UNIT ONE: RANKSCALE AND

RANKSHIFT

Unit Outline:
Session 1: Rank scale
Session 2: Morpheme and Word
Session 3: Phrase
Session 4: Clause
Session 5: Sentence
Session 6: Rank shift
 SESSION 1: RANK SCALE

1.1
In systemic linguistics, a hierarchical ordering of grammatical units such that a unit of a given rank
normally consists of units of the next lower rank, as, in English, the ordering is sentence, clause, group
or phrase, word, morpheme.
When these ranks are arranged hierarchically, the arrangement is called „rank scale‟. Rank scale is,
therefore, the arrangement of grammatical units according to size that is, it is arranged from the biggest
and highest unit to the smallest and lowest unit. The biggest/highest grammatical unit is the sentence
whereas the morpheme is the lowest/smallest unit. This is shown in the diagram below:
• The Sentence
• ↑↓
• The Clause
• ↑↓
• The Phrase
• ↑↓
• The Word
• ↑↓
• The Morpheme
 1.2: The Relationship

• The relationship between the members on the scale is the same. The sentence,
which is the highest rank, consists of at least one member of the unit immediately
below it, that is, the clause.
• The clause also consists of at least one phrase.
• The phrase consists of at least one word.
• The word consists of at least a morpheme which is the smallest unit since it cannot
be broken down (decomposed) further.
• Viewed from top/down (the arrows point downward), the relationship between
the units is referred to as consists-of relationship. But taken from bottom/up, the
relationship is known as constituent-of relationship because the lower unit is a
constituent of the higher unit (the arrows move upward).
• This means that the morpheme is a constituent of the word; the word a
constituent of the phrase and the clause is the constituent of the sentence. You
may observe that the higher rank contains all the other units below it. Thus, the
sentence is made up of the clause, the phrase, the word and the morpheme.
 The Relationship (Con.t)
• Thus, the sentence is made up of the clause,
the phrase, the word and the morpheme.

Sentence Sentence
Clause Clause
Phrase/group Phrase/group
Word Word
Morpheme Morpheme
Diagram 1: Consist-of Relationship Diagram 2: Constituent-of Relationship
 SESSION 2: MORPHEME AND WORD

1.2.1. Definition of Morpheme

• A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in a
language. A morpheme is not identical to a word.
The main difference between them is that a
morpheme sometimes does not stand alone, but
a word, by definition, always stands alone. A
word may be a morpheme but a morpheme may
not be a word.
• 1. The book is mine. (Four morphemes)
• 2. I am playing a good game. (seven morphemes:
I + am + play + ing + a + good + game.)
 1.2.2. Classification of Morphemes

• A morpheme is the smallest grammatical unit

which has function and creates meaning.
There are types of morphemes. These include
prefix, suffix, full, empty, free, bound,
inflectional and derivational morphemes.
Morphemes can be classified into two types in
terms of their capacity of occurring alone.
These are free morphemes and bound
morphemes.
 1.2.3. Free Morphemes

• Free morphemes can stand by themselves and

either tell us something about the world
(content/lexical morphemes) or play a role in
grammar (functional/grammatical
morphemes). Man, pizza, run, and happy are
instances of free lexical morphemes, while
and, but, the, and to are examples of free
morphemes that have grammatical function.
 1.2.4. Bound Morphemes

• Some morphemes need to be attached to a free

morpheme in order to make meaning. Bound
morphemes are morphemes that cannot stand on their
own and make meaning but are used exclusively
attached to free morphemes. The morpheme -er, used
to describe “someone who performs a certain activity”
cannot stand on its own, but needs to be attached to a
free morpheme, a verb in this case. For example
• dance-dancer
• teach-teacher
• bake-baker
• tease-teaser
 TYPES OF BOUND MORPHEMES
• Bound morphemes come in two varieties,
inflectional and derivational. The core
difference between the two is that while the
addition of inflectional morphemes merely
changes the word forms, the addition of
derivational morphemes creates new words.
 a. Inflectional Morphemes

An inflectional morpheme is attached to words to make the sentences or utterances

conform to the rules of grammar. It involves the process which produces forms of the
same word.
• For example: cut, match and send, in the sentences below, will have their
respective forms when inflectional morphemes are attached to them.
• match – matches – matching – matched
• send – sends – sending – sent
• cut – cuts – cutting – cut
• The absence of these morphemes makes the structure become unacceptable. For
example:
i. I matched the items yesterday.
ii. *I match the items yesterday.
iii. He sends his family much money.
iv. *He send his family much money.
• Sentences (ii and iv) above are ungrammatical because the inflectional morpheme
-ed and -s are omitted.
 Inflectional Morphemes (Con.’t)
• The inflectional morphemes do not change the class of a word. After an inflectional affixation, a verb still
remains a verb in a structure though its basic form may change, depending on the tense and the person
(first, second or third person singular or plural) or number. For example:
• The lady student works hard.
• The men are reading in the classroom every day.
• The verbs underlined have their forms changed and yet remain verbs. In English, inflectional morphemes
are easy to recognise because they are always suffixes - they are at the end of words, and there are only a
few of them. There might be a change in meaning or sense, but not the grammatical category.
• Let us consider some more examples in the following:
• Verbs
i. break + ing = breaking
verb verb
Both „break‟ and „breaking‟ are verbs. „Breaking‟ is the progressive form of „break‟ obtained by
adding the '-ing' morpheme to the verb. We can also say the same thing for the past tense
morpheme “-ed‟
 Inflectional Morphemes (con.’t)
• Nouns
• Nouns are usually marked either for countable or non-
countable. Morphemes used to mark plurality in nouns
include „-s‟, „-es‟, „-en‟, etc.

• Singular Plural
car cars
box boxes
ox oxen
ministry ministries
 Inflectional Morphemes (con.’t)
• Adjectives
• Adjectives are inflected for comparison. For example
Positive Comparative Superlative
warm warmer warmest
crazy crazier craziest
fat fatter fattest

• The inflectional morphemes „er‟ and „‟-est‟ are used for

comparative and superlative adjectives. Usually it is the end of the
adjectives that are inflected. The comparative of „easy‟ takes – ier,
with the root losing –y, and the superlative taking – (i) est.
 Inflectional Morphemes (con.’t)

• Adverbs
• The commonest inflectional morphemes for marking
comparison in adverbs (also used for adjectives) are ‘-
er, est’. For example

Positive Comparative Superlative

soon sooner soonest
fast faster fastest
early earlier earliest
hard harder hardest
 b. Derivational Morphemes

• Derivation is the morphological process of forming a new word from an

existing one by the addition of a bound morpheme. A derivational
morpheme changes the meaning of a word or the word class or both. The
significant quality of derivational morphemes is that they derive new
words. In the following examples, derivational morphemes are added to
produce new words which are derived from the parent (root) word.

probable – improbable
visible – invisible
tie – untie
create - recreate

• Independent of whether or not the word class changes and how

significantly meaning is affected, derivation always creates new words
from existing ones, while inflection is limited to changing the word forms.
 Derivational Morphemes (Con.’t)
• Class Maintaining Derivational Morphemes
• There are other derivational morphemes that do not change the
class of the word. They are described as class-maintaining
morphemes. Some nouns are derived from other nouns by the
addition of derivational morphemes.
For example;
friend (noun) + ship = friendship (noun)
champion (noun) + ship = championship (noun)
• In the above, we add the suffix “ship” to derive “friendship‟ and
“championship‟. The derivational morpheme could be a prefix:
ex + president (noun) = ex-president (noun)
co + writer (noun) = co- writer (noun)
 1.2.5. Full and Empty Morphemes

• Full morphemes have meaning but the empty

morphemes do not. They also have function in
grammar. The word „boy‟ has meaning (young
male child) but the word „as‟ has no meaning.
It only has grammatical functions. So, “boy‟ is
full but “as‟ is empty of meaning.
 1.2.6. Prefix and Suffix

a. Prefixes are morphemes that are affixed to precede a

root word.
For example:
in- incomplete, inattention, insensitive,
inaccessible
mini- mini-skirt, mini-bus, mini-market
sub- subconscious, sub-urban
ultra- ultra-modern,
inter- inter-class,
co- co-education,
poly- poly-technical
 b. Suffix
• Suffixes are morphemes that are attached at the end of
base words. Mostly suffixes change the class of the root
words (or morphemes).
For example:
-dom: kingdom, officialdom,
-ery: slavery, refinery,
-ful: spoonful, faithful,
-hood: falsehood, neighbourhood
-let: starlet, booklet
-ness: kindness, selfishness
-ist: cyclist, racist
-ly: deadly, friendly
 1.2.7. Null Morpheme

• A null morpheme or zero morpheme is a

morpheme that has no phonetic form. In
simpler terms, a null morpheme is an
"invisible" affix. For example, “sheep”,
“information”, “staff” can be analysed as
combination of singular with added null affix
for the plural.
 1.2.8. Base/Root Morpheme

• The base or root morpheme is a morpheme

that gives the word its principal meaning. For
example, the word “develop” in
“developmental”.
 1.2.9. Word

• A word is a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing

used with others to form sentences usually the easiest unit to
identify in the written language. A word may consist of a single
morpheme or a combination of morphemes. For example, “table” –
a word consisting of one morpheme; “beautiful” – a word
consisting of two morphemes.
• In the following sentences, there are eight and five words but there
are more morphemes.
i. Michael has added three oranges to the fruits.
(Michael (1) + has (1) + added (2) + three (1) + oranges (2) + to
(1) + the (1) + fruits (2)
ii. Seth goes to Kumasi regularly.
(Seth (1) + goes (2) + to (1) + Kumasi (1) + regularly (2)
1. Types of Word Formation in English

• According to Crystal, (1997) there are four normal processes of word formation in
English. These are:
i. Pre-fixation – an affix is placed before the base of the word.
dis + belief = disbelief
im + proper = improper

ii. Suffixation – an affix is placed after the base of the word.

good + ness = goodness
govern + ment = government

iii. Conversion – the class of the word changes without any change of form.
Henry is the man of the house. (noun)
The lady mans that company. (verb)
The total sum is fifty thousand Ghana cedis. (adjective)
They total the figures. (verb)
They gave us the total. (noun)
 Types of Word Formation in English
(Con.t)
iv. Compounding – when two base forms are put together to become one word.
arm + chair = armchair
black + board = blackboard
door + mat = door mat
dining + table = dining table
mother + in + law = mother-in-law

• Apart from these four processes of word formation in English, there are other “less
usual” ways of making new words. They include acronyms, blends, clipping,
reduplication, etc.
v. Acronyms – words formed by putting together the initial letters of the words
which make up the name. For example,
UNESCO - United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation
GNAT – Ghana National Association of Teachers
UTAG - University Teachers Association of Ghana
 Types of Word Formation in English
(Con.t)
vi. Blends – two words merge into each other to form one word. It refers to joining the beginning of one
word and the end of another to make a new word with a new meaning.
brunch from breakfast and lunch
smog - from smoke and fog
motel - from motor and hotel

• vii. Reduplication – a type of compound in which both elements are the same or slightly different.
wishy-washy
goody-goody
hanky-panky
bye-bye

• viii. Clipping – an informal shortening of a word, often to a single syllable. Words shortened by
common use include:
television - telly
influenza - flu
mathematics - maths
 SESSION 3. THE PHRASE

A phrase is a group of words that stand together as a single unit,

typically as part of a clause or sentence. It does not contain a
subject or verb and consequently, cannot convey a complete
thought. The class of the head word names the phrase therefore
we have phrases such as noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective
phrase, prepositional phrase and adverb phrase.
 1.3.1: Types of Phrases
i. Noun Phrase
• A noun phrase is a phrase that acts as a noun in
the clause or sentence. It contains a noun and
other associated words usually determiners
which modify the noun.
• The noun phrase consists of a noun as a head-
word and other related words, (determiner and
modifiers). The underlined words are noun
phrases in the sentences.
The children live here.
All the children work on this land.
 Noun Phrase (Con.t)
• The noun phrase performs all the functions performed by nouns. These are:
a. subject of the verb
b. subject complement
c. direct object
d. indirect object
e. appositive
f. object complement

a. His brother is handsome. (subject)

b. I buy exotic oranges for export. (direct object)
c. I buy the women some dresses. (indirect object)
d. These are the presents. (subject complement)
e. He is enthused about the discovery. (prepositional
object/complement)
f. My sport, swimming, is always on the list of activities. (noun
appositive)
 ii. Adjective Phrase

• The adjective phrase is a phrase that acts as

an adjective in a sentence. It modifies a noun
or pronoun. It consists of an adjective,
modifiers and other words that modify the
noun or pronoun.
a. She wears a beautiful dress on Sundays.
b. She wears an extremely long black hair.
c. The man is handsome.
 iii. Adverb Phrase

• An adverb phrase contains an adverb and other

words (noun, preposition, modifier) which as a
whole act as an adverb phrase. For example:
a. Carefully, I read the literature book.
b. The lady does her assignments hurriedly.
C. This work is done well.
d. The man was running very fast.
 vi. Infinitive Phrase

• An infinitive phrase is made up of an infinitive

“to” + the base form (of a verb) and modifiers
or other related words linked to the infinitive.
It acts as a noun, adjective or adverb.
a. I enjoy to drive new cars.
b. She played the organ to entertain the
group.
c. James made a commitment to help
the needy.
 vii. Gerund Phrase

• A gerund is a verb that functions as a noun in

sentences. It can be used in most places a noun is used
and yet have some characteristics of the verb. Usually
the verb has the –ing form (verb + ing). They are
sometimes called verbal noun/participles.
For example:
a. Exercising is good to me.
b. I enjoy reading stories.
c. Seeing is believing.
d. Walking is a good exercise.
e. You cannot stay without laughing in a day.
 iv. Verb Phrase

• The verb phrase has the verb as the head word.

They can be one word, or a group of words where
some of them may have auxiliary function. For
example
a. We dance at church.
b. He is my brother.
c. All have done well.
d. The student is sleeping on the bare floor.
e. They may have been seen in the dark.
 v. Prepositional Phrase

• A prepositional phrase is a phrase comprising

a preposition and an object of preposition
(noun or pronoun). It may contain other
modifiers.
a. My tent is placed near the brick wall.
b. The basket is in the flower garden.
c. By this letter, you have been made
the manager.
 SESSION 4: THE CLAUSE

A clause is a group of words that contains at

least a subject and a verb but cannot always
stand as a grammatical sentence. There are
types of clauses in English which include
independent and dependent clauses
 Independent/Main clause:
• An independent clause is a clause that can stand on its own
as a simple sentence. An independent clause contains a
subject and a predicate and makes complete sense by itself.
For example,
i. He walked.
ii. John ate the food.
iii. He walked out when he saw us.
iv. While I was away, he made a lot of noise in the
neighbourhood.
• The clauses underlined are independent clauses because
they can stand on their own and still make meaning unlike
the ones those we have not underlined.
 b. Dependent/Subordinate Clause

• A dependent clause is a group of words with a

subject and a verb. It does not express a
complete thought so it is not a sentence and
cannot stand alone. A dependent clause can
either modify an adjacent clause or serve as a
component of an independent clause. The
following do not make meaning on their own
unless they are put in context.
a. When he saw us…
b. While I was away…
 1.4.1 Types of Dependent Clauses

• A. Noun Clause
• A noun clause is a dependent clause that acts as a noun. Noun clauses
begin with words such as how, that, what, whatever, when, where,
whether, which, whichever, etc. Noun clauses perform the functions of
nouns in a sentence. It can act as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects,
etc.
For example:
a. Whatever he did was wonderful. (Subject)
b. His prediction is that things will improve. (Subject
complement)
c. Be sure to send whoever gave you a parcel a thank-you
note. (Indirect object)
d. Do you know what the future has for you? (Object)
e. The assumption, that things will improve, is a mirage.
(Appositive)
 B. Relative/Adjective Clause

• Relative or adjective clauses are dependent

clauses that modify nouns or pronouns. They
include a subject and a verb or verb phrase and
are introduced by words known as relative
pronouns, that, who, whom, whose.
a. This is the house which I want to buy.
b. The boy who stole the money has been
arrested.
c. The books that were borrowed from the
library have been returned.
• C. Adverb Clause
• An adverb clause is a dependent clause that
functions as an adverb. That is, the entire clause
modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
In general, adverb clauses add information that
elaborates on when, where, why, how, how much
or under what condition the action in the
sentence takes place. The adverb clause is
capable of occurring in initial, medial and final
position within the main clause
 Types of Adverb Clause:
a. Clause of Time
• The adverb clause of time shows when
something happens. It is usually introduced by
time adverbs. Examples are: before, after, as,
when, while, until, as soon as, since, no sooner
than, as long as etc.
a. John came after we had left.
b. When in difficulty, consult your
counsellor.
c. Buy your tickets as soon as you get to
the station.
• b. Clause of Place
• The Adverb Clause of Place indicates the place
about which the verb talks. The Adverb Clause
of Place starts with where, wherever, whereas
etc.
a. I don’t know where they live.
b. They went wherever they could find
food.
 c. Clause of Concession

• Adverb clause of concession or supposition expresses an idea that

suggests the opposite of the main part of the sentence. We may
also say, the information in the independent clause indicates a
concession or an unexpected result of something in the dependent
clause. They are introduced by subordinating conjunctions, though
and although.
a. Although he has stayed in Accra all his life, he
cannot speak Ga.
b. We won the game, though we expected to lose.
c. Although I enjoyed myself, I was glad to come back.
d. Even though we prepared the team well, we lost to
our opponents
 d. Clause of Manner

• Adverb clause of manner shows us how

something happens or is done. It is usually
introduced by 'like', 'as though' or 'as if':
a. He looks as if he is going to be ill.
b. John treated me as if he had never
met me.
 h. Clause of Comparison

• Clauses of comparison are used to compare

things or ideas. They often begin with the
conjunctions 'than' or 'as…as':
a. My brother is older than he looks.
b. It ended as I expected.
 e. Clause of Purpose

• Adverb clause of purpose tells us about what

is/was hoped would be achieved by carrying
out the action. It is introduced by the adverbs
“so that”, “in order that”, “in case”, “lest”.
a. Take your umbrella with you in case it
rains during the journey.
b. They left the door open in order for
me to hear the baby.
 f. Clause of Reason

• It explains and gives reason for the main idea.

We use adverb clause of reason to explain
why someone does something or why
something happens.
It is introduced by “because”, “since”, “as”.
a. I couldn’t come because I was tired.
b. I didn’t know that she was married
since she seldom talked about it.
 g. Clause of Result

• An adverb clause of result or consequence is used

to say what happens or what may happen as a
result of the action mentioned in the main clause.
Result clause is introduced by the adverbs “so
that”, “in order that”, “so…that” and “such…that”.
a. We planted many different types of
flowers so the compound looked
beautiful.
b. He is such a honest man that the whole
community trusts him.
SESSION 5: THE SENTENCE

a. Traditional grammars define a sentence in such terms as a group of words that are
put together to express a complete and single thought. Modern studies avoid this
emphasis because of the difficulties involved in saying what “thoughts” are. Some
traditional grammarians give a logical definition to a sentence as a group of words
that has a “subject” (topic) and a predicate (what is being said about the topic).
b. A set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a subject and
predicate, conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command, and consisting
of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses.
 1.5.1 Types of Sentence Structure

• There are four types of sentence structure: simple, compound, complex,

and compound-complex

• a. Simple Sentence
A simple sentence is a sentence that consists of just one independent clause.
A simple sentence has no dependent clause or clauses.
a. The robber has been elected.
b. Asamoah did not attend the party last night.
 b. Compound Sentence

• A compound sentence has at least two

independent clauses that have related ideas.
The independent clauses can be joined by a
coordinating conjunction.
a. I like fufu and John likes banku.
b. John studied hard but he failed the
examination.
 c. Complex Sentence

• A complex sentence is a sentence that contains

one independent and at least one dependent
clause (sometimes called a subordinate clause).
a. Although Adwoa studied all night,
she failed all her exams.
b. I bought the book which he
recommended.
c. They won a trophy, which surprised
everyone
 d. Compound Complex Sentence

• A compound-complex sentence has at least two independent clauses and at least

one dependent clause.
a. Yaw came last night and told us that he was successful in
the examination but his scores were low.
Yaw came last night – main clause
Yaw told us – main clause
That he was successful in the examination – subordinate clause
But his scores were low – coordinate clause

b. Kwame loves his sister, and she loves him too because he pays her
school fees.
Kwame loves his sister – main clause
She loves me too – coordinate main clause
Because he pays her school fees – subordinate clause
 The Sentence Consisting of all the
Elements
• The sentence is a constituent of all the elements we
have discussed so far. For example,
The gentleman is sleeping under the shed that
we built.
This sentence is made up of two clauses
i. The gentleman is sleeping under the
shed (independent/main clause)
ii. that we built. (dependent/subordinate
clause)
 Constituents of the Clause
• Each of these clauses consists of phrases as shown
below
• The gentleman is sleeping under the shed
- the gentleman (NP)
- is sleeping (VP)
- under the shed (PP)
• that we built
-that (relative pronoun –NP)
- we (personal pronoun –NP)
- built (VP)
 Constituents of the Phrase
• Each of these phrases consist of words as shown below
- the (article)
- gentleman (noun)
- is (auxiliary verb)
- sleeping (main verb, continuous form)
- under (preposition)
- the (article)
- shed (noun)
- that (relative pronoun, NP)
- we (personal pronoun, NP)
- built (VP, past tense form)
 Constituents of the Word
• Phrases are made up words and some of the words consist of more
than one morpheme while others are only one morpheme
- the
- gentleman = gentle + man (2 morphemes)
- is
- sleeping = sleep + ing (2 morphemes)
- under
- the
- shed
- that
- we
- built = build + past tense form -t (2 morphemes)
 SESSION 6. RANK SHIFT

Rank shift has to do with functions. Each rank has a function

to perform. Sometimes, however, a unit performs a function
that is not originally assigned to it. Rank shift occurs when a
higher rank moves down or a lower unit moves up to
perform the function of another rank.
 Rank Shift (Con.t)
• Let us consider the following set of sentences.
1. The book is big.
2. The book here is big.
3. The book on the table is big.
4. The book which is on the table is
beautiful.
 Rank Shift (Con.t)
• The NP “the book” in sentence (1) is not
modified. We do not know which book it is.
• In sentence (2) “here”, a word modifies
“book”, and this makes the identity clearer.
We say, in grammatical terms, the word
“here” modifies “book”. As “here” comes after
“book”, we say the word “here” post-modifies
the head “book
 Rank Shift (Con.t)
• In sentence (3), we have the phrase, “on the
table” doing the same job done by “here”. In
other words, the phrase “on the table” is
contained in the NP. The second phrase post-
modifies the head “book” in the NP. We can then
say “on the table”, a phrase, has rank shifted to
perform the function earlier performed by a word
“here‟. In terms of rank, “here” is lower than “on
the table‟, a phrase, but both perform the same
function of post-modification. The phrase has
therefore rank shifted to perform the function of
a word.
 Rank Shift (Con.t)
• In sentence (4) the NP. “The book” has a
clause “which is on the table” within it. The
function of this clause is the same as that of
the phrase “on the book” and the word
“here”. The clause post-modifies the head
word “book” in the NP. The clause which is
higher than the phrase has rank shifted to
perform the function of a word, “here”.
 Rank Shift (Con.t)
• Does rank shift always occur top down?
Generally, the answer is “yes”. However, in
elliptical constructions as often occurs in
dialogues, a lower unit like a word or even a
morpheme may rank shift to perform the
function of a clause or a sentence.
 Rank Shift (Con.t)
• Here is an example;
John: Kofi, is the food ready?
Kofi: Yes.
In the context of this dialogue, “Yes” clearly means, “The
food is ready”
“Yes” which is a word or morpheme has, as it were, rank
shifted to function as a sentence, the highest grammatical
unit.
A rank shift is therefore the movement downwards or
upwards of a grammatical unit to perform the function of
another unit.
UNIT 2: MAJOR WORD CLASSES

Unit outline
SESSION 1: Nouns
SESSION 2: Functions of Nouns
SESSION 3: Verbs
SESSION 4: Time, Tense and Aspect
SESSION 5: Adjectives
SESSION 6: Adverbs
 SESSION 1. NOUNS
• This Section discusses nouns under the following:
• • Morphological Criterion
• • Syntactic/Grammatical Criterion
• • Types of Nouns
• • Summary of Classification of Nouns

• In traditional grammar, nouns are words that refer to

people, places, things, or ideas. Modern grammar, on
the other hand, looks at the morphological and
syntactic criteria to describe the word classes.
 2.1.1 Morphological Criterion

• This criterion looks at the form of the word to associate a class to it. Some nouns can
take other shapes which others cannot. For example, some nouns take the suffixes -es, -
s, -ies to form plural whereas others do not. It is not always possible to identify nouns.
However, some word endings can show that the word is probably a noun. These word
endings (suffixes) include
• –age - postage, heritage
• –ance/ence - difference, insurance
• –er/or - teacher, actor
• –hood - childhood, boyhood
• –ism - nationalism, socialism
• –ist - artist, pianist
• –itude - solitude, fortitude
• – ity/ty - electricity, cruelty
• –ment - government, parliament
• –ness - kindness, business
• –ship - friendship, relationship
• –tion/sion - satisfaction, extension
 2.1.2 Nouns can Indicate Number
• We identify nouns since they indicate number
singular (one) or plural (more than one). Most
plural nouns have ‘s’, ‘es’, ‘ies’ endings when what
is being described is more than one. But words
like physics, sheep, oxen, etc. present a problem
when we consider plurality. There are many
plural noun rules, and because we use nouns so
frequently when writing, it is important to know
all of them. The correct spelling of plurals usually
depends on what letter the singular noun ends in.
 2.1.3 Plural Noun Rules and
Examples
• In order to make regular nouns plural:
• a. Add s to the end of the singular form. For
example,
Singular: cat house
Plural: cats houses
• b. If the singular noun ends in s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, or
-z, add es to the end of the singular noun to make
it plural. For example,
Singular: truss bus marsh lunch
Plural: trusses buses marshes lunches
 Plural Noun Rules and Examples
(Con’t)
• c. In some cases, singular nouns ending in -s or
-z, require that you double the -s or -z prior to
adding the -es to get the plural.
Singular: fez gas
Plural: fezzes gasses
 Plural Noun Rules and Examples
(Con.’t)
• d. If the noun ends with f or fe, the f is often
changed to ve before adding the -s to form
the plural version.
Singular: wife wolf
Plural: wives wolves
• Exceptions:
Singular: roof belief chef chief
Plural: roofs beliefs chefs chiefs
 Plural Noun Rules and Examples
(Con.’t)
• e. If a singular noun ends in -y and the letter before the
-y is a consonant, change the ending to ies to make the
noun plural.
Singular: city puppy baby ministry
Plural: cities puppies babies ministries

• f. If the singular noun ends in -y and the letter before

the -y is a vowel, simply add an -s to make it plural.
Singular: ray tray boy day
Plural: rays trays boys days
 Plural Noun Rules and Examples
(Con.’t)
• g. If the singular noun ends in -o, add - es to make it plural.
Singular: potato tomato mango
Plural : potatoes tomatoes mangoes

• Exceptions:
Singular: studio piano halo
Plural: studios pianos halos

• With the unique word ‘volcano’, you can apply the standard
pluralization for words that end in -o or not. Both of the following
are correct:
• volcanoes/volcanos
 Plural Noun Rules and Examples
(Con.’t)
• h. If the singular noun ends in us, the plural ending is
frequently i.
Singular: cactus focus fungus
Plural: cacti foci fungi

• i. If the singular noun ends in is, the plural ending is es.

Singular: analysis ellipsis
Plural: analyses ellipses

• j. If the singular noun ends in on, the plural ending is a.

Singular: phenomenon criterion
Plural: phenomena criteria
 Plural Noun Rules and Examples
(Con.’t)
• k. Some nouns do not change at all when they are
pluralized.
Singular: sheep series deer
Plural: sheep series deer

• You need to see these nouns in context to

identify whether they are singular or plural.
Consider the following sentence:
-Kwame caught one fish, but Ato caught three fish.
 2.1.4 Plural Noun Rules for
Irregular Nouns

• Irregular nouns follow no specific rules, so it is best to

memorize them or look up the proper plural formation
in the dictionary.
Singular Plural
child children
goose geese
man men
woman women
tooth teeth
foot feet
mouse mice
 2.1.5. Syntactic Functions

• A syntactic function is the grammatical

relationship of one constituent to another. A
particular item occurs or does not occur after or
before a particular item. The noun functions as
the:
• i. Head of a noun phrase. E.g.
The boy
The strong table
The big mansion
 Syntactic Functions (Con.’t)
• ii. Subject of a clause
• A subject is a word, phrase, or clause which performs the action of
or acts upon the verb. Its state is also shown by the verb E.g.
The boy killed the goat.
Teachers are important people in every society.

• iii. Subject Complement

• Nouns function as subject complements. A subject complement is a
word, phrase, or clause that follows a copular verb and describes
the subject. Copular verbs are also called linking and state-of-being
verbs and include verbs like a form of be, become, and seem. E.g.
John is a nurse.
My brothers are teachers.
 Syntactic Functions (Con.’t)
iv. Direct object
• Nouns function as direct objects. A direct object is a word, phrase,
or clause that follows a transitive verb and answers the question
"who?" or "what?" It also receives the action of the verb. E.g.
Kwame killed the goat.
The students damaged the school bus during the
demonstration.

v. Object Complement
• An object complement is a word, phrase, or clause that directly
follows and describes the direct object. E.g.
The class appointed Owusu prefect.
My brother-in-law named his daughter Stephanie.
 Syntactic Functions (Con.’t)
vi. Indirect Object
• Nouns also function as indirect objects. An
indirect object is a word, phrase, or clause that
follows a di-transitive verb and answers the
question "to or for whom?" or "to or for what" is
the action of the verb performed. E.g.
Kwame bought Rose a handbag on her
birthday.
The college presented the Principal a car on
his 60th birthday.
 Syntactic Functions (Con.’t)
vii. Appositive
• Nouns also function as appositives. An appositive is a word, phrase,
or clause that modifies or explains another noun or noun phrase.
E.g.
Mr. Mensah, the headmaster, has retired.
Derek, the boxer, has won the fight.

viii. Modifier
• Although adjectives are traditionally defined as words that describe
or modify nouns, nouns too can function as a modifier of another
noun. E.g.
I like Italian pizza.
The brick wall is beautiful.
 2.1.6. Types of Nouns

• a. Concrete nouns are people, places, or things that

physical form and we can experience by taste, touch, or
sight. Concrete nouns can be divided into common
nouns and proper nouns.

i. Common Nouns
• A common noun is a noun that is not the name of any
particular person, place, or thing. For example: player,
mountain, table, school etc. Common nouns combine
effectively with determiners and can be made plural.
These determiners are written before the noun they
describe or quantify.
 Types of Nouns (Con.’t)
• Concrete nouns can be divided into countable and
uncountable nouns
• a. Countable Nouns
• Countable nouns are common nouns that can have
plural forms i.e. they can combine with numbers or
counting quantifiers, and can take an indefinite article
such as “a” and “an”. For example: table, dog, man etc.
as in the following sentences:
I have three tables in my living room.
Some dogs bark throughout the night.
A woman kidnapped the man.
 Types of Nouns (Con.’t)
• b. Uncountable Nouns
Uncountable nouns differ from count nouns in that they cannot take plural suffixes or
combine with numbers.
I like rice.
I want to
• The sentences below are ungrammatical because the uncountable nouns
underlined are preceded by quantifiers.
*Three water is in the container.
*A rice can be boiled.

ii. Proper Nouns

• A proper noun refers to a specific person, place, or thing. The proper noun begins
with a capital letter irrespective of where it occurs in a phrase or clause. For
example
I met Peter on my way here.
Is Volta River in Ghana?
Mountain Afadja is in the Volta Region
 Types of Nouns (Con.’t)
• ii. Proper Nouns
• A proper noun refers to a specific person,
place, or thing. The proper noun begins with a
capital letter irrespective of where it occurs in
a phrase or clause. For example
I met Peter on my way here.
Is Volta River in Ghana?
Mountain Afadja is in the Volta Region.
 Types of Nouns (Con.’t)

• Proper nouns do not have general determiner and be

made plural unless the determiner is part of its nature.
For example,
Mr. Ansah is a good friend.
Ansah is with them. (*Some Ansah is with them.)
All Ansah should get up. (*All Ansahs should get
up.)
• Exception:
• The definite article is added when it forms part of the
name: The Hague is in The Netherlands. (Exception)
The Thames is a river in Britain.
 Types of Nouns (Con.’t)
• iii. Abstract Nouns
• Abstract nouns refer to abstract objects, ideas,
and concepts. Examples include happiness, air,
sorrow etc. In English, many abstract nouns
are formed by adding noun-forming suffixes to
adjectives or verbs. For example: happiness,
kindness, freedom etc.
 Types of Nouns (Con.’t)
iv. Collective nouns
• Collective nouns refer to groups consisting of more than one
individual or entity, even when they are inflected for singular.
For example: flock, crowd, committee, team, and staff.

v. Compound nouns
• A compound noun is formed when two or more words are
combined to make a completely new word. This means that
the meaning of the new word must be significantly different
than either of its parts individually. For example:
keyboard, softball, keyboard, table tennis, mother-in-law, etc.
2.1.7 Summary of Classification Of
Nouns
• Classification Example Comments
• Count noun party – parties -have plural
-need determiner
• Non-count noun bitterness determiner
• Singular noun sun, moon need a determiner
• Plural noun scissors, people no singular
• Collective noun public, staff either singular or plural
• Proper noun Mary, Accra begins with a capital
• Abstract noun happiness, anger no plural,
no determiner
 SESSION 2: FUNCTIONS OF NOUNS

• Nouns have certain functions that they play in

context. Nouns can function as subject of a
verb, direct object, indirect object, object of a
preposition, object of a verbal, predicate
complement and as an adjective or modifier
of another noun.
 2.2.1. Nouns as subjects

• The subject of a construction is the doer of

the action in the sentence or what the
sentence is about. Usually, Nouns, sometimes
pronouns, function as subject of a sentence.
In this session, we will only discuss Nouns
since it is the subject of our discussion in this
Unit.
• Let us consider these examples.
 Nouns as Subjects (Con.t)
• Example 1: Jacob is a student.
• In the sentence, Jacob is what the sentence is about.
Therefore, Jacob is the subject of the sentence.
• Let us look at this other example:
• Example 2: The monkeys are in the jungle.
• In this example, ‘monkeys’ is the subject of the
sentence.
• Example 3: Joojo gave Mensah a book.
• In this sentence, ‘Joojo’ is the subject. He does the
giving. He gives the book to Mensah.
• In all the examples, nouns are used as subject.
 2.2.2. Nouns as direct object

• The object of a sentence is the person or thing that receives

the action of the verb. It is the ‘who’ or ‘what’ that the
subject does something to. Therefore, the verb of the
sentence must demonstrate some type of action that
affects someone or something. A direct object is the thing
or person that is affected by the action of the verb directly.
• Example1: Kwesi bought a new pair of shoes.
In this sentence, ‘a new pair of shoes’ is what Kwesi bought,
so it becomes the direct object.

• Example 2: I ate all the food.

In this sentence, ‘the food’ was what I ate. It becomes the
direct object.
 2.2.3. Nouns as Indirect Object

• An indirect object is usually a person or an animal that

receives the action of the verb/action. Note! The direct
object does not receive the direct action.

• Example1: They gave Afua a present when she left.

In the sentence, ‘Afua’ received the giving, but ‘a present’
was what ‘Afua’ received, therefore. ‘a present’ is the indirect
object.

• Example 2: She poured drinks for the boys.

In the sentence, what was poured was ‘drinks’. The boys
received the ‘drinks’, making ‘the boys’ an indirect object.
2.2.4. Noun as Object of a Preposition
• The object of preposition is the noun that follows
a preposition in a sentence. Prepositions used in
context, appear with an object or a complement.
• Example 1: Joe broke his head in a fight.
In the sentence, ‘in’ is the preposition whereas ‘a
fight’ is a noun/noun phrase.

• Example 2: The ball went under the bridge.

In this sentence, ‘under’ is the preposition whereas
‘the bridge’ is the noun/noun phrase.
 2.2.5. Noun as object of a verbal

• . A verbal is a word formed from a verb but functions as a

noun or an adjective. Only a noun can be an object of a
verbal, which can be a gerund, an infinitive or a participle.

• Example1: Winning the lottery jackpot was his biggest

dream.
In the sentence, ‘jackpot’ is the object of the verbal ‘winning’.

• Example 2: To escape from the prison was all he wanted.

In the sentence, ‘prison’ is the object of the verbal ‘to escape’.
 2.2.6. Noun as a predicate
complement
• The predicate complement is a noun (or an adjective) that
is joined to the subject of the sentence by a copulative
verb. A copulative verb is also known as a linking verb.

• Example1: The tribal chief is the fattest man in the tribe.

In the sentence, ‘is’ is the copulative verb. ‘man’ is the
predicate complement.

• Example 2: These two apples are the only rotten ones.

In the sentence, ‘are’ is the copulative verb. ‘ones’ is the
predicate complement
 2.2.7. Nouns as an adjective or
modifier of another noun.
• A noun can be used to modify another noun.
When this happens, the noun modifying,
becomes an adjective.
• Example 1: The cement mixer is faulty.
In the sentence, ‘cement’ is a noun modifying
another noun, ‘mixer’. ‘Cement’ becomes an
adjective.
• Example 2: I love this beach umbrella.
In the sentence, ‘beach’ is a noun modifying
another noun, ‘umbrella’. ‘beach’ becomes an
adjective.
SESSION 2: FUNCTIONS OF NOUNS

Nouns have certain functions that they play in context.

Nouns can function as subject of a verb, direct object,
indirect object, object of a preposition, object of a
verbal, predicate complement and as an adjective or
modifier of another noun.
 2.2.1. Nouns as Subjects

• The subject of a construction is the doer of

the action in the sentence or what the
sentence is about. Usually, Nouns, sometimes
pronouns, function as subject of a sentence.
In this session, we will only discuss Nouns
since it is the subject of our discussion in this
Unit.
 Nouns as Subjects (Con.’t)
• Let us consider these examples:
Example 1: Jacob is a student.
In the sentence, Jacob is what the sentence is about. Therefore, Jacob
is the subject of the sentence.

• Let us look at this other example:

Example 2: The monkeys are in the jungle.
In this example, ‘monkeys’ is the subject of the sentence.

• Example 3: Joojo gave Mensah a book.

In this sentence, ‘Joojo’ is the subject. He does the giving. He gives the
book to Mensah.
In all the examples, nouns are used as subject.
 2.2.2. Nouns as Direct Object

• The object of a sentence is the person or thing

that receives the action of the verb. It is the
‘who’ or ‘what’ that the subject does
something to. Therefore, the verb of the
sentence must demonstrate some type of
action that affects someone or something. A
direct object is the thing or person that is
affected by the action of the verb directly.
 Nouns as Direct Object (Con.’t)
• Example1: Kwesi bought a new pair of shoes.
In this sentence, ‘a new pair of shoes’ is what
Kwesi bought, so it becomes the direct object.

• Example 2: I ate all the food.

In this sentence, ‘the food’ was what I ate. It
becomes the direct object.
 2.2.3. Nouns as Indirect Object

• An indirect object is usually a person or an animal that receives the

action of the verb/action. Note! The direct object does not receive
the direct action.

Example1: They gave Afua a present when she left.

In the sentence, ‘Afua’ received the giving, but ‘a present’ was what
‘Afua’ received, therefore. ‘a present’ is the indirect object.

Example 2: She poured drinks for the boys.

In the sentence, what was poured was ‘drinks’. The boys received the
‘drinks’, making ‘the boys’ an indirect object.
2.2.4. Noun as Object of a Preposition

• The object of preposition is the noun that follows

a preposition in a sentence. Prepositions used in
context, appear with an object or a complement.
Example 1: Joe broke his head in a fight.
In the sentence, ‘in’ is the preposition whereas ‘a
fight’ is a noun/noun phrase.

Example 2: The ball went under the bridge.

In this sentence, ‘under’ is the preposition whereas
‘the bridge’ is the noun/noun phrase.
 2.2.5. Noun as object of a verbal

• A verbal is a word formed from a verb but functions as a

noun or an adjective. Only a noun can be an object of a
verbal, which can be a gerund, an infinitive or a participle.

Example1: Winning the lottery jackpot was his biggest

dream.
In the sentence, ‘jackpot’ is the object of the verbal ‘winning’.

Example 2: To escape from the prison was all he

wanted.
In the sentence, ‘prison’ is the object of the verbal ‘to escape’.
 2.2.6. Noun as a Predicate
Complement
• The predicate complement is a noun (or an adjective) that
is joined to the subject of the sentence by a copulative
verb. A copulative verb is also known as a linking verb.

Example1: The tribal chief is the fattest man in the

tribe.
In the sentence, ‘is’ is the copulative verb. ‘man’ is the
predicate complement.

Example 2: These two apples are the only rotten ones.

In the sentence, ‘are’ is the copulative verb. ‘ones’ is the
predicate complement
 2.2.7. Nouns as an Adjective or
Modifier of Another Noun
• A noun can be used to modify another noun. When
this happens, the noun modifying, becomes an
adjective.
Example 1: The cement mixer is faulty.
In the sentence, ‘cement’ is a noun modifying another
noun, ‘mixer’. ‘Cement’ becomes an adjective.

Example 2: I love this beach umbrella.

In the sentence, ‘beach’ is a noun modifying another
noun, ‘umbrella’. ‘beach’ becomes an adjective.
 SESSION 3: VERBS

In Unit 2:3, verbs will be discussed under the

following:
Definition of verbs
Morphological approach
Types of verbs
Forms of regular verbs
Irregular verbs
 2.3.1 Definitions of Verbs

• (i) A verb is a word used with a subject to say what

someone or something does or what happens to them
(notional). It emphasizes that it is the doing aspect of
the word.
• (ii) Traditional grammar looks at a verb as a doing
word. It isolates doing as the central aspect of verbs.
• (iii) Semantics: A word that expresses an action,
process, state, condition or mode of existence.
• Disadvantage: it is not only verbs that can express
state, process etc. Some nouns do that.
• Advantage: It seeks to cover various semantic fields
covered by verbs.
 2.3.2 Morphological Approach:

• Verbs can be recognised by looking at the kinds of shape (affixes) they

take in representing reality.
• i. A verb may take:
a. – s, es or -ies to express third person singular. That person is outside
the immediate point of discourse. [Verb + s] e.g.: goes, walks, dances,
etc.
• b.
i. [verb+ d] – past tense E.g.: dance – danced, love – loved

ii. [Verb + ed). E.g.: walk – walked, laugh - laughed

iii. Internal vowel change: find – found, steal – stole, beat – beat, come -
came
• Though they look different in realization, they belong to the same
phenomenon.
 Morphological Approach (Con.’t)
c. [verb + -ing] (continuous/progressive)
• go – going
• do – doing
• put – putting (2nd‘t’ shows that ú’ is a short vowel)
• sing – singing
• When the – ing form is used, we are thinking of the aspect form.
The action has not been completed.

d. [verb + ed/en] (perfect)

• walk – walked
• talk – talked
• beat – beaten
• steal – stolen
 Morphological Approach (Con.’t)
e. Infinitive form:
Base form: drink chase walk
To-Infinitive: to drink to chase to walk
• 3rd person singular
• “s”-form: drinks chases walks
• - “ed” form: drunkchased walked
• - “ing” form: drinking chasing walking
• - “en/ed” form:
• drunken chased walked
 2.3.3 Types of Verbs

i. Action verbs – tell what the subject does.

John broke the jar.
• The verb can be transitive or intransitive. A
transitive verb takes a direct object while an
intransitive verb does not take a direct object.
John broke the jar. (transitive)
I laughed. (intransitive)
 Types of Verbs (Con.t)

• ii. Linking verbs

• Linking verbs join the subject and the predicate. Linking
verbs do not show action. Instead, they connect the
subject of a sentence with an adjective, noun or
descriptive phrase (complement). It links the subject to
a subject complement. Linking verbs do not have an
object. The most common linking verb is the verb “to
be” (in all of its forms, e.g., am, is, are, was, were, will
be, was being, has been).
Ama is a nurse.
They are students.
 Types of Verbs (Con.t)

• iii. Verb Phrase

• a. We can have one verb in a clause and this is usually a
lexical or main verb. This verb has content meaning. For
example:
John played the ball.
She smiles all the time.

• b. Sometimes/occasionally, the verb phrase may be one

word but it is not a lexical item but a grammatical item. For
example
I am a teacher.
She is a zealous student.
 Types of Verbs (Con.t)

c. The verb may not take any sentence elements and yet
its meaning will be expressed when the sentence is
elliptic. An elliptical sentence means that some
elements are intentionally left out but we still have
grammatical sentences. E.g.
Speaker A: Do you like mangoes?
Speaker B: Yes I do. (Instead of: Yes, I do like
mangoes)

Speaker C: Can you leave tomorrow?

Speaker D: Yes, we can. (Instead of yes we can
leave tomorrow)
 Types of Verbs (Con.t)

• d. The verb phrase may also consist of one or

more auxiliaries + a main verb. This is a
headed construction. For example
He will run through the town. (one
auxiliary verb)
I would have got the message on time.
(two auxiliary verbs)
She should have been made the manager
all these years. (three auxiliary verbs)
 Types of Verbs (Con.t)

e. Verbs of State
• Verbs that show state are not usually used in the continuous form
except in idiomatic expressions.
i. Verbs relating to senses e.g. feel, hear, see, smell, taste etc.
I see people walking on the lawn.
I am seeing the lady off. (idiomatic)
*I am seeing people walking on the lawn. (Ungrammatical)

ii. Emotions – adore, fear, hate, like, love

I like the show.
*I am liking the show
 Types of Verbs (Con.t)

iii. Mental activity e.g. agree, believe, expect,

forget, mean
I believe in the existence of God.
*We are believing in the existence of God.

iv. Possession: belong, own, possess

The car belongs to me.
*The car is belonging to me.
 2.3.4 Forms of Regular Verbs:

• The base form – pull (present simple same as base form)

• 3rd person singular – pulls (present simple tense +‘s’)
• Past simple – pulled (base + ed)
• Past participle – pulled (base + ed)
• Present participle – pulling (base + ing)
• Base form = bare infinitive (This is what is listed in the dictionary)
• Base 3rd person Past participle -ing
• Pull pulls pulled pulled pulling
• Walk walks walked walked walking
• Dance dances danced danced dancing
• Want creates created created creating
 2.3.5 Irregular Verbs

a. Group A
Base – put
Present simple – puts
Past simple – put
Present participle – putting
Past participle – put
• Base 3rd person Pres participle Past Past participle
• put puts putting put put
• cut cuts cutting cut cut
• cast casts casting cast cast
• shed sheds shedding shed shed
 Irregular Verbs (Con.’t)
• Group B
• b1
• Base – buy
• Present simple – buys
• Past simple – bought
• Present participle – buying
• Past participle – bought
• base 3rd person pres. participle past past participle
• buy buys buying bought bought
• teach teaches teaching taught taught
• think thinks thinking thought thought
• make makes making made made
 Irregular Verbs (Con.’t)
b2:
burn burnt burned
dream dreamt dreamed
learn learnt learned
• base 3rd person pres. participle past past participle
• burn burns burning burnt/burned burnt/burned
• dream dreams dreaming dreamt/dreamed dreamt/dreamed
• dwell dwells dwelling dwelt/dwelled dwelt/dwelled
• light lights lighting lit/lighted lit/lighted
 Irregular Verbs (Con.’t)
Group C
Base – go
Present simple – goes
Past simple – went
Present participle – going
Past participle – gone

• base 3rd person present participle past past participle

• go goes going went gone
• eat eats eating ate eaten
• grow grows growing grew grown
• break breaks breaking Sbroke broken
•
SESSION 4. TIME TENSE AND
ASPECT
This session will discuss Time, tense and aspect.
Time is a universal, non-linguistic concept with
three divisions: past, present and future. Tense on
the other hand is a temporary linguistic quality
expressing the time at, during, or over which a
state or action denoted by a verb occurs and is
language specific. Aspect indicates whether the
action is completed (perfect) or on-going
(progressive). The distinction between tense and
 2.4.1 Tense

• Tense shows whether an action or a state took place in the

past or takes place in the present. What we call ‘tense’ in
English combines the grammatical notions of tense and
aspect. Tense indicates the time that the action of the verb
took place (now, earlier, later or present, past or future).
Historically, English has ending for only two tenses, present
and past (He plays/He played).
• Grammarians still do not agree on the number of tenses
that English has. Biber, et al. (1999), argue that English has
only two tenses – present and past. Their argument is that
tense is marked and since only the present and past tenses
are marked, in English, then there can only be two tenses.
 i. Simple Present Tense
a) The simple present tense has the same form as the
infinitive form of the verb but adds an ‘s’ to the third person
singular. For example,
• bare infinitive: work
• to infinitive: to work

• simple present:
1st person: I work,
2nd person: you work
3rd person: he/she works.
 b). Uses of the Simple Present Tense
i. It is used to talk about our thoughts and
feelings at the present moment, or about our
immediate reactions to something:
They both taste the same
My stomach aches.
ii. It is used to express universal or general
truths:
The sun rises in the east; Birds fly.
The river flows from the north to the south
 Uses of the Simple Present Tense
(Con.’t)
iii. It is used to talk about a settled state of affairs which includes
the present moment but where a particular time reference is
not important:
Mum works in Accra.
John lives in New York.

iv. It is used to express regular or habitual actions:

John smokes.
I get up early in the morning.

v. It is used in reviews: the simple present is used when

discussing what happens in a book, film or play:
In the play she plays the part of Juliet.
 Uses of the Simple Present Tense
(Con.’t)
vi. It is used used in commentaries: on radio and
television; commentators often use the simple present
tense:
Kuffour takes the ball upfield and passes to Bekoe.
He turns, shoots – and a fine save from Moffat.

vii. It is used in reporting what someone told you at some

point in the recent past:
They tell me Amedzofe is a beautiful town.

viii. When commenting on what you are saying or doing:

I enclose a cheque for fifty thousand Ghana cedis.
 c. Simple Past Tense:

1 Verbs are traditionally divided into two

classes, according to the ways they form their
past tense and past participles. Some verbs are
regular. This means they form the past tense
and past participle by adding –d or -ed to the
present form. E.g.
• Present talk want type
• Past talked wanted typed
• Participle talked wanted typed
 Simple Past Tense (Con.’t)
2. Irregular verbs do not form the past by adding –”d” or
– “ed”. They form the past in many ways by changing
the:
• i. Vowel and adding –n or –en as in begin, began, begun
Present take begin shake
Past took began shook
Participle taken begun shaken

• ii. Vowel and adding –”d” or –”t” as in lose, lost, lost

Present lose
Past lost
Participle lost
 Simple Past Tense (Con.’t)
iii. However, no change occurs in words such as in set, put, cast etc.
Present put set cast
Past put set cast
Participle put set Cast

iv. Over time, we have come to accept regular verbs as the “normal”
ones, so we now usually add –“d” or –“ed” to new verbs, as in:
-televise - televised;
-computerise- computerised.

 Unlike the simple present tense, the same form of the past tense is used
for all persons:
I walked
You walked
He/she walked
 d. Uses of the Simple Past Tense:

• The simple past tense is normally used for the relation of

past events. It is used to show that an event occurred or
something was the case at a particular time in the past. An
action in the past may be seen as having taken place at a
particular point of time or over a period.
• It is used to:
i. indicate that a situation existed over a period of time in
the past:
He lived in Accra for a long time.
ii. talk about an activity that took place regularly or
repeatedly in the past, but which no longer occurs:
Each month people walked to the bank to
collect their money.
 2.4.2 Continuous and Perfect
Tenses vrs Progressive and Perfective
Aspect
• As stated earlier whichever term used depicts
the same thing, therefore the worry should
not be on the terminology but the use. This is
because both the continuous tense and the
progressive aspect denote the same action,
(an action that still has not ended), just as the
perfect tense and the perfective aspect do, (an
action that has ended).
• a. The Present Continuous/Progressive: (to be + present
participle) Note! “To be verbs” have been discussed under
Closed Class in Unit 3.
• It is used to
i. describe an action that is happening at the moment
you are speaking:
I am eating kenkey and fish.
ii. talk about a habitual action that takes place regularly:
Peter is drinking too much.
iii. indicate changes, trends, development and progress:
The demand for oil is increasing very fast.
 b. The Present Perfect/Continuous:

• It is used to talk about

i. something that happened in the past but the specific time is
not mentioned:
The government has raised 900 million dollars from the sale
of Ghana Telecom.
ii. a situation that started at some time in the past, continued,
and is still happening now
Throughout my life as a teacher, I have waited for the day
society will respect teachers.
• **The present perfect continuous can also be used:
Throughout my life as a teacher, I have been waiting for the
day society will respect teachers.
iii. It is also used to emphasise the duration of a recent event:
John has been crying.
 d. The Past Continuous/Progressive:

• It is used to
i. talk about repeated action which occurred in the past:
The boy was crying.
ii. contrast a situation with an event which happened just after the
situation existed:
I was driving on the highway when I saw the antelope.
 e. The Past Perfect
Continuous/Progressive:
• This tense is used to
i. talk about an event that happened at a particular time
in the past:
The food had become contaminated by the dust.
ii. emphasise the recentness and duration of a
continuous activity which took place before a
particular place in the past:
The nurse had been working alone at the hospital.
iii. indicate that something was expected, wished for or
intended before a particular time in the past:
I had been expecting the parcel. John had
hoped to pass the driving test.
 f. Perfective Aspect

A form of the auxiliary ‘have’ + ed form (past

participle) of the main verb
i. The action is complete at the time of speaking
I’ve finished reading the book.
Jojo has borrowed the book.
ii. The action was complete at the time you are
referring to:
I had forgotten my promise to my cousin.
John had seen the film three times already,
but she didn’t mind.
 2.4.3 The Future

• In English, the “future” can be realized through the following:

i. Will/shall is used with the base form of the verb to
indicate that something is planned to happen:
John will do the work.
The landlord will solve the problem.

ii ‘Be going to’ + infinitive:

I am going to eat the food.
The school is going to organise a durbar.

iii. The present progressive:

The president is travelling to France.
 SESSION 5. ADJECTIVES

Adjectives will be discussed under the following:

2.4.1 Notional Definition of adjectives
2.4.2 Morphological criterion
2.4.3 Syntactic/Grammatical Functions
2.4.4 Gradable/Non-gradable adjectives
2.4.5 Types of Adjectives
2.4.6 Order of adjectives
 2.5.1 Notional Definition of
Adjectives:
• Adjectives are nearly always used in connection
with a noun or pronoun to give information
about a person, thing or group. For example,
Don’t cross the red line.
Black people look stronger.
The strong room is out of bounds.
That was an ugly scene.
• The underlined words give information about the
nouns they modify.
 2.5.2 Morphological Criterion

•
• We usually cannot tell whether a word is an adjective by looking at
it in isolation, because the form of a word does not necessarily
indicate its word class. Adjectives take many forms. Some common
adjectives are, however, formed when we add a suffix to a noun or
verb. For example:
• - able - comfortable
• - al - seasonal
• - ful - playful
• - ic - scientific
• - ish - bluish
• - less - useless
• - ous - dangerous
• - y - dirty
 Morphological Criterion (Con.’t)
• We should be mindful that these suffixes do not always
suggest adjectives. Many other adjectives are not
formed from nouns or verbs. They have no identifying
form but are original in themselves. For example, good,
fat, young. Many adjectives provide the base from
which adverbs are derived by means of an -ly suffix.

• Adjective Adverb
great greatly
beautiful beautifully
fearful fearfully
 2.5.3 Syntactic/Grammatical
Functions of Adjectives
a. Attributive function
• Adjectives occur in the attributive position
(i.e. they are written before a noun). The focus
is on the noun it is modifying. For example
This is an ugly picture.
Don’t cross the red line.
Black women are most beautiful.
 Syntactic/Grammatical Functions of
Adjectives (Con.’t)
b. Predicative function
Adjectives have predicative function’ A predicate
adjective is an adjective that follows a linking verb. It
can either be a subject or object complement. For
example:
The man is handsome.
The food tastes good.
It was interesting.

c. Can be pre-modified by the intensifier “very”.

The boys are very happy.
She was very jovial.
 2.5.4 Gradable/Non-gradable
Adjectives
• Gradable adjectives describe qualities that can
be measured in degrees such as size, age,
beauty etc. They are called gradable because
they can be compared and used in
comparative and superlative forms. A
comparative adjective is used to compare two
things. A superlative adjective, on the other
hand, is used when you compare three or
more things.
Gradable/Non-gradable Adjectives
• The three degrees of an adjective are positive, comparative and
superlative. Their use depends on how many things you are talking
about.
• A positive adjective is a normal adjective that is used to
describe, not compare. For example: “This book is big” and “I
am handsome.”
• A comparative adjective is an adjective that’s used to compare
two things (and is often followed by the word than). For
example: “This book is bigger than the other one” or “John is
more handsome than Kwame.”
• A superlative adjective is an adjective that is used to compare
three or more things, or to state that something is the extreme
(most). For example: “This is the biggest book I have ever
seen” or “John is the most handsome boy in the class.”
2.5.5 Formation of Comparative and
Superlative Adjectives.
• Forming comparatives and superlatives depends on the
number of syllables in the original (positive) adjective.
i. One Syllable
Add -er for the comparative and -est for the superlative. If the
adjective has a consonant + single vowel + consonant spelling,
the final consonant must be doubled before adding the
ending.
• positive comparative superlative
short shorter shortest
tall taller tallest
big bigger biggest
fat fatter fattest
 Formation of Comparative and
Superlative Adjectives (Con.’t)
ii. Two syllables
• Adjectives with two syllables can form the comparative
either by adding -er or by placing more before the
adjective. The superlative is also formed by either adding -
est or by putting most before the adjective. For adjectives
ending in y, change the “y” to an “i” before adding the
ending.

• positive comparative superlative

happy happier happiest
simple simpler simplest
dirty dirtier dirtiest
 Formation of Comparative and
Superlative Adjectives (Con.’t)
• iii. Three or more syllables
• Adjectives with three or more syllables form
the comparative by putting more in front of
the adjective, and the superlative by putting
most in front.
positive comparative superlative
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
expensive more expensive most expensive
 Formation of Comparative and
Superlative Adjectives (Con.’t)
iv. Irregular comparatives and superlatives
These very common adjectives have completely
irregular comparative and superlative forms.

positive comparative superlative

good better best
bad worse worst
little less least
 v. Gradable Adjectives
Adjectives can also be graded by the use of
intensifiers – that is adverbs which convey
the degree of intensity of the adjective. For
example:
extremely beautiful
very beautiful
 vi. Non-gradable adjectives

• Some adjectives describe qualities that are

completely present or absent. They do not
occur in comparative and superlative forms.
We should emphasise that some adjectives
are both gradable and non-gradable. For
example:
• furious, terrified, overjoyed (these represent
extremes)
• or alive, correct (these represent absolutes)
 2.5.6 Types of Adjectives
• Grammarians and linguists have classified adjectives
into various types. Our discussion is based on the
classification made by Thomson and Martinet (1999).
1. Descriptive Adjectives (Common Adjectives)
• Descriptive adjectives give the characteristics of a
noun. They can talk about:
i. The quality of what is being described: – identify
qualities which someone/something has: shape,
height, size, etc. for example – sad story; pretty
girl; small child
• They are gradable: the person or thing can have more
or less of the quality
 Descriptive Adjectives (Common
Adjectives) (Con.’t)
• ii. The class that something belongs to:
identify someone or something as a member
of a class. E.g.: daily shower; abdominal pains
• iii. The colour of something – identify the
colour of a thing. For example: green, white,
black, etc.
 2. Quantitative djectives

• Quantitative adjectives describe the quantity

of something. In other words, they answer the
question “how much?” or “how many?” For
example:
• (Numbers like) two, twenty, many, half and a
lot. Few, little
Twenty books have been distributed so far.
Few people are generous these days.
 3. Demonstrative Adjectives

• A demonstrative adjective describes “which” noun or

pronoun one is referring to. These adjectives include the
words:
This — used to refer to a singular noun close to you.
That — used to refer to a singular noun far from you.
These — used to refer to a plural noun close to you.
Those — used to refer to a plural noun far from you.
• Note: Demonstrative adjectives always come before the
word they’re modifying.)
 4. Possessive Adjectives
• Possessive adjectives show possession. They describe to
whom a thing belongs. Some of the most common
possessive adjectives include:
• My — belonging to me
• His — belonging to him
• Her — belonging to her
• Their — belonging to them
• Your — belonging to you
• Our — belonging to us
• All these adjectives, except the word his, can only be used
before a noun. You can’t just say “That’s my,” you have to
say “That’s my pen.”
 5. Interrogative Adjectives

• Interrogative adjectives interrogate, meaning that they

ask a question. These adjectives are always followed by
a noun or a pronoun, and are used to form questions.
The interrogative adjectives are:
• Which — asks to make a choice between
options.
• What — asks to make a choice (in general).
• Whose — asks who something belongs to.
Note: Words, like “who” or “how,” are not adjectives
since they don’t modify nouns. For example, you can say
“whose shirt is this?” but you cannot say “who shirt is
this?
 6. Distributive Adjectives

• Distributive adjectives describe specific members out of a group. These

adjectives are used to single out one or more individual items or people.
Some of the most common distributive adjectives include:
• Each — every single one of a group (used to speak about
group members individually).
•Every — every single one of a group (used to make generalizations).
• Either — one between a choice of two.
•Neither — not one or the other between a choice of two.
• Any — one or some things out of any number of choices. This is
also used when the choice is irrelevant, like: “it doesn’t
matter, I’ll take any of them.”
• These adjectives are always followed by the noun or pronoun they are
modifying. Eg.
Each student has college blazer.
Every parent has to be responsible.
 2.5.7 Order of Adjectives

• Generally, the order of adjectives in English is (Mnemonic: OSASCOMP):

i. Opinion or quality – such as beautiful or priceless
ii Size – such as gargantuan or petite
iii. Age – such as young or aged
iv. Shape – such as square or oblong
v. Colour – such as red, pink or ash
vi. Origin – such as Greek or Dutch
vii. Material – such as wooden or plastic
viii. Purpose – the qualifier is an adjective that denotes the item’s type or
purpose, some examples are “evening bag”, “cooking pot” etc.

• Example: A beautiful, large, new, round, pink, Ghanaian, leather, door mat.
(Source: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/order-of-
adjectives.html)
 SESSION 6. ADVERBS

In Section 2.5, adverbs will be discussed under the following:

2.5.1 Notional definition of adverbs
2.5.2 Morphological criterion
2.5.3 Syntactic/Grammatical Functions
2.5.4 Types of Adverbs
 2.6.1 Notional Definition of
Adverbs
• Adverbs give information about when, how,
and where or in what circumstance an event
takes place. An adverb is a word used to
modify a verb, an adjective, or another
adverb. For example: “She swims quickly”. The
event is supplied by the verb and the adjunct
gives further information.
 2.6.2 Morphological Criterion
• Adverbs often end in –ly. When the -ly is attached to an adjective,
an adverb is derived. E.g. adj + ly = adverb. For example,
Adjective Adverb
happy happily
beautiful beautifully
angry angrily

• Note: most of the adverbs formed this way are adverbs of manner.
Some -ly adverbs have slightly different spellings from the
adjectives they are related to.
E.g.: nasty – nastily
gentle – gently
angry - angrily
 Morphological Criterion (Con.’t)
• Note: words like “friendly”, “manly” and “lovely” are not adverbs though they end
in “–ly”. They are derived from nouns and are therefore adjectives. This
undermines the morphological description of adverbs that they end in -ly. There
are adverbs which do not end in -ly which may also be used as adjectives.
fast now soon
late there quite
i. News travels fast (adv.)
ii. She likes fast cars (adj)

• Some adverbs have two forms: one same as the adjective and the other + ly.
E.g. deep/deeply
direct/directly
tight/tightly

• Non -ly adverbs normally tend to be adverbs of place and time. -ly adverbs
describe how things happen (how).
 2.6.3 Syntactic/Grammatically
Functions
• Adverbs go with verbs rather than with nouns.
Adverbs modify verbs E.g.
He walks slowly.
The chief danced majestically

• Adverbs can be used to modify adjectives.

E.g. – very funny
really beautiful
 Syntactic/Grammatical Functions
• Adverbs function as adjuncts in
clauses/sentences. Adjunct adverbials are
words, phrases and clauses that modify a
clause by providing information about time,
place, manner, etc.
E.g. - The chief danced majestically.
• An adverb can modify another adverb
E.g. He walked very slowly.
 2.6.4 Position of Adverbs

• Generally, adverbs make sense directly after the

verbs they modify, but they can also be moved
around the sentence. It can go at the beginning of
the sentence, before the verb, or between a
helping verb and the main verb.
I take coffee every day.
Every day, I take coffee.
I had every day taken coffee.
I every day take coffee.
 2.6.5 Types of Adverbs

i. Adverbs of manner - show how or what way

something happens. E.g.
slowly, beautifully, bravely, majestically, carefully,
etc.
ii. Adverbs of time - describes when or how long a
certain action happened. E.g. ago, before, soon,
always, etc.
iii. Adverbs of place - tells about where something
happens. E.g. here, near, near, around, etc.
iv. Adverbs of frequency – describe how often
something happens. E.g. always, once, often,
occasionally, never, etc.
 Types of Adverbs (Con.’t)
vi. Adverbs of degree - show how much, or in what degree or to
what extent of qualities, properties, states, conditions and
relations. For example, almost, fully, quite, etc.

vii. Adverbs of Affirmation and Negation – answers that

something is true or some equivalent negative statement. For
example: certainly, surely, apparently, etc.
• For example:
We are definitely leaving for school tomorrow. (affirmation)
The family truly accepts the marriage proposal. (affirmation)
The sisters hardly ever meet each other. (negation)
I never talk to him this way. (negation)
UNIT 3. CLOSED CLASS
SESSION 1. Auxiliary Verbs
SESSION 2. Pronouns
SESSION 3. Prepositions
SESSION 4. Conjunctions
SESSION 5. Determiners
SESSION6. Interjections
 SESSION 1. AUXILIARY VERBS

– An auxiliary verb helps the main (full) verb and is

also called a "helping verb." With auxiliary verbs,
you can write sentences in different tenses,
moods, or voices. Auxiliary verbs are of two types:
Primary and Modal. While primary auxiliary verbs
function as lexical verbs or just as ‘helping’ verbs,
the modal auxiliary verbs do not.
•
 Primary Auxiliary Verbs

• What are the primary auxiliary verbs?

• English has three primary auxiliary verbs: do, be, and have. All three take
part in the formation of various grammatical constructions, but carry very
little meaning themselves. For example, the primary auxiliary ‘be’ is used
to form the progressive, as in: Kojo is teaching.
• However, it makes very little sense to ask what’ is’ means in this sentence.
Instead, what is of interest is what is does, i.e. that it helps form a verb
phrase which, as a whole, indicates that Kojo’s teaching is going on at this
moment. The same reasoning applies to all the primary auxiliaries. They
are auxiliaries in the true sense of being 'helpers' in conveying verbal
meaning.
• Let us now take a look at the three main primary auxiliary verbs.
• There are just three common auxiliary verbs
• There are just three common auxiliary verbs:
have do be
• Let us now take a look at these verbs.
 3.1.1.1 “Have”
• ‘Have’ is a very important verb that can stand alone in all its tenses.
The forms of ‘have’ are: has, have, having, had, and hadn’t or had
not.
• ‘Have’ is usually used to denote ownership, and it can also be used
to discuss ability or describe appearance. ‘Have’ is also a very
popular substitute for the verbs “eat” and “drink.”
Example: Let’s have some wine.

• When ‘have’ is used as an auxiliary verb, it is always teamed up with

another verb to create a complete verb phrase, making it easy to
differentiate between uses. You can see the difference in the
sentences below:

I had my breakfast very late. → Had = action verb

 “HAVE” (C0n.’t)
• Kweku has seen him already. → Has = auxiliary
verb; ‘seen’ is a past participle that competes
the verb phrase.
• Mensah should have been successful in his
career. Jerry should have been more careful!
→ Have = auxiliary verb; phrase “should have
been” expresses time and evaluates Mensah’s
actions
 3.1.1.2 “DO”
• ‘Do’ can be used as an action verb that stands alone in all its tenses. The
forms of ‘do’ are: do, does, done, did and didn’t, doesn’t or did not .
• When ‘do’ is used as an auxiliary verb, it is always paired up with another
verb to create a complete verb phrase. In some cases, it is used to add
emphasis:
Example: She did eat the food.

• Do is often used to form questions and negated clauses. It is also used in

elliptical sentences, where the main verb is understood and is omitted as a
result.
Example: He plays piano well, doesn’t he?
Joojo does more cleaning than most people. Does = action verb
Joojo didn’t read his notes. Didn’t = auxiliary verb
Joojo doesn’t eat well. Doesn’t = auxiliary verb
 “DO” (Con.’t)
• Do can also be used to help form negative and
(most) interrogative clauses (questions) when no
other auxiliary is present in the verb phrase. This
use of do is referred to as do-insertion (do-
support, do-periphrasis).
Example: Serwaa danced well at the party. –
(positive sentence)
Serwaa didn’t dance well at the party. –
(negative sentence)
‘do’ has been inserted in order to form the
negative sentence.
 3.1.1.3 “Be”
• ‘Be’ or “to be” is an important verb that has a multitude of uses in
English. It can be used as an action verb that stands alone. The
forms of ‘be’ are: be, been, am, are, is, was, were, wasn’t, was not,
aren’t, are not, weren’t and were not.
• When ‘be’ is used as an auxiliary verb, it is always paired with
another verb to create a complete verb phrase. It can be singular or
plural, present or past. Negative sentences are formed by adding
the word “not”.
Example: The room is dirty. ‘is’ = main verb
Although he is always complaining about her actions, Paul
does not pay attention her. ( ‘is’ = auxiliary verb)
Akua is going to be doing the cooking. (‘to be’ = auxiliary verb)
3.1.2 What are Modal Auxiliary Verbs?
Modal auxiliary verbs are used to show a necessity,
capability, willingness, or possibility. Unlike most verbs,
there is only one form of these verbs. Typically, verb
forms change to indicate whether the sentence's
structure is singular or plural. Most verbs also indicate
whether something happened in the past, present, or
future. This is not the case with most modal auxiliary
verbs, which makes them simpler to understand and use
correctly.
Examples of Modal Auxiliary Verbs
• So, now that we understand the purpose of
modal auxiliary verbs, let's take a look at some of
the common ones you may see in writing. The
modal auxiliary verbs include:
can shall will
could should would
may must dare
might ought to need to
 Modal Auxiliary Verbs (Con.’t)
• It's important to note that some of these verbs can also
indicate the negative: could not, may not, should not,
etc.
• Some examples of auxiliary verbs used in context. In
the examples below, the verb phrase is underlined and
the auxiliary verb(s) is/are in bold.

Papa is taking Mensah to the airport.

I have purchased a new car for my parents.
Dad has been working hard all day.
 3.1.3 Functions of the Auxiliary
Verbs
They perform their functions in several different ways:
• Auxiliary verbs express tense by providing a time reference, i.e.
past, present, or future
• Auxiliary verbs express how verb relates to the flow of time, that is,
Grammatical aspect
• Auxiliary verbs express Modality, that is, quantify verbs.
• Auxiliary verbs describe the relationship between the action
expressed by the verb and the participants identified by the verb’s
subject, object, etc., that is, Voice
• Auxiliary verbs add emphasis to a sentence
• Auxiliary verbs almost always appear together with a main verb,
and though there are only a few of them, they are among the most
frequently occurring verbs in the English language.
 3.1.4 How to Identify an Auxiliary
Verb
• You probably know that every sentence has at least one verb in it.
There are two main types of verbs. Action verbs are used to depict
activities that are doable, and linking verbs are used to describe
conditions. Both action verbs and linking verbs can accompany
auxiliary verbs including the three main ones: do, be, and have.

• Sometimes actions or conditions occur only one time and then

they’re over. It’s at times like these that some of the same verbs
that are used as auxiliary verbs are instead used as action or linking
verbs.
Example: The man is excited about the plan.
In this example, we see the word “is”. This is one of the most common
auxiliary verbs, but because it stands alone here, it is not functioning
as an auxiliary verb but rather the main verb.
 How to Identify an Auxiliary Verb
(Con.’t)
• At other times, an action or condition is ongoing, happening predictably,
or occurring in relationship to another event or set of events. In these
cases, single-word verbs like ‘is’ are not accurately capable of describing
what happened, so phrases that include auxiliary verbs are used instead.
These can be made up of anywhere from two to four words.

Example: The woman has been coming here since the beginning of
the year.

In this example, there are three verbs: has, been, coming. Both ‘has’ and
‘been’ are auxiliary verbs, helping the main verb: coming, to make sense.
These three form a verb phrase.
• A main verb, also known as a base verb, indicates the kind of action or
condition taking place. An auxiliary or helping verb accompanies the main
verb and conveys other nuances that help the reader gain specific insight
into the event that is taking place.
 SESSION 2: PRONOUNS

What is a pronoun?
Consider the following sentences.
The teacher, the boy and the woman stormed the education
office.
Daddy bought sweets for me, him, him, her and them.

In sentence 1, what other word would you use to replace “the

teacher, the boy and the woman”? Can we use “they”? Yes “they”
is correct. What about sentence 2? Can we replace “me, him, him,
her and them” with us? Yes “us” is correct.
 3.1 What then is a Pronoun?

• Pronouns are words used to represent nouns and as such, they

function as nouns. A pronoun is a word that is used in place of one
or more nouns or other pronouns. The word or group of words that
a pronoun represents is called its antecedent.
For example:
Jojo thought of a plan and he executed it
very well.
(He is a pronoun that represents Joojo.)

Araba, Adwoa, Fiifi and Tawia gathered bottle tops and they
handed them over to their teacher.
(‘They’ and ‘their’ refer to the Araba, Adwoa, Fiifi and Tawia.
‘Them’ refers to the bottle tops.)
 3.2.1. Personal and Possessive
Pronouns.
• A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing by
indicating the person speaking (1st person), the person
being addressed (2nd person) or any other person or thing
being discussed (3rd person).
• Personal pronouns could be singular or plural.

• Personal Pronouns
Singular Plural
First Person I, me we, us
Second Person you you
Third Person he, him, she, her, it they, them
 Personal Pronouns (Con.’t)
• First Person I drive carefully.
We drive carefully.
The music bored me.
The music bored us.

• Second person You drive carefully.

You are all careful drivers.
The movie bored you.

• Third person He drives carefully

She drives carefully
It drives carefully

They drive carefully.

The movie bored them.
 Personal Pronouns (Con.’t)
• Personal pronouns plus – self gives the Reflexive form.
Singular Plural
First Person: myself ourselves
Second Person: yourself yourselves
Third Person: himself
herself themselves
itself

• Note: There are no pronouns such as hisself and

theirselves.
 Personal Pronouns (Con.’t)
• Personal Pronouns that indicate possession or ownership are called
Possessive pronouns. They take the place of possessive forms of nouns.

• Possessive Pronouns
First Person: my, mine our, ours
Second person: your, yours your, yours
Third person: his, her their, theirs
hers, its

• Some possessive pronouns are followed by nouns.

Example: My daughter is generous.
• Other possessive pronouns can be used alone.
 Personal Pronouns (Con.’t)
• The pencil is mine.
Again, the possessive pronoun ‘his’ and ‘its’ can
be used either alone or before a noun.
That Bic pen is his.
Kwesi likes using his Bic pen.
• Note: Possessive pronouns do not have an
apostrophe and an ‘s’.
 3.2.2.2 Demonstrative Pronouns.
• A demonstrative pronoun points out specific persons, places, things
or ideas. This group is a small one consisting of four words. This,
That, These, Those.

This is my friend.
Those are my friends.

The demonstrative pronouns have singular and plural forms.

This and That are singular.
These and Those are plural.
• Note: When any of these pronouns (that, this, those, these) are
used before a noun, they are no longer pronouns but adjectives.
 3.2.2.3 Interrogative pronouns
– Interrogative Pronouns
• Interrogative pronouns are used to form questions. These pronouns
are who, whom, whose, what, which.
Example: Whose is the orange car?
What did you find?

• The intensive forms of these pronouns could also be used.

Whoever Whatever Whosoever
Whichever Whomever
Example: Whoever could have done this?

• Note: Sometimes a word such as ‘by’, ‘to’, ‘with’, ‘form’, ‘on’, ‘for’
may come before the interrogative pronoun.
Example: To what do I owe this visit?
 3.2.2.4 Relative Pronouns
• Relative pronouns are used to begin a group of words that together
modify nouns introduces the subordinate clause. The sub-clause
talks the noun or pronoun in the sentence.
Example: This is the lady who won the essay competition.
• “Who won the essay competition” is a subordinate clause. This sub-
clause is introduced by a relative pronoun ‘who’.
The sub-clause which is introduced by the relative pronoun ‘who’ talks
about the ‘lady’ in the sentence.
Other relative pronouns are
which whom
that whose

• Give me the blue shirt which you washed yesterday.

 3.2.2.5 Indefinite Pronouns
• Indefinite pronouns refer to persons places and things
in a general way than a noun does.
Example: Kuu loves everyone.
Some indefinite pronouns are always singular in meaning.
anybody everybody nobody
anyone everyone no one
anything everything one
each much somebody
either neither someone
 Indefinite Pronouns (Con. ‘t)
• Indefinite pronouns that are plural in meaning
both, few, many, others, several
• Infinite pronouns that may be either singular or
plural, depending on how they are used in a
sentence.

all any most one some [ singular]

some were [ plural]
 3.2.3 Features of Pronouns
1. A pronoun may be singular or plural. Personal,
demonstrative, indefinite pronouns has singular or
plural meanings.
Singular Plural
Personal I, you we, us
(reflexive) myself ourselves
(possessive) mine ours
demonstrative this those
indefinite anybody others
 Features of Pronouns (Con.’t)
2. Pronouns may change form to show their function in a sentence.
Personal pronouns have both subject and object forms.
Subject Forms Object Forms
I, we me, us
you you
he, she, it, they him, her, it, them

Example: subject object

I gave it to them.

He bought me a book.
subject object
 Features of Pronouns
3. Pronouns may show gender.
Personal pronouns may be masculine, feminine or neutral.
Masculine: he, him, his, himself
Feminine: she, her, hers, herself
Neutral: it, its, itself
• Note: some pronouns can be either masculine or feminine
depending on the speaker or the person referred to.
I, me, myself, you, yourself.

• Some pronouns refer to groups of both men and women,

depending on the meaning of the sentence.

we us they them you ourselves

themselves yourselves
SESSION 3: PREPOSITIONS

Consider the following sentences.

The bird flew over the tree.
The bird flew into the tree.
The bird flew around the tree.
The bird flew in between the trees.
In all these sentences, you will notice that there is a
relationship between the bird and the tree. This
relationship shows the position of the bird. The words over,
into, around and in between are all prepositions.
 3.3.1 What are Prepositions?

• A preposition is a word which shows relationships

among other words in the sentence. The
relationships include direction, place, time,
cause, manner and amount. In the sentence She
went to the store, to is a preposition which shows
direction. In the sentence He came by bus, by is
a preposition which shows manner. In the
sentence They will be here at three o'clock, at is a
preposition which shows time and in the
sentence It is under the table, under is a
preposition which shows place.
 Prepositions (Con.’t)
• A preposition always goes with a noun or
pronoun which is called the object of the
preposition. The preposition is almost always
before the noun or pronoun and that is why it
is called a preposition. The preposition and
the object of the preposition together are
called a prepositional phrase. The following
chart shows the prepositions, objects of the
preposition, and prepositional phrases of the
sentences above
 Prepositions (Con.’t)
Preposition Object of Prep Prep Phrase
to the store to the store
by bus by bus
at three o’clock at three o’clock
under the table under the table
• Prepositional phrases are like idioms and are
best learned through listening to and reading
as much as possible
 3.3.2. Some Commonly Used
Prepositions
about amid below beyond
above among behind but
across around beneath by
after at beside concerning
against before besides down
along behind between except
for into onto since
from like out through
in near outside throughout
inside off over fill
toward on past to
under underneath until unto
up upon with without
within
 3.3.3 Some Compound Prepositions
according to by way of on account of
along with in addition to out of
a side from in front of prior to
because of in spite of together with
because of instead of with respect to
by means of
 3.3.4 Prepositional Phrases
• It is important to note that a preposition connects words so it never
appears alone. It is always part of a prepositional phrase.
• A prepositional phrase consists of the preposition (P), its object (o), and
any modifiers (m) that it may have, thus prepositions begin phrases that
generally end with a noun or pronoun called the object of the preposition.
Examples:
The building is beyond repair.
Jane visited during the summer.
According to my uncle, before the rain comes the storm.
By means of a telephone, the woman disseminated the
important news.
Beyond repair’ in sentence 1, ‘during summer’ in sentence 2, ‘according to my
uncle’ in sentence 3, and ‘by means of a telephone’ in sentence 4 are
prepositional phrases. The words in italics are the prepositions and ‘repair’,
‘the summer’, ‘my uncle’ and ‘a telephone’ are the prepositional objects.
SESSION 4: CONJUNCTIONS
 3.4.1. What is a Conjunction
• A conjunction, just as the word implies, joins
words or groups of words together. Usually,
conjunctions join structures of the same
grammatical statuses together: words with
words, phrases with phrases, clauses with
clauses and perhaps, sentences with
sentences.
Examples of conjunctions are:
and, but, or, yet, as etc.
 3.4.2. Types of conjunctions

There are, at least, four types of conjunctions.

3.4.2.1. Coordinating Conjunctions
• Coordinating conjunctions specifically join
words of the same rank. The common
examples are: and, or and but. Coordinating
conjunctions are what come to most people’s
minds when they hear the word
“conjunction.” They can join together words,
phrases and independent clauses. There are
seven of them, and they’re easy to remember.
Here is a mnemonic to help you remember
the conjunctions. FAN BOYS:
 Coordinating Conjunctions (Con.’t)
• For - Explains reason or purpose (just like “because”).
Example: I go to the park every Sunday, for I love to watch
the ducks on the lake.
• And - Adds one thing to another.
Example: I go to the park every Sunday to watch the ducks on
the lake and the shirtless men playing soccer.
• Nor - Used to present an alternative negative idea to an already
stated negative idea.
Example: I don’t go for the fresh air nor really for the ducks.
Honestly, I just like the soccer.
• But - Shows contrast.
Example: The soccer in the park is entertaining in the winter,
but it’s better in the heat of summer.
Coordinating Conjunctions (Con.’t)
• Or - Presents an alternative or a choice.
Example: The men play on teams: shirts or skins.
• Yet - Introduces a contrasting idea that follows the
preceding idea logically (similar to “but”).
Example: I always take a book to read, yet I never
seem to turn a single page.
• So - Indicates effect, result or consequence.
Example: I’ve started talking to one of the soccer
players, so now I have an excuse to
watch the game each week.
 3.4.2.2. Correlative Conjunctions
• Correlative conjunctions are used in pairs.
Examples are both… and, not only… but (also),
either… or, neither… not.
• Correlative conjunctions are sort of like tag-team
conjunctions. They come in pairs, and you have to
use both of them in different places in a sentence
to make them work. They include pairs like
“both/and,” “whether/or,” “either/or,”
“neither/nor,” “not/but” and “not only/but also.”
 Correlative Conjunctions (Con.’t)
• Examples:
• Either/or - I either want the cheesecake or the frozen hot
chocolate.
• Both/and - I’ll have both the cheesecake and the frozen hot
chocolate.
• Whether/or - I didn’t know whether you’d want the cheesecake or
the frozen hot chocolate, so I got you both.
• Neither/nor - Oh, you want neither the cheesecake nor the frozen
hot chocolate? No problem.
• Not only/but also - I’ll eat them both - not only the cheesecake but
also the frozen hot chocolate.
• Not/but - I see you’re in the mood not for dessert but appetizers.
I’ll help you with those too.
 3.4.2.3. Semi-coordinating
Conjunctions
• While semi-coordinating conjunctions connect two items in which one is
inferior or subordinated to the other. Semi-coordinating conjunctions
share some similarities with coordinating conjunctions but they are not
exactly coordinating conjunctions. These conjunctions include: as well as,
rather than, as much as , together with, along with.

Examples:
• Along with - The goalkeeper, along with the referee, was responsible for
the riot.
• As much as - The teacher, as much as her students, was welcomed to the
party.
• Together with - The boy, together with his friends, solved the math
problems.
• As well as - Children, as well as parents, like to eat Indomie.
• Rather than - The child, rather than his father, was given the prize.
 3.4.2.4. Subordinating Conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions, which introduce subordinate
clauses, include: although, as, because, before, if, in order
that, since, so that, unless, until, etc. A subordinating
conjunction always introduces a dependent clause, tying it
to an independent clause. In contrast to coordinating
conjunctions, a subordinate conjunction can often come
first in a sentence. This is due simply to the nature of the
relationship between the dependent and the independent
clause. In English, there are lots of subordinating
conjunctions, but the most common ones are "after,"
"although," "as," "because," "before," "how," "if," "once,"
"since," "than," "that," "though," "until," "when," "where,"
"whether," and "while."
 Subordinating Conjunctions (Con.’t)
• Examples of popular sayings that contain subordinating
conjunctions:
“Because of you, I never stray too far from the sidewalk” (by
Kelly Clarkson).
“If you leave me now, you’ll take away the biggest part of me”
(by Peter 3. Cetera/Chicago).
“When I see you smile, I can face the world” (by Bad English).
“You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone” (by Cinderella).
“I guess I’ll never be the same since I fell for you” (by B.B. King).
“As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a
look at my life and realize there’s nothing left” (by Coolio).
SESSION 5. DETERMINERS
 5.1.1 What is a Determiner?
A determiner is a word that introduces a noun. It always comes before
the noun or the noun
• phrase, not after, and it also comes before any other
adjective used to describe the noun.
• Determiners are required before a singular noun but are
optional when it comes to introducing plural nouns.
• A determiner identifies whether the noun or noun phrase is
general or specific.
Example of a Determiner:
A dog barked
In this example, we realise that, one unknown dog barked. ‘A’
is an indefinite article and a determiner
 5.1.2 Types of Determiners
• There are types of determiners: Quantifiers,
articles, demonstratives, and possessives are
the four main types of determiners used in
English. Each type helps to specify a noun,
which provides clarity and precision to the
sentence.
 5.1,2.1 Articles
• Articles are among the most common of the determiners. There are
three singular articles: a, an, and the. Articles specify (or determine)
which noun the speaker is referring to. A and an are indefinite
articles and are used when you are talking about a general version
of the noun. For Example:
A dog is a good pet.
An ostrich would beat a chicken in a race.
• In these examples, the sentence is talking about dogs or ostriches in
general, meaning any dog. When your meaning is general, use an
indefinite article. Note that ‘a’ is used before words that begin with
consonants while ‘an’ is used before words beginning with vowels.
• On the other hand, ‘the’ is a definite article, meaning the speaker is
referring to a specific noun.
 Articles (Con.’t)
For example:
We went to the best restaurant in town.
The dog is barking too loudly.
• Here the speaker is referring to a particular
dog and a particular restaurant. It's not a
general category, but only one animal or place
that's important. When your meaning is
specific, use a definite article.
 5.1.2.2 Demonstratives
• Demonstrative pronouns are also used as
determiners in English. There are four of
them: this, that, these and those.
Demonstratives are used in a situation in
which the speaker can point to the item they
mean, making them even more specific than a
definite article.
For example:
Do you want this piece of chicken?
 5.1.2.3 Quantifiers
• Quantifiers are determiners that indicate how much or
how little of the noun is being discussed. They include
words such as all, few and many.
For example:
He took all the books.
She liked all desserts equally.
Few children like lima beans, so the cafeteria
stopped serving them.
Many kittens are taught to hunt by their mothers.
 5.1.2.4 Possessives
• Possessive determiners are used to show who owns or
‘possesses’ something. The possessive determiners
are: my, your, his, her, its, our, their.
Examples:
This is my mother.
His pen is in the box.
Her first name is Sarah.
The cat lost its bowl.
Our house is under construction.
They saw their teacher at the market.
Your name is written in the book.
 5.1.2.4 Using Determiners Correctly
• How should you choose which determiner to use? For native English
speakers, determining which determiner to use is second nature, since
determiners are so often used in front of nouns.
• For people learning English as a second language, it's helpful to remember
a few rules:
i. Determiners always come first in the noun phrase.
ii. Determiners are required with singular nouns.
iii. To speak about a singular noun generally, use an indefinite article
(a or an).
iv. To speak about a plural noun generally, do not use a determiner.
v. To speak about a singular noun specifically, use a definite article,
demonstrative pronoun, possessive pronoun or quantifier.
vi. To speak about a plural noun specifically, use a definite article,
demonstrative
SESSION 6. INTERJECTION
 6.1 What are Interjections
• Interjections are words used to express strong feeling or sudden
emotion. They are included in a sentence (usually at the start) to
express a sentiment such as surprise, disgust, joy, excitement, or
enthusiasm. An interjection is not grammatically related to any
other part of the sentence. If an interjection is omitted, the
sentence still makes sense. It can stand alone.

Examples of Interjections
In the following examples, the interjections are in bold.
Hey! Get off that floor!
Oh, that is a surprise.
Good! Now we can move on.
Jeepers, that was close.
 Interjections (Con.’t)
• Expressions such as yes, no, indeed, and well are often used as interjections. For example:
Indeed, this is not the first time the stand has collapsed.
Yes, I do intend to cover the bet.
Phew!

• Some interjections are more than one word. For example:

Oh, really? I doubt that.
Holy moly! She won!

• An interjection can be used as filler. Example:

Ouch! That hurts.
Well, I need a break.
Wow! What a beautiful dress!

• When you are expressing a strong emotion, use an exclamation mark (!). A comma (,) can be used
for a weaker emotion.
 6.2 Uses of Interjections
• Interjections do the following:
1. Express a feeling—wow, gee, oops, darn, geez, oh:
• Example:
Oops, I’m sorry. That was my mistake.
Geez! Do I need to do it again?
Oh, I didn’t know that.

2. Say yes or no—yes, no, nope:

• Example: Yes! I will do it!
No, I am not going to go there.
Nope. That’s not what I want.
 Uses of Interjections (Con.’t)
3. Call attention—yo, hey:
Example:
Yo, will you throw the ball back?
Hey, I just wanted to talk to you about the previous
incident.

4. Indicate a pause—well, um, hmm:

Example:
Well, what I meant was nothing like that.
Um, here is our proposal.
Hmm. You really need to be on a diet.