Adverbs
Recall that in one of our past articles we saw that adjectives usually go with nouns, while other words go with verbs. Thus, we say that words that go with verbs are called adverbs. Some tell how an action is done.
E.g.,
– The old man walked (verb) slowly (adverb) along the street.
– The little boy ran (verb) quickly (adverb)
– The fisherman sat (verb) sorrowfully (adverb) by the side of the river.
These adverbs in the examples above are called adverbs of manner.
Things to Note
Notice 1
Adverbs are often formed by adding “-ly” to an adjective.
E.g.,
1.) – The boy is a quick runner (adjective)
– The boy runs quickly (adverb).
2.) – The old man was a slow walker (adjective)
– The old man walked slowly (adverb)
3.) – The little boy’s behavior was bad (adjective)
– The little boy behaved badly (adverb)
4.) – The bird sang a merry song (adjective)
– The bird sang merrily (adverb)
Note that when the adjective ends in ‘y’ the adverb changes the ‘y’ to ‘I’.
But there are also some adverbs that are not formed like this;
E.g.,
1.) – John is a hard worker (adjective)
– John works hard (adverb)
2.) – This is a fast train (adjective)
– It goes very fast (adverb)
3.) – The little girl’s behavior was good (adjective)
– The little girl behaved well (adverb).
Notice 2
Adverbs are generally put after the verbs they go with; while adjectives are generally put before the noun they go with.
A few adverbs tell us not how but when an action was done.
E.g.,
– The woodman lost his axe yesterday (when did he lose it?)
– We must come to school tomorrow (when must we come to school?)
These adverbs are called adverbs of time.
Furthermore, a few adverbs tell us where an action was done.
E.g.,
– I sat down there (where did I sit down?)
These adverbs are called adverbs of place.
In summary, adverbs go with the verb to tell how, where, or when an action takes place.
Prepositions, Adverb Phrases & Adjective Phrases
Prepositions come in some of the shortest words in the English language but sometimes they are the most difficult to identify and use.
They include words in form of; in, out, up, over, down, under, before, etc.
You can find prepositions generally used with a noun (or pronoun) to make a phrase. You remember, of course, that a phrase is a group of words without a verb.
For example;
i). At my house (ii). In your school (iii). With you, etc.
Below are some more examples for easy understanding of the prepositions;
Prepositions Nouns (Pronouns)
In your pocket
Over the wall
Through the window
To him
Round the house
Into the garden
Towards the door
- These phrases often do the work of an adverb; i.e. they tell how, when, or where an action was done. Those are called adverb phrases.
E.g.,
1). – The soldiers fought bravely (adverb of manner)
– The soldiers fought with great bravery (adverb phrase)
2). – He came yesterday (adverb of time)
– He came at 4 O’clock (adverb phrase)
3). – She sat there (adverb of place)
– She sat in the corner (adverb phrase)
- Sometimes, these phrases do the work of an adjective, that is, they tell more about a noun. These phrases are called adjective phrases.
E.g.,
1). – A dirty boy opened the door (adjective)
– A boy with a dirty face opened the door (adjective phrase)
2). – I like a corner seat on the train (adjective)
– I like a seat in the corner (adjective phrase)
Below are some other examples of adjective phrases;
-). The children of the village go to this school
– The picture on the wall shows the national theatre.
– The view through the open window is very pretty
– The boy with me is Zakari.
- Sometimes the same phrase may be an adverb phrase or adjective phrase. It all depends on the work it is doing.
E.g.,
– The class in this room is learning English (this is an adjective phrase. It qualifies the noun ‘class.’)
– We learn English in this room. (this is an adverb phrase).
- There is also one more thing to notice; after a preposition, the pronoun in the phrase is always in the objective case;
E.g.,
– He came with them (never “with they”)
– He will sit between you and me (never between “you and I”)
– This letter was written by him
– He bought the house from us.
With all the illustrations above, we can see that prepositions ‘govern’ the noun or pronoun that they go with.
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Conjunctions
Conjunctions are said to be word that joins together words, phrases, or sentences.
A perfect example of a conjunction is links. They are like the links that join together railway wagons. Here are some examples.
‘and’ joins two words
E.g.,
– Peter and Tina
‘and’ also joins two phrases
E.g.,
– Along the street and around the corner
‘but’ joins two sentences.
E.g.,
– John works badly but he plays games well
– The woodcutter looked at the gold axe but refused to take it.
Types Of Conjunctions
1. Coordinating Conjunction
These conjunctions join together units of the same rank. Meaning that they may join words, phrases, subordinate, or main clauses. The coordinating conjunctions are and, but, or.
E.g.,
– I looked for John in the house but he was not in (‘but’ joins the two main clauses; ‘I looked for John in the house,’ ‘he was not in.’)
– Grace must be in the garden or in the kitchen. (‘or’ joins two phrases; ‘in the garden,’ ‘in the kitchen.’)
– Joe and Jack will represent us (‘and’ joins two words; ‘Joe,’ ‘Jack’).
2. Correlative Conjunctions
These are conjunctions that are used in pairs. They include the following; both….and, not only…but (also), either….or, neither….nor.
E.g.,
– Both Jane and Alice attended the party
– Either the principal or his assistant will preside at the college ceremony
– Grace wants to pass not only her degree papers but also the master’s examination.
3. Subordinating Conjunctions
These conjunctions introduce subordinate clauses. They include the following conjunctions; after, although, as, because, before, if, in order that, since, so that, unless, until, where, while, who, whose, that.
E.g.,
– If it rains today, we shall not go out
– Unless she returns my first visit, I shall not visit her again
– The student failed his examination because he was lazy.
Interjections
They are not too many words under this category. They are words (or sometimes phrases) that we use to express a sudden feeling, for example, surprise, pleasure, pain, etc.
Here are some examples;
- Hello!
- Oh!
- Good heavens!
- What a pity!
- How pretty!
Note that interjections always have an exclamation mark (!) after them.
Also, you should note that interjections have no grammatical relationship with other words in the sentence.
E.g.,
– Oh! I’ve forgotten my books!
– Wow! What a day!
– Good heavens! This is quite unbelievable!
– No! You must be joking!
– Alas! You’ve arrived too late!
NOTE: Sentences that contain interjections (exclamation) are called exclamatory sentences.
Take Away!
In this article, we have aptly discussed four(4) different parts of speech in English grammar, including Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections. We also, went further to talk about Adverb phrases and adjective phrases. With such details as the one in this article, we are convinced that you will be pleased to have found what you are looking in this page.
Thank you & Best of luck!