Basic Facts of English Grammar

PARTS OF SPEECH 

The major categories into which the vocabulary of a language is divided, are called Parts of Speech. 

💥 There are eight Parts of Speech, on the basis of their application in a sentence : -

1. Noun 

2. Pronoun

3. Adjective 

4. Verb

5. Adverb 

6. Preposition

7. Conjunction 

8. Interjection

Category-wise definitions  : -

1. Noun :-  A noun is the name of a person, place, thing or idea. 

Examples :- Ram, Sita, boy, cow, rice, Patna, beauty, honesty, etc. 

2. Pronoun:- A Pronoun is a word which comes in place of a noun or a noun phrase.

Examples:- I, you, we, they,  it, myself,  yourself, mine, yours, etc. 

3. Adjective:- An Adjective is a word which signifies the quality,  number,  amount,  rank, series, etc. of a noun or pronoun. 

Examples:- green, red, hungry,  ugly,  impossible,  important, immortal, etc. 

4. Verb :- A Verb is a doing word. It shows an action, position, state of mind, etc.

Examples:- read,  write,  sing,  start, stand, think,  sleep, cry, etc. 

5. Adverb :- An Adverb is a word which qualifies a verb. It also modifies a noun, a pronoun, an adjective and another adverb. It tells where, how and when something takes place. 

Examples:- tomorrow, once, very, also, too, beautifully, here, there, etc. 

6. Preposition:- A Preposition is a word which comes before a noun or a pronoun to show its relation with the other words of a sentence. 

Examples:- to, into, by, on, of, with,  from, under, about, above, etc. 

7. Conjunction:- A Conjunction is a joining word. It joins two words or sentences. 

Examples:- and, or, either- or, neither- nor, so, but, hence,  because, although, etc. 

8. Interjection:- An Interjection is a word of exclamation. It's a word or phrase that is used to  express surprise, pain, pleasure, etc. 

Examples:- Hurrah! , well done! Oh! , Wow!, etc. 

💥 On the basis of Forms and structures, words have been divided into two parts:- 

1. Form Classes 

2. Structure Classes 

1. FORM CLASSES : - The words whose forms and meanings may be changed with the help of morphemes are called Form Classes. 

There are four Form Classes:-

1. Noun 

2. Adjective 

3. Verb 

4. Adverb

We can change the form and meaning of a noun,  an adjective,  a verb and an adverb with the help of morphemes. 

What are Morphemes?

A Morpheme is the smallest unit of a word which is added in the beginning or at the end of a word ( noun, adjective, verb,adverb) to change its form and meaning. This change may be brought about by changing the internal vowel letters as well. 

In this way,  there are three kinds of Morphemes  :-

1. Prefix: - It is added in the beginning of a word. As :- un- , ir- , im- , il- , re- , pre- , en- , in- , over- , out- , up- , sub- , fore- , de- , dis- , etc. 

Prefixes     Words Formed 

Un-              unable, unaddressed, unaided 

Ir-                irregular, irresponsible, irrelevant 

Im-              impossible, immoral, immortal 

Il-                illegal, illegible, illiterate,illogical 

Re-              reopen, remove, renew, regain

Pre-            prehistoric, predetermined, prewar

En-              enable, encash, encourage

In-               indirect, incomplete, incorrect 

Over-           overcome, overpower, overtake 

Out-             outside, outlines, outcome, 

Up-              update, upright, upon, upset 

Sub-            subsector, subway, subdivision

Fore-           forenoon, forefront, forefather 

De-              deport, decamp, degrade, decode 

Dis-             disconnect, discover, discount 

2. Suffix- It is added at the end of a word. 

As- -s, -es, -d, -ed, -en, -ing, -y, -ly, -ish, -er, -est, -ance, -ful, -ous, -cal, -less, -hood, -ion,-ness, 

-ism, etc. 

Suffixes      Words Formed 

-s                 boys, gets, toys, plays, cows

-es               goes, boxes, benches, does 

-d                 dared, heard, proved,probed

-ed               killed, patted, clicked, added 

-en               whiten, beaten, drunken, fallen 

-ing              reading, writing, drinking, driving 

-y                 honesty, dirty, greedy, faulty 

-ly                kindly, lastly, swiftly, sweetly 

-ish              childish, blackish, reddish, pinkish

-er               learner, fighter, greater, smaller 

-est             coldest, hottest, latest, greatest 

-ance          acceptance, attendance, guidance

-ful              beautiful, dutiful, harmful, fruitful 

-ous            dangerous, famous, bounteous 

-cal             numerical, practical, geographical 

-less            careless, harmless, armless 

-hood          childhood, motherhood, manhood

-ion              suggestion, question, connection

-ness          happiness, carelessness, ugliness

-ism            heroism, Hinduism, determinism. 

3. Infix-  Putting an Infix means changing the form of a word by changing the internal vowel letters. 

As- Man - men

      Drive- drove 

       Blow- blew

       Woman- women, 

       Know- knew 

       Draw - drew, etc. 

2. STRUCTURE CLASSES- The words whose form and meaning can not be changed anyway are called to be Structure Classes. These words come before Form Class words to help their application and meaning in a sentence. 

There are eight Structure Classes: -

1. Auxiliaries:- 

    Helping Verbs - be, is, am, are, was, were,        do, does, did, has, have, had.

    Modal Verbs - can, could, may, might, will,        would, shall, should, must, ought to, dare,         need, used to, have to.

2. Determiners : -

    Articles- a, an and the.

    Demonstrative Adjectives- this, that, these, those .

     Possessive Adjectives- my, our, your, his,         her, its, their, Ram's.

3. Prepositions :- in, into, on, out, of, at, with, from, below, before, beyond, between, beneath, under, about, above, without, around, off, beside, behind, among, etc. 

4. Qualifiers:- very, rather, etc. 

5. Personal Pronouns:- I, we, you, thou, he, she, it, they.

6. Relative Pronouns :- which, who, what, whom, whose, that. 

7. Conjunctions :- and, or, but, although, yet, thus, hence, therefore,  either - or, neither - nor, not only  - but also, otherwise, if, as, because, though,  what, when, where, while, until, unless, however, lest, etc. 

8. Interjections:- Oh! , Ah! , Alas! , Hark! , Hurrah! , Bravo! , Hush!, etc. 

Happy Learning!