Word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.

Look at these sentences:

My mum is driving to work today.


I have an important meeting at work tomorrow. So I'm rather busy.


Would you like to go out for a dinner tonight, Monica?


This dish is really delicious!


But it's quite expensive!

Let's take one sentence as an example and analyse it. There are different kinds of word in it.

"I have an important meeting at work tonight, so I'm rather busy"

I - pronoun; have - verb; an - indefinite article (determiner); important - adjective; meeting - noun; at - preposition; work - noun; tonight - adverb of time; so - conjuction (linking word); I - pronoun; am - verb; rather - adverb of manner; busy - adjective.

As you can see in a simple sentence there are many different types of words involved. The English grammar traditionally classifies these words in 8 parts of speech or words classes. They are:
1. Noun: Any concrete or abstract being.

2. Pronoun: Any substitute for a noun or noun phrase.

3. Adjective: Any qualifier of a noun

4. Verb: Any action or state of an entity
5. Adverb: Any qualifier of a verb, adjective or another adverb.
6. Preposition: Any establisher of relation between two words.
7. Conjuction: Any syntatical connector, connecting two phrases.
8. Interjection: Any emotional exclamation.

Some words can belong to different word classes depending on the role they have in a sentence. Look:
Can I look at your pictures? - In this case look is a verb
I like the look of that jacket. - In this case look is a noun


Now let's practise
1. Look at the examples given and put in a list the word class the words according to their word class.
2. See this paragraph and say what word class the words in bold belong to.

Michael thinks Michelle is amazing. He loves her madly, and he dreams of having her as his wife. But unfortunately she is rather young for him. Today they are at a very famous night club enjoying the night with their friends Frank and Sandy, so Michael thinks it's difficult to talk about his feelings to Michelle. But maybe he can buy her some flowers. Is it a good idea?

The answers to the questions may be sent to:
e-mail: eng.4.today@gmail.com
Orkut: http://www.orkut.com.br/Main#Profile?uid=13978883568364259345
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All the answers will commented by the teacher and sent back by email.
Please comment and give suggestion about the lessons and the blog.
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English for Today by Nimlot Logan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Grammar - Intermediate - Present Simple and Present Continuous

The Present Simple and the Present Continuous:

Both the present simple and the present continuous are used to talk about actions and states in the present time but each one has its own peculiarity. Let's see what are they?


1. The Present Simple. - (I, you, we and they = verb; he, she, it = verb+s)

 The Present simple talks is used when we want to tell things that are:

a) Permanent states, that is, states that hardly ever change or never change at all.

Ex: I'm Brazilian (And I'll be forever)
John works in a University. (Unless John decides to quit his job, he will work there for a long time)

b) Habits and routines, that is, things that happen frequently.

Ex: Mary walks to work. (It is something she does frequently)
I repair my own car. (It is something I usually do)

c) Permanent facts and truths, that is, things that NEVER change.

Ex: The desert is very hot during the day. (And it'll always be)
Earth is the third planet of the Solar System (And it'll always be)

There are some words called adverbs of time that usually come with the present simple: They are:
usually, today, every day, often, frequently, seldom. rarely, among others.

2. Present Continuous. - Form: (to be + verb + ing) 

Before we start talking about the Present Continuous, let's remember the verb to be in the Present Simple, once it is used to form the Present Continuous.
I am - I'm
You are - You're
He is - He's
She is - She's 
It is - It's 
We are - we're
You are - You're
They are - They're


Basically the present continuous are used when we want to talk about things that are:


a) Actions happening at the moment of speaking, that is, the action happens while the speaker is speaking.

Ex: Look! Fernando Alonso is overtaking Mark Webber.(He is overtaking right now!)

b) For temporary situations, that is, things that are not happening while someone is speaking, but in situations which the speaker hopes to be temporary. Remember! For permanent situations we use the Present Simple)

Ex: I'm having trouble finding a new house to let. (I'm not having this trouble necessarily now, but in a period of time I hope to be temporary).

There are also time adverbs that follow the present continuous and they are:
at the moment, now, at the present, today among others.

Now let's practise all we have seen today:

1. Peter ____________ (work) in a big company.
2. Jennifer's new car ___________(be) very expensive.
3. Michael _______________(talk) to his girlfriend now.
4. Steve _______________(look) for a new flat.
5. I _______________(wear) a raincoat because it might rain.
6. Be quiet! I ___________(think) my mum _____________(sleep) upstairs.
7. I ______________(look) for a new car. Mine _________(be) very old.
8. Look! The police _______________(chase) that motorbike.
9. I ____________(paint) a picture of my brother.
10. We ________________(building) a new robot for the company at the moment.

The answers to the questions may be sent to:
e-mail: eng.4.today@gmail.com
Orkut: http://www.orkut.com.br/Main#Profile?uid=13978883568364259345
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/English-for-Today/177566135615065?
All the answers will commented by the teacher and sent back by email.
Please comment and give suggestion about the lessons and the blog.
This blog is a non commercial, non profit educational website.

English for Today by Nimlot Logan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.