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Education, Charles Dube
Though there are quite a number of grammar aspects students need to focus on, here we consider word classes. Word classes define the roles that each word can play in a sentence. There are eight main word classes also called parts of speech.
Remember words are categorised by the function they have in a sentence. We have a class of nouns defined as naming words.
Examples; book, Bulawayo, beauty. Adjectives describe nouns and sometimes pronouns. Examples, large, cloudy.
There are verbs simply defined as doing words or action words like run, read, return. Next in line are adverbs which describe verbs (and sometimes adjectives and other adverbs too). Examples: sadly, badly, and quickly. Pronouns take the place of nouns in a sentence. Examples: you, they, he, she, him, me and it. Conjunctions commonly referred to as connecting words like, and, or, but, because. There is a class of prepositions which define relationships between words in terms of time, space and direction. Examples are as follows: before, through, underneath.
Lastly there is a class of determiners which give specific kinds of information about a noun (e.g. quality or possession). At face value one might take this discussion on parts of speech as simple repetition. But from experience I have discovered that those teachers of English Language who ignore teaching this area of language at an early stage would not have done justice to the students. The students they produce continue to struggle with their language even at higher levels of education.
Students need to understand these basics of language in order to master the language. It is true that nouns are often called naming words as they give the names of places, people and things — but they can also refer to groups, states, emotions and more. There are different types of nouns. They can refer to unique people or places (proper nouns) or identify more general objects, states or groups (common nouns).
Under nouns we have the following categories: proper nouns where we find specific names of people like (Mandla, Linda, and Petra), names of specific places (e.g. Plumtree, Harare, and Pretoria). Names of specific brands like Adidas, and, Reebok.
Under common nouns we have concrete nouns which comprise things we can physically touch or see, for example, book, car, ship, desk and box. We also have abstract nouns. Things like concepts, truth, states — motherhood, qualities — honesty, emotions — sadness.
We shall continue with nouns looking at singular and plural forms, classifying them as count or mass nouns later on. At this juncture can I move on to words often confused to help students improve on sentence construction by using words correctly at their right places. All ready — all prepared. They were to inform their leader when they were all ready. Already — previously.
He had already left by the time you called him.
All together — everyone in the same place. He found them all together waiting for him. Altogether — entirely. Her response was entirely different from his. Born — given birth. Where were you born? Borne — carried; endured. The people there have borne their hardships bravely. Brake (verb) to slow down or stop; (noun) a device for slowing down, or stopping. You need to brake cautiously on wet roads. His car failed to brake and caused an accident. Break (verb) to cause to come apart; to shatter; (noun — a fracture). Do not break the window panes. They could not detect the break in her arm until they took her for an X-ray. Coarse (adjective) rough; crude. She bought coarse salt from the shops. Course (noun) path of action. Part of a meal; series of studies (also used after of to mean naturally or certainly). He took a cookery course at college. Mushroom soup was the first course at the lodge. Of course, she beat him up for misbehaving in class.
Complement (noun) something that makes whole or complete; (verb) to make whole or complete. This one is used mainly at mathematics when dealing with angles. Two angles are a complement of 90 degrees. Their role in this job complements mine.
Together the parts complete the job. Compliment (noun) praise; a courteous act or expression; (verb) to express praise or respect. Thank you for the compliment.
Council (noun) a group called together to accomplish a job in local government. Councillor (noun) a member of council. The council met to discuss the budget. Each councillor gave his view on the budget. Counsel (noun) advice; (verb) to advise.
Counsellor (noun) one who gives advice. The teacher gave the students leaving school wise counsel. Mr Moyo works as a counsellor for a non-governmental organisation.
For students to master these words they need constant practice through exercises which help them distinguish between words often confused. More examples on this subject to be given in later articles.For views link up with charlesdubecom to 14058@gmail.
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