper noun from these examples;

Common Nouns                      Proper Noun

Hospital                                   Siti Aisyha Hospital

Woman                                    Sri Wulandari

School                                     Xaverius Senior High School

Newspaper                              Cinde Express

Pronoun

Pronoun is a word used in place of one or more nouns.

We use pronoun to;

·         Refer to a noun that usually comes before the pronoun.

·         Make our writing clearer, smoother, and less award

Please see this sentence;

She is the pronoun that refers to Nur Azizah.

.They is pronoun that refers to Ois and Yossi.

There are several types of pronouns.

Personal pronouns refer to people and things. They are divided into three categories called first person (referring to the person who is speaking: I learn English Syntax), second person (referring to the person spoken to: Salwa, do you see my book?), and third person (referring to anyone or anything else: Wahyu saw us eat this meal).

The following list shows these three categories of personal pronouns:

Singular                                  Plural

First person                                         I, my, mine, me                       we, our, ours, us

 Second person                                    you, your, yours                      you, your, yours

Third person                                        he, his, him, she, her,               they, their, theirs, them

In addition, there are several other types of pronouns: reflexive pronouns relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, and indefinite pronouns.

A reflexive pronoun is formed by adding - self or - selves to certain personal pronouns. It is refer to the noun or pronoun that is the subject of the verb.

Examples of reflexive pronouns are myself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves, yourself, and yourselves.

Examples

 Here is a table to help you remember which reflexive pronoun to use with personal pronoun.

An interrogative pronoun is used to ask a question. These pronouns are which, who, whom, and whose.

A demonstrative pronoun is used to point out a specific person or thing. These pronouns include this, that, these, and those. In the sentence, “Theresa, is this yours?” this is the demonstrative pronoun, and yours is the personal pronoun.

 An indefinite pronoun often does not refer to a specific or definite person or thing. It usually does not have a definite or specific antecedent as a personal pronoun does. In the sentence, “Everybody will select another to help with everything” the three italicized words are all indefinite pronouns since they take the place of a noun and do not refer to a specific or definite person or thing.

Adjective

An adjective modifies (qualifies or limits the meaning of) a noun or a pronoun. It answers the questions, What kind? Which one(s)? How many? How much?

Carrie read an interesting story. (What kind of story?)

The recent article has that information. (Which article?)

Kent owns those surfboards. (Which surfboards?)

Wendy paid fifty dollars for the jacket. (How many dollars?)

Much space was devoted to her artwork. (How much space?)

An adjective can come before or after the noun or pronoun it describes:

Older cards are found on the table. (Which cards?)

Tall players and intelligent coaches were interviewed by the interested reporter. (Which players? Which coaches? Which reporter?)

There are several types of adjectives:

A proper adjective is formed from a proper noun.

Italian bread Herculean strength Midas touch Canadian sunset

A compound adjective is a word composed of two or more words. Sometimes these words are hyphenated. Landmark decision black-and-blue mark hometown hero

Verb

Verb is a word used to describe an action.

There are several types of verbs to be studied: the action verb, the linking verb, and the helping verb.

Action Verbs

An action verb tells what action (often a physical action) a subject is performing, has performed, or will perform.

My father delivers packages to department stores each day.

Louie bowled a perfect game last night.

Suzanne skated across the rink in Central Park.

Linking Verbs

A linking verb connects (or links) a subject to a noun or an adjective in the predicate. The most common linking verbs are the forms of the verb “to be” (is, are, was, were, been, being, am) and appear, become, feel, grow, look, remain, seem, smell, sound, stay, taste, and turn.

My sister is a doctor. (The linking verb, is, connects the subject, sister, with the predicate nominative, doctor)

My sister is studying to become a doctor. (In this sentence the word *is is a helping verb for the main verb, studying. Is does not function as a linking verb.)

He appeared tired. (The linking verb, appeared, links the subject, He, with the predicate adjective, tired.)

He appeared at the game. (In this sentence the verb, appeared, is an action verb, not a linking verb.)

Helping Verbs

A helping verb assists the main verb in a sentence. There can be more than one helping verb in each sentence. In a questioning (interrogative) sentence, the helping verb is usually separated from the main verb.

The common helping verbs are am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being, has, had, have, do, does, did, may, might, must, can, could, shall, should, will, and would.

The italicized word in each sentence below is the helping verb. The underlined word is the main verb.

The members are going to the city tomorrow evening.

Are the members going to the city tomorrow evening?

That joke has been heard around the office.

Has that joke been heard around the office?

Her brothers are leaving for the train.

Are her brothers leaving for the train?

Adverb

When is a word an adjective, and when is it an adjective? Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns.

Adverbs do not. Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Adjectives do not.

Helen has a yearly membership at the local health club. (Yearly is an adjective since it modifies the noun membership and tells which membership.)

Helen contributes yearly. (Yearly is an adverb since it modifies the verb contributes and answers the question, When does Helen contribute?)

Mike arrived late. (Late is an adverb since it tells when Mike arrived.)

The late delivery cut down on sales in the supermarket. (Late is an adjective because it tells which delivery.)

Preposition

A common preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and another word in the sentence.

The man swam under the bridge. (Under connects the idea of swam and bridge.)

She walked down the aisle. (Down connects walked and aisle)

Julie walked around the campus and toward town. (Around connects walked and campus.

Toward connects walked and town. )

Here are the most commonly used prepositions:

aboard             about               above               across

after                 against             along               among

around             as                     at                     before

behind             below              beneath            beside

besides            between           beyond              but

by                    concerning       despite             down

during              except              for                   from

in                     inside               into                  like

near                 of                     off                   on

onto                 opposite           out                   outside

over                 past                  since                through

Another type of preposition is the compound preposition. It does the same as a common preposition but is composed of two or more words.

Here are the most common compound prepositions:

according to                ahead of                      apart from                   as of

aside from                   because of                   by means of                 in addition to

in back of                    in front of                    in place of                   in spite of

instead of                    in view of                    next to                          on account of

out of                          prior to

Adverb or preposition? The difference between a preposition and an adverb is that an adverb answers the questions, Where? When? How? To what extent? by itself. Both common and compound prepositions need more than just themselves to answer the same questions:

He fell down . ( Down is an adverb because it takes only one word to tell where he fell.)

He fell down the stairs. ( Down is a preposition because it takes more than a single word

to tell where he fell.)

Trey walked aboard . ( Aboard is an adverb because it takes only one word needed to tell where Trey walked.)

Trey walked aboard the ship. ( Aboard is a preposition because it takes more than one word to tell where Trey walked.)

Conjunction

A conjunction connects words or group of words. There are three types of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions , and subordinating conjunctions.

A coordinating conjunction is a single connecting word. These seven words are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.

The boys and girls worked at the fair. (And joins the names boys and girls.)

Paula or Jeannine can go with you tonight. (Or joins the names Paula and Jeannine.)

I would like to help you, but I will be busy tonight. (But joins two sentences or complete ideas.)

We must leave early so we can get to the wedding reception on time. (So joins two sentences or two complete ideas.)

Remember the made-up word FANBOYS when you memorize the coordinating conjunctions.

Each letter in this word ( F or, A nd, N or, B ut, O r, Y et, S o) stands for a coordinating conjunction.

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of connecting words. These five pairs of words are

Both/and, either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also, and whether/or.

Both Henry and Henrietta are leaving the dance now. (The correlative conjunctions join two names.)

Not only will they leave now, but they will also not be here to help clean up. (The correlative conjunctions join two sentences or complete ideas.)

Either go with them or stay here and help. (The correlative conjunctions illustrate a choice.)

He went neither to the stadium nor to the concert hall during this vacation

Article

Article is a class of word used to signal noun and specify their application. There are two articles in English, they are;

Indefinitive article (a, an)                                       

Applied to unspecific singular noun

-          Follow these rules

o   an (before vowel sound) Ex; an apple, an umbrella

o   a (before consonant sound)  Ex; a book, a classroom

Definitive article

Indicate something that we already know. It is about common knowledge.

-I saw the girl in the garden (talk to someone who know already about the girl)

- I keep my paper in my suitcase (it has understood which paper)

Quantifier

In English there are some word that indicate quantity but not give the exact number. They called quantifier (many, much, and several)

Some quantifier just use to indicate plural noun (few, a few, fewer, many, several, and both)

-         few people have been to the moon

-         a few children are absent today

-         both brother have dark hair

Some quantifier can be used with plural noun and noun that show no exact number. They are; all, half, some, enough, a lot of, more, most, other and plenty of.

Example;

-         We have little time to play

-         There is a little rice left

Some quantifier only used with singular noun. They are another, every, and each

Examples;

-         I need another pencil

-         He likes every chill in the class

Quantifier either and neither refer to people or thing

Examples;

-         I do not like either drink

-         Neither sister has a long hair

Some quantifier can used with singular, plural or noun, they are any, no, no other and the other

Exaple;

-         Any dog will bite if its afraid

-          No the chill likes getting hurt

Numeral

Number included in determiner, it used to indicate how exactly people or thing there are. Usually it used before noun.

Example;

-         Our family has two dogs

-         There are twelve months in the year.

Open and Close; lexical and functional part of speech.

Talk about open and close word we will talk about affixes, word that can adding affixes called open word class. Because it can receive additional (affixes). Contrary, word that cannot receive affixes called close word class.

Open word class contains of noun, verb, adjective, and adverb

Example;

-         Book + Suffix –s become Books

-         Swim + suffix –ing become Swimming

Close word class contains of determiner (article, quantifier, numeral) preposition and conjunction.

Example;

-         Article a and an cannot add by anything. It will lose the meaning when we add (affixes). The same case will happen with the other (preposition, conjunction)..

Sources

- John Wiley & Sons. Part of Speech. 2007 . Part of speech, 11-15

- Seli. 2017. Lecturer : Part of Speech [power point slide]. unpublished manuscript, STKIP-PGRI Lubuklinggau

Exercise 1.

1.      Please analyze part of speech each word below except words with underline.

Best Game Best Creator; In Teaching Language for Primary School

Game is a formal model of an interactive situation. It typically involves several players; a game with only one player is usually called a decision problem. The formal definition lays out the players, their preferences, their information, and the strategic actions available to them, and how these influence the outcome. (Turocy and Stengel, 2001: 06). In other word, Esposito stated that, “a game is a voluntary interactive activity, in which one or more players follow rules that constrain the behavior, enacting and artificial conflict that ends in a quantifiable out come.” (2005:28). In simple definition, game is an activity with goal and element of fun. (50)

2.       Listing three adjective (10)

·         Name three complimentary adjectives that describe one of your friends:

·         Name three adjectives that describe the beach on a summer’s day:

·         Name three adjectives that describe a Super Bowl crowd:

·         Name three adjectives that describe one of your Halloween costumes:

·         Name three adjectives that describe a famous actor or actress

3.       Dressing Up (Adverbs)

On the line next to the sentence number, tell whether the underlined adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb by writing the correct answer’s corresponding letter.(40)

·         Patricia slept peacefully. (v) verb (adj) adjective (adv) adverb

·         Our teachers are very happy with the results

·         Larry’s unusually good cooking skills came in handy last weekend

·         He ran swiftly away from the tackler.

·         She danced so gracefully in the competition.

·         They sang beautifully during the entire winter concert

·         My aunt was extremely hungry after we completed the three-hour hike.

·         We had met somewhat earlier than you think

·         Are they going away?

·         His rather clever remarks were not appreciated.