Communicative Skills

Definition of Articles

An article is a word used to modify a noun, which is a person, place, object, or idea. Technically, an article is an adjective, which is any word that modifies a noun. Usually adjectives modify nouns through description, but articles are used instead to point out or refer to nouns.

PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions are words which begin prepositional phrases.

A prepositional phrase is a group of words containing a preposition, noun or pronoun object of the preposition, and any modifiers of the object.

A preposition sits in front of (is “pre-positioned” before) its object.

The following words are the most commonly used prepositions:

about	below	excepting	off	toward
above	beneath	for	on	under
across	beside(s)	from	onto	underneath
after	between	in	out	until
against	beyond	in front of	outside	up
along	but	inside	over	upon
among	by	in spite of	past	up to
around	concerning	instead of	regarding	with
at	despite	into	since	within
because of	down	like	through	without
before	during	near	throughout	with regard to
behind	except	of	to	with respect to

Noun

A noun is a word that functions as the name of some specific thing or set of things, such as living creatures, objects, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas. However, noun is not a semantic category, so that it cannot be characterized in terms of its meaning.

There are several different types of noun, as follows:

• Common noun: A common noun is a noun that refers to people or things in general, 

e.g. boy, country, bridge, city, birth, day, happiness.

Proper noun: A proper noun is a name that identifies a particular person, place, or thing, e.g. Steven, Africa, London, Monday. In written English, proper                            nouns begin with capital letters.

Concrete noun: A concrete noun is a noun which refers to people and to things that exist physically and can be seen, touched, smelled, heard, or tasted.                          e.g. dog, building, coffee, tree, rain, beach, tune.
Abstract noun: An abstract noun is a noun which refers to ideas, qualities, and conditions - things that cannot be seen or touched and things which have no physical reality, e.g. truth, danger, happiness, time, friendship, humour.
Collective nouns: Collective nouns refer to groups of people or things, e.g. audience, family, government, team, jury.
Count and mass nouns: Nouns can be either countable or uncountable. Countable nouns (or count nouns) are those that refer to something that can be counted. Uncountable nouns (or mass nouns) do not typically refer to things that can be counted and so  they do not regularly have a plural form.

Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun in a sentence. Pronouns are used so that our language is not cumbersome with the same nouns being repeated over and over in a paragraph. Some examples of pronouns include I, me, mine, myself, she, her, hers, herself, we, us, ours and ourselves.

Types of pronouns:

• Personal pronouns (e.g., he, they)
• Demonstrative pronouns (e.g., this, these)
• Interrogative pronouns (e.g., which, who)
• Indefinite pronouns (e.g., none, several)
• Possessive pronouns (e.g., his, your)
• Reciprocal pronouns (e.g., each other, one another)
• Relative pronouns (e.g., which, where)

Verbs

Verbs are words that describe an action or talk about something that happens. They take many different forms depending on their subjects, the time they refer to and other ideas we want to express.

They are 4 types of verbs.

The four types of main verbs: (1) action transitive, (2) action intransitive, (3) no‑action to be, and (4) no‑action linking. 5. The fifth kind of verb is not a main verb, but an (5) auxiliary verb, also called a helping verb.

•  Action transitive: Action transitive verb has two characteristics. First, it is an action verb, expressing a doable activity like kick, want, paint, write, eat, clean, etc. Second, it must have a direct object, something or someone who receives the action of the verb.
• Action intransitive: An action verb with a direct object is transitive while an action verb with no direct object is intransitive. Some verbs, such as arrive, go, lie, sneeze, sit, and die, are always intransitive; it is impossible for a direct object to follow.
• No‑action to be: Non-action words, or non-action verbs, do not refer to an action as such, but represent a state of being, need, opinion, sense, or preference. Examples are the "be" verbs, like: am, are, was, were, is, has been, and had. Referring to the senses, some non-action words are: look, smell, feel, taste, and sound.
• No‑action linking: A linking verb connects the subject with a word that gives information about the subject, such as a condition or relationship. They do not show any action; they simply link the subject with the rest of the sentence. ... The most common linking verbs are forms of the verb to be: am, is, are, was, were, being, been.
• Auxiliary verb: An auxiliary verb helps the main (full) verb and is also called a "helping verb." With auxiliary verbs, you can write sentences in different tenses, moods, or voices. Auxiliary verbs are: be, do, have, will, shall, would, should, can, could, may, might, must, ought, etc. I think I should study harder to master English.