• 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:
  • Each boy has a responsibility
  • Collins gave everything he has