English Grammar Essentials
Oh Teik Theam
For Free Distribution
(Parts of this script were previously published in The Star.)
,Contents
1. Parts of Speech
2. Subject and Predicate
3. Number and Person
4. Sentence, Phrase and Clause
5. Subject-Verb Agreement
6. Cases of Nouns and Pronouns
7. Types of Nouns
8. Prepositions
9. Tense
10. The Present Participle and the Past Participle
11. Types of Verbs
12. The Moods of Verbs
13. Types of Pronouns
14. Coordinating Conjunctions and Subordinating Conjunctions
15. Some Notes on Adjectives
16. Antecedents
17. Modifiers
18. Verbals
19. Appositives
20. Possessives
21. Common Uses of the Comma
22. Causative Verbs
23. Parallelism
24. Double Negatives
25. Common Uses of the Hyphen
26. Other Punctuation Marks
27. Active Voice and Passive Voice
28. Direct Speech and Indirect Speech
29. Types of Sentences
30. Miscellaneous
,1. Parts of Speech
The eight parts of speech are the verb, the noun, the adjective, the adverb, the pronoun,
the conjunction, the preposition and the interjection.
A VERB is a word that expresses an action or a state of being – it is part of the
predicate of a sentence. Examples: eats, write, feels.
A NOUN is a word (other than a pronoun) that names a person, place or thing.
Examples: James, Kuala Lumpur, bread.
An ADJECTIVE is a word that modifies the meaning of a noun. Examples: beautiful,
exciting, smart.
An ADVERB is a word that modifies the meaning of a verb, an adjective, a gerund,
another adverb, or a sentence. Examples: quickly, briskly, fortunately.
A PRONOUN is a word that represents a noun. Examples: he, they, her, who.
A CONJUNCTION is a word or phrase that connects parts of sentences, phrases or
clauses. Examples: and, but, because.
A PREPOSITION is a word used before a noun or pronoun to show its relationship
with other words. Examples: in, into, at.
An INTERJECTION is an exclamation – it expresses strong feeling rather than
meaning. Examples: Ouch! / Thank heavens!
Same word, different parts of speech
The function of a word in a sentence determines what part of speech it is in that
sentence. The same word may be used as different parts of speech.
I have not eaten ice cream since my last birthday. (preposition)
Since you are not feeling well, I will have to go alone to the party. (conjunction)
I read three books every month. (verb)
This book is an interesting read. (noun)
There is something about him that makes me uneasy. (preposition)
I saw that movie about three months ago. (adverb)
It was the only answer I could think of. (adjective)
She is only six years old. (adverb)
I’ll be back in a while. (noun)
They decided to while away the afternoon by playing chess. (verb)
While she prepared the food, he cleaned up the living room. (conjunction)
Heteronyms
Heteronyms are words that have the same spelling but different meanings because of
different pronunciations. Can you identify the parts of speech of the heteronyms in the
story below?
The Fox and the Stork
, A fox met a stork and invited her to dinner. The stork didn’t have the heart to refuse
(1a) the invitation.
That evening, she showed up at the fox’s place an hour late. “Sorry,” she said. “I forgot
to wind (2a) my clock up.” And she gave her vulpine host a small present (3a) to assuage
his anger.
The fox brought out from his kitchen two wide, shallow dishes containing carrot juice.
“May I present (3b) to you my latest culinary creation,” he announced. “It is full of
flavour, with a dash of sugar and just a suspicion of garlic.”
The fox guzzled the juice, but the stork could not get a single drop with her long, thin
beak. She did not become angry at her host for being so thoughtless. Instead, she
requested him to give her the recipe for preparing the juice.
“No problem,” said the fox. “Let me tear (4a) a blank leaf out of my notebook.” And he
took a minute (5a) to write the recipe on the paper, using a pencil with a soft lead (6a).
The good-natured bird did not leave in a huff when dinner was over. She showed her
graciousness by staying back for a long time to watch a live (7a) football match on a
portable black-and-white television. And she was delighted when her team was in the
lead (6b) at half time.
The next day, the stork invited the fox to share her afternoon meal. He accepted the
invitation and travelled along a path that wound (8a) through the woods and up the side
of a hill to reach his destination.
The stork served her guest some finely chopped meat in a glass jar with a long, narrow
neck. Her beak easily went into the jar, but the fox could not reach his food.
“This meat tastes delicious,” the stork said. “I’ve had this food three days in a row (9a)
already. I think I can live (7b) to a great age if I eat it frequently. Don’t let your appetite
desert (10a) you now, Fox,” she continued, laughing with gusto. “You should at least try
a minute (5b) portion of this tender meat.”
The fox noticed that his hostess had a tear (4b) or two in her eye, and for a moment he
felt sanguine and thought that she pitied him – until she declared, “Peeling onions can
make you cry. I had a mishap while I was cutting the onions,” she added. “Luckily, it was
just a flesh wound (8b).”
When lunch was over, the stork asked, “How was the food, Fox?”
Annoyed, the fox said nothing, but he thought, “No point starting a row (9b) with her. I
can hardly fault her for paying me back in my own coin.”
“I’m really satiated after the huge meal,” said the stork. “When you leave, Fox, could
you please take out the kitchen refuse (1b)?”
As the fox made his way home, a sudden gust of wind (2b), like a hot desert (10b)
wind, blew against his face.
(Adapted from a fable by Aesop)
Answers
1. Refuse (a) verb (b) noun
2. Wind (a) verb (b) noun
3. Present (a) noun (b) verb
4. Tear (a) verb (b) noun
5. Minute (a) noun (b) adjective
6. Lead (a) noun (b) noun
Oh Teik Theam
For Free Distribution
(Parts of this script were previously published in The Star.)
,Contents
1. Parts of Speech
2. Subject and Predicate
3. Number and Person
4. Sentence, Phrase and Clause
5. Subject-Verb Agreement
6. Cases of Nouns and Pronouns
7. Types of Nouns
8. Prepositions
9. Tense
10. The Present Participle and the Past Participle
11. Types of Verbs
12. The Moods of Verbs
13. Types of Pronouns
14. Coordinating Conjunctions and Subordinating Conjunctions
15. Some Notes on Adjectives
16. Antecedents
17. Modifiers
18. Verbals
19. Appositives
20. Possessives
21. Common Uses of the Comma
22. Causative Verbs
23. Parallelism
24. Double Negatives
25. Common Uses of the Hyphen
26. Other Punctuation Marks
27. Active Voice and Passive Voice
28. Direct Speech and Indirect Speech
29. Types of Sentences
30. Miscellaneous
,1. Parts of Speech
The eight parts of speech are the verb, the noun, the adjective, the adverb, the pronoun,
the conjunction, the preposition and the interjection.
A VERB is a word that expresses an action or a state of being – it is part of the
predicate of a sentence. Examples: eats, write, feels.
A NOUN is a word (other than a pronoun) that names a person, place or thing.
Examples: James, Kuala Lumpur, bread.
An ADJECTIVE is a word that modifies the meaning of a noun. Examples: beautiful,
exciting, smart.
An ADVERB is a word that modifies the meaning of a verb, an adjective, a gerund,
another adverb, or a sentence. Examples: quickly, briskly, fortunately.
A PRONOUN is a word that represents a noun. Examples: he, they, her, who.
A CONJUNCTION is a word or phrase that connects parts of sentences, phrases or
clauses. Examples: and, but, because.
A PREPOSITION is a word used before a noun or pronoun to show its relationship
with other words. Examples: in, into, at.
An INTERJECTION is an exclamation – it expresses strong feeling rather than
meaning. Examples: Ouch! / Thank heavens!
Same word, different parts of speech
The function of a word in a sentence determines what part of speech it is in that
sentence. The same word may be used as different parts of speech.
I have not eaten ice cream since my last birthday. (preposition)
Since you are not feeling well, I will have to go alone to the party. (conjunction)
I read three books every month. (verb)
This book is an interesting read. (noun)
There is something about him that makes me uneasy. (preposition)
I saw that movie about three months ago. (adverb)
It was the only answer I could think of. (adjective)
She is only six years old. (adverb)
I’ll be back in a while. (noun)
They decided to while away the afternoon by playing chess. (verb)
While she prepared the food, he cleaned up the living room. (conjunction)
Heteronyms
Heteronyms are words that have the same spelling but different meanings because of
different pronunciations. Can you identify the parts of speech of the heteronyms in the
story below?
The Fox and the Stork
, A fox met a stork and invited her to dinner. The stork didn’t have the heart to refuse
(1a) the invitation.
That evening, she showed up at the fox’s place an hour late. “Sorry,” she said. “I forgot
to wind (2a) my clock up.” And she gave her vulpine host a small present (3a) to assuage
his anger.
The fox brought out from his kitchen two wide, shallow dishes containing carrot juice.
“May I present (3b) to you my latest culinary creation,” he announced. “It is full of
flavour, with a dash of sugar and just a suspicion of garlic.”
The fox guzzled the juice, but the stork could not get a single drop with her long, thin
beak. She did not become angry at her host for being so thoughtless. Instead, she
requested him to give her the recipe for preparing the juice.
“No problem,” said the fox. “Let me tear (4a) a blank leaf out of my notebook.” And he
took a minute (5a) to write the recipe on the paper, using a pencil with a soft lead (6a).
The good-natured bird did not leave in a huff when dinner was over. She showed her
graciousness by staying back for a long time to watch a live (7a) football match on a
portable black-and-white television. And she was delighted when her team was in the
lead (6b) at half time.
The next day, the stork invited the fox to share her afternoon meal. He accepted the
invitation and travelled along a path that wound (8a) through the woods and up the side
of a hill to reach his destination.
The stork served her guest some finely chopped meat in a glass jar with a long, narrow
neck. Her beak easily went into the jar, but the fox could not reach his food.
“This meat tastes delicious,” the stork said. “I’ve had this food three days in a row (9a)
already. I think I can live (7b) to a great age if I eat it frequently. Don’t let your appetite
desert (10a) you now, Fox,” she continued, laughing with gusto. “You should at least try
a minute (5b) portion of this tender meat.”
The fox noticed that his hostess had a tear (4b) or two in her eye, and for a moment he
felt sanguine and thought that she pitied him – until she declared, “Peeling onions can
make you cry. I had a mishap while I was cutting the onions,” she added. “Luckily, it was
just a flesh wound (8b).”
When lunch was over, the stork asked, “How was the food, Fox?”
Annoyed, the fox said nothing, but he thought, “No point starting a row (9b) with her. I
can hardly fault her for paying me back in my own coin.”
“I’m really satiated after the huge meal,” said the stork. “When you leave, Fox, could
you please take out the kitchen refuse (1b)?”
As the fox made his way home, a sudden gust of wind (2b), like a hot desert (10b)
wind, blew against his face.
(Adapted from a fable by Aesop)
Answers
1. Refuse (a) verb (b) noun
2. Wind (a) verb (b) noun
3. Present (a) noun (b) verb
4. Tear (a) verb (b) noun
5. Minute (a) noun (b) adjective
6. Lead (a) noun (b) noun
