WHAT IS GRAMMAR? - 9 Parts of Speech

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 Grammar(noun): It is the structure and systematic arrangement of a        language, or of languages in general, usually considered to consist of syntax and morphology.

Learning english, speaking fluently in english and improving your english language skills can be a daunting task, but it is far from impossible, there is a learning curve and creating a strong foundation of this language can take you to the point where you can become a maestro, someone who can speak fluently and confidently in english, write without any grammatical errors and read and pronounce perfectly.

Grammar is the base concepts, system and systematic arrangement of a language. Usually it is described as the “rules” of any given language; although in truth no language has rules*. When we say rules, we indicate that somebody had created the “rules” first and then had spoken the language which is ofcourse unrealistic and far from true. The origins of any language are not of that sort. Languages have always started with sounds, the populace of a certain area start communicating via sounds which then slowly evolve into words, phrases and sentences. The parameters of language aren’t fixed, they evolve and change with the time and trend. Grammar is just the state and reflection of any given language at any particular time.

A very important question is DO YOU NEED TO STUDY GRAMMAR TO LEARN OR SPEAK A LANGUAGE? The answer is a decisive NO! Most native speakers of their language begin to speak fluently without having studied its grammar. Another prime example to support this argument would be that children start to speak a language without even knowing the word grammar let alone what it is. There are two sides of any coin therefore it is very important to study and acquaint yourself with the concepts and rules of grammar if you truly want to excel and learn English or any other language quickly and more effeciently. This is why we say “Grammar is your friend”, When you learn to understand the grammar of the English language, you become capable enough to understand many concepts about the English language yourself which will let you learn English and speak in English fluently!!

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So always remember, “Grammar is your best friend” when it comes to learning English, it is what you can use to get better and to find your way like a milestone or a map.

Insert Poll

Q. What do you think about grammar?

1. Grammar is necessary, I love it!
2. Not concerned about it
3. I hate grammar.

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WHAT ARE THE 9 PARTS OF SPEECH?

We categorize all the words in English into 9 basic categories which are together referred to as “parts of speech”. It is essential to learn how to recognize each of them. This will let you analyze different sentences, construct proper sentences and understand sentences better.

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Part of Speech

What does it do?

Examples(Words)

Examples(Sentences)

Verb

Defines any action or state of an object

be, have, do, like, work, dance, will, must

He is a boy. I like him.

Noun

Used to state things or any person

Pen, dog, work,photos, city, New York, Doctor, Michael

This is my cat. He lives in my apartment. We live in Los Angeles.

Adjective

Used to describe any noun

Bad, small, blue, well, loud

My car(noun) is fast. I love fast cars(noun).

Determiner

Used to limit or determine a noun

a/an, the, 5, some, many

I had 5 pieces of fried chicken(noun) and some fries(noun).

Adverb

Used to describe a verb, adjective or an adverb

swiftly, loudly, badly, very, really

My rabbit eats quickly. When she is very hungry, she eats really quickly.

Pronoun

Used to replace a noun

I, him, me, she them, some

Kiara Advani(noun) is Indian. She is beautiful.

Preposition

Used to link a noun to another word

to, at, after, on, but

Debangan(noun) went to the gym(noun) on Friday(noun).

Conjunction

Used to join clauses, sentences or words

and, when

I like tea when I’m out of coffee.

Interjection

It is a short exclamation sometimes inserted into a sentence

Lo! Ouch! Hi! 

Ouch! That hurts!

Hi! How are you?

…and lo! They lost the war!

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SpeakoClub Pro Tip

Some academic sources conventionally categorize English into 8 parts of speech, some say 10. We here at SpeakoClub use the more recent categorization i.e. The 9 parts of speech. Other examples are:

1. Verbs can be treated as 2 different parts of speech:

           1.  Lexical Verbs(work, like, run)

           2. Auxiliary Verbs(be, have, must)

2. Determiners can be treated as adjectives instead of being considered as a different part of speech.

Here is a sentence which consists of all the different parts of speech.

Interj.

Pron.

Conj.

Det.

adj.

noun

verb

prep.

noun

adverb

Well,

She

and

my

old

Jim

walk

to

school

slowly.

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Words with more than one function

As the title suggests, there are words in Englis which have more than one function. For example, “work” can be a verb and a noun; “but” can be a conjunction and a preposition; “well” can be an adjective, adverb or an interjection. Also, there are many nouns which are also considered to be adjectives.

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In order to better grasp this concept, ask yourself, “What job is this word doing in this sentence?”.

Here are just a few examples, there are many many more infact the word “but” can have 6 different function in a sentence.

Word

Part of Speech

Example

work

Noun & Verb

Noun- My work is easy.

Verb- I work in London

but

Conjunction and Preposition

Conj - Jim came but Shelly did not.

Prep - Everyone came but Shelly

well

Adjective and Interjection

Adj - Are you well?

Interj - Well! That’s dirty!

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