ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
DECLENSION
Declension (otherwise known as the inflection of nouns and pronouns) is the change in form of nouns and pronouns to indicate person, number, case; and gender. Specifically, noun declension refers to the change in spelling or appearance of a noun to mark a change in its meaning and usage. Nouns generally inflect for NUMBER, GENDER, and CASE. NUMBER A noun is said to be in the singular number when it denotes one person, place, or thing; e.g. boy, cat. But it is said to be in the plural number when it denotes more than one person, place, or thing; e.g. boys, cats. Hence, nouns exhibit two numbers – singular…
ADJECTIVES
Adjectives are words that modify nouns or noun-equivalents and fellow adjectives. The italicised words below are some examples of adjectives: Professor Stefano is a seasoned scholar. He is prolific. He has produced many good works of art. Some people are passing through hard times these days. Classification of Adjectives Adjectives can be grouped into two broad classes according to the functions they perform: Determiners. Describers. DETERMINERS Determiners are small adjectives which normally identify and precede nouns. They signal the approach of a noun and generally define or limit the meaning of the noun, restricting its application. The following are common examples of determiners in English Language: 1)…
VOICE
Voice refers to the form which a transitive verb assumes to show whether it acts or is acted upon. This implies that the verb has two voices: active and passive. The active voice is used when the subject of the transitive verb is the doer or the active agent in an action, while the passive voice is used when the subject is acted upon or suffers the action done to it. DISTINCTION BETWEEN ACTIVE VOICE AND PASSIVE VOICE I) Active voice is the name given to the verb in a sentence where the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action, while passive voice is the name…
PERSON, MOOD AND NUMBER AS GRAMMATICAL PROPERTIES OF VERBS
PERSON Person is the form of the verb which designates the person speaking (i.e. first person; e.g. I am), the person spoken to (i.e. second person; e.g. You are) and the person or thing spoken of (i.e. third person; e.g. He/It is). MOOD Mood (or MODE) is the form of the verb that is used to indicate the manner in which the action is conceived. It expresses the attitude or thought of the speaker towards the action of the verb in a sentence, whether the speaker is merely making a statement, giving an order, or expressing a simple wish. Thus, we have three basic moods in English: namely,…
THE FUTURE PERFECT TENSE
The Future Perfect Tense Form This tense is formed with shall/will + perfect infinitive (without to): shall + have spoken = (We) shall have spoken. will + have read = (You) will have read. Functions The future perfect tense is used to express: I) an action that will be completed at a given time in the future: By the end of this year, I shall have read ten novels. II) an action which at a given time in the future must have ended before another action takes place: I shall have finished my degree exams before your next visit. You will have cleared the field before tilling the…