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BASIC TOOLS CONTINUED

• INTRODUCTION
• The meaning of a university

• An overview of the university

• Basic tools that aid learning:

- dictionary: meaning and uses

- thesaurus: meaning and uses

- encyclopedia: meaning and uses

• Parts of Speech

• The Sentence: Meaning, elements, types and functions

• Punctuation marks and mechanical skills

• Concord

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The University
• A university is an institution of higher learning with the authority to
award degrees at bachelor, master and doctoral levels. Research and
learning are the basic activities that take place in a university.
• The basic tools that aid learning in a university include:

• The Dictionary
• A dictionary is a reference material in which words are alphabetically
arranged and their meanings provided.

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Meaning
Uses of the Dictionary
Spelling
Pronunciation
Etymology
Word class

The Thesaurus
A thesaurus is a book which lists words and their synonyms and antonyms.

Uses of the Thesaurus

Synonyms
Antonyms
Spellings
Etymology

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The Encyclopedia
• An encyclopedia is a reference work containing information on
any branch of knowledge, or on one particular branch, usually
arranged in an alphabetical order.

• Uses of the Encyclopedia

• Detailed information
• Research
• Learning

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GRAMMAR AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Parts of Speech
Word classes are conventionally called parts of speech. Parts of speech designate the parts or roles played by words in any spoken or written
communication. They include:

Noun: A noun gives the name of a person, place, thing or idea.

E.g. Grace left Lagos by train in disappointment.

Pronoun: A pronoun stands for a person, place, thing or idea. It replaces a noun to avoid repetition.
E.g. John has apologized over his conduct last night.

Adjective: An adjective modifies or qualifies a noun or pronoun.

E.g. He is a mad man. The beautiful lady smiled at the young man.

Verb: A verb expresses the action or state of a noun or pronoun.

E.g. James went to work. He is our king.
Adverb: An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, a preposition or another adverb.
Ngozi writes very slowly.

Preposition: A preposition indicates the position of a person, place, thing or idea, in relation to another.
E.g. Jane sits beside John in class. I have no money on me. My money is in the bank.

Conjunction: A conjunction joins a word or group of words to another word or group of words.
E.g. Emeka and Ekene are good friends. My mother went to the market but could not buy anything.

N/B: Modern grammarians do not recognize interjection as a part of speech because it performs no grammatical function in a sentence.

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The Sentence
• Traditionally, a sentence is defined as a group of words which contains a
subject, a predicate and makes a complete sense or conveys a complete
message. A sentence can be a word so long as it makes a complete
meaning.
• In its written form, a sentence has four features:

• It begins with a capital letter.

• It ends with a full stop (period) or an exclamation mark or a question
mark.
• It contains at least one clause.
• It follows a standard word order, that is, it has a structure.

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Types of Sentence
• The Simple Sentence:
A simple sentence contains only one finite verb and is equivalent to an independent clause. It is the
most basic type of sentence and can be as short as a word. E.g. Eat! Run! Other examples include:
I am teaching.
The ice on the river melts quickly under the warm March sun.
Note that a simple sentence is not just determined by the length but by the structure.
• The Compound Sentence:
A compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses (or simple sentences) joined by
coordinating conjunctions such as “and”, “but” and “or”.
E.g. Onitsha is a commercial city but the people in Onitsha are poor.
• The Compound-Complex Sentence:
A compound-complex sentence is made up of two independent clauses and one or more dependent
clauses.
E.g. Even though he prefers to eat with a fork, he chooses to use chopsticks in Chinese restaurants;
however, they aren’t easy to use.

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• The Complex Sentence

A complex sentence is made up of one independent clause and at least one dependent
clause.

E.g. She was asked to call her husband before they operated on her.

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The Functions of Sentence Types

Sentences can also be classified according to function or the type of information or responses they give. Accordingly, there
are four functions:
declarative
imperative
exclamatory
Interrogative

The Declarative Sentence

A sentence is described as declarative if its function is merely to inform the reader or listener. A sentence of this nature
ends with a full stop.
E.g. The dry season has set in.
We shall plant our seed yams when the rainy season sets in.

The Imperative Sentence

This sentence is used when we give commands, make requests or say prayers.
E.g. Leave this office at once.
Give me the note-book, please.
“Give us this day, our daily bread.”
Note that since the imperative is supposed to be directed to a listening audience, the subject of its sentence is usually
omitted.

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• The Exclamatory Sentence
A sentence which expresses emotion or the intense feeling of the speaker is described as an exclamatory sentence.
E.g. How big this house is! We have what a wonderful counsellor!

• The Interrogative Sentence

Sentences that pose questions and expect answers to those questions are described as interrogative. They may be
formed in three ways:

• inverting the subject and the verb e.g You are hungary? Are you hungary? Aren’t you hungary? (yes I am)
• introducing the auxilliary verb e.g should,c
• using the “wh” words.

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The Elements of a Sentence

Elements of a sentence refers to its parts. We shall examine the way the different parts are
ordered/structured to achieve meaning.
A sentence is made up of subject and predicate. Consider the following:

Jesus wept.
Jesus – subject; wept – predicate.

The young man is handsome.

The young man – subject; is handsome – predicate.

The predicate can be further analyzed into verb, object, compliment and adverbial. As such, the
potential structure of a sentence is S = SVOCA.

Obi laughed. = SV Ifeanyi ate the food = SVO

Sylva looks neat = SVC They finished their food in the afternoon = SVOA

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Concord
The word concord means agreement. Basically, concord deals mainly with number agreement between
subject and verb, and case agreement in pronouns.

• Rules of Concord
1a. A verb must agree with its subject in number/person. A singular subject is followed by a singular
verb. E.g. The girl has come.
b. A plural subject is followed by a plural verb. E.g. The girls have come.
c. A compound singular subject is followed by a plural verb.
E.g. The boy and the girl are friends. The president and his wife are rich.
d. A compound plural subject is followed by a plural verb.
E.g. The army officers and their wives have been invited.
i. When a compound singular subject is coordinated by the following: “as well as”, “together with”,
“with”, the verb is singular.
E.g. The president as well as his wife is here.
dii. When a compound subject gives the impression of a unit, the verb is singular. E.g. Bread and butter
is delicious meal.

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diii. When a compound subject is joined with a correlative (neither…nor), the verb is singular. E.g. Neither the
boy nor the girl is here.
Note that when the nouns joined by the correlatives differ in number, the verb agrees with the noun nearer to
it. E.g. Neither the boys nor the teacher is here.
Neither the teacher not the boys are here.
e. Indefinite pronouns also take singular verbs.
E.g. Everybody has submitted the assignment. Each student pays the levy.

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Punctuation Marks
Punctuation marks are very important elements of grammar. They have been defined as symbols that
indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be
observed when reading aloud. Their major function is to make meaning clearer in sentences and
phrases. Consider the following sentences:
a. Slow machines at work.
b. Slow, machines at work.

Without punctuation marks , meanings are muddled up. Let us examine the following punctuation
marks:

a. The Full stop(.): It is also called pause or period.

i. it is used to mark the end of a sentence.
ii. it is used after initials in names of persons. E.g. P. N. Okeke

c. The Comma (,) : i. it is used to separate items in a series.

E.g. The government inspection team visited Abia, Ebonyi, Imo and Anambra states.

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ii. It is used before: and, but, or, nor, for, so and yet, when they join independent clauses.
E.g. Peter came here with a book, but he did not open it during his presentation.

a. Apostrophe (’): i. it is used to form the possessive case of singular noun in addition to ‘s’. E.g. Emeka’s
house is across the road.
ii. To form the possessive case of a plural noun. This is done by adding an apostrophe after the ‘s’.
iii. To show where letters have been omitted in a contraction.

d. Semicolon (;): i. it is used between independent clauses not joined by a correlative.

ii. it is used between items in a series, if they contain commas.

e. Colon(:): i. it is used to introduce “what follows”.

f. Hyphen (-): i. it is used to divide a word at the end of a line

ii. It is used to link a compound adjective when it precedes the word it modifies.

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g. Dash (–): i. it is used to separate parts of a sentence.
ii. It is used to mean “namely”, “in other words” or “that is” before an explanation.

h. Exclamation mark (!): i. it is used to show strong feelings. E.g. That’s so cute!

Ellipsis (…): i. it is used to indicate the part of a sentence or sequence that has been omitted.

j. Question mark (?): i. it is used to indicate an interrogative sentence.

k. Quotation marks (“ ”): i. it is used to indicate a quotation.

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