Word Functions

CYRIL POTTER COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
COURSE: ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH PROFICIENCY 1
LECTURE NOTES - WORD FUNCTIONS
The four functions of words in Sentences.

Every sentence is made up of words and each word has a particular function.
These include
- Words that name – NOUNS AND PRONOUNS.
- Words that assert – VERBS (state or declare positively) or words that
demonstrate the existence of verbs.
- Words that modify – ADJECTIVES which modify nouns; ADVERBS which
modify verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
- Words that connect – CONJUNCTIONS, which join or connect words,
phrases and clauses (sentences). PREPOSITIONS – words that typically
combine or connect with, or placed in front of a noun to form a phrase,
which usually expresses a modification or prediction. (i.e. what one thing
has to do with another?)
Sometimes, words, phrases or just noises are used to express a sudden feeling
or emotion, for example, surprise, pleasure, pain, etc.
- E.g. Hello! Hurrah! Oh! Ah! Good heavens! How pretty! Ouch! Ugh!
Wow! These words or phrases function as INTERJECTIONS and are usually
written with an exclamation mark (!) after them.
- So, you cannot tell the Part of Speech of a word unless it is placed in a
sentence or context. You are able to tell the part of speech of a word by the
work it is doing in a sentence.
For example, let us use the word nail in a sentence.
Hammer the nail in well.
In this sentence, nail is the name of something, so it is a noun.
Now look at this sentence: Nail the picture on the wall. Here, nail
expresses an action, hence it is a verb.
Another example: I cannot find my new nail file. Here nail is an adjective
qualifying the noun file.
WORD FUNCTION 1 - WORDS THAT NAME
Nouns function to name a person (man, John), or people (men, boys,

Indians), or an animal (horse, dog) or a thing (house, town) or an idea
(peace, size). Basically then, a noun is a word that names anything.
1
Kinds of NOUNS – Common – e.g. boy for any young male person in the
world.
Proper – the special name that is given to persons or places or things. All
proper nouns begin with a capital letter.
Collective – name a whole collection of people or things considered as one.
Abstract – which do not really name things, they name qualities or ideas.
They do not name things that you can see or touch. E.g. kindness, speed,
health, toothache, pain, courage.
Nouns conform to NUMBER – Singular and Plural.

Singular nouns generally make their plurals by adding ‘s’; to some (ending
in a ‘hissing sound’ or in –o) add –es; to some (ending in –f or –fe) change
the f or fe ending to –ves; for some (ending in –y) change the y to –ies.
A few nouns have the same form for singular and plural. E.g. sheep, deer,
salmon, trout.
Some nouns have no plural. E.g. information, advice, furniture, news.
Some nouns have no singular. E.g. scissors, trousers, clothes, riches.
For a few other nouns, the vowel ‘infix’ changes in the plural e.g. foot-feet,
goose-geese, man-men.
There are some nouns that are made up of two nouns e.g. schoolroom,
girlfriend, bookcase, workman. In the plural, only the second part changes –
classrooms, bookcases, workmen.
Nouns conform to GENDER – Masculine, referring to Males. Feminine,

referring to females. Neutral, means neither masculine nor feminine. E.g.
book, house, river, tree, city. Dual or common gender, refers to both male
and female. E.g. neighbour, parent.
Nouns conform to CASE – Possessive case to denote ownership or

possession e.g. The child’s books; The children’s books.
The possessive form of singular nouns is made by putting an apostrophe s

(‘s) after the noun that stands for the possessor. E.g. for the foot of the
girl, we write the girl’s foot.
If the singular noun ends in s, simply place the apostrophe after the s
ending. E.g. James’ books; Charles’ bicycle.
For the possessive form of plural nouns, you need to remember:
If the plural ends in s, you just add an apostrophe. E.g. The boys’ house.
If the plural does not end in s, you add ‘s. e.g. men – men’s
WORD FUNCTION 2
Words that stand instead of nouns are Pronouns.
PRONOUNS, like nouns, conform to CASE. E.g. The Subjective (or
Nominative) case, The Objective (or Accusative) case, the Possessive case.
Subjective case pronouns include: I, You, He, She, We, You, They.
Objective case pronouns include: me, you, him, her, us, you, them.
2
Possessive case pronouns include: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, yours,
theirs.
N.B. Subjective case pronouns must never be used in the object of a
sentence. E.g. He gave I the pencil. The teacher took we to see the show.
Similarly, objective case pronouns must never be used as the subject of a
sentence. E.g. Him is my good friend. Them are coming to visit we. Them
made he an offer which him could not refuse
Kinds of Pronouns – Personal, which refer to persons -1st, 2nd and 3rd person
(singular and plural. E.g. I, you he, she, her, him, - these are singular, and,
they, we, you, us, them - are plural. ‘It’ is an impersonal pronoun – it does
not refer to a person but rather to a thing.
Possessive pronouns – used instead of the possessive case noun. E.g. That
cat is ours. This seat is not yours; it is mine.
Demonstrative pronouns – four pronouns whose work is to point out

things. E.g. This is a book. These are my books. That is a star. Those are
stars.
Interrogative pronouns – we use these when we ask questions. E.g. Who

are you? What have you done today? Which of these books do you want?
Relative or Conjunctive Pronoun – Relative, because it relates to some

noun or personal pronoun going before. It is called Conjunctive because it
joins two sentences. The noun or personal pronoun to which the
conjunctive pronoun relates is called the Antecedent.
Reflexive/Emphatic pronouns – these pronouns always end in –self (or –

selves for the plural): myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself,
ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
The Reflexive pronoun usually stands for the same person or thing as the
subject of the sentence. E.g. I saw myself in the mirror. Mary dressed
herself carefully. We taught ourselves to swim. The boys hurt themselves
getting over the wall. One must be allowed to please oneself.
The action does not go from one person or thing to another. It comes back
again – like the reflection in a mirror – to the doer of the action. Hence the
term reflexive.
The Emphatic pronoun is used to make what is said stronger, to make it
more emphatic. E.g. He himself cleaned the drain. I went there by myself.
An Indefinite pronoun functions as a noun, but it does not refer to any

particular person or thing. They include another, any, each, few, many,
some, nothing, one, anyone, everyone, everybody, everything, someone,
something, either, and neither. E.g. Many are called, but few are chosen.
3
Person – in grammar, person means first person – the person speaking;
second person – the person spoken to; and third person is the person
spoken about. (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
Number – refers to Singular and Plural.
N.B. You tell what Part of Speech a word is by the work it does in the
context in which it is used
Suggested References
1. Eckersley CE, M. Macaulay and D.K. Swan. Revised Edition Brighter
Grammar Books 1 and 2. Longman, Essex. 1996.
2. Nesfield, JC. Rep. Outline of English Grammar. Caribbean Educational
Publishers, San Fernando. 1998

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CYRIL POTTER COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

The four functions of words in Sentences.

WORD FUNCTION 1 - WORDS THAT NAME

Nouns function to name a person (man, John), or people (men, boys,

Nouns conform to NUMBER – Singular and Plural.

Nouns conform to GENDER – Masculine, referring to Males. Feminine,

Nouns conform to CASE – Possessive case to denote ownership or

The possessive form of singular nouns is made by putting an apostrophe s

Demonstrative pronouns – four pronouns whose work is to point out

Interrogative pronouns – we use these when we ask questions. E.g. Who

Relative or Conjunctive Pronoun – Relative, because it relates to some

Reflexive/Emphatic pronouns – these pronouns always end in –self (or –

An Indefinite pronoun functions as a noun, but it does not refer to any

Number – refers to Singular and Plural.

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