Parts of speech is a term given to the placing of words into different categories based on their functions in a sentence to make language easier
In English, words are classified according to their function into eight groups otherwise known as Parts of Speech
These groups are:
Noun,
Pronoun,
Verb,
Adverb,
Adjective,
Preposition,
Conjunction,
Interjection
The Noun
A noun denotes the name given to any person, animal, place, thing, idea, quality, or action. For example, Charles, elephant, Lagos, bicycle, beauty, effort, etc.
Kinds of Nouns
Nouns are classified into groups, namely:
Proper Noun: This is a particular name of person, place or thing, and they usually begin with a capital letter wherever they appear in a sentence. For example, Chukwudi, John, Nigeria, United Kingdom, etc. Proper nouns also include names of people, countries, days and months of the year, and festivals.
Common Noun: This is the name given to things of the same kind. They are not begun in capital letters unless they begin a sentence. For example, Market, woman, man, book, country, etc.
Abstract Noun: This denotes quality, condition, action, or name of different subjects or discipline; things that can neither be seen or touched. For example, intelligence, honesty, wisdom, decision, slavery, poverty, sickness, etc.
Collective Noun: This is the name given to a group of the same kind, for example, army of soldiers, gang or robbers, crowd of spectators, host of angels, troupe of dancers, etc.
Material Noun: This denotes indefinite mass of matter. It is usually preceded by the definite article ‘the’ or an expression of quality. For example, bread, meat, garret, oil, grass, etc.
Noun Forming
A noun is either in the singular or plural number
The singular number shows one while the plural number shows more than one.
For example:
Singular: a boy, a book, a box, a child, etc.
Plural: two boys, four books, three boxes, ten children, etc.
The plural number is formed in different ways:
By adding ‘s’ as in:
bird – birds,
book – books,
girl – girls,
spoon – spoons,
roof – roofs, etc.
By adding ‘es’ as in:
bench – benches,
dress – dresses,
bunch – bunches,
church – churches, etc.
By changing ‘y’ at the end into ‘ies’ as in:
army – armies,
lady – ladies,
party – parties,
fly – flies, etc.
By adding ‘s’ only to the ‘y’ that comes after a vowel, as in:
boy – boys,
donkey – donkeys,
play – plays, etc.
By changing ‘f’ or ‘fe’ at the end into ‘ves’ as in:
calf – calves,
thief – thieves,
leaf – leaves,
wolf – wolves, etc.
By adding ‘s’ only to ‘f’ or ‘fe’ at the end, as in:
chief – chiefs,
gulf – gulfs,
roof – roofs, etc.
By changing in different ways, as in:
child – children,
mouse – mice,
ox – oxen,
tooth – teeth,
woman – women, etc.
By the singular not changing at all in the plural:
public – public,
dozen – dozen,
sheep – sheep,
equipment – equipment,
information – information, etc.
By having a plural form which is singular in use:
economics,
news,
politics,
gymnastics,
statistics,
alms, etc.
By having plural forms in compound nouns:
brother-in-law — brothers-in-law
bye-law — bye-laws
guest-of-honor — guests of honor, etc
Countable and Uncountable Nouns
Countable Nouns: This, as the name implies, denotes nouns that stand as objects which can be counted.
Such include: pen, paper, book, desk, key, chair, etc.
They appear in singular and plural form. For example, book – books, fan – fans, etc
They could take determiners such as: a, an, another, each, every, neither, either, etc.
Uncountable Nouns: Uncountable nouns are nouns that cannot be found as independent units and so cannot be counted. For example: salt, flour, water, powder, rice, garri, etc
Because uncountable nouns cannot be counted, they have no plurals, rather they take determiners such as: a lot of, much, little, etc.
When units of measurements are used, the nouns which stands for the unit of measurement takes a singular or plural number. For example, a bag of salt – bags of salt, a packet of sugar – packets of sugar
Quantifiers + Uncountable Nouns
Quantifiers are those words we use in sentences to measure or show quantity of things, usually used for uncountable nouns. For example, much, more, less, great deal of, a large quantity of, a little, etc.
Demonstratives + Singular and Plural Words
Demonstratives are the words we use in pointing out something in sentences. They are:
Singular Demonstratives: this, that
Plural Demonstratives: these, those
‘This’ and ‘these’ are used in pointing things that are near whereas ‘that’ and ‘those’ are used for pointing at things that are far
‘Any’ is used for countable and uncountable nouns. It is mostly used in the negative form and question. For example,
Is there any water for drinking?
Do you know any one I can get it from?
Has he any good thing to offer?
‘Every’, ‘each’, and ‘another’ are quantifiers for singular countable nouns. For example:
