Parts of speech continued . . .

THIS bit of information covers what was left out a couple of weeks ago when we discussed the pronoun. Understand personal pronouns — to understand this you need to understand the pronoun as defined in the previous article. A pronoun is a word used in place of one or more nouns or pronouns. A personal pronoun refers to the person speaking (first person), the person spoken to (second person), or the person or thing spoken about (third person). Following are different types of pronouns:

a demonstrative pronoun points out a noun or another pronoun. Examples: this, that, these, those. Those learners playing over there are supposed to be in class.

An interrogative pronoun introduces a question. Examples: who, whom, which, what, whose. Whose book is this?

A relative pronoun introduces a subordinate clause. Examples of relative pronouns: that, which, who, whom, whose. The book that I bought has been stolen.

An indefinite pronoun refers to a person, place, thing, or idea that may or may or may not be specifically named. Examples: all, both, few, nobody, several, another, each, many, none, some, any, either, more, no one, somebody, anybody, everybody, most, nothing, someone, anyone, everyone, much, one, something, anything, everything, neither, other, such.

There is nothing special about these parts of speech as we always use them in our conversations. You do not need to cram them but to use them properly when constructing sentences. You can prove how much you know about different types of pronouns by identifying them from given texts or paragraphs. Earlier on in this discussion I made reference to subordinate clauses. Before proceeding further with this, we need to understand what a clause is.

A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and its predicate (base) and is used as part of a sentence. Every clause has both a subject and a verb. Not every clause expresses a complete thought, however. There are two kinds of clauses: the independent clause and the subordinate clause. Standing alone, an independent clause is a complete sentence. Like a word or clause, a subordinate clause acts as a single part of speech.

An independent (or main) clause expresses a complete thought and can stand by itself as a sentence. John helped Kate write her Mathematics homework. By itself an independent clause is simply called a sentence. It is called an independent clause only when it is combined with at least one other clause (independent or subordinate) to form a sentence. A subordinate (or dependent) does not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone as a sentence.

Examples: Whoever knows the song, which is my favourite song, as we were singing. The meaning of a subordinate clause becomes clear only when the clause is combined with an independent clause. Whoever knows the song may lead the choir. As we were singing, we joined hands and formed a circle. To master the use of the clauses you can do exercises whereby you identify independent and subordinate clauses from given sentences.

The adjective clause — an adjective clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun or a pronoun. It always follows the word or words it modifies and tells what kind or which one. An adjective clause usually begins with a relative pronoun — a word that relates the clause to the word or words the clause modifies. Relative pronouns: that, which, who, whom, whose. A relative pronoun does three things: It refers to a preceding noun or pronoun. It connects the adjective clause with the rest of the sentence. It performs a function within its own clause by serving as a subject, a direct object, an indirect object, an object of a preposition, or a modifier in the adjective clause.

The adverb clause: An adverb clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb. An adverb clause how, how much, where, why,, to what extent, or under what conditions. Another aspect of language which gives learners a problem is on the verb tenses. They always get past tense verbs in a tangle. Regular verbs add “-ed” to form the simple past tense. Lots of verbs from the simple past tense by adding “-ed” to the end.

Examples of simple past tenses formed in the suggested way: walk – walked, work – worked, stay – stayed, hope – hoped, believe – believe, study – studied, cry – cried. Verbs ending in “y” replace “y” with “i” and add “-ed”. Irregular verbs do not follow the “-ed” rule. Not all verbs add “-ed” – lots of verbs in the simple past tense are irregular. Here are some common ones following the order of verbs to the simple past – To do – did, to have – had, to see – saw, to sleep – slept, to think – thought, to make – made.

To fight – fought, to come – came, to get – got, to wear – wore, to be – was/were, to go – went, to take – took, to eat – ate, to steal – stole, to buy – bought. As suggested earlier use the functional approach to learn correct use of these tenses. Use them in sentences than learn them as single words.

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