WHAT IS GRAMMER

Grammar simply means a set of innate linguistic rules that reside in the
mind of a component speaker of a language to differentiate between
correct and incorrect sentences shows that speaker knows grammar.
In every human language, works constitute the chief means by which
ideas, feelings and emotions are expressed. Words are usually grouped
for the purpose of linguistic analysis into classes based on their
grammatical properties. This grouping was done into eight parts of
speech.
The 8 parts of speech or word class are: NOUN, VERB, PRONOUN,
ADJECTIVE, PREPOSITION, ADVERB, CONJUNCTION and INTERJECTION.
English words are classified into CONTENT WORDS and FUNCTION
WORDS.
 CONTENT WORDS are the majority of parts of speech, they are
open-ended in that, they possess an infinite ability to generate
new members, they include: noun, verb, adverb and adjective. In
other word, content words are words that have meaning in
isolation.
 FUNCTION WORDS are also known as grammatical words or
closed class system, they are words that cannot stand alone and
make meaning, they include: preposition, article, preposition and
auxiliary verbs
PARTS OF SPEECH (WORD CLASS)
NOUN
The word noun is coined from a Latin word ‘Nomen’ which means
‘name’ a noun in its traditional sense, is thing – naming word. This
means whatever has a name is a noun.
E.g.
 Persons _ Shehu, Ruth, Aminu
 Places _ Kaduna, Lagos, Ogun
 Animals _ Lion, pig, dog
 Objects _ Table, Pen, Chair
 Abstraction _ Pain, happiness
 Institutions _ Kaduna state University, world bank
NOUN TYPES
Noun has been divided into many types, however, there are two
major groups into which all types of nouns may be classified. They
are:
 Proper Noun
 Common Noun
PROPER NOUN
These are names of special or specific places, persons, animals,
countries, institutions etc. they always begin with capital letters
whenever they appear in a sentence.
E.g.
 QUALITY _ goodness, kindness, honesty
 ACTION _ Theft, movement
 STATUS _ Poverty, hunger
COMMON NOUN
The common noun variety is divided into ABSTRACT NOUN,
CONCRETE NOUN, COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS, and
COLLECTIVE NOUN.
 COMMON NOUNS: common nouns are general names given to
persons, things and animals of the same class.
E.g.
 Classes of Persons _ man, soldier, teacher
  Classes of animals _ Fish,
 Places _ School, airport
a. ABSTRACT NOUNS: Abstract nouns are names of thing that do not
have physical or tangible existence.
E.g.
 QUALITY _ goodness, kindness, honesty
 ACTION _ Theft, movement
 STATUS _ Poverty, hunger
b. CONCRETE NOUN: Concrete nouns are names of things that have
tangible existence and can be seen and touched. E.g., stones,
books, water etc.
c. COUNTABLE NOUN: countable nouns are names of things that
can be counted e.g., teeth, desks, books etc.
d. UNCOUNTABLE NOUN: Uncountable nouns are also known as
“mass nouns” they are names of things that cannot be counted
they often denote substances and abstract things e.g., petrol,
water, blood, oil etc.
FUNCTIONS OF NOUNS
1. SUBJECT OF THE SENTENCE: Sentences are formed with the
subject being the basic part of the sentence. Nouns function as
the subject of a sentence when they answer the question “who”
or “what” is doing the action or ‘who’ or what is being the state of
being in a sentence. E.g.
 John Kicked the ball
 The sky seemed hazy

2. DIRECT OBJECT OF THE VERB: A noun can function as a direct

object in a sentence when it answers the question ‘whom’ or
what is receiving the action of the verb. If a direct object exists in
 a sentence, it always follows the verb. Equally the verb cannot be
a verb of action. E.g., John kicked the ball. The word ‘ball ‘in the
above sentence is the object as well as the direct object
3. INDIRECT OBJECT: A noun can function as an indirect object which
like a direct object requires a verb of function. An indirect object
receives the action of verb indirectly. E.g.
John Supplied him some goods

Direct object Indirect object

4. SUBJECT COMPLEMENT: Nouns can function as subject
compliment, usually when they follow a verb of being and answer
the question ‘who’ or ‘what’ E.g., the man is an engineer
5. OBJECT COMPLEMENT: Object complement sentences called
objective complement is usually a noun, pronoun or an adjective
which comes after a direct object to rename or modify the direct
object. E.g., we met the boy eating
6. APPOSITIVE: Nouns can function as appositive; appositive
rename another noun in the sentence. An appositive most follow
another noun and rename that noun. Comma usually set off and
appositive noun with its mediators from the rest of the sentence.
E.g., meet my new classmate, James. In the above sentence James
is a noun immediately following and receiving the noun
classmate.
PRONOUNS
A pronoun is a word that replaces or substitutes a noun or a noun
phrase in a sentence. The word which a pronoun replaces is
known as antecedent of the pronoun.
TYPES OF PRONOUNS
1. Personal pronoun: A personal pronoun refers to a specific person
or thing, and changes its form to signify person, number, gender
 and case. There are three persons in English language which help
to identify personal pronouns. They are:
a. The first person (the person speaking)
b. The second person (the person spoken to)
c. The third person (the person spoken about)
 Pronouns representing the person speaking (first person)
are: I, we (as subject), me us (as object)
 Second persons pronouns is ‘you’ it is used as both singular
and plural, as well as object and subject
 Third person pronouns are: she, he, they, it (as subject)
while her, him, them, I (as object)
2. Possessive Pronoun: these are pronouns that show possession.
They show that something belongs to someone or something they
are: my, her, your, their, our etc.
3. Interrogative pronoun: These pronouns are mainly used to ask
questions, they are: who, whom, which, what, whose, where and
whoever, They are also referred to as WH questions. E.g.,
 Who is knocking the gate?
 Where are you going?
4. Reflexive pronoun: These are pronouns which the action
performed by the subject come back directly to the subject, just
like the reflection of a mirror. In other words the subject of the
sentence is as the same as the object. Reflexive pronouns always
end in – self (for singular) and ‘selves’ (for plural). They are:
myself, himself, itself, yourself, oneself (for singular) ourselves,
themselves, yourselves (for plural)
5. Reciprocal pronouns: These pronouns are as the same as
reflective pronouns. The only difference is that, the action
performs by the subject does not come back to the subject but
 share between two or more people. Those pronouns are: each,
other, one another.
6. Demonstrative pronouns: Demonstrative pronouns are used to
show or point at things, places and people. They are: this, these,
that and those.
7. Relative pronouns: Relative pronouns do the work of a
conjunction and that of another pronoun by joining two simple
sentences into a complex or compound one. They are: who/whom
(used for people), which (used for things), that (used for people
and things), and whose (used for possession) E.g.,
 Here is a book which teaches English
 Dikko has a dog that is called Nigga
 Prot Soyinka who won the prize is a Nigerian
8. Indefinite pronouns: Indefinite pronouns as the name suggesting
are not definite or specific in their function. They do not point out
any particular thing or person. They are words like: everyone,
anybody, everybody, someone, somebody, some, several, all, few,
none, both, etc.
ADJECTIVES
An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun. It makes
a noun or pronoun more specific by giving more details about it. It
helps a reader to have a clear picture of what is being talked
about
E.g., the fat tall man crossed the road.
In the above sentence, the adjectives tall and fat tell more about
the man who crossed the road
POSITION OF ADJECTIVES
Adjectives occupy two typical positions in a sentence
(a) PRE- MODIFIERS OR ATTRIBUTIVE ADJECTIVES: these are
adjectives that come before the noun or pronoun they qualify
E.g., The young man helped the girl
The excited boy receives his reword
The words “young” and “ exited” are adjectives in the above
sentences because they tell more about the subjects
(b) PREDICATIVE ADJECTIVES: these are adjectives that are
separated from the noun or pronoun and put after a verb to
function as the complement of the verb. E.g.,
 James if beautiful
 He appears happy

IDENTIFICATION OF ADJECTIVE
Some adjectives can be identified by certain suffixes which
includes the following;
 able
 ous
 er
 est
 ful
 is/
 ible
TYPES OF ADJECTIVES
1. Possessive adjectives: These are adjectives that show
possession. They make the meaning of noun or pronouns
more definite. They are words like: his, her, my, out, their
etc. E.g., This is his jacket, These are our pens
 2. DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES: These are adjectives that
point out nouns, they are words like: this, those, that, and
those. E.g., I like this tree, I don’t like that tree
3. INTERROGATIVE ADJECTIVES: These adjectives are used
with nouns to ask questions they are words sch as: what,
which, whose. E.g.,
 What book are you studying?
 Which car is yours?
 Whose money was found?
ARTICLES OF ADJECTIVES
The most frequently used adjectives in English language are
‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ these words are usually called articles. ‘a’
and ‘an’ are indefinite articles as they refer to one of a
general group. While ‘the’ is the definite article as it refers
to someone or something in particular. E.g.,
 A car hit him
 She danced for an hour
 The book is old
Note: ‘A’ is used before a word that begins with a consonant sound
while ‘an’ is used before a word that begin with vowel sounds
COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES
Adjectives can be used to compare one thing with another, or one thing
with many other things. The form of adjective used to compare two
things is called COMPARATIVE FORM. shouter adjectives form the
comparative by adding ‘er’ E.g.,
 She is taller than her friends
 She is faster than his friend
Longer adjectives are adjectives ending in ‘ful’ – ‘ous’- able, they use
‘more’ or ‘less’ according to direction of comparison. E.g.,
 This house is less spacious
 Amina is mor beautiful than her sister
Superlative form is used to compare more than two things. It is formed
by adding -est’ to the adjective E.g.,
 The tallest boy in the class is hayatu
Note: Do not use (-er’) and ‘more’ or ‘-est’ and ‘most’ at the same time
Also, there are few adjectives that use new words for the comparative
and superlative form. E.g.,
Good better best
Bad worse worst
Little less least

VERBS
A verb is a word used to describe or express an action or state of being.
It tells what the subject (noun or pronoun) does in a sentence. Verbs
are the most important words in any language. Without them. One can
hardly communicate in any language.
The form of a verb in a sentence is always determined by the time
which the action or event it expresses take place. For instance, the
action may be in the present, past or future time. E.g.,
 Adamu Jumps over the fence (action – present)
 Ade is sick (State of being – present time)
 TYPES OF VERBS
Verbs are of different types depending on their nature and function in
sentences.
 Lexical verbs: Lexical verbs are otherwise called main verbs.
They are verbs that directly tell what the subject of a
sentence does. They do not rely on another verb to perform
their function in a sentence. One could say main verbs are all
verbs except the auxiliary verbs. E.g.,
 My wife cooks well
 Abubakar caught a large fish
The words underlined in the above sentences are main verbs because
each tells what the subjects in the sentences is without the help of
auxiliary verbs.
AUXILIARY VERBS
Auxiliary verbs ae never used alone. They are used with main verbs to
show tense, to form questions and negative sentences. The main
function of auxiliary verb is to help and make the meaning of the main
verb clear. Equally the function of auxiliary verbs vying depending on
the constant of usage. Some auxiliary verbs can be used as the only (the
main verb) in a sentence as underlined in the following sentences:
 Abdul is sick
 We are a lucky generation
Auxiliary verb is divided into three categories
 The verb to “DO”: these types of verbs are used to denote:
questions, time and negations is a sentence. These forms of
verbs are:
 Do
  Doing
 Does
 Done
 Did
E.g., Caidado does the work
I can do the work
We did the work
 The verb to “BE”: these types of verbs are used to show
tense and question. They are:
 An
 Is
 Are
 Was
 Were
 Being
 Been
 Be
 The verb to “HAVE”: These verbs have the following forms:
a. Has
b. Have
c. Had
FINITE VERBS
Finite verbs are verbs that can be used alone in a sentence to make
complete sense. These forms of verbs are used in the simple present
tense and simple past tense.
E.g., Our teacher gives us homework in English
(Simple Past tense)
 NONE – FINITE VERBS
These are verbs forms that can not stand alone in a sentence without
the help of auxiliary verbs to make meaning.
E.g., Our teacher is to give us homework in English
(Infinite present)
Our teacher has given us homework in English
(Past participle)
Our teacher is giving us homework in English
(Present participle)
INTRANSITIVE VERBS
These are verbs that do not require an object to make a sentence
meaningful. E.g.,
 Rukayya smiles
 Musa cried and prayed
TRANSITIVE VERBS
Transitive verbs are verbs forms that require an object to make a
sentence meaningful. E.g.,
 John kicked the ball
 I have done my homework
REGULAR VERBS
Majority of verbs in English language are regular verbs. Regular verbs
are verbs forms that form their past tense and past participle by adding
– ‘ed’ – ‘d’ E.g.,
Present tense Past tense Past participle
Walk Walked Walked
Open Opened Opened
Dream Dreamed Dreamed/dreamt
Sleep Slept Slept

IRREGULAR VERBS
These are verbs forms that do not use – ‘ed’ – ‘d’ or ‘f’ to form their
past tense and past participle instead they use other words to form
their past tense and past participle. E.g.,
Present tense Past tense Past Participle
Begin Began Begun
Bit Bit Bitten
Come Came Come
Drink Drank Drunk

ADVERBS
Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. It
tells how something was done. E.g.,
 The old man walks slowly
 I will see you tomorrow
 She dances well
TYPES OF ADVERBS
Adverbs are classified into types according to the setting and situation
they indicate.
 ADVERBS OF MANNER: These forms of adverbs show haw an
event or action was performed. E.g.,
  The man walks slowly
 The woman sat sorrowfully
 ADVERBS OF TIME: These forms of adverbs show when an
action was performed. E.g.,
 I will see you tomorrow
 Amina lost her bag yesterday
 ADVERBS OF PLACE: These forms of adverbs show where an
action was performed. E.g.,
 Tanimu is playing outside
 He came in
FORMATION OF ADVERBS
(a) Majority of adverbs are formed by adding ‘ly’ at the end of
adjectives. E.g.,
 Bad – badly
 Slow – slowly
 Happy – happily
Note: Not all word that end with ‘-ly’ are adverbs, there are adjectives
that end with ‘-ly’. E.g., friendly, heavenly, ugly, cowardly. Etc.
(b) Certain adverbs can indicate direction. These adverbs have
endings such as: ‘word’ e.g., Backwards, eastward, northward,
westward etc.
(c) Some adverbs end with – ‘wise’ e.g., clockwise, likewise,
otherwise etc.
(d) Certain adverbs do not have special ending E.g., always,
often, here, late etc.
(e) Certain phrase function as single – word adverbs e.g., in the
Monday, at the school, to the bathroom.
(f) Some clauses can also function in adverbs position. E.g.,
 As soon as I finished
  When it was raining
POSITION OF ADVERB
An adverb can be located in a number of positions in a sentence.
Adverbs occupy initial, medial and final positions. E.g.,
 Now I will eat (initial position)
 I now will eat (medial position)
 I will eat now (final position)
FUNCTIONS OF ADVERBS
1) AS MODIFIERS OF VERBS:
 The girl sang beautifully (‘beautifully’ modifies ‘sang’)
 The governor will arrive tomorrow
2) AS MODIFIERS OF ADJECTIVES:
 She is very upset about her friend
 My teacher is extremely rich
3) AS MODIFIERS OF ANOTHER ADVERB:
He spoke very emotionally