Word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc

A Introduction

Look at the different kinds of word in this sentence.

Pronoun Verb Determiner Adjective Noun Preposition Noun Adverb

I have an important conference at work tomorrow,

Linking word Pronoun Verb Adverb Adjective
So I am rather busy.

B What kind of word?

There are eight different kinds of word in English. They are called 'word classes' or 'parts of speech'. Here are some examples from the conversations in the cafe. The numbers after the examples tell you which units in the book give you more information. 1 Verb: have, am, is, would, like, come, are, sitting, look 4-75

Noun: conference, work, coffee, party, Saturday, Jessica, friends, corner 76-82

Adjective: important, busy, good, cheap 104-109

Adverb: tomorrow, rather, really, here 113-117

Preposition: at, to, on, in 118-125

Determiner: an, this, our, the 83-97

Pronoun: I, it, you 98-103

Linking word: so, and 150-153

C Words in sentences

Some words can belong to different classes depending on how they are used in a sentence.

VERBS

Can I look at your photos? We work on Saturday morning.

NOUNS

I like the look of that coat. I'll be at work tomorrow.

1 Exercises

1 What kind of word? (B)

Read this paragraph and then say which word class each underlined word belongs to. To help you decide, you can look back at the examples in B.

Andrew didn't go to the cafe with the other students. Rachel told him they were going there, but he wanted to finish his work. Andrew isn't very sociable. He stays in his room and concentrates totally on his studies. He's an excellent student, but he doesn't have much fun.

? to preposition 7 sociable .......................................

? cafe noun 8 in ………………………

1 the…………………………. 9 and …………………….

2 told………………………… 10 totally …………………….

3 they………………………. 11..... an ………………………

4 there ……………………. 12 excellent …………………….

5 he ………………………… 13 but ……………………

6 finish …………………… 14.... fun …………………..

2 What kind of word? (B)

Read this paragraph and then write the words in the spaces below. Write the first three verbs under 'Verb', and so on. Do not write the same word more than once.

Henry thinks Claire is wonderful. He loves her madly, and he dreams of marrying her, but unfortunately he is rather old for her. Today they are at a cafe with their friends Sarah and Mark, so Henry can't get romantic with Claire. But he might buy her some flowers later.

Verb Noun Adjective Adverb

think Henry .

Preposition Determiner Pronoun Linking word

3 Words in sentences (C)

Is the underlined word a verb, a noun or an adjective?

? Shall we go for a walk? noun

? Shall we walk into town? verb

1 Laura wanted to talk to Rita.

2 Laura wanted a talk with Rita.

3 The windows aren't very clean.

4 Doesn't anyone clean the windows?

5 We went to a fabulous show in New York.

6 Laura wanted to show Rita her photos.

7 Henry thought Claire looked beautiful.

8 A strange thought came into Emma's head.

9 Sarah is feeling quite tired now.

10 Studying all night had tired Andrew out.

Date: 2014-12-22; view: 2735