Appendix 1 The basic parts of speech
English has eight parts of speech. Editors need to know them intimately because they are the tools of your trade. Here is a primer on these tools.
1. Nouns
Nouns name people and things. They come in four types:
- common (as the name suggests, these name everyday things. They are generally the words you set in lower case in body text)
- proper (these are the names of things such as people, cities and titles. You capitalize them in body text)
- abstract (these are intangibles such as love, respect and justice. You cannot use your senses to appreciate them)
- collective (these refer to a group of people or things, such as a school of fish or a herd of elephants)
2. Pronouns
Pronouns replace nouns, usually to avoid repetition. They agree with the nouns they represent in gender and number. They can be the subject or the object of a sentence (see the next section for more details). Pronouns come in various forms. They change depending on whether they are the subject or the object. Here are some of the most common:
- personal (these represent people â I, me)
- possessive (denotes ownership â my, mine, your, her, his, its, our, their)
- relative (introduce or connect clauses â who, that, which)
- interrogative (used in asking questions â whose, what)
- indefinite (do not refer to specific people or things, hence the name â anybody, none, each, some, all, both, any, everybody, several)
3. Verbs
The third key part of speech is the verb. Verbs express action or a state of being. (For example, in the sentence âI am aliveâ the verb âamâ conveys a state of being rather than action.) Verbs are also associated with time, action and person. The time and action element is called tense.
English has three basic times (present, past, future) and three basic actions (simple, continuing and completed). Most journalism is written in the simple past tense because of the nature of reportage. By the time a story appears in tomorrowâs paper it must have happened in the past.
Person
Grammarians distinguish between the singular and plural forms. Thus we have first, second and third person singular and first, second and third person plural, as shown below:
Thou (second person singular) is considered archaic, and has been replaced by you. Thus, in the case of the verb âto seeâ, we get the simple present form:
I see
You see
She/he sees
We see
You see
They see
And the simple past version is:
I saw
You saw
She/he saw
We saw
You saw
They saw
4. Adjectives
An adjective describes a noun or a pronoun. Think of the âadâ in adjective as a way of remembering this concept â the adjective âaddsâ to the noun. Another way of expressing this idea is to say an adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun. By far the most common adjectives are the definite article (the) and the indefinite articles (a, an).
Other forms are:
- Demonstrative adjectives (this, that, these, those) identify a noun (this rat or those apples). When used without a noun, demonstrative adjectives become pronouns. (This is my rat.)
- Possessive adjectives (my, your, our) show ownership (my cheese).
Most other adjectives are considered as being absolute (for example: final, perfect) or conveying degree. Absolute adjectives should never acquire any baggage because they are complete on their own. It is impossible to describe something as âvery uniqueâ because unique means, well, unique. Similarly, you cannot say something is ârather perfectâ or describe someone as âsomewhat pregnantâ. These words are absolute because they stand on their own.
Adjectives of degree can be:
- positive(used as a simple description)
- comparative(used to compare one with another)
- superlative(used to compare one with two or more others)
Thus you would describe a single body of water as hot or a single problem as difficult. But you would distinguish between two things by using the comparative form. The water then becomes hotter than another body of water; the problem is more difficult than another problem. In the case of three or more things, one of the bodies of water will be hottest and one of the problems will be the most difficult. One of the most common mistakes in newspapers relates to confusion over former, latter and last. If you are referring to two things, use former for the first and latter for the second. But if you refer to more than two things, use last for the final thing.
5. Adverbs
An adverb describes or modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb. Again, think of the âadâ in adverb as a way of remembering this concept â the adverb âaddsâ to the other words. Many adverbs end in âlyâ. Here are some examples:
He sees clearly
(The adverb âclearlyâ describes or modifies the verb âseesâ.)
He found a newly minted coin
(The adverb ânewlyâ describes or modifies the adjective âmintedâ.)
He sees very poorly
(The adverb âveryâ describes or modifies the adverb âpoorlyâ.)
6. Prepositions
A preposition is a linking word â it joins its object with a preceding word or phrase. For example, in the phrase âa herd of elephantsâ the object is elephants and the preposition links the phrase by telling us what kind of animals are in the herd. In the sentence âWe are heading to Sydneyâ the preposition tells where we are heading. Most prepositions are short. Some examples are: of, to, in, on, for, with, by.
7. Conjunctions
Conjunctions are also linking or joining words. They link similar parts of speech. Thus they can link adjectives: âfit and wellâ or adverbs: âslowly but surelyâ. They also link sentences: âYou may come. Or you may go.â and âYou may come or you may go.â The most common conjunctions are: and, but, or, nor, yet, however, if, though, although, either, neither. You need to be able to identify conjunctions because you need to know what they are before you can delete them to improve sentences.
8. Interjection
The final part of speech is called an interjection. It is a short exclamation that is outside the main sentence. It often stands alone, as in: âAlas! Woe is me!â As a general rule, subs should avoid using interjections. Using exclamation points for emphasis is poor form â it is the literary equivalent of digging someone in the ribs to point out the punch line of your joke. It means you cannot write well enough to make your point without them.
The exceptions from page 29
English can best be described as a language of...