An introduction to Word Classes.
​All words belong to categories according to the function(s) they play in a sentence. A word class refers to a group of words which are placed in a category because of their similar form or function.  
​Here are the main word classes:   Nouns Verbs Adjective Adverbs Pronouns Determiners Prepositions Conjunctions 

NOUNS
A noun identifies things. It is a word used to name things, ideas, people, places and events.
​Here are the different types of nouns:

• Common nouns are used to name people or things in general, e.g. boy, whiteboard, table, chair, plans 
• Proper nouns are used to name a particular person, place or thing, e.g. Sally, Japan, Sunday. In written form, it begins with a capital letter. 
• Concrete noun refers to things that can be seen, touched, smelled, heard or taste. These are physical objects that can be measured. For example, building, dog, candy, tree, rain. 
• Abstract noun refers to ideas, qualities and feelings. This refers to things like kindness, time, friendship, humour, grief. 
• Collective noun is used to refer to a group of people or things.

       For example, staff, audience, team, committee. Most collective nouns are treated as singular, with a singular verb. 
       The whole family was at the gathering.  
       Collective nouns can sometimes be used in the plural form, by referring to the individual members of the group. 
​       The audience are clapping their hands enthusiastically. (the individual members)  

A noun may belong to more than one category. For example, happiness is both a common noun and an abstract noun.
 
Nouns can be countable, uncountable or both.
 
Countable nouns refer to things that can be counted. They include both singular and plural forms. (cat/cats, egg/eggs, man/men, country/countries).
 
Uncountable nouns also known as non-count nouns refer to things that cannot be counted. They include things like rain, advice, earth, music, or software. Many abstract nouns are also uncountable nouns: happiness, bravery, humour, confidence.

​Some nouns can be either countable or uncountable, depending on how they are being used. They include nouns like aid, art, beauty, glass, time, paper, beer, coffee.

VERBS
Verbs refer to what a person or things does or what happens. We use them to talk about actions, or to describe a state or condition.
 
Active and passive verbs
Depending on the way in which you write your sentence, a verb can be either active or passive. 
When the verb is active, the subject of the verb is doing the action:

• The boy (subject) kicks the ball (object).

When the verb is passive, the subject undergoes the action, rather than doing it

• The ball (object) was kicked by the boy (subject).

 
In a passive sentence, the subject is introduced into the passive sentence with the word ‘by’.
 
The passive form is used in formal writing like official reports or scientific papers It is used in a situation when we are more interested in the action than the person(s) who caused it.
 
Modal verbs
Also known as modal auxiliary verb is a set of verbs used to express necessity, possibility, intention, or ability.
They are: must, shall, will, should, would, ought, can, could, may, and might.
 
For examples,

• You must act promptly.
• Can you speak Japanese?
• May I attend the concert with you?
• We should return home before dinner time.

 
Auxiliary / Helping verbs
These are words used to help the writer convey the correct tense, voice and mood in his writing.
 
Be-verbs: am / is / are / was / were /being /been
Do-verbs: does / do / did
Have-verbs: has / have / had / having
 
Action verbs – verbs used for doing something.
run  swim  kick  eat  dance  jump  skip  fly  dig  read
 
Saying verbs – verbs that relate to speaking.
ask  reply  demand  respond  suggest  stammer  yell  snarl  whisper  claim  utter
 
Sensing verbs-verbs that are used with each of the five senses.
saw  taste  hear  feel  smell

• John looks happy.
• She felt hungry even though she just had her dinner.
• Patrick smelled smoke coming from his neighbour’s house.
• Tracy heard someone knocking on the door.

Mental verbs – verbs we use to describe the way we think, feel or understand
know  think  need  imagine  suspect  hope  decide  expect  prefer  forget  imagine  believe 

• Jane knows the answer to the teacher’s question.
• I believe you will turn up for the event.
• Can you imagine how angry I am!
• Mark prefers swimming to jogging.

Participles
A participle is a word formed from a verb, usually by adding -d, -ed, or -ing.
There are two kinds of participle:

The present participle
The present participle ends with -ing:

• We are going to school.
• The government is building a new school our estate.

 
The past participle
The past participle ends with -d or -ed for regular verbs:

• She had decided to go to home early
• The fans camped outside the stadium since last night.

 
And with -t or -en or some other forms for irregular ones:

• New houses are still being built.
• The lamp is broken.

 
Using participles
Participles are used with auxiliary verbs to:
  Make present continuous tense / past perfect tense: 

• We are going to Japan. (present continuous)
• She had decided to go to Taiwan. (past perfect)

 
  Make passive voice of verbs 

• The children were ordered to sit down.

 
  Used as adjectives 

• Richard was cut by a piece of broken glass.
• The movie was so boring that the audience left it ended.

 
​  As nouns 

• Jane enjoys swimming.
• Len was ordered to cut down on his drinking.

 
When a present participle is used as a noun, as in the last two examples above, it’s known as verbal noun or a gerund. Here are two more examples of verbal nouns:

• Smoking is strictly forbidden.
• Camping attracts people of all ages.

 
Phrasal verbs
A phrasal verb is a verb that is made up of a main verb together with an adverb or a preposition, or both. Typically, their meaning is not obvious from the meanings of the individual words themselves.

For example:

• The boss looks down on his staff because he thinks he's better than they are.
• The students handed in their papers and left the room.
• They called off this afternoon's meeting
• Carmen’s neighbor tried to show her pictures of her holiday trip, but she managed to get away.
• Don’t put me off, I’m trying to concentrate.
• The report spelled out the need for more staff.

 
For instance, in the first example, the phrasal verb ‘to look down on someone’ doesn’t mean that you are looking down from a higher place at someone who is below you; it means that you think that you are better than someone.
 
Subjects and Objects
-Refer to the section on: S-V Agreement
 
Verb tenses:
-Refer to the section on: TENSES (Part 1) and TENSES (Part 2)
 

Adjectives
An adjective is a word that describes a noun, giving it more information.

• A sweet taste of candy.
• A pair of comfortable shoes.
• A minor problem to solve.
• An expensive dress.

 
Adjectives can be positioned before the noun or after it. 

• A black cat.
• A gloomy scene.
• A tiring journey.

• The cat was black.
• The scene looks gloomy.
• The journey was a tiring one.

 
Comparative adjective and Superlative adjective 
Comparative adjective is used to compare two people or things.
Superlative adjective is used to compare a person or thing among every other in the group.


​

	Comparative	Superlative
sad tall easy interesting fast brave heavy	sadder taller easier more interesting faster braver heavier	saddest tallest Easiest most interesting fastest bravest heaviest

Adverbs
An adverb is used to give information about a verb, adjective, or other adverbs. 

• The children sang loudly.
• Mr Wong always tells funny jokes.
• Valerie writes really well.

 
Adverbs that are placed in the middle of a sentence provide information on the frequency or manner in which the verb is carried out. 

• We always meet for coffee on Saturday.
• She has never been to Africa.
• He looked carefully at the strange device.
• The boy walked briskly to the canteen.

 
Adverbs that are placed at the end of a sentence can be used to refer to position, as well as to describe the frequency or manner of the verb. 

• I placed the apple on the table over there.
• We visit our grandparents monthly.
• Mr Tan flew to Japan last week.
• The craftsman carved the figurine slowly.

 
Position of adverbs and verbs
Adverbs are often placed between the subject and its verb: 

• We always meet for lunch at 1 p.m.
• I completely forgot his name.

 
Adverbs can also be placed between an auxiliary verb (as, be or have) and a main verb: 

• The concert was suddenly cancelled.
• He had quickly eaten his dinner.

Pronouns 
Pronouns are used in place of a noun that has already been mentioned to avoid repeating the noun. 

• Margaret was tired so she went to bed.
• Michael took the children with him to the beach.
• Kerry’s project was submitted together with mine.
• That’s a good idea!
• Anything might happen at sea in this weather. 

 
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are used in place of nouns to refer to specific people or things.
They can be subdivided as follows: 

• Subjective pronouns
• Objective pronouns
• Possessive pronouns
• Reflexive pronouns

 
Subject pronouns (I, you, we, she, he, it, they) are pronouns that used as subjects of the verb: 

• She saw Cathy.
• We drove Peter to work.
• I wave at the little boy.

 
Objective pronouns (me, you, us, him, her, it, them) are pronouns that are used as the objects of the verb: 

• Cathy saw her.
• Peter drove us to work.
• The little boy waved at me.

 
Possessive pronouns (mine, yours, hers, his, ours, theirs) are pronouns used to indicate possession. 

• The book is mine
• The paintings are theirs.
• James was told that the stolen laptop was his. 

 
Reflexive pronouns 
Reflexive pronouns (myself, himself, herself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves) are pronouns used to refer back to the subject used in the sentence. 

• I fell and hurt myself.
• Dave prepared himself well for the journey.
• The children learnt to look after themselves.

Determiners  
A determiner is a word that introduces a noun, such as a/an, the, this, that, those or many
(as in a cat, the cat, this cat, that cat, many cats)
 
They are words used to clarify what the noun refers to.  They determine both the noun being referred to, as well as the quantity.
 
There are different types of determiners: 

• Articles: the, a, an
• Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
• Possessives: his, her, their, my, our, your, its
• Quantifiers: any, all, some, many, one, twenty

 
Articles
The determiner the is sometimes known as the definite article, and the determiners a/an are known as indefinite articles.

• The girls ...
• ​an apple ...
• ​a book ... 

Demonstratives:
Demonstrative determiners are words that direct us to the person(s) or thing(s) been mentioned. 

• This is the book that I borrowed from Jane.
• Do you like these flowers.?
• That boy broke Mrs Tan’s vase!
• Those boys waving at me were my students.

 
Possessives: 
Possessive determiners are used to indicate ownership of the noun in the sentence and they come before the noun. 

• My leg hurts.
• James sold his bicycle.
• Bring your colour pencils for the lesson.
• Our form teacher told us to come to school on time. 

 
Quantifiers: 
They are words used before a noun to indicate its amount or quantity. It also answers to questions like “How many?’ or “How much?”
 
-Refer to the section on countable / uncountable nouns
 
Quantifiers for countable nouns: a, an, many, several 

• There were several passengers in the boat.
• Many people turned up for the movie.
• He's got only a few dollars.

 
Quantifiers for uncountable nouns: much, a little, a large quantity 

• How much money do you have?
• There is a large quantity of fish in this river.
• A large amount of sugar was added to the drink.

 
Quantifiers for both countable and uncountable nouns: all, any, most, no, some, enough 

• None of them attended the party
• There is not enough room for bulky furniture.
• Did you bring orange paint? I don’t have any.
• There are some coins on the table.

Prepositions
-Refer to the section on Prepositions

Conjunctions
-Refer to the section on Conjunctions