Word Classes

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 1

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Word classes

Nouns

Articles

Pronouns

Prepositions

Verbs

Adjectives

Adverbs

Nouns

A noun is a thing (almost any thing you can think of) and nouns are the basic building blocks of sentences. 

These things can be:

 a person - Mary can be very noisy.

an animal - The cat slept all day.

a place - Amsterdam is a great city.

an idea - Love is very important.

Nouns can be singular.

car

desk

boy

girl

boss

bus

Nouns can be plural.

cars

desks

boys

girls

BUT...

bosses

buses

Which of these words are nouns?
The dog was chasing the cat around the house

1. chasing / around / house
2. was / chasing / cat
3. dog / cat / house
4. the / the / the

What is the plural of the word 'bush'?

1. bushs
2. bushes

What should be different in this sentence? Write down the correct form of the words.
'They are a very rich family, because they have two house and three car.'

Articles

In this case it is a type of word and not an article you can find in a newspaper...

You can find articles in front of nouns.

There are two types:

Articles

Type 1 'the':

We use 'the' when we mean a specific thing (a noun).

'He uses the pen to write on the board.'

We use the article 'the' with all nouns.

Articles

Type 2 'a/an':

We use 'a/an' when we do not mean one specific thing, but it can be any kind of that thing.

'He uses a pen to write on the board.'

'She won an award for her performance.'

Articles

We use the article 'a' when the noun starts with a consonant.

a ball

a table

a car

Consonants

b

d

p

j

h

t

Articles

We use the article 'an' when the noun starts with a vowel.

an egg

an apple

an award

Vowels

a

i

u

e

o

Pronouns

Subject pronouns:

I

you

he

she

it

we

you

they

Pronouns

Object pronouns:

me

you

him

her

it

us

you 

them

Pronouns

1. Pronouns as the subject of a sentence.

I like your dress.

You are late.

He is my friend.

It is raining.

She is on holiday.

We live in England.

Pronouns

2. Pronouns as the object of a sentence.

I can see you.

She doesn't like him.

3. Pronouns after prepositions.

She is waiting for me.

Give it to him.

Which words are the pronouns in this sentence?
'I like to play games with him.'

1. like / him
2. I / him
3. play / games
4. I / with

Prepositions

Prepositions usually come in front of nouns and pronouns.

I get up early in the morning.

John is waiting for her.

Prepositions

There are A LOT of prepositions in English. The best way to study them is to look them up in a dictionary or by reading a lot of English.

Here are 10 of the most common prepositions:

of / in / to / for / with / on / at / from / by / about

Which of these words are prepositions?

'After the plane crashed into the water, he found himself on a tropical island.'

1. after / into / on
2. crashed / found
3. he / himself
4. plane / water / island

Verbs

A verb is a word of 'action'! So a verb always says something about what someone or something is doing.

• He works every day.
• She played football when she was young.
• I play video games when I come home from school.

Which words are the verbs in this sentence?
'I am happy that I can go to school every day.'

1. am / I / go
2. can / go / to
3. am / can / go
4. am / happy / school

Verbs 

Main verb: ≈ primary verb -> carry the meaning or action

He runs to work.

Auxiliary verb: ≈ helping verb -> additional grammatical info.

He is running to work.

to be, to do, to have, to can, must, could, should, would, might...

Which words are verbs in this sentence?
'I might have cooked the pasta too long.'

1. have / cooked
2. have/ cooked / too
3. cooked / too
4. might/ have / cooked

Is 'might' a main verb or an auxiliary verb?

1. Main verb
2. Auxiliary verb

Is 'to see' a main verb or an auxiliary verb?

1. Main verb
2. Auxiliary verb

Adjectives

Remember nouns?

An adjective is a word that says something about a noun.

The adjective can come before a noun:

He was eating the tasty soup.

The adjective can come after the verb:

The soup is tasty.

Adjectives

An adjective only comes after the verb when it is a linking verb or a form of 'to be'.

Linking verbs: to feel, to taste, to smell, etc. -> they describe the subject rather than the action 

The cow is happy.

Driving is faster than walking.

It looks strange.

Is 'to taste' a main verb, an auxiliary verb or a linking verb?

1. Main verb
2. Auxiliary verb
3. Linking verb

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that say something about a verb, an adjective or another adverb.

So, adverbs are not the same as adjectives!

Adverbs

Adverb - verb

He drives quickly.

She sang beatifully.

They worked nicely.

How to form an adverb:

adjective + -ly

Adverbs

Adverb - adjective

That extremely beatiful house.

Is 'happily' an adjective or an adverb?

'She is happily married.'

1. adjective
2. adverb

Is 'fast' an adjective or an adverb?

'She is an extremely fast worker.'

1. adjective
2. adverb

Is 'easy' an adjective or an adverb?

'These questions are easy.'

1. adjective
2. adverb

Is 'really' an adjective or an adverb?

'My brother drives really well.'

1. adjective
2. adverb

Conjunction 

= a word used to connect words, phrases, clauses or sentences

FANBOYS

because, if, after, both, either, neither, nor

WORD CLASSES

OPEN classes: (new) words can enter or dissepear

main verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs...

e.g. computer, upcycle 

CLOSED classes: essential to grammar

articles, auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunction...