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COMMUNICATIVE ENGLISH
UNIT-I
PARTS OF SPEECH

The parts of speech explain how a word is used in a sentence.

There are eight main parts of speech (also known as word classes): nouns,
pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions,
conjunctions and interjections.

Most parts of speech can be divided into sub-classes. Prepositions can be

divided into prepositions of time, prepositions of place etc. Nouns can be
divided into proper nouns, common nouns, concrete nouns etc.

It is important to know that a word can sometimes be in more than one part of
speech. For example with the word increase.

Increase can be a verb e.g. Prices increased

and increase can also be a noun e.g. There was an increase in the number of
followers.

The eight main parts of speech in English are:

NOUN - (Naming word)

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing or idea.

Examples of nouns: Daniel, London, table, dog, teacher, pen, city, happiness,
hope

Example sentences: Steve lives in Sydney. Mary uses pen and paper to
write letters.

PRONOUN - (Replaces a Noun)

A pronoun is used in place of a noun or noun phrase to avoid repetition.

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Examples of pronouns: I, you, we, they, he, she, it, me, us, them, him, her, this,
those

Example sentences: Mary is tired. She wants to sleep. I want her to dance
with me.

ADJECTIVE - (Describing word)

An adjective describes, modifies or gives more information about a noun or

pronoun.

Examples: big, happy, green, young, fun, crazy, three

Example sentences: The little girl had a pink hat.

VERB - (Action Word)

A verb shows an action or state of being. A verb shows what someone or

something is doing.

Examples: go, speak, run, eat, play, live, walk, have, like, are, is

Example sentences: I like Woodward English. I study their charts

and play their games.

ADVERB - (Describes a verb)

An adverb describes/modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It tells

how, where, when, how often or to what extent. Many adverbs end in -LY

Examples: slowly, quietly, very, always, never, too, well, tomorrow, here

Example sentences: I am usually busy. Yesterday, I ate my lunch quickly.

PREPOSITION - (Shows relationship)

A preposition shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word.

They can indicate time, place, or relationship.
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Examples: at, on, in, from, with, near, between, about, under

Example sentences: I left my keys on the table for you.

CONJUNCTION - (Joining word)

A conjunction joins two words, ideas, phrases or clauses together in a sentence

and shows how they are connected.

Examples: and, or, but, because, so, yet, unless, since, if.

Example sentences: I was hot and exhausted but I still finished the marathon.

INTERJECTION - (Expressive word)

An interjection is a word or phrase that expresses a strong feeling or emotion.
It is a short exclamation.

Examples: Ouch! Wow! Great! Help! Oh! Hey! Hi!

Example sentences: Wow! I passed my English test. Great! – Ouch! That hurt.

CONTENT WORDS AND FUNCTION WORDS

Each word in English belongs to one of the eight parts of speech. Each
word is also either a content word or a function word. Let's think about what
these two types mean:
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Content Words vs. Function Words

● Content = information, meaning

● Function = necessary words for grammar

In other words, content words give us the most important information while
function words are used to stitch those words together.

Content Word Types

Content words are usually nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. A noun tells us
which object, a verb tells us about the action happening, or the state. Adjectives
give us details about objects and people and adverbs tell us how, when or where
something is done. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs give us important
information required for understanding.

● Noun = person, place or thing

● Verb = action, state

● Adjective = describes an object, person, place or thing

● Adverb = tells us how, where or when something happens

Examples:
Nouns Verbs

house enjoy

compute purchase
r

student visit

lake understand
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Nouns Verbs

Peter believe

science look forward to

Adjectiv Adverbs
es

heavy slowly

difficult carefully

careful sometimes

expensiv thoughtfully
e

soft often

fast suddenly

Other Content Words

While nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are the most important content
words, there are a few other words that are also key to understanding. These
include negatives like no, not and never; demonstrative pronouns including this,
that, these and those; and question words like what, where, when, how and why.

Function Word Type

Function words help us connect important information. Function words are

important for understanding, but they add little meaning beyond defining the
relationship between two words. Function words include auxiliary verbs,
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prepositions, articles, conjunctions, and pronouns. Auxiliary verbs are used to

establish the tense, prepositions show relationships in time and space, articles
show us something that is specific or one of many, and pronouns refer to other
nouns.

● Auxiliary verbs = do, be, have (help with conjugation of tense)

● Prepositions = show relationships in time and space

● Articles = used to indicate specific or non-specific nouns

● Conjunctions = words that connect

● Pronouns = refer to other nouns

Examples:
Auxiliary Prepositions
Verbs
do in
has at
will though
is over
has been between
did under

Articl Conjunctio Pronouns

es ns
a and I
an but you
the for him

so us
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Articl Conjunctio Pronouns

es ns
since ours

as she

Knowing the difference between content and functions words is important

because content words are stressed in conversation in English. Function words
are non-stressed. In other words, function words are not emphasized in speech,
while content words are highlighted. Knowing the difference between content
and function words can help you in understanding, and, most importantly,
in pronunciation skills.

Exercise Content words are in bold.

1. Mary has lived in England for ten years.

2. He's going to fly to Chicago next week.
3. I don't understand this chapter of the book.
4. The children will be swimming in the ocean at five o'clock.
5. John had eaten lunch before his colleague arrived.
6. The best time to study is early in the morning or late in the evening.
7. The trees along the river are beginning to blossom.
8. Our friends called us yesterday and asked if we'd like to visit them next
month.
9. You'll be happy to know that she's decided to take the position.
10.I won't give away your secret.

WORDS FORMS: NOUNS,VERBS, ADJECTIVESAND ADVERBS

Many English words have multiple forms – a noun form, verb form, adjective
form, and adverb form. Not all words have ALL the forms, but here are 14
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words that do.

Make sure to read the example sentences below the table, because there are
some slight differences in meaning!

NOUN VERB ADJECTIVE ADVERB

beauty beautify beautiful beautifully

benefit
beneficiary benefit beneficial beneficially

creation
creator create creative creatively

decision decide decisive decisively

difference differentiate different differently

distracted
distraction distract distracting distractedly

justification justify justifiable justifiably

protection protect protective protectively

reliability rely reliable reliably

sadness sadden sad sadly

EXAMPLE SENTENCES & EXPLANATION:
BEAUTY
▪ Noun: I stopped to admire the beauty of the sunset.

▪ Verb: She painted some flowers on the wall to beautify the room.

▪ Adjective: I bought a beautiful new dress.

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▪ Adverb: He sings beautifully.

BENEFIT
▪ Noun 1: There are many benefits of quitting smoking.

▪ Noun 2: The beneficiary of the donation is a small non-profit

organization.
(beneficiary = person or organization that receives a benefit)
▪ Verb: This new cultural center will benefit the entire community.

▪ Adjective: Your suggestions were quite beneficial; they really helped us

improve.
▪ Adverb: I had a number of teachers who beneficially influenced my life.

CREATION
▪ Noun 1: There’s an interesting story behind the creation of this product.

▪ Noun 2: The creator of this product got the idea in a dream.

(creation = the event/process of creating; creator = the person who
creates)
▪ Verb: These changes are going to create problems in the long run.

▪ Adjective: She has some creative ideas for decorating the room.

▪ Adverb: My boss is incapable of thinking creatively – he just likes to

follow the rules.
DECISION
▪ Noun: Choosing whether or not to have children is a big decision.

▪ Verb: I can’t decide which of these two universities I want to attend.

▪ Adjective 1: Barbara is a great leader because she’s very decisive.

(a decisive person means someone who makes decisions easily and
firmly)
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▪ Adjective 2: That was the decisive battle which made them lose the war.
(a decisive event is one that is essential to the outcome)
▪ Adverb: “My mind is made up,” he said decisively.

DIFFERENCE
▪ Noun: There are many differences between the Brazilian and Japanese
cultures.
▪ Verb: The law shouldn’t differentiate between rich and poor people; it
should apply equally to everyone.
▪ Adjective: The second book in the series was very different from the
first one. I liked the first one better.
▪ Adverb: Everyone learns differently, so it’s important for teachers to
use a variety of methods.
DISTRACTION
▪ Noun: Cell phones are a big distraction for drivers.

▪ Verb: I was in the middle of writing an e-mail when my

husband distracted me by asking a question.
▪ Adjective 1: I can’t study while listening to music; I find it distracting.

▪ Adjective 2: She seemed distracted – like she was thinking about

something else.
(distracting describes the thing; distracted describes the person)
▪ Adverb: My roommate was playing a video game; I told him I was going
out and he nodded distractedly.
(distractedly = not really paying much attention)
JUSTIFICATION
▪ Noun: At first I was skeptical of his argument, but he gave several very
convincing justifications.
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▪ Verb: Having financial problems doesn’t justify stealing.

▪ Adjective: I believe using violence is only justifiable in the case of self-

defense.
▪ Adverb: She was justifiably angry when I arrived an hour late for an
important event.
PROTECTION
▪ Noun: This bug spray offers protection from mosquitoes, fleas, ticks,
and other biting insects.
▪ Verb: The military protects the country from invasion by enemies.

▪ Adjective: Pamela is very protective of her books; she doesn’t like to

lend them out.
▪ Adverb: The mother hugged her child protectively.

RELIABILITY
▪ Noun: I have my doubts about the reliability of this internet connection.

▪ Verb: My boss relies on me to keep him informed about the project.

▪ Adjective: Peter is very reliable. When he says he’ll do something, you

can be sure it’ll get done.
▪ Adverb: We can’t reliably guess the results of these changes.

SADNESS
▪ Noun: Depression is characterized by deep sadness.

▪ Verb: The bad news saddened me.

▪ Adjective: Three people died in the tragedy. It was so sad.

▪ Adverb: She explained sadly that she didn’t get the job.
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NOUNS: COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

In English grammar, countable nouns are individual people, animals, places,
things, or ideas which can be counted. Uncountable nouns are not individual
objects, so they cannot be counted. Here, we’ll take a look at countable and
uncountable nouns and provide both countable noun examples and uncountable
noun examples. Although the concept may seem challenging, you’ll soon
discover that these two different noun types are very easy to use.

Countable Noun Examples

Anything that can be counted, whether singular – a dog, a house, a friend, etc.
or plural – a few books, lots of oranges, etc. is a countable noun. The following
countable noun examples will help you to see the difference between countable
and uncountable nouns. Notice that singular verbs are used with singular
countable nouns, while plural verbs are used with plural countable nouns.

1. There are at least twenty Italian restaurants in Little Italy.

2. Megan took a lot of photographs when she went to the Grand Canyon.
3. Your book is on the kitchen table.
4. How many candles are on that birthday cake?
5. You have several paintings to study in art appreciation class.
6. There’s a big brown dog running around the neighborhood.

Uncountable Noun Examples

Anything that cannot be counted is an uncountable noun. Even though

uncountable nouns are not individual objects, they are always singular and one
must always use singular verbs in conjunction with uncountable nouns. The
following uncountable noun examples will help you to gain even more
understanding of how countable and uncountable nouns differ from one another.
Notice that singular verbs are always used with uncountable nouns.
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1. There is no more water in the pond.

2. Please help yourself to some cheese.
3. I need to find information about Pulitzer Prize winners.
4. You seem to have a high level of intelligence.
5. Please take good care of your equipment.
6. Let’s get rid of the garbage.
Uncountable nouns can be paired with words expressing plural concept. Using
these words can make your writing more specific. Here are some examples of
how to format interesting sentences with uncountable nouns.

Plural Nouns

Plural nouns are words used to indicate that there is more than one person,
animal, place, thing, or idea. The difference between singular and plural nouns
is simple once you know what to look for. Here, we take a look at singular and
plural nouns, providing both singular nouns examples and plural noun examples
to help you recognize plural nouns when you see them.

What is a Plural Noun?

The answer is a relatively easy one, as grammar goes. A plural noun is a word
that indicates that there is more than one person, animal place, thing, or idea.
When you talk about more than one of anything, you’re using plural nouns.
When you write about more than one of anything, you usually use the same
word, simply adding an s, es, or ies to the end. There are a few exceptions to
this rule, but not many – one of the best is that a single moose is a moose, and a
group of moose are still moose.

Singular and Plural Nouns

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The difference between singular and plural nouns is easy to spot. When
a noun indicates one only, it is a singular noun. When a noun indicates more
than one, it is plural.

Singular Noun Examples

The following sentences contain singular nouns examples.

1. The boy had a baseball in his hand.

2. My horse prefers to wear an English saddle.
3. That cat never seems to tire of jumping in and out of the box.
4. You stole my idea and didn’t give me any credit.
5. Your mom is going to be upset about that broken lamp.
6. It’s not difficult to grow a tree as long as you give it plenty of water.
BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURES
Parts of Sentences: Subject, Predicate, Object, Indirect Object,
Complement

Every word in a sentence serves a specific purpose within the structure of that
particular sentence. According to rules of grammar, sentence structure can
sometimes be quite complicated. For the sake of simplicity, however, the basic
parts of a sentence are discussed here.

The two most basic parts of a sentence are the subject and predicate.

SUBJECT

The subject of a sentence is the person, place, or thing that is performing

the action of the sentence. The subject represents what or whom the
sentence is about. The simple subject usually contains a noun or pronoun
and can include modifying words, phrases, or clauses.

The man . . .
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PREDICATE

The predicate expresses action or being within the sentence. The simple
predicate contains the verb and can also contain modifying words, phrases,
or clauses.

The man / builds a house.

The subject and predicate make up the two basic structural parts of any
complete sentence. In addition, there are other elements, contained within the
subject or predicate, that add meaning or detail. These elements include the
direct object, indirect object, and subject complement. All of these elements can
be expanded and further combined into simple, compound, complex, or
compound/complex sentences. (See TIP Sheet on "Sentence Type and
Purpose.")

DIRECT OBJECT

The direct object receives the action of the sentence. The direct object is
usually a noun or pronoun.

The man builds a house.

The man builds it.

INDIRECT OBJECT

The indirect object indicates to whom or for whom the action of the
sentence is being done. The indirect object is usually a noun or pronoun.

The man builds his family a house.

The man builds them a house.

SUBJECT COMPLEMENT
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A subject complement either renames or describes the subject, and

therefore is usually a noun, pronoun, or adjective. Subject complements
occur when there is a linking verb within the sentence (often a linking verb
is a form of the verb to be).

The man is a good father. (father = noun which renames the subject)

The man seems kind. (kind = adjective which describes the subject)

Note: As an example of the difference between parts of speech and parts of a

sentence, a noun can function within a sentence as subject, direct object,
indirect object, object of a preposition, or subject complement.

QUESTION FORMS: WH-QUESTIONS

Wh-questions begin with what, when, where, who, whom, which, whose, why
and how. We use them to ask for information. The answer cannot be yes or no:

Forming wh-questions

With an auxiliary verb

We usually form wh-questions with wh- + an auxiliary verb (be, do or have) +

subject + main verb or with wh- + a modal verb + subject + main verb:

Be: When are you leaving? Who’s been paying the bills?

Do: Where do they live? Why didn’t you call me?

Have: What has she done now? What have they decided?

Modal: Who would she stay with? Where should I park?

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Without an auxiliary verb

Warning:

When what, who, which or whose is the subject or part of the subject, we do not
use the auxiliary. We use the word order subject + verb:

What fell off the wall? Which horse won?

Who bought this? Whose phone rang?

Compare

Who is the subject of the sentence and this bag is the

Who owns this bag?
object. We use no auxiliary verb.

Who is the object of the sentence and you is the

Who do you love most?
subject. We use the auxiliary verb do.

Negative wh-questions

When we ask negative wh-questions, we use the auxiliary verb do when there is
no other auxiliary or modal verb, even when the wh-word is the subject of the
clause:

Affirmative with no auxiliary Negative with auxiliary do

Who wants an ice cream? Who doesn’t want an ice cream?

Which door opened? Which door didn’t open?

Intonation and wh-questions

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The intonation of wh-questions is normally falling. The falling intonation is on

the most important syllable:

Where are the keys to the back do↘ or?

Why are the lights re↘ d?

When we ask wh-questions to check or clarify information that has already

been given, we may use rising or fall-rising intonation:

Wh↗ at did you say the time was? (I know you’ve told me before but I’ve
forgotten.)

Wh↘ o p↗ aid for the meal?

WORD ORDER IN ENGLISH SENTENCES

1. The sentence
The word order in sentences is: Subject – Verb (Predicate) – Object.

Subject Verb Object

I play football.

Max reads books.

We can speak English.

Sue is singing a nice song.

ATTENTION!
Do not split the verb forms in English. The following sentence is wrong: I can
English speak.
Complex sentences
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Each clause in a complex sentence has to follow the word order S-V-O.

Subject Verb Object

I play football

and

I like table tennis.