Word classes
I am reading a very interesting book. (it is a noun ) We are going out tonight and I need to book a table for us. (it is a verb)
Sometimes suffixes can help us. Check the table below NOUNS VERBS ADJECTIVES ADVERBS -ion -er -ism-ness-ment -ize,-en-edise -able, ible -ive -al -ous -less -ant -ful -Ward-ly-wise
English word classes
Main word classes: Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs Prepositions
Attention! There are words, like book or fast, that can be nouns or verbs or adjectives. The context of the sentence will tell us which category it is. Look at the examples to understand this:
Word classes are a group of words that have the same formal properties. We are going to study five of the most important families of word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions.
A noun is a word that identifies a person, a thing or an idea or state.
Examples of nouns are child, country, happiness, etc.
There are common nouns, like child or country; proper nouns like London or Stuart; and abstract nouns like happiness or Rememberbeauty. that a noun can belong to different categories (happiness for example is a common and abstract noun)
a/an They are indefinite articles and are used with singular countable nouns. We use ‘an’ when the noun begins with a vowel. Examples: A car, an ant, a house, an elephant, etc some It is used to talk about an unspecific amount of something and it is used in affirmative sentences. . (used with both countable and uncountable nouns) any It is also used to talk about an unspecific amount of something but it is used in negative sentences and questions. (used with both countable and uncountable nouns) many It refers to a large amount of something and it is used with plural countable nouns. much It refers to a large amount of something and it is used with plural uncountable nouns.
Countable and uncountable nouns. We can divide the nouns into countable nouns- when refer to something that can be counted- and uncountable nouns- when the noun refers to things that cannot be counted.Countable nouns have both, singular and plural forms but uncountable nouns have only singular forms.
Examples of countable nouns: house, country, brother, book, etc. Examples of uncountable nouns: milk, water, wood, cheese, sky, earth, etc. We frequently use determiners, especially quantifiers, with the nouns. For example, we use a/an with countable singular nouns; some, many, few, much, with plural nouns. Check the table of the most common quantifiers we normally use along with nouns.
Forming plurals
The general rule to form plurals is the same as Spanish: to add ‘-s’ at the end of the word. However, there are some nouns that do not follow this general rule and the table below shows the exceptions to that rule.
Add Examples:‘-es’ church- churches; foxfoxes; bus- buses, etc Nouns ending’- f’ Change ‘-f’ by ‘-v’ Examples: knife- knives; wife- wives, etc.
Nouns ending ‘-o’ Add ‘-es’ except when there is a vowel before the final o that follows the general rule(add ‘-s’) Examples: tomato- tomatoes, heroheroes, zoo- zoos,
Nouns ending ‘-y’ Drop the –y and add –‘ies’ Examples: baby- babies; countrycountries; etc Nouns ending ‘–ch’, ‘-sh’, ‘-s’, ‘-x’, ‘-z’
There are important grammar rules we must follow:
Adjectives are a group of words that are always used with nouns. They modify the noun adding information like the quality of the noun or other properties.
3) ADJECTIVES FOLLOW A SPECIFIC ORDER WHEN WE USE TWO OR MORE ADJECTIVES IN A SENTENCE.
However, we must know that if we find an adjective which is not of any of these families we should check with your teacher which order it must follow.
opinion- size- age and
1) THE ADJECTIVES GO BEFORE NOUNS.
2) ADJECTIVES DO NOT HAVE PLURAL FORMS
AExamples:tallboy,a beautiful landscape, a dark night, a wooden table, etc.
We will pay special attention to four ‘families’ : colour.
The African buffalo is faster than the cow. The African buffalo is the fastest
We use comparatives when we want to compare two things but if we want to compare more than two things we use the superlative form of the adjective. Look at the examples below.
African buffalo Cow Elephant
The cow is faster than the elephant
As you can see from the examples, when we form the comparative we need to use the particle THAN after the adjective. Equally, when we form the superlative we use the particle THE followed by the adjective.
There are two ways of forming the comparatives: adding –er to the adjective or using the determiner more and the adjective. In order to know which one to use you need to take into account the number of syllables of the adjective. These are the rules: Add –er to the adjective when it is one syllable long. Example: short- shorter; tall- taller.
TIP! When the adjective is one syllable and consonant, vowel, consonant you must double the last consonant. Example. Big- bigger.
long form (more …) with all the other Examples:adjectives. solid- more solid; careful- more careful; etc.
We use the same rules to form the superlative: Add –est to the adjective when it is one syllable long. Example: short- shortest; tall- tallest.
Use the long form (most …) with all the other adjectives. Examples: solid- most solid; careful- most careful; etc.
Forming the comparative
Forming the superlative
Add most + adjective when it is three or more syllables. Example: intelligentmost Exceptionsintelligent.when the adjective is two syllables long: Use the short form ( –est) when the adjective ends with –y; -er; -le- ow .
Examples: Narrow-narrowest; gentle- gentlest; happy- happiest
Add more + adjective when it is three or more syllables. Example: intelligent- more intelligent. Exceptions when the adjective is two syllables long: Use the short form ( –er) when the adjective ends with –y; -er; -le- ow . Examples: Narrow-narrower; gentle- gentler; happyUsehappierthe
that do not follow the rules when forming the comparatives and superlatives. Study the table below.
When we use either comparatives or superlatives we express that something is superior to something else. In our examples the buffalo was faster than the elephant, so he is superior in terms of However,speed.
GOOD Better than The best BAD Worse than The worst FAR Farther than The farthest MUCH More than The most LITTLE Less than The least
EQUAL COMPARISON
ADJECTIVE
IRREGULAR COMPARATIVES AND
COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
Example: The butterfly is as beautiful as the ladybird.
ThereSUPERLATIVESareafewadjectives
there are times when we compare things and we want to express that something is equal to something. This type of comparison is called comparison of equality and it is formed as ‘follows:Something’+ is + as+ adjective + as ‘something else’.
Adjective Adverb Careful Carefully Fast Fast Quick Quickly Good Well Angry Angrily Equal Equally Clear Clearly Terrible Terribly
The adverbs of frequency tell us how often something happens. Examples of adverbs of frequency are: always, usually, regularly, normally, often, sometimes, rarely and never. Their position is before the main verb except when the main verb is the verb TO BE that goes after the
Adverbsverb. of degree
TYPES OF ADVERBS
Adverbs
If the adjective ends in –le the adverb ends in –ly
Adverbs are words that talk about the verb, they tell us when, where or why things happen. Examples of adverbs are slowly, sometimes, friendly, AdverbsFORMINGetc.ADVERBSareusuallyformed adding –ly to an adjective although there are irregular forms. Check the table for some examples.
But you must be very careful because not all the words ending –ly are adverbs. For example, apply is a verb, melancholy is a noun and friendly is an adjective.
If the adjective ends in –y you must change –y to –i and then add –ly
TIP! Some notes on spelling:
Adverbs of degree tell us about intensity. Common adverbs of degree are: almost, quite, hardly, completely and very. They are usually placed before the main verb or the adjective or adverb they are modifying. Examples: The class has almost finished. Your drawing is very nice.
Adverbs of frequency
The most common adverbs are frequency, degree, time, place and manner
Adverbs of time
Adverbs of time tell us when an action happens and are placed at the end of the sentence. Examples of time adverbs are: today, yesterday, later, now, last year Examples:. They went to Liverpool yesterday.
Adverbs of manner
Adverbs of manner tell us how an action happens. They are placed after the main verb. Common adverbs of manner are: well, slowly, quickly, beautifully, loudly, etc. Examples:
The boy answered quickly to the question. List of comparatives and superlatives
Tip! Sometimes, never, always, etc are also adverbs of time.
The children work loudly when the teacher isn’t in the class.
Adverbs of place tell us where an action happens. They are usually placed either after the main verb. Common adverbs of place are: here, there, inside, outside, near, away, abroad,
Adverbs of place
Tip! Most common place adverbs are also prepositions: above, up, under, on, etc.
Tense refers to the form of the verb we want to use in a sentence, and time refers to the moment in which the action of the sentence Lookhappens.atthis sentence:
Verbs
To play To read To Onlistentheother hand, the base of the verb is the infinitive without the word ‘the’. Examples of base of verbs are: Play, read, listen, etc.
We need to distinguish between the infinitive form of the verb and its base, and it is very easy as the infinitive always contains the word ‘the’. Look a the infinitives below:
Verbs are words that refer to actions, events or states.
The verb is one of the most important words in a sentence along with the subject. There is no sentence without a verb or a subject.
Something we also need to know is the concept of ‘tense’ and its relation with ‘time’.
‘Peter is writing a letter at the moment’
We use the present continuous tense (is writing) because the time of the sentence is ‘at the moment’.
We just need to learn which tenses are used with each time. We will work on this in next Forlessons.now, it is a good idea to learn at least the verbs most frequently used in a simple Followconversation.thislink for a list of verbs
The preposition ‘at’ describes the relationship between the words ‘eat’ and ‘seven’; and the preposition ‘on’ describes the relationship between ‘seven’ and ‘ PrepositionsSaturdays’.usually go before nouns although we can find preposition before gerunds.
We must be careful because there is no a unique translation for most of the prepositions. The context will tell us the meaning of that preposition.
Prepositions
There are no rules about the usage of the prepositions so we will need to use the dictionary and to read a lot in order to get familiar with them.
Prepositions are short words that describe the relationship between other words in the sentence. Look at the example:
Examples of prespositions are: at, in, on, across, behind, for, etc.
We eat at seven on Saturdays.
The prepositions in our example refer to time, but we can also use prepositions to refer to distance, place, direction, etc.
