(2nd Semester) English Level 2: 1st Assignment - Part of Speech & English Tenses

Introduction English is the most widespread language in the world and is more widely spoken and written than any other language. It began as a West Germanic language that arose in the AngloSaxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the economic, political, military, scientific, cultural, and colonial influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, via the British Empire, and of the United States since the mid-20th century. Nowadays, it is important to learn English because it prepares and allows the students to accommodate in the real world. As we all know, English contains part of speech and tenses; tenses such as simple past tense, simple present t ense and future tense, to allow a person to create a sentence.

Page | 1

Part Part

of Speech

of speech is a traditional term for the categories into which words are classified according to

their functions in sentences. In other words, every single word can be categorized into one of  eight word groups, or parts p arts of speech. Part of speech contains:

1. Nouns

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

 Robert Frost wrote Frost  wrote poems.  poems.  Ann lives in Boston. Work  brings satisfaction.  brings satisfaction.  People like admiration. admiration. A noun is used as the subject, as any kind of object, and as the predicate nominative (noun complement). The

man walked down the street. the street. (Man is the subject, and street is the object of the preposition down.)

The

cow is a domes do mestic tic animal. (Cow is the subject, and animal is the predicate nominative.)

 Nouns answer these questions: Who? What?

2.

Pronouns

A pronoun is Through

a

word used to t ake the place of a noun. A pronoun is used as a noun.

use of pronouns, one may avoid repeating name words:

Mary has lost her  book   book . The box has lost its handle. handle. Ruth saw the boys and talked to them. them.

Page | 2

3. Verbs

A verb is a word used to express action, being, or state of being: Jose painted  ose painted aa

picture. picture. The law still exists. That woman is a banker . A verb may be composed of sever al words (the main verb preceded by one or auxiliary or helping verbs), c alled a verb phrase: This

4.

more

book  should  should have been sent to sent to the storeroom.

Adjectives An adjective is used to modify word, a phrase, or a clause:

a

noun or a pronoun. An adjective

may

be a single

We saw beautiful valleys beautiful valleys and rugged mountains rugged mountains.. (single words) The rug on the floor is floor is blue. blue. (adjective phrase) The man who spoke is a teacher . (adjective clause) Adjectives answer these questions: quest ions: What kind? Which one(s)? How much)? Whose?

many

(or how

Page | 3

5.

Adverbs An adverb is used to modify a verb, verb, an adjective, adjective , or another adverb. In some cases adverbs may modify other p arts of speech ±  a preposition or a conjunction ± or other sentence ele ments ± a verbal or occasionally a substantive:

She sings beautifully. (beautifully modifies the verb sings.) He is a very great orator. (very modifies the adjective great.) She smiled rather sadl rather sadl y.  y. (rather modifies the adverb sadly). By working faithfully, working faithfully, she won success. success. (faithfully modifies the gerund working.) The little boy, smiling happily, ran to meet his father. (happily modifies the  participle smiling.) She has learned to write write clearly. (clearly modifies the infinitive to write.) He was almost under almost under the tree. tree. (almost modifies (almost modifies the preposition under .) .) She came just  came just  before  before I left. left . (Just modifies (Just modifies the conjunction before.) before.)  Nearly all of them were lost. lost. (nearly modifies the indefinite pronoun all.) all.) The newly rich were not invited. invited. (Newly modifies the noun equivalent rich.) rich.) An adverb may be a single word, a phrase, or a clause: He crept stealthily. crept stealthily. (single words) The stranger came into the room. (adverbial phrase) Robert left left when I came. (adverbial clause)

Adverbs answer these questions: How? When? Where? Why? Under wh at condition? To what extent or degree?

6.

Prepositions

A preposition shows the rel ations between its object and some other word in the sentence:

We walked through the woods. woods. (through shows the nature of the relations re lations between woods, woods, its object, and walked, the verb.) verb.)

Page | 4

7. Conjunctions

A conjunction connects words or groups of words:

 Bob and Linda are here. (and connects the two subjects, Bob and Linda.) She came, but she did not stay. (but connects the two independent clauses, she came and she did not stay.) In form a conjunction

may

be a single word or

a

group of words:

She came while you were away. (a single word connecting clauses) The teachers as well as the students had a good time. (a group of words used as a conjunction) Although conjunctions h ave many classifications, it is sufficient for our purpose to note only three gener al classes: coordin ating, subordin ating, and correlative. (relative adverbs used as conjunctions are also called conjunctive adverbs or adverbial conjunctions.) A coordinating conjunction connects two words, two phr ases, or two clauses or equal rank:

 Paula and Carl are here. (and connects two nouns) She liked to read but not to write (not writing). (but connects t wo infinitives.) The

coordinating conjunctions in most general use include and, but, for, or, nor, so, and

yet. The

conjunctive adverbs, such as however, then, therefore , and thus, also connect independent clauses. A subordinating conjunction connects two t wo clauses of unequal rank; that is, it joins a dependent (subordinate) clause to the independent clause on which it depends:  I was here before you came. came. Some of the subordinating conjunctions are as, as if, because, before, if, since, that, till, unless, when, where, and whether. The relative pronouns who, whom, whose, which, what, and that also serve as subordinating conjunctions. co njunctions. Conjunctions that are used in pairs pa irs are called correlative conjunctions and include both ±  and, either ± or, neither ± nor , and not only ± but also.  Neither John nor I nor I will be able to come. come.

Page | 5

8.

Interjections amiliar word th at has no grammatical relation to the rest of the An interjection is a f am sentence and that commands attention or expresses strong feeling: ah, gosh, hurrah, oh, ouch, shh, whew, etc.

 Note that an interjection interjection is not the t he same thing as an exclamation. exclamat ion. An exclamation is an outburst²an emphatic statement, not a part of speech. Though in fact an exclamation may consist of or contain an interjection, there¶s no necessary tie between the two. ³O Henrietta Tittle, your hair is like peanut brittle´ contains an interjection (the po etical ³O´), but it isn¶t an exclamation; drop dro p dead! Is an exclamation, but it contains only an imperative verb and an adject ive. Strong interjections are followed by an exclamation e xclamation point. When used in sentences, mild interjections are set off by commas. co mmas.

Page | 6

English

Tenses

Grammatical tense is a temporal linguistic quality expressing the time at, during, or over which a state or action denoted by a verb occurs. It is divided into three groups which are: 1.

2.

Present

tenses

y

Present

y

Present simple

y

Present

perfect

y

Present

perfect continuous

Past

continuous

tenses

y

Past

continuous

y

Past

perfect

y

Past

perfect continuous

y

Past

simple

3. Future tenses

The

y

Future simple

y

Future continuous

y

Future perfect

y

Future perfect continuous

basic tenses are the sim s imple ple present tense, t ense, simple past tense, and simple future tense.

Page | 7

Simple Present Tense The Present

Simple is the most basic and comm co mmon on tense in the English E nglish language. It is also an

interesting tense because it can express bot h the present and the future.

The

simple present tense is used when:

y

the action is general

y

the action happens all the t ime, or habitually, in the past, present p resent and future

y

the action is not only happening now

y

the statement is always true

John Past

drives a taxi. present

future

It is John's job to drive a taxi. He does it every day. Past, present and future. Other examples:

y

I live in New York.

y

The

y

John

y

He does not drive a bus.

y

We meet every Thursday.

y

We do not work at night.

y

Do

Moon goes round the Earth. drives a taxi.

you play football? foot ball?

Page | 8

With the verb µto be¶, the simple present tense can also a lso be used for situations that are not general. The simple present tense can be used t o talk about now. Examples shown below are examples of the verb "to be" in the simple present tense - some of o f them are general, some of  them are now:

Am I right? Tara is not at home. You are happy. past

The

present

future

situation is now.

I am not fat. Why are you so beautiful? beautiful? Ram is tall. past

The

present

future

situation is general. Past, present and future.

Page | 9

Simple Past Tense The

simple past tense is sometimes called called the preterite preter ite tense. Several tenses can be used to t o talk 

about the past, but the simple past tense is the one we use most often. The actions can be short or  long. There can also be a few actions happening one after another.

The

simple past tense is used when:

y

the event is in the past

y

the event is completely finished

y

we say (or understand) the time and/or place of the event

We use the simple past tense to t alk about an action or a situation - an event - in the past. The event can be short or long.

y

Here are some short events with the simple past tense:

The

past

The

y

car exploded at 9.30am yesterday. She went to the door. We did not hear the telephone. Did you see that car? present

future

action is in the past. Here are some long events with the simple past tense: I lived in Bangkok for 10 years. The Jurassic period lasted about 62 million million years. We did not sing at the concert. Did you watch TV last night? Page | 10

past

The

present

future

action is in the past.

It does not matter how long ago the event is: it can be a few minutes or seconds in the past, or  millions millions of o f years in the past. Also it does not matter how long the event is. It can be a few milliseconds (car explosion) or millions of years (Jurassic period).

In general, if the time or  place of the event is mentioned, the simple past tense must be in use; the present perfect cannot be used. u sed.

Here are some examples:

y

I lived in that house when I was young.

y

He didn't like the movie.

y

What did you eat for dinner?

y

John

y

Mary did not go to work yesterday.

y

Did

y

I was at work yesterday.

y

We were not late (for the train).

y

Were

drove to London on Monday.

you play tennis last week?

you angry?

Usually when we tell a story, sto ry, we usually use the simple past tense. We may use t he past continuous tense to "set the scene", but we almost always use the simple past tense for the action.

Page | 11

Simple Future Tense Among all future tenses, the Future Simple is the most common. It is used in many situat ions such as when making promises pro mises or predictions. The simple future tense is often called will,  because we make the t he simple future tense with the modal auxiliary will.

The

simple future tense is used when there is no plan or decision to do something before a person

speaks. The decision is made spontaneously at the time of speaking. For example:

y

Hold on. I'll get a pen.

y

We will see what we can do to help you.

y

Maybe we'll stay in and watch television tonight.

In these examples, the subject had no firm firm plan before befo re speaking. The decision is made at the time of speaking.

The

simple future tense is often used with the verb to think before it:

y

I think I'll go to the gym tomorrow.

y

I think I will have a holiday next year.

y

I don't think I'll buy that car.

The

simple future tense is also often used to make a prediction about the future. Again, t here is

no firm plan. The subject is saying what he or she thinks will happen. For example:

y

It will rain tomorrow.

y

People

y

Who do you t hink will get the job?

won't go to Jupiter before the 22nd century.

Page | 12

When the main verb is be, the simple future tense can be used even if there is a firm plan or  decision before speaking. For example:

y

I'll be in London tomorrow.

y

I'm going shopping. I won't be very long.

y

Will

you be at work tomorrow?

Page | 13

Conclusion As a conclusion, part of o f speech and tenses are essential when we are speaking, writing and learning English. E nglish. Part of speech is used to arrange the words in our sentences and teaches t eaches us about nouns, pronouns, prono uns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. On the other hand, tenses allow us to speak according to the time and event that we want to mention whether it is in the past, present or future.

Page | 14

R eferences eferences http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/partsspeechterm.htm http://www.usp.edu/writing/handouts/ps/PS02-TheEightPartsOfSpeech.pdf  http://www.englishtenseswithcartoons.com/tenses/present_simple http://www.englishtenseswithcartoons.com/tenses/past_simple http://www.englishtenseswithcartoons.com/tenses/future_simple http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_present.htm http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_past.htm http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_future.htm

Page | 15