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A CONCRETE noun names an object or event that can be perceived by the senses. An abstract noun names a quality, a characteristic, or an idea. Examples of concrete nouns: sneeze, star, gravel, cinnamon, Bulawayo. Abstract nouns: peace, civilisation, honour, courage, romanticism and beauty.
Collective nouns: A collective noun names a group. Examples: jury, band, family, class, army, flock, and committee. A compound noun consists of two or more words used together as one noun. Some compound nouns are written as a single word, some as separate words, and others as hyphenated words.
Examples: One word – staircase, bookcase. Separate words: lieutenant general, ceiling fan. Hyphenated word – brother-in-law, jack-of-all-trades, and stick-in-the-mud.
Remember: a pronoun is a word used in place of one or more nouns or pronouns. Demonstrative pronouns: A demonstrative pronoun points out a noun or another pronoun – this, that, these, those. Examples: These are the prefects we chose. Is this the book you want? Interrogative pronouns: An interrogative pronoun introduces a question. – who, whom, which, what and whose Examples: What do you want?
Relative pronouns: A relative pronoun introduces a subordinate clause: that, which, who, whom, and whose. Example: The plot I chose is close by. The man who drives this car is very trustworthy. Indefinite pronoun: An indefinite pronoun refers to a person, place, thing, or idea that may or may not be specifically named. Examples: all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything.
Few, many, more, most, much, neither, nobody, none, no one, nothing, one, other, several, some, somebody, some, somebody, something and such. Examples: All the members attended the meeting. Did everyone vote?
The preposition: A preposition is a word used to show how a noun or a pronoun is related to some other word in the sentence. Object of a preposition: The object of a preposition is a noun or a pronoun that follows a preposition. Together, the preposition, its object and any modifiers of the object make a prepositional phrase. Examples: before lunch, at the game, throughout the week.
Examples of commonly used prepositions: about, beside, in, through, above, besides, inside, throughout, across, between, into, to, after, beyond, like, toward, against, but (meaning except), near, under, along, of, underneath, among, by, off, until, around, concerning, on, unto, at, down, out, up, before, during, outside, upon, behind, except, over, with, below, for, past, within, beneath, from, since and without.
A preposition that consists of two or more words is a compound preposition. Examples: Thabo has been accepted by several private colleges in addition to all state universities. As of today, he has not made his final choice. Commonly used compound prepositions: according to, along with, apart from, aside from, as of, because of, by means of, in addition to, in front of, in place of, in spite of, instead of, next to, on account of and out of.
Summary of parts of speech: Noun is used to name. Examples: John has joined his friends out for dinner. Pronoun takes the place of a noun or another pronoun. Adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun. A nice-looking gentlemen bought a big house in the next block. Verb shows action or state of being. You look pale. Are you ill? Adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
This is a much shorter route which means we will not arrive there too late. Preposition relates a noun or a pronoun to another word. Learn correct of words like: borrow and lend – borrow something from somebody. Lend something to somebody and lend somebody something. Borrow is like take. Can I borrow something from somebody?
Born and borne: 1 be born: To talk about coming into the world at birth, we usually use the passive verb to be born. Hundreds of children are born every month. To give somebody’s place or date of birth, we use the simple past tense was/were born. He was born in 1920. Her parents were born in Zambia.
The verb bear: There is also a verb bear (bore, borne). This verb is most used in the expression can’t bear (= ‘hate’, can’t stand’). I cannot bear her voice. Broad and wide. Wide is used for the physical distance from one side of something to the other. The area between two cottages is wide enough for the construction of another one. This space is too wide for the size of the gate bought.
Broad is used in this physical sense in a few common expressions like broad shoulders, and in descriptions of landscape in a formal style. But broad is mostly used in abstract expressions. Some examples: broad agreement (= agreement on most important points). Broad minded (=tolerant). Broad daylight (=full, bright daylight).
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