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The parts of speech: Introduction
Traditional grammar classifies words based on eight parts of speech: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction and the interjection. Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but how the word is used. In fact, the same word can be a noun in one sentence and a verb or adjective in another. The next examples show how the part of speech of a word can change from one sentence to the next. Following these examples is a series of sections on the individual parts of speech and an exercise. Example Explanation Books are made of ink, paper and glue. In this sentence, books is a noun, the subject of the sentence. Joe waits patiently while Bridget books the tickets. Here books is a verb and its subject is Bridget. We walk down the street. In this sentence, walk is a verb and its subject is the pronoun we. The letter carrier stood on the walk. In this example, walk is a noun that is part of a prepositional phrase describing where the letter carrier stood. The town council decided to build a new jail. Here jail is a noun, which is the object of the infinitive phrase to build. The police officer told us that if we did not leave immediately he would jail us. Here jail is part of the compound verb would jail. The parents heard high-pitched cries in the middle of the night. In this sentence, cries is a noun acting as the direct object of the verb heard. Their colicky baby cries all night long and all day long. Here cries is a verb that describes the actions of the subject of the sentence, i.e. the baby. The next sections explain each of the parts of speech in detail. When you have finished looking at them, you might want to test yourself by trying the exercise. The details Verb - Next Page Noun Pronoun Adjective Adverb Preposition Conjunction Interjection Review exercise: Parts of speechSource: HyperGrammar 2 (basics of English grammar)
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Review exercise: Parts of speech
Identify the part of speech of the highlighted word in each of the following sentences.1. The clown chased a dog around the ring and then fell flat on her face. verb noun pronoun adjective adverb preposition conjunction interjection 2. The geese indolently waddled across the intersection. verb noun pronoun adjective adverb preposition conjunction interjection 3. Yikes! I’m late for work. verb noun pronoun adjective adverb preposition conjunction…Source: HyperGrammar 2 (basics of English grammar)
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Objects and complements
Objects A verb may be followed by an object that completes the meaning of the verb. Two kinds of objects follow verbs: direct objects and indirect objects. To determine if a verb has a direct object, isolate the verb and make it into a question by placing whom? or what? after it. The answer—if there is one—is the direct object, as in the following examples: Direct object The advertising executive drove a flashy red Porsche. Direct object Her staff gave her a bouquet of flowers. The second sentence above also contains an indirect object (her). An indirect object (which, like a direct object, is always a noun or pronoun) is, in a sense, the recipient of the direct object. To determine if a verb has an indirect object, isolate the verb and ask to whom?, to what?, for whom? or for what? after it. The answer is the indirect object. Not all verbs are followed by objects, as in the following sentences: The guest speaker rose from her chair to protest. After work, Randy usually jogs around the canal. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Verbs that take objects are known as transitive verbs. Verbs not followed by objects are called intransitive verbs. Some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive, depending on the context, as in the following examples: Transitive I hope the Senators win the next game. The verb win has a direct object (the next game) and is therefore a transitive verb. Intransitive Did we win? The verb win has no direct object and is therefore an intransitive verb. Subject Complements In addition to transitive verbs and intransitive verbs, there are linking verbs. The word or phrase which follows a linking verb is called a subject complement (not an object). The most common linking verb is be. Other linking verbs are become, seem, appear, feel, grow, look, smell, taste and sound, among others. Note that some of these can be linking verbs, transitive verbs or intransitive verbs, depending on how you use them, as in the following examples: Linking verb with subject complement He was a radiologist before he became a full-time yoga instructor. Linking verb with subject complement Your homemade chili smells delicious. Transitive verb with direct object I can’t smell anything with this terrible cold. Intransitive verb with no object The interior of the new Buick smells strongly of fish. Note that a subject complement can be either a noun (radiologist, instructor) or an adjective (delicious). Object Complements An object complement is similar to a subject complement, except that it modifies an object rather than a subject. In this example of a subject complement, The driver seems tired. the adjective tired modifies the noun driver, which is the subject of the sentence. Sometimes, however, the noun will be an object, as in the following example: I consider the driver tired. In this case, the noun driver is the direct object of the verb consider, but the adjective tired is still acting as its complement. In general, verbs that have to do with perception, judgment or change can cause their direct objects to take an object complement, as in the following sentences: Paint it black. The judge ruled her out of order. I saw the Prime Minister campaigning. In each of the above examples, you could reconstruct the last part of the sentence into a sentence of its own using a subject complement: it is black, she is out of order, the Prime Minister is campaigning.Source: HyperGrammar 2 (basics of English grammar)
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absolute phrases
A phrase is a group of words that forms a unit simpler than a sentence. A phrase does not contain a finite (conjugated) verb. Most phrases modify a particular word in a sentence. However, an absolute phrase modifies an entire sentence instead of a single word: The birds having flown off, the cat climbed down from the tree. Unlike an ordinary phrase, the birds having flown off does not modify any word in the rest of the sentence, such as cat or climbed. This type of phrase is called absolute because it is self-contained: it usually has its own subject (in this case, birds) and does not need to attach to any word in the sentence. Structure of an absolute phrase Absolute phrases can have any of the structures shown below. Noun + participle Her work completed, Amanda flew home. [noun work + participle completed] We scrambled along the shore, the waves splashing at our feet. [noun waves + participle splashing] Noun + other modifier His mind on other matters, Jordan didn’t notice the growing storm. [noun mind + prepositional phrase on other matters] The children set off for school, faces glum, to begin the fall term. [noun faces + adjective glum] Pronoun + infinitive The audience filed out, some to return home, others to gather at the pub. [pronoun some + infinitive to return; pronoun others + infinitive to gather] Common expressions as absolute phrases Some participle and infinitive phrases are common expressions that are considered absolute. Since they do not need to attach to a particular word, they can be placed at the beginning (or end) of a sentence without dangling. Here are some examples: Financially speaking, Bob’s lifestyle changes worked well. Talking of music, have you heard the new band at Taco Jack’s? A storm is brewing, judging by the dark clouds. To get back to the main point, the budget needs to be bigger. The food was mediocre, to say the least. Punctuation tip As the above examples show, an absolute phrase is set off with a comma (or with a pair of commas if it occurs in the middle of the sentence).Source: Writing Tips Plus (English language problems and rules)
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The evolution of gender in the English language
A blog post about the history of gender in the English language.The gender of words is such a simple, yet complex, concept. Grammatically, gender is merely a way of classifying the words in a lexicon. Socially, gender is the way societies use language to structure the world.Note 1 Nowadays, there’s a lot of talk about gender in the context of inclusive writing. In this post, however, we’ll talk about the evolution of gender in the English language and what remains of the systems of past centuries. Old English: The 5th to 11th centuries The evolution of the English language is marked by three main periods: the Old English (or Anglo Saxon) period, the Middle English period and the Modern English period. Modern English no longer bears any resemblance whatsoever to Old English, so much so that, today, you can’t even read Old English without having studied it. Spoken and written from the 5th century until the Norman Conquest, Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) was brought to England by the Germanic and Scandinavian tribes who settled there. It has its own vocabulary, its own grammar and even its own alphabet (which is called futhorc). With its Germanic roots, Old English borrows from Latin, Old French and Old Norse. Like Latin and Modern German, Old English is what we call an inflected language. Its grammar is based on a system of five main cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and instrumental), three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter) and two numbers (singular and plural).Note 2 Unlike nouns in Modern English, nouns in Old English are gendered, that is, masculine nouns are feminized. For example, the word bæcere (baker) is written bæcestre in the feminine form. In Old English, adjectives and pronouns agree with the subject in gender and number. Gender in Old English is grammatical: nouns that designate living organisms correspond to the biological sex of the organism they refer to, whereas with nouns that designate inanimate objects, gender is assigned more arbitrarily and unrelated to the meaning of the noun. Middle English: The 11th to 15th centuries When William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, Anglo-Norman (a variant of Old French) became the language of high society, while English was relegated to the lower classes. All the transformations that English society underwent following the Norman Conquest influenced the language. Old English gradually transformed and gave way to Middle English (spoken from 1150 to 1500). At that time, under various influences, the English language lost its system of inflections and gender assignment: feminine forms disappeared, as did grammatical gender. English started becoming simpler and more like Modern English. In fact, you can read the original Middle English version of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (one of the best-known literary works of that time) and understand its overall meaning. Modern English: The 15th century to present In Modern English, only the pronouns he, she and it, as well as suffixes like -man, -woman and -ess mark gender.Note 3 However, some nouns designating inanimate objects are always assigned a gender. Have you ever wondered why we use she when talking about a ship? A ship has no biological sex, but it has been assigned a feminine identity for centuries. Why is a ship a she? A number of theories have been put forward to explain why certain nouns designating inanimate objects still have a gender marker. It’s interesting to note that, in many cases, these nouns take the feminine gender, rather than the masculine: the well-known ship, Earth, countries and nature, to name a few.Note 4 In the case of ship, some believe it may have taken on a feminine gender under the influence of the Latin word navis, a feminine noun meaning “ship.” However, since the Old English word scip (neuter, not feminine, gender) was borrowed from the Germanic languages to designate the boats we call ships today, this theory doesn’t seem to hold water. Symbolism and tradition may also explain the phenomenon. In the history of many cultures, ships were dedicated to goddesses or mythical female figures who were said to protect and guide sailors on their voyages. These maritime deities were considered the guardians of the seas, and designating ships as female would have been a way of invoking their protection. The use of the pronoun she to designate ships isn’t universally accepted. Some people, who consider the use of the pronoun she to be sexist, would prefer that the pronoun it be used to designate ships. As language continues to evolve and degender, it will be interesting to see if the practice of using the pronoun it for words like ship becomes more established. One thing is certain: language will continue to evolve with the societies that use it, and the English we speak 1500 years from now may not bear any resemblance to the English we speak today. What do you think English will be like centuries from now? Sources Note 1 Guenfoud, Razika. (2020–2021). Genre grammatical : étude morphosyntaxique (PDF). [Doctoral thesis, University of Biskra]. University of Biskra Theses Repository. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 Langster. (n.d.). A Brief History of the English Language: From Old English to Modern Days. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 Curzan, Anne. (2003). Gender Shifts in the History of English. Cambridge University Press. Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 Whorf, Benjamin Lee. (1956). Language, Thought, and Reality. MIT Press. Return to note 4 referrerSource: Our Languages blog (posts from our contributors)
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Noun and pronoun characteristics
Nouns and pronouns have three major characteristics: case, number and gender. Noun and pronoun case The case of a noun or pronoun determines how it can be used in a phrase or clause. There are three cases in modern English: Subject case The subject case is used for a noun or pronoun that stands alone. It can also be the subject of a clause, or the subject complement, or stand in apposition to any of these. Object case The object case is used for the object of a preposition, verb or verbal, or for any noun or pronoun that stands in apposition to one of these. Possessive case The possessive case is used for any noun or pronoun that acts an an adjective, implicitly or explicitly modifying another element in the sentence. Nouns always take the same form in the subject case and the object case, while pronouns often change their form (he, him). Both nouns and pronouns usually change their form (man’s, his) for the possessive case: Subject case The man travelled to Newfoundland. He travelled to Newfoundland. Object case The taxi drove the man to the airport. The taxi drove him to the airport. Possessive case The baggage handlers lost the man’s suitcase. The baggage handlers lost his suitcase. For further information, see the sections on possessive nouns, possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives. Noun and pronoun number The number of a noun or pronoun is singular if it refers to one thing or plural if it refers to more than one thing. When the noun or pronoun is the subject, then its number also affects the verb. Note the difference in number in the following examples: Singular That woman is concerned about this issue. She is concerned about this issue. Plural Those women are concerned about this issue. They are concerned about this issue. Note that the plural pronoun they is in the process of becoming singular in spoken English. For example, one might say A person called and they did not leave their name. This construction allows the speaker to avoid identifying the gender of the person and has been common in speech for many years. You should be aware, however, that some people still consider it unacceptable in formal writing. For more information, see the section on noun plurals. Noun and pronoun gender Unlike the Romance languages (e.g. French, Spanish and Italian), English has three genders for nouns and pronouns: masculine, feminine and neuter. Generally, the English language uses natural gender rather than grammatical gender—that is, the gender of a word is normally based on its biology so there is little need to remember whether a word is masculine or feminine. A noun that refers to something with male genitalia is masculine, a noun that refers to something with female genitalia is feminine and most other nouns are neuter by default. There was a time when the masculine gender was used by default when the gender of a person referred to was unknown, but very few people accept this usage any longer. However, there are a few tricky points of usage. First, one may refer to animals using the neuter gender or their natural gender: Neuter What a beautiful dog! Does it bite? Natural gender What a beautiful dog! Does she bite? Note that natural gender is often reserved for pets or animals with names (Jumbo, Flipper, Fido). Second, mythical beings (such as gods) are usually assigned to a natural gender, even if they are not regarded as having genitalia: God is great. God is good. Let us thank her for our food. Finally, people sometimes assign natural gender to inanimate objects, especially if they live or work closely with them. In the past, men (who were dominant in the professions and trades) tended to refer to large machines as being feminine: She is a fine ship. For more information, see the section on gender-specific nouns. Noun and pronoun person Personal pronouns always belong to one of three persons: first person if they refer to the speaker or writer (or to a group including the speaker or writer); second person if they refer to the audience of the speaker or writer (or to a group including the audience); and third person if they refer to anyone else. If the noun or pronoun is the subject, then its person also affects the verb. Nouns and other types of pronouns (e.g. demonstrative pronouns) are always in the third person. Note the differences in person in the following examples: First person I will come tomorrow. Bob showed the budget to us. Second person You should not forget to vote. Where is your coat? Third person It arrived yesterday. How can you stand working with them? Traditionally, the third person is used in formal writing, but some people now accept the first person. The important thing is being consistent throughout the text.Source: HyperGrammar 2 (basics of English grammar)
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pronoun agreement: collective nouns
Pronouns have to agree in number with the words they refer to (called their antecedents). That is, a pronoun must be singular when its antecedent is singular, and plural when its antecedent is plural. But when the antecedent is a singular collective noun, it can be difficult to decide whether the pronoun should be singular or plural. A collective noun names something that has many members or parts: for example, cast, committee, club, company, group, staff or team. Because these nouns include many members, they may have a plural meaning even when they are singular in form. Use these guidelines to decide on pronoun agreement with a collective noun. Singular meaning If the members of the group are acting as a unit, the noun will be singular and will take a singular pronoun: The staff has achieved its goal of collecting $5,000 in the marathon. The cast will present its final performance Sunday evening. Plural meaning If the members are acting individually, the noun has a plural meaning and will take a plural pronoun: The staff have submitted their reports. The cast tried on their costumes before the dress rehearsal. Hint: Plural meaning is often indicated by the presence of plural nouns (like reports and costumes in the examples above).Source: Writing Tips Plus (English language problems and rules)
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