English class part 1

THE PARTS OF SPEECH

A sentence is a group of related words expressing one complete thought. The words put together in a sentence are divided into different kinds and classes, called parts of speech, according to the work they do in a sentence. The parts of Speech are eight in number.
1.Noun 2.Pronoun 3.Adjective 4. Verb
5.Adverb 6.Preposition 7.Conjuction 8.Interjection.

We will study all these parts of speech in detail one be one.

THE NOUN

(1.Common noun, 2. Proper noun, 3.Collective noun, 4.Abstract noun, 5.Material noun)

Definition :

A noun is a word, it is used as the name of a person, animal, place, bird, idea, emotion or thing.

For example boy , girl, table, chair, peacock, honesty, happiness, wisdom, book etc.,

e.g.

Person	David, Sister, Woman, Brother
Place	Chennai, London, Delhi, Maxico
Animal	Tiger, Elephant, Lion, Deer
Bird	Parrot, Crow, Swan, Peacock
Emotion	Happiness, Sadness, Thought, Toy
Thing	Pen, Book, Computer, Pencil

Types of nouns

NOUNS ARE NAMING words. They identify people, things or place in our world. Nouns come in six different forms: proper, common, abstract, concrete, collective, and compound.

Further, the nouns can be classified into two major types as : countable and uncountable nouns.

1. Common noun :

Definition :

A common noun is a name given in common to every person or thing of the same class of kind.

These common nouns are words for things.

e.g.

chair	bicycle	television
hammer	ladder	computer
axe	calculator	cooker
saw	crayons	book
courage	ruler	printer
laziness	lawnmower	dictionary

These common nouns are words for animals.

e.g.

cat	kitten	lion
dog	puppy	tiger
horse	foal	elephant
goat	kid	whale
frog	tadpole	kangaroo
sheep	lamb	bear

These common nouns are words for places.

e.g.

airport	hostel	temple
university	hotel	mosque
stadium	bank	school
park	library	college
farm	theater	post office
zoo	mall	police station

These common nouns are words for people who do certain things.

e.g.

artist	teacher	police officer
singer	headmaster	plumber
dancer	manager	driver
director	doctor	writer
magician	lawyer	farmer
artist	clerk	friend

2. Proper noun :

Definition :

A proper noun is the name of some particular person, place, thing, particular event, or group. This proper noun begins with a capital letter. If the noun is nonspecific, that is, the noun refers to a general idea and not a specific person, place, or thing, it is usually not a proper noun, so it it not capitalized.

e.g.

Specific	Nonspecific
World war II	A war
English class	A class
The American Bar Association	The association

These people’s names are proper nouns.

e.g.

Aladdin	Muhammad Ali	Dad
Harry Potter	George Washington	Mom
Mahatma Gandhi	Hitler	Granny
Santa Claus	Nelson Mandela	Uncle David
Confucius	Jayalalitha	Miss Park
Alex Rodriguez	Jacky chan	Mr.Raj

The names of the days of the week and the months of the year are proper nouns.

e.g.

days of the week	months
Sunday	January	August
Monday	February	September
Tuesday	March	October
Wednesday	April	November
Thursday	May	December
Friday	June
Saturday	July

The names of special days and celebrations are also proper nouns.

e.g.

New Year’s Day	Dewali
Valentine’s Day	Ramadan
Independence Day	Christmas
Labour Day	Memorial Day
Flag Day	Thanksgiving
Republic Day	Veteran’s Day

The names of famous places, buildings and monuments are proper nouns.

e.g.

The Taj Mahal	The Statue of Liberty
The Eiffel Tower	Chaco Canyon Pueblo
The Golden Gate Bridge	the Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Great Wall of China	Buckingham Palace

The names of people who live in a particular country are also proper nouns.

e.g.

Country	People
Afghanistan	Afghans
Australia	Australians
Britain	The British
Germany	Germans
USA	Americans
India	Indians

3. Collective noun :

Definition :

i) A collective noun is a name of a number (collection) of persons or things taken together and spoken of as one whole as:
Crowd, mob, team, flock, herd, army, fleet, jury, family, nation, parliament, committee.

ii) Nouns that refer to a specific group of persons or things are called Collective Nouns.

These are nouns for groups of people. Here are some collective nouns for groups of people.

e.g.

a family	a committee
a community	a company
a band	a gang
a choir	the government
an audience	the army

Many collective nouns can be used with a singular or plural verb.

e.g.

·         The crowd was orderly.

·         The people were clapping, yelling and cheering.

Here are more collective nouns we can use for groups of people.

e.g.

A crowd of people	An army of soldiers
a panel of judges	A tem of players
a class of schoolchildren	a company of actors
a gang of thieves	a band of musicians

Many groups of animals have their own special collective nouns.

e.g.

a brood of chickens	a litter of puppies	a school of fish
a flock of birds	a pack of wolves	a swarm of bees
a drove of sheep	a pride of lions	a troop of monkeys
a herd of cattle	a pod of dolphins	a gaggle of geese

Some groups of things also have their own special collective nouns.

e.g.

a bunch of bananas	a deck of cards	a fleet of vehicles
a bunch of flower	a cluster of grapes	a suite of rooms
a bunch of keys	a grove of trees	a suite of furniture
a bouquet of flower	a fleet of ships	a set of tools

Some nouns name the amount or form of something.

e.g.

a loaf of bread

a bar of soap

a bar of chocolate

The words a piece of mean a single serving or part of something.

e.g.

a slice/piece of bread	a slice/piece of cheese	a sheet/piece of paper
a piece/square of chocolate	a piece of chalk	a piece of advice

4. Abstract noun :

Definition :

An abstract noun is usually the name of a feelings, ideas, action, state and characteristics, or qualities considered apart from the object to which it belongs as.

Most abstract nouns end with these suffixes:

e.g.

-ism	-ment	-ity
Nationalism	argument	personality
-tion	-ship	-ence
Aggravation	friendship	silence

This abstract noun cannot be seen, heard, touched or tasted but it can only be felt by our sense. The abstract noun is not visible.

e.g.

Quality	wiseness, goodness, kindness, whiteness, darkness, honesty, wisdom, bravery
Action	quarreling, jog, laughter, theft, movement, judgement, hatred
State	poverty, childhood, boyhood, manhood, youth, slavery, sleep, death

For example, we cannot be 'happiness' but we can feel that in our heart or mind. The names of the subject of study (e.g. grammar, music, chemistry, etc.) are also Abstract Nouns.

(i) Concrete nouns :

in opposite to abstract noun, the concrete nouns can be seen or touched by us.

e.g.

Building

iron

steel

gold

(ii) Countable nouns :

(countables) are the names of objects, people, etc. that we can count. And they have their own singular and plural forms.

e.g.

Book	apple	doctor	horse
Books	apples	doctors	horses

(iii) Uncountable nouns :

(uncountables) are the names of things which we cannot count, e.g. milk, oil, sugar, gold, honesty.

The uncountable nouns generally refer to

e.g.

Drinks	coffee, tea	materials	wood, glass, gold, silver
Liquids	milk, oil, petrol	games	cricket, tennis, football
Gases	air, oxygen

Countable nouns have plural forms while uncountable nouns do not. Even the abstract nouns are also uncountable nouns.
For example, we say boys but we cannot say oils.

5. Material noun :

Definition :

There are the raw elements or objects existing in nature.

e.g.

Iron	Gold	Stones	Brass
Aluminium	Mercury	Plastic	Mat