2017-11-01
2025
| PARTS OF SPEECH | EXAMPLES |
| NOUN (in the common case) | He wrote a book 20 years ago. |
| PRONOUN personal, possessive, indefinite, defining, reflexive, demonstrative | Who told you the news? It isn’t my book. Give me mine. Do you want anything? He has done everything. Be careful and don’t hurt yourself. Look at this. |
| ADJECTIVE (substantivized) | People dealing with charity help the poor. |
| NUMERAL | How many do you want? – I want two. |
| QUOTATION (or quotation group) | They shouted “Herman, come back!”several times, but got no reply. |
| PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE with noun or gerund | He was prevented from making a great mistake. What can you say about it? |
| GROUP OF WORDS as one part of sentence | They found a great number of books in the library. |
| INFINITIVE INFINITIVE PHRASE INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTION | · They ordered to stop. · They tried to shut the door. · The company waited for the lecture to be over. |
| GERUND GERUNDIAL PHRASE GERUNDIAL CONSTRUCTION | · Stop smoking! · Do you remember seeing him on Tuesday? · I don’t like his doing it. |
| PARTICIPLE (substantivized) | The Germans left the dying behind. |
THE ATTRIBUTE
The attribute is a secondary part of the sentence, which qualifies a noun, a pronoun, or any other part of speech that has a nominal character.
MEANS OF EXPRESSING THE ATTRIBUTE
| PARTS OF SPEECH | EXAMPLES |
| NOUN (in the common case, genitive case) | He was a village painter. Captain’s appearance left much to be desired. |
| PRONOUN (possessive, defining, demonstrative, interrogative,) | His eyes were shining. I know every word in this letter. This story is really interesting. Which book would you like to take? |
| ADJECTIVE | His enormous nose identified his curiosity. |
| NUMERAL (cardinal, ordinal) | Each of these four brothers was different from the others. It was her second job. |
| ADVERB | (pre-position)In the light of after events the news was not interesting. (post-position) The room above is of latest fashion design. |
| QUOTATION (or quotation group) | I don’t like his “I swear...”lies. |
| PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE with a noun | The letter from her sister was received yesterday. |
| INFINITIVE INFINITIVE PHRASE INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTION | · Here’s a book to read. · They must fin time to master the language. · The best thing for you to do is to hide away. |
| GERUND GERUNDIAL PHRASE GERUNDIAL CONSTRUCTION | · The idea of leaving is silly. · The thought of bursting out crying came suddenly. · I didn’t like the idea of her going there alone. |
| PARTICIPLE I | I think it’s only a passing shower. That guy, sitting there, isn’t familiar to me. |
| PARTICIPLE II | You can see a broken tree on the opposite side. |
THE APPOSITION
An apposition is a special kind of attribute which is expressed by a noun (with or without accompanying words) which characterizes or explains the word modified by giving the person or thing another name. There are two kinds of apposition.
THE CLOSE APPOSITION is not separated by commas and stands in close connection with the word modified. These word-groups generally consist either of the name of a person and a noun denoting a title, rank, profession, or the name of a person and a noun, denoting relationship, or a geographical name and some common noun: Professor Higgins, Aunt Polly, President Clinton, Lake Ontario.
Even Aunt Polly was there.
In these word-groups the noun modified is the name of a person or a geographical name, the first component is a noun in apposition.
Sometimes the apposition consists of the preposition of + noun: the town of York.
THE LOOSE OR DETACHED APPOSITION is not so closely connected with the noun. It is always separated by commas and has a stress of its own.
She lived in the house of Timothy, her younger brother.
