Teach English in HuanghuAtAn Zhen - Wuwei Shi

This unit covered the parts of speech. The basic parts of speech covered are as follows: noun, adjective, verb, adverb, pronoun, conjunction, article, and preposition. A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns can be broken down into two categories. Countable nouns can be counted; examples are dog, cat, bike, and house. Uncountable nouns cannot be counted; examples are love, bread, music, and fear. The unit gives 5 main types of nouns. These are as follows: common nouns (dog, cat); proper nouns (Spot, Kitty); compound nouns (bookcase, sunshine, moonbeam); abstract nouns (joy, fear, peace); and collective nouns (pride, herd, litter). Nouns can be singular or plural. Adjectives are words that modify, or explain something about, nouns. To decide is something is an adjective, see if the word answers these questions: Which one? What kind? How many? Examples of adjectives are pretty, ugly, old, young, extremely and very. Adjectives can be used to make comparisons. You may say that someone is bigger than someone else. The word ?bigger? is an adjective. Other examples of comparative adjectives are shorter, prettier, smellier, and older. Superlative adjectives take a comparison to its greatest extent. For example, the comparative adjectives are big and bigger. The superlative adjective is biggest. Verbs are words that express actions. Examples of verbs are as follows: go, stay, run, walk, watch, sleep, and pray. All verbs have a basic form, called the infinitive form. Examples of the above verbs in their infinitive forms are as follows: to go, to stay, to run, to walk, to watch, to sleep, and to pray. All verbs are transitive or intransitive. Transitive verbs are verbs that are followed by an object of the action. For example, eat is a transitive verb. One can say, ?I eat steak.? ?I mash the potatoes.? Intransitive verbs cannot be followed by a direct object. For example, take the verb ?sleep?. It is incorrect to say, ?I sleep home.? The correct phrase would be to say, ?I sleep at home.? In the correct phrase, the word sleep is modified by the prepositional phrase ?at home?. This phrase is acting as an adverb in the sentence, stating where you are sleeping. The gerund form of a very is the ?ing? form of the verb. Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs answer these questions: How? When? Where? Why? To what extent? Examples of adverbs are as follows: quickly, well, soon, very, and sometimes. Adding ?ly? to an adjective forms many adverbs. In the sentence ?The quick dog caught the bone,? the word ?quick? is an adjective. If you change the sentence to say, ?The dog caught the bone quickly,? the word ?quickly? is an adverb. Pronouns take the place of nouns. Examples of pronouns are: you, him, her, and I. Pronouns can be possessive. Examples of possessive pronouns are yours, his, hers, and mine. One area of confusion is telling the difference between possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives. It is essential to remember that possessive pronouns replace nouns. In the sentence ?Mine is red,? the word ?mine? is a pronoun. In the sentence ?My cup is red,? the word ?my? is an adjective telling which cup is red. Conjunctions are connecting or joining words. Examples of conjunctions are and, but, or, and because. In sentences using the words ?either?or,? the words ?either? and ?or? are conjunctions. In addition, in a sentence such as ?I started the test as soon as I arrived in class,? the phrase ?as soon as? is acting as a conjunction. There are three articles: a, an, and the. The word ?the? is a definite article. The words ?a? and ?an? are indefinite. Prepositions are words that show the relationship between nouns and pronouns and some other word in a sentence. Prepositions fall into three categories. These categories are place, time, and movement. Prepositions of place are words such as in, at, on, above, and under. Prepositions of time are words such as at, on, by, and before. Prepositions of movement are words such as from, to, in, into, and through. Although I had a good working knowledge of the parts of speech, this unit expanded my knowledge. I can see that some of these parts of speech will be easier to explain than others. It will take more study and practice to know the best ways to teach these to my students.