This document provides an introduction to word classes and parts of speech. It discusses the different types of nouns, including common nouns, proper nouns, countable nouns, and uncountable nouns. It also covers adjectives and how they are used to describe nouns. Finally, it examines verbs and the different verb forms, including main verbs, auxiliary verbs, and the perfect and progressive aspects. The document is intended to teach the basics of grammar and parts of speech.

1. Word
Classes
A N I N T R O D U C T I O N

2. Word
Classes
A N I N T R O D U C T I O N
We use words when we talk to and write to each other.
There are thousands of different words in any language,
and they all have their own meanings. Grammar is the
way we put these words together so that they make
sense.
A FAIZ

3. Words scattered around on their own don’t mean very much.
Try to arrange these words below!
Theapple never
falls
far
from thetree
Words are like pieces of a jigsaw. We need to fit them together properly to make
meaning.
Words are the building blocks of language, but they must be arranged in a
recognisable order.

4. Word
C L A S S E S
We classify words according to their functions.
The classifications traditionally were referred to
as the eight parts of speech, but they are now
called word classes.
Some words can be classified as more than one
word type, and they change type according to
the sentence they belong to.

5. Words can be divided into classes
according to the way in which they are
used. The eight main word classes can be
represented in a diagram like this:
words
nouns
adjectives
verbs
adverbs
pronouns
prepositions
conjunctions
interjectionsTaken from Sullivan, N.M. 2015. "Essential Grammar for Today's Writers, Students, and Teachers". New York: Routledge

6. Nouns
A noun is the name of something: a thing or a person or a place, or even a feeling or a
state of mind. Nouns have some typical noun endings.
-age: beverage, courage, pilgrimage, etc.
-ation, -tion, -sion, -ion: explanation, education, division, invasion, etc.
-er, -or: painter, actor, motivator, etc.
-ity: reality, immunity, eternity, etc.
-ment: experiment, department, entertainment, etc.
-ness: brightness, happiness, sadness, etc.
-ist: Islamist, biologist, guitarist, etc.
-ing: building, saving, writing, etc.

7. Nouns
We can divide nouns into four kinds. They are,
1. Common nouns
2. Proper nouns
3. Countable nouns
4. Uncountable nouns
5. Compound nouns

8. Common Nouns
They are the names of ordinary things we can see or touch. Book, students, morning,
class, and, crowd are examples of common nouns.
We can further divide common nouns into Concrete Nouns, Abstract Nouns, and
Collective Nouns.

9. Concrete Nouns
Concrete nouns are nouns that can be easily seen, touched or described. Concrete nouns
refer to physical things. Words such as book, laptop, and smartphones are concrete
nouns.
Can you mention other examples of concrete nouns?

10. Abstract Nouns
Abstract nouns are nouns that can’t be easily seen, touched or described. They refer to
ideas, feelings, occasions, or time. Words like love, happiness, trust, loyalty, and health,
and morning are abstract nouns.
Can you mention other examples of abstract nouns?

11. Collective Nouns
Collective nouns refer to a group of things or people. They are usually singular words that
represent a number of things. Different collective nouns refer to different concrete nouns,
and the collective nouns used to describe groups of animals are especially varied.
Some examples are:
a swarm of bees
a flock of birds
a bunch of grapes
a school of fish
a crowd of people

12. Proper Nouns
Proper nouns name specific people, animals, institutions, places, times, etc.
They have unique reference, and in writing they begin with a capital letter. Some examples
of proper nouns are Donald Trump, Jakarta, Nurul Jadid University, East Java,
December, etc.

13. Countable Nouns
Most common nouns have singular and plural forms, because they refer to things that can,
in theory at least, be counted.
Most English nouns make their plural form by adding -s or -es.
one student ➜ two students
one car ➜ four cars
one hero ➜ many heroes
a horse ➜ some horses
a wife ➜ three wives
a box ➜ ten boxes

14. Countable Nouns
Some words just don’t follow the rules. Some nouns change their spelling completely
when they become plural, while others do not change at all. This is also known as irregular
plural. Words that originate from Latin and Greek often have irregular plural endings.
These exceptions have to be learned.
mouse ➜ mice
child ➜ children
index ➜ indexes or indices
sheep ➜ sheep
scissors ➜ scissors
series ➜ series

15. Uncountable Nouns
Uncountable nouns (also called Mass Nouns) do not have plural forms and cannot be
counted.
The examples are sugar, sand, water, coffee, help, information, music, and money.
Can you mention other examples?

16. Compound Nouns
We sometimes put words together to make new nouns. These nouns are called compound
nouns.
rain + coat = raincoat
star + fish = starfish
cup + cake = cupcake
sun + rise = sunrise
Can you mention other examples?

17. Nouns
Common Nouns
Proper Nouns
Countable Nouns
Uncountable Nouns
Concrete
Abstract
Collective
Singular
Plural
Singular
Compound Nouns

18. Adjectives
A noun by itself does not offer much information. If a man wanted to buy a shirt in a store,
he would need to narrow down what he was looking for by using descriptive words like
thin or silky. These words are known as adjectives.
Adjectives describe nouns (or pronouns) and tell you more about them. They might tell
you what things look, sound, or feel like.

19. Adjectives
Adjectives have some typical adjective endings.
-able, -ible: acceptable, suitable, credible, etc.
-al: accidental, seasonal, political, etc.
-ful: careful, faithful, beautiful, etc.
-ic: romantic, Islamic, dramatic, etc.
-ish: childish, foolish, etc.
-ive: active, comprehensive, affirmative, etc.
-less: careless, hopeless, harmless, etc.
-ous: famous, dangerous, furious, etc.
-y: tasty, moody, hungry, etc.
-ed: kindhearted, cooked, frenzied, etc.

20. Adjectives
Most adjectives are always adjectives. That is, we don’t use them as verbs or nouns or
anything else. Grammarians call this kind of adjectives as descriptive adjectives.
Descriptive adjectives represent the largest number of adjectives for example tall, short,
small, yellow, sloppy, difficult, etc.
But some adjectives look like verbs. In fact they are parts of verbs, but they do the work of
adjectives.
a boring lesson
an exciting story
a bored student
an excited kid

21. Adjectives

22. Adjectives
We often put an adjective before the noun that it is describing or also known as
attributive.
a colourful ball
a huge spider
You can also place an adjective after the noun, such as after verbs like be, look, feel,
become, stay, become, or turn or also known as predicative. A verb used in this way is
called a linking verb, because it connects a subject with a descriptive word.
The sun is hot.
He feels nervous.
It’s up to you to choose where you put the adjectives in your sentence.
This is a delicious kebab or This kebab is delicious.

23. Adjectives
We can also compare things using adjectives.
cheap ➜ cheaper ➜ cheapest
long ➜ longer ➜ longest
happy ➜ happier ➜ happiest
expensive ➜ more expensive ➜ most expensive
annoying ➜ more annoying ➜ most annoying
good ➜ better ➜ best
bad ➜ worse ➜ worst
far ➜ farther/further ➜ farthest/furthest
little ➜ less ➜ least
many ➜ more ➜ most

24. Adjectives
Descriptive Adjectives
Determiners
Attributive
Predicative
Positive
ComparativeComparisons
Superlative

25. Verbs
A verb is the most important word in a sentence; without it, the sentence would not make
sense. Verbs describe what a person or thing is doing or being.
Verbs also have some typical verb endings.
-ate: translate, demonstrate, assassinate, etc.
-en: strengthen, madden, happen, etc.
-ify: magnify, purify, beautify, etc.
-ise, -ize: maximize, summarize, popularise, etc.
We can classify verbs into main verbs and auxiliary.

26. Main Verbs
Main verbs are also called 'full', or 'lexical' verbs because they are verbs which contain
meaning—you can look them up in a dictionary and find a definition.
I play football every Saturday.
The main verbs can be further classified into
1. Transitive verbs
These are verbs that take an object. Exp: He writes a short story.
2. Intransitive verbs
These are verbs that do not take an object. Exp: The bus arrived.
3. Linking verbs
These are verbs which link a subject and its complement. Exp: The chipmunk is hungry.

27. Auxiliary Verbs
As their name suggests, these 'help' the main verb within the sentence, by extending its
functions. We can divide auxiliary into primary auxiliary and modal auxiliary.

28. Primary Auxiliary
The primary auxiliaries are: be, have, do.
These three verbs can also occur on their own as main verbs.
My Dad is working at the moment.
I have bought a new camera.
Students don’t need to go to school on Sundays.

29. Modal Auxiliary
The modal auxiliaries are: will, may, can, must, shall, might, could, would, should.
Modal verbs are very common in English. They are used to talk about a variety of things,
particularly possibilities, obligations, and deductions.
I can speak three languages.
Will you marry me?
You must arrive on time for work.

30. Verbs Forms
Every verb has the following forms: base, present, past, infinitive, present participle, and
past participle.

31. Infinitive & Base
The infinitive is the simplest form of the verb. English verbs have two types of infinitive.
Sometimes the infinitive is formed with “to” plus the verb. This is sometimes known as a to
infinitive or full infinitive.
When the infinitive is formed without “to,” it is known as the base or simple form, or the
bare infinitive.

32. Participles
There are two other verb forms in English that you may find it useful to know about. They
are called participles. There are present participles and past participles.
Present participles are easy. They’re the -ing forms.
Add -ing to any English verb and you have a present participle. Use a present participle
along with am, is, are, was, were, have been, etc. and you get the continuous tenses: was
going, are sailing, am trying and the rest.
Past participles are less simple. The regular ones just take -ed as an ending, or -d if they
already end in e. The irregular ones do their own thing, so we get eaten, written, gone,
driven, had, drawn, etc.

33. Verbs Forms
Make your secondary school teachers proud by filling in the table in the following exercise
(correctly)!

34. Three Simple Verb Tenses
The three simple verb tenses are present, past, and future. Previous table shows the
present and past tense forms; the future tense is created by adding “will” to the base form.
Below is an example of the verb “study” in context.
Present: Students study grammar.
Past: Students studied grammar.
Future: Students will study grammar.

35. The Perfect & The Progressive
The perfect aspect is formed with the auxiliary verb “have” and the past participle form
of the verb. “Have” is used with the verb to indicate when an event is taking/took/will take
place during a specific time period (it also can indicate that the action may continue).
This progressive aspect is formed with the auxiliary verb “be” and the present participle
form (V-ing) of the verb. It is used to show that an action is/was/will be ongoing.

36. Verbs
Main Verbs
Auxiliary Verbs
Primary Aux.
Modal Aux.

37. to be
C O N T I N U E D

38. References
Seely, J. 2007. "Grammar forTeachers: unlock your knowledge of English".
Triverton: Oxpecker
Sullivan, N.M. 2015. "Essential Grammar forToday's Writers, Students, and
Teachers". NewYork: Routledge