LESSON 1: THE PARTS OF SPEECH

I- NOUNS:
A- WHAT IS A NOUN?
A noun is a word used to name a person, an animal, a thing, a place or an idea.
Ex:
- person: a man, a woman, John, Tom,…
- animal: a tiger, a cat…
- thing: a table, a bottle, a board, air, electricity,…
- place: a city, a school,…
- idea: happiness, love, hatred, suffering…

B- HOW ARE NOUNS CLASSIFIED?

Nouns in English can be classified as follows:

1- Common nouns and Proper nouns:

+ A common noun refers to a person or a thing in general.
Ex: a lawyer, a pen, a cellphone…
+ A proper noun refers to a specific person or thing.
Ex: John, Alaska…

2- Concrete nouns and Abstract nouns:

+ A concrete noun refers to a person or a thing that exists in the physical world.
Ex: a man, a mouse….
+ An abstract noun refers to a person or a thing that doesn’t exist in the physical world.
Ex: love, freedom, God, an angel, Santa Claus….

3- Countable nouns and Uncountable nouns:

a. A countable noun refers to what can be counted or listed as individuals/ each
individual.
Ex: a table, 2 tables…
+ Singular: a/an/one + Noun (ex: an apple, a university, an hour, a chair…)
+ Plural:
 N-s, N-es (-ch, -s, -sh, -o, -x)
Ex: watches, dishes, boxes…
 N-ies (-by, -dy, -ly)
Ex: a baby -> babies, a lady -> ladies
 N-ves (-f, -fe)
Ex: a leaf -> leaves, a life -> lives, a shelf -> shelves
 Irregular: a man-> men, a woman -> women, a datum -> data,
a fish -> fish, a sheep -> sheep, a child -> children
 b. Uncountable nouns: cannot be made plural or used with a/an
Ex: sugar -> some sugar
NOTE: A number of nouns in English may be countable in one meaning and
uncountable in another meaning.
Ex: Orange: an orange, oranges (countN); orange (Uncount, màu cam)
Iron: iron (Uncount); an iron, irons (countN)

C- COMPOUND NOUNS:
A compound noun consists of two or more nouns and the previous noun functions as an
adjective modifying the one that follows:
N1 + N2 (trong đó noun 1 đóng vai trò tính từ)
N1 + N2 + N3 ( trong đó noun 1 đóng vai trò tính từ)
Ex: a car key, a computer keyboard, a car race, a race car….
Vietnamese teachers of English: giáo viên dạy tiếng anh người Việt
English students: sinh viên người Anh
Students of English: sinh viên học tiếng Anh

NOTE: 1 noun làm chức năng tính từ: mô tả chức năng (function); mô tả mục đích (purpose);
mô tả chất liệu, vật liệu (material)
Ex: a golden ring (nhẫn mạ vàng), a gold ring (nhẫn bằng vàng).
a green house (màu của ngôi nhà xanh, nhấn house)
e green house (nhà kín trồng cây, nhấn green: công dụng)

D- NOUNS IN THE POSSESSIVE CASE:

N’s + N
Adj + N
a/an N-s’ + Nsingular
a Nplu’s + Nsingular
≠ N2 of N1
Ex:
- NTMK high school was a girls’ school.
- a children’s N
- Mai has a women’s fashion store.
- My brothers’ names are John and Tom.

II- PRONOUNS:
A- WHAT IS A PRONOUN?
A pronoun is a word used to replace a noun in order not to repeat the noun.
Ex:
- Mr Smith is a doctor; he is my family’s friend.
- Mr Smith has a small house; it is in a blind alley. (hẻm cụt)
B- HOW ARE PRONOUNS CLASSIFIED?
Pronouns in English are classified into 8 kinds:
(1) Personal pronouns, (đại từ nhân xưng)
(2) Reflexive pronouns, (đại từ phản thân)
(3) Emphasizing pronouns, (đại từ nhấn mạnh)
(4) Demonstrative pronouns, (đại từ chỉ định)
(5) Indefinite pronouns, (đại từ bất định)
(6) Reciprocal pronouns, (đại từ hỗ tương)
(7) Relative pronouns, and (đại từ quan hệ)
(8) Interrogative pronouns. (đại từ nghi vấn)

1- Personal pronouns:
+ Personal pronouns in the subjective case:

Person\Number Singular Plural

1 I We
2 You You
3 He/She/It They

+ Personal pronouns in the objective case: me, you, him, her, it, us, and them.

+ Personal pronouns in the possessive case:

Subj PP Obj PP Possessive Adj Possessive PP

I me my mine
You you your yours
He him his his
She her her hers
It it its its
We us our ours
They them their theirs
Possessive adj + N = Possessive PP

Ex:

- The future is yours. (your future)

- This is my book. – Where’s yours? (your book)
- You do your work; I do mine.
- You go your way; I go mine.
- Your future is a bright future.
Yours is a bright future.
- Tell me when you will be mine.

2- Reflexive pronouns:
A RP indicates that the subject of a sentence performs an action or to itself.
myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
 S + V + RP
S + V + PREP + RP
Ex:
- He killed him.
- He killed himself.
- You should take care of yourself.
- Do you ever listen to (talk to/ talk with) yourself?

3- Emphasizing pronouns:
An emphasizing pronoun is used to emphasize a noun or a pronoun.
Ex:
- I did it myself.
- I myself gave that order.
- I wrote her a letter. -> I wrote her herself a letter.

4- Demonstrative pronouns:
A demonstrative pronoun refers to a specific person, thing or idea.
There are 4 pronouns of this kind: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE
Ex:
- This is my father.
- That’s a good idea.
- These are my parents.
- Those were the days I’ve never forgot.

5- Indefinite pronouns:
An indefinite pronoun refers to a person, a thing or an idea in general. The most
common indefinite pronoun includes:

something anything everything nothing

someone anyone everyone no one
somebody anybody everybody nobody
another many several
other much none
others more both
each few one
all A few two
most little
some A little
any
Ex:
- I need something to eat now.
- I don’t like this one. Would you show me another, please?
- Has everyone arrived? – Five have arrived. The others are coming soon.
- Whose pens are these? – Two are mine, and the others are Emi’s.
 - I asked 5 children, and each told me a different story.
- No 2 leaves are alike; each is a unique existence.

6- Reciprocal pronouns:
A reciprocal pronoun is used to indicate a mutual relationship between 2 or more parts
of a plural noun or a plural pronoun.
EACH OTHER/ ONE ANOTHER ( lẫn nhau, của nhau)
- S + V + Reciprocal Pronoun (each other/ one another)
- S + V + preposition + each other/one another.
- each other/one another + ‘s + N
Ex:
- We should help one another.
- Their children never listen to each other.
- We always try to love and to take care of each other.
- We often use each other’s cellphones.
- We are always in each other’s thoughts.

7- Relative pronouns:
A relative pronoun is used to introduce a dependent clause which is called a relative
clause.
These pronouns include: WHICH, THAT, WHO, WHOM & WHOSE.
Noun
+ Rel-Pron + S + V (Relative Clause)
Pr onoun

Ex:

- This is the person whom we can trust.

- This is the person who is ready to help us.
N1 + whose + N2 + S +V

Ex:

- This is the doctor whose son you met yesterday.

- Did you apologize to the woman whose coffee you spilt?

8- Interrogative pronouns:
An interrogative pronoun used to make an information question
Yes-No question
Information
Or Tag
Ex: What are you? = What do you do?
 These pronouns include: WHAT, WHATEVER, WHICH, WHICHEVER, WHO,
WHOEVER, WHOM, WHOMEVER and WHOSE (đứng 1 mình là pronoun, gắn
thêm 1 cái gì ko còn là pronoun)

Ex:
- To whom would you like to speak? (ông muốn gặp ai?)
- Which is yours?
- Whose is this?
WH + AUX + S + V?
WH +V?
Ex:
- What are you doing?
- What is going on over there?
- What did you do last night?
- What happened here last night?
- Whom were you with last night?
- Who gave that order?

III- ADJECTIVES:
A- WHAT IS AN ADJECTIVE?
An adjective is a word used to modify or to limit the meaning of a noun or a pronoun.
Ex:
- The house is beautiful.
- She sold the smaller house.
- I need a round table.

B- HOW ARE ADJECTIVES CLASSIFIED?

An adjective can be classified into descriptive adjectives and limiting adjectives.

1- Descriptive adjectives:
A descriptive adjective describes a quality or a state of a noun or a pronoun.
Ex:
- John is an honest man.
- The house is still new.

2- Limiting adjectives;
A limiting adjective limits the meaning of a noun or a pronoun.
Ex: I like your book.

These adjectives include:

i/ articles: a, an & the;
ii/ possessive adjectives: my, her, his, your, its, our, their;
iii/ this, that, these, those;
 iv/ ordinal numbers: first, second, third, …, and
v/ cardinal numbers: one, two, three,…

Ex:
- John is a doctor in the village. (John là 1 trong những bác sĩ có trong làng, làng có nhiều
bác sĩ)
- John is the doctor in the village. (ngôi làng có 1 ông bác sĩ thôi, đó là John)
- This is my father.
- This table is not large enough for all of us.
- How much are these jeans.
- This plan sounds more effective than that one.
- Where were you on the 20th of this month.
- I ‘d like 20 envelopes, please.
- We work on floor 6 (of the bulding). (the sixth floor)

C- THE USE OF ARTICLES:

1- The indefinite article (a/an):
An indefinite article refers to a person, a thing, a place or and idea in general.
a/an + Nsingular
Ex:
- My mom has a fashion shop on NTMK street.
- It was a Sunday.
- A Mr John called when you were out.
- The cat is cute. It is a he or a she?

2- The definite article (the):

A definite article refers to a specific person, thing, place or idea.
Ex:
- John is the one we are looking for.
- John is the doctor in the village.
- There are three Mai’s in this class, but the Mai you want to see is not here.

The article THE is used in the following cases:

i/ The + Nsingular: the whole class of the Noun

Ex:
- the computer: máy tính nói chung
- the eye: con mắt nói chung
- the whale: cả chủng loại cá voi

ii/ The + adjective: the whole class of the Noun inplied by the adjective
- Concrete adjective: cụ thể
 The rich
The poor
The young + Vplural
The unemployed
The homeless
The handicapped
The oppressed (người bị áp bức)
Ex: The rich also cry.

- Abstract adjective: trừu tượng

The good
The evil
The beautiful + Vsingular
The ever-changing: cái vô thường
The never-changing: cái hằng thường
Ex: The battle between the good and the evil is an endless one.
iii/ The last name –s:
The Smiths, The Wrights…
Ex: When did the Wrights invent the airplane?

D- The use of ANOTHER, OTHER, THE OTHER, OTHERS and THE OTHERS

Indefinite: a/an; another

Sigular

Definite: the; the other

COUNT

Indefinite: N-s; other + Nplu = others

Plural
Definite: the N-s; the other + Nplu = the others

NOUN

Indefinite: (some) + Nun; (some) + other + Nu

UNCOUNT

Definite: the Nu; the other + Nu

 Ex:
- I need water.
- I need the water.
- My house is on this bank of the SG river, and your house is on the other.
- Why is only one of my gloves here? Wher is the other?
- I sat at this end of the table, and she sat at the other.

- There are 10 students in my class.

One (student) is from SG.
Another (student) is from PT.
Another is from BT.
Another is from BMT.
Two other students (others) are from CM.
Three others are from DN.
The other is from LA.

NOTES:
1/ Each other/One another: lẫn nhau
2/ Every other + Nsing: cách….. 1 lần
Ex: Write your answers on every other line. (Viết 1 dòng, bỏ 1 dòng)
I go shopping every Sunday.
3/ another + Nplu (time, money, distance…)
Ex:
- I’ll be finished with this report soon. Give me another 20 minutes and I’ll be ready to go
with you. (20 phút là 1 đơn vị thời gian)
- We have another 3 kilomiters to go. (3km là 1 đơn vị khoảng cách)
- That’s not enough, mom. Give me another 50 dollars. (1 đơn vị tiền)
- Are you finished (with the test)? Not yet. I still have another 3 questions to finish.
4/ In other words.
5/ The other day/ night = a few days ago ???

IV- VERBS:
A- WHAT IS A VERB?
A verb is a word used to express an action or a state of being.
Ex:
- The sun is setting.
- It is dark outside.

B- HOW ARE VERBS CLASSIFIED IN ENGLISH?

Verbs in English can be classified into 3 types action verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs.
1- Action verbs:
An action verb is a verb that expresses a physical or a mental action.
Ex:
 - Fish swim.
- I’m having lunch.
- What are you thinking about?
- Do you believe in ghosts?

Action verbs can be further classified into intransitive verbs and transitive verbs.

a/ Intransitive verbs:
An intransitive verb is complete in meaning by itself and therefore needs no complement
at all.
Ex:
- It’s raining.
- Is John sleeping?
- All rivers flow.
- The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

b/ Transitive verbs:
 A transitive verb is not complete in meaning by itself and therefore needs a
complement of some kind.(loại nào đó)
S + VT + COMPLEMENT/ OBJ
 And the complement of a transitive verb is called the object of the verb, which receives
the action from the subject and helps the verb complete in meaning.
Ex: John is doing his homework.

NOTE: A number of verbs in English are intransitive in one meaning and transitive in
another.
Ex: to fly: (Intransitive) Can you fly?
I’m flying to HN now.
(Transitive) Can you fly a kite?
to fly sth John flies a Boeing/ Boeing’s

to move: (Intransitive) Are you going to move?

(Transitive) You can’t move any furniture…

2- Linking verbs:
 A linking verb is a verb used to express a state of being. And like a transitive verb, a
linking verb is not complete on meaning by itself and therefore needs a complement of
some kind.
S + Vlinking + COMPLEMENT (subjective complement SC)
  And the complement of a linking verb is called the subjective complement, which
helps complete the meaning of the verb and expresses the state of being of the subject.
 The most common linking verbs include: to be, to feel, look, sound, seem, smell, get,
appear, become, grow, turn, etc (so forth)….
Ex:
- It’s getting dark outside.
- You look happy tonight.
- Does the soup taste good?
- She looks like an angel.
- This purse feels like velvet. (nhung)

NOTE: A number of linking verbs can be used as intransitive and/or transitive.

VL
V
VI

VL
V
VT
VL

V VI

VT

Ex:
To get (I): How did you get there? (arrive, go, come)
(T): Where did you get it? (buy)
I got 2 messages. (receive)
(L): What do you usually do when you get angry?

To grow (I): This kind of flowers grows only in the north.

(T): Do you usually grow long hair?
Many people in GV grow flowers or vegetables for a living.
(L): Our grandmother has grown old a lot recently.

3- Helping verbs:
 A helping verb is a verb used to help the main verb to express different ideas that the
main verb cannot express.
 Helping verb can be further classified into modal verbs and auxiliary verbs.
 i/ Modal verbs: can, could, may, might, must, have to, shall, will, should, ought to, would,
used to, had better.
S + modal V
S + ought + not + to +V
Ought + S + to + V?
S + don’t/ doesn’t have to + V
Do/ Does/ Did + S + have to + V?
S + used to + V
S + didn’t use to + V
Did + S + use to + V?
Ex: You didn’t use to drink that much, did you?

ii/ Auxiliary verbs: am, is, are, was, were, do, does, did, have, has, had.

Ex: What do you do? We are working.

C- WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TENSES OF VERBS? (xem phần tenses)

D- WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT VOICES OF VERBS?

There are 2 voices of verbs in English: the active voice and the passive voice.
1- The active voice:
The active voice of a verb indicates that the subject of a sentence performs the action.
S+V
S + Vactive + O

2- The passive voice:

The passive of a verb indicates that the subjects of a sentence receive the action.
S + be + Vpp

NOTES:

i/ Only transitive verbs have the passive voice.

ii/ Active sentences and passive sentences are different kinds of sentences; there is no
changing active sentences into passive sentences or vice versa (ngược lại)
iii/ There are cases in which the passive voice must be used: the doer/performer of the action
is unknown or is unimprotant to be known

Ex:
- This building was built 50 years ago.
- It is rumored that Mai is going to get married.
- It used to be believed that the earth was square.
- Everybody is born equal.
V- ADVERBS:
A- WHAT IS AN ADVERB?
An adverb is a word used to modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb.
Ex:
- John drives recklessly. (bạt mạng)
- I’m completely wrong.
- The movie is quite good.
- Mai sings beautifully.
- She sang unusually beautifully last night.

B- WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON IDEAS EXPRESSED BY ADVERB?

1- The idea of time:
Now, then, yesterday, today, this week, this month, this year, tonight, previously, later,
late ≠ early, lately = recently, soon, ago, long ago, 2 days ago, before, afterward, since,
sometime.
Ex:
- I’ll be back soon.
- They moved here in 1990 and they have lived here since.
- I saw him 3 days ago.
- How long ago did you buy this phone?
- You should apply as soon as possible.
- We should start as early as possible.
- Let’s get together for a drink sometime, ok?

2- The idea of place:

Here, there, somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere, in, out, up, down, upstairs,
downstairs, inside, outside, upward, downward, forward, backward, around, above, below,
nearby, overseas, abroad, south, west, east, north…
Ex:
- Which way does your house face? – It faces south.
- Their children live nearby.
- In such cases, you shouldn’t move forward or backward; just wait and see.
- You can’t find this kind of flowers nowhere else.
- Do you see my phone somewhere?

NOTES:
i/ HERE/THERE + V + S (Noun)
Ex: There comes Tâm.

HERE/THERE + S (Pron) + V
Ex: Here you are. There he comes!
 ii/ NOWHERE + AUX + S +V
Ex: Nowhere else can you find.
Nowhere does threatening others get you.

3- The idea of manner:

ADJ + LY
Ex:
- She always drives carefully when it rains.
- John was badly injured.
- She answered me reluctantly.
- They paid her generously.
- They left the city secretly.
- They secretly left the city.
- They decided to leave the city secretly.
- They secretly decided to leave the city.
- I stupidly agreed to lend the money.
- He angrily denied that he had stolen the document.

NOTE the orfer of these 3 kinds of advs: MANNER – PLACE – TIME

Ex: The children were playing happily in the garden yesterday.

4- The idea of frequency:

 always, usually, frequently, often, occasionally, sometimes, rarely, seldom, scarcely,
hardly ever, nearly never, never
Ex:
- She is always on time.
- She is hardly ever late for anything.
- She seldom goes out at night.
 every day, every week, yearly = annually, one time = once, two times = twice, three
times, every 2 days,..
Ex:
- Do you check your mail box daily?
- This kind of flowers blooms every 3 centuries.

5- The idea of degree:

nearly, almost, approximately, about, around, rather, quite, very, pretty, much, far, a lot,
hardly, too, so , enough, ..
Ex:
- I nearly fell.
- The farmers lost almost all they had.
- I don’t have much money.
- I like it very much/ a lot.
- She is far more/ much more intelligent than I am.
 - John is old enough to decide for himself.
- I still haven’t replied to you email. I’ve been too busy.
- It rained so heavily yesterday afternoon.
- It’s quite a good movie.
- The movie is quite good.

VI- PREPOSITONS:
A- WHAT IS A PREPOSITON?
A preposition is a word used to combine with a noun or a noun equivalent to form a
prepositional phrase, which is used as an adjective or an adverb.
Prep + N/N.E = Prep Phrase
Ex:
- John is sleeping on the sofa. (prep phrase = adverb)
- A friend in need is a friend indeed. (prep phrase = adjective)
- I don’t like to go to school in the afternoon.
- A life without a purpose is like a boat without a landing place.
- I am interested in soccer/ you/ what you are interested in.

B- HOW ARE PREPOSITIONS CLASSIFIED?

Prepositions are classified as single and compound.
1- Single prepositons:
in, on, at, to, off, despite…
2- Compound preps:
out of, next to, because of, ahead of, in front of, opposite to, across from, due to, owing to,
thanks to, in spite of, instead of…
Ex: The house next to yours is my grandma’s.

NOTE: A number of prepositions can be used as adverbs and/or adjectives.

Ex:
- Come in.
- John fell off the house and broke his leg.
- The plane took off 5 minutes ago.
- The water is off again.

VII- CONJUNCTIONS:
A- WHAT IS A CONJUNCTION?
A conjunction is a word used to join 2 grammatical constructions, which may be 2 words, 2
phrases or 2 clauses.

B- HOW ARE CONJUNCTIONS CLASSIFIED?

Conjunctions are classified into 2 kinds: coordinating conj and subordinating conj.
1- Co-ordinating conjunctions:
A coordinating conj joins 2 grammatical units of equal function or equal importance.
There are 6 conjunctions of this kind: AND, OR, BUT (YET), NOR, FOR, SO.
A=B
Ex:
- John and I have been close friends for many years.
- I have never forgotten and will never forget those days.
- We can meet at lunch or after lunch.
- Our victory is small but important.
- You or I will have to go to the meeting tomorrow.

NOR:

S + NOT + V, NOR AUX + S + V

Ex:
- John is not smart, nor is he hard working.
- I don’t like John, nor do I hate him.
- I’m not a friend of theirs, nor am I an enemy of theirs.

FOR:

S + V, FOR + S +V
Ex: - I didn’t go there, for I don’t like going there.

SO:

S + V, SO + S + V
Ex: - The author is a well-known expert, so his book must be/ ought to be reliable.

2- Subordinating conjunctions: (từ nối chính phụ)

A subordinating conj is used to introduce a dependent clause and join it to an independent
clause.
S + V + CONJ + S + V
which
who
because
if
Ex:
- You can arrive there by 8 pm if you take this bus.
- I finally got there although/though I had to walk all the way.

NOTE: A number of prepositons in English can be used as conjunctions.

since, before, after, until, as
Ex:
- We haven’t met again since our graduation. (since: prep)
 - We haven’t met again since she has live abroad. (since: conj)
- I heard the explosion about 15 minutes after midnight.
- She walked away after I told her the truth.

VIII- ABSOLUTE ELEMENTS:

A- WHAT IS AN ABSOLUTE ELEMENT?
An A.B is an expression that has no grammatical function in the sentence in which it appears;
instead, it helps express strong feelings or strong emotions or the writer’s or speaker’s attitude
towards what is being stated.

B- WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON ABSOLUTE ELEMENTS?

1- Exclamations:
Ex: Oh, God! I left my wallet at home.
Damn it! The water is off again.

2- Nouns used as direct address:

Ex: Honey, you don’t love me a bit, you love yourself only.
Bastar! (đồ đểu) Get out of my sight!

NOTE: Many, many words in English are one part of speech in one meaning and another part of
speech in another meaning.

- Round
(adj): I need a round table.
(adv): He had a look/ looked around before he kept walking.
Everybody joined hands and danced round.
(prep): The earth travels round the sun.
Who was the first woman to sail round the world?
(noun): Shall we play another round of cards?
(verb): We rounded the bend at (a) rather high speed.
She rounded her lips and whistled.
 To make sth round= to round sth= to go round.
- Well
(adv): Their business is going well.
(adj): I am very well. Thanks.
(noun): We are going to have a well digged. (a hole in the ground)
(verb): Tears were welling up in her eyes. (to go up to the surface of sth and start to flow)
(interjection): exclamation

-End-