Letters, Syllables, Articles, Nouns, Adjectives and Verbs in English Page 3

HOW TO SPEAK AND WRITE CORRECTLY by JOSEPH DEVLIN, M.A.
CHAPTER II Page 3: ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR

PRINCIPAL PARTS

Present	Past	Past Participle
Love	Loved	Loved

Infinitive Mood

To Love

Indicative Mood

PRESENT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	I love	We love
2nd person	You love	You love
3rd person	He loves	They love

PAST TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	I loved	We loved
2nd person	You loved	You loved
3rd person	He loved	They loved

FUTURE TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	I shall love	They will love
2nd person	You will love	You will love
3rd person	He will love	We shall love

[Transcriber’s note: 1st person plural and 3rd person plural reversed in original]

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	I have loved	We have loved
2nd person	You have loved	You have loved
3rd person	He has loved	They have loved

PAST PERFECT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	I had loved	We had loved
2nd person	You had loved	You had loved
3rd person	He had loved	They had loved

FUTURE PERFECT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	I shall have loved	We shall have loved
2nd person	You will have loved	You will have loved
3rd person	He will have loved	They will have loved

Imperative Mood

(PRESENT TENSE ONLY)

	Sing.	Plural
2nd person	Love (you)	Love (you)

Subjunctive Mood

PRESENT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	If I love	If we love
2nd person	If you love	If you love
3rd person	If he love	If they love

PAST TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	If I loved	If we loved
2nd person	If you loved	If you loved
3rd person	If he loved	If they loved

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	If I have loved	If we have loved
2nd person	If you have loved	If you have loved
3rd person	If he has loved	If they have loved

PAST PERFECT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	If I had loved	If we had loved
2nd person	If you had loved	If you had loved
3rd person	If he had loved	If they had loved

INFINITIVES

Present	Perfect
To love	To have loved

PARTICIPLES

Present	Past	Perfect
Loving	Loved	Having loved

CONJUGATION OF “To Love”

Passive Voice
Indicative Mood

PRESENT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	I am loved	We are loved
2nd person	You are loved	You are loved
3rd person	He is loved	They are loved

PAST TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	I was loved	We were loved
2nd person	You were loved	You were loved
3rd person	He was loved	They were loved

FUTURE TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	I shall be loved	We shall be loved
2nd person	You will be loved	You will be loved
3rd person	He will be loved	They will be loved

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	I have been loved	We have been loved
2nd person	You have been loved	You have been loved
3rd person	He has been loved	They have been loved

PAST PERFECT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	I had been loved	We had been loved
2nd person	You had been loved	You had been loved
3rd person	He had been loved	They had been loved

FUTURE PERFECT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	I shall have been loved	We shall have been loved
2nd person	You will have been loved	You will have been loved
3rd person	He will have been loved	They will have been loved

Imperative Mood

(PRESENT TENSE ONLY)

	Sing.	Plural
2nd person	Be (you) loved	Be (you) loved

Subjunctive Mood

PRESENT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	If I be loved	If we be loved
2nd person	If you be loved	If you be loved
3rd person	If he be loved	If they be loved

PAST TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	If I were loved	If they were loved
2nd person	If you were loved	If you were loved
3rd person	If he were loved	If we were loved

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	If I have been loved	If we have been loved
2nd person	If you have been loved	If you have been loved
3rd person	If he has been loved	If they have been loved

PAST PERFECT TENSE

	Sing.	Plural
1st person	If I had been loved	If we had been loved
2nd person	If you had been loved	If you had been loved
3rd person	If he had been loved	If they had been loved

INFINITIVES

Present		Perfect
To be loved		To have been loved

PARTICIPLES

Present	Past	Perfect
Being loved	Been loved	Having been loved

(N. B.—Note that the plural form of the personal pronoun, you, is used in the second person singular throughout. The old form thou, except in the conjugation of the verb “To Be,” may be said to be obsolete. In the third person singular he is representative of the three personal pronouns of the third person, He, She and It.)ADVERBAn adverb is a word which modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. Thus, in the example—”He writes well,” the adverb shows the manner in which the writing is performed; in the examples—”He is remarkably diligent” and “He works very faithfully,” the adverbs modify the adjective diligent and the other adverb faithfully by expressing the degree of diligence and faithfulness.Adverbs are chiefly used to express in one word what would otherwise require two or more words; thus, There signifies in that place; whence, from what place; usefully, in a useful manner.Adverbs, like adjectives, are sometimes varied in their terminations to express comparison and different degrees of quality.Some adverbs form the comparative and superlative by adding er and est; as, soon, sooner, soonest.Adverbs which end in ly are compared by prefixing more and most; as, nobly, more nobly, most nobly.

A few adverbs are irregular in the formation of the comparative and superlative; as, well, better, best.

PREPOSITION

A preposition connects words, clauses, and sentences together and shows the relation between them. “My hand is on the table” shows relation between hand and table.

Prepositions are so called because they are generally placed before the words whose connection or relation with other words they point out.

CONJUNCTION

A conjunction joins words, clauses and sentences; as “John and James.” “My father and mother have come, but I have not seen them.”

The conjunctions in most general use are and, also; either, or; neither, nor; though, yet; but, however; for, that; because, since; therefore, wherefore, then; if, unless, lest.

INTERJECTION

An interjection is a word used to express some sudden emotion of the mind. Thus in the examples,—”Ah! there he comes; alas! what shall I do?” ah, expresses surprise, and alas, distress.

Nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs become interjections when they are uttered as exclamations, as, nonsense! strange! hail! away! etc.

We have now enumerated the parts of speech and as briefly as possible stated the functions of each. As they all belong to the same family they are related to one another but some are in closer affinity than others. To point out the exact relationship and the dependency of one word on another is called parsing and in order that every etymological connection may be distinctly understood a brief resume of the foregoing essentials is here given:

The signification of the noun is limited to one, but to any one of the kind, by the indefinite article, and to some particular one, or some particular number, by the definite article.

Nouns, in one form, represent one of a kind, and in another, any number more than one; they are the names of males, or females, or of objects which are neither male nor female; and they represent the subject of an affirmation, a command or a question,—the owner or possessor of a thing,—or the object of an action, or of a relation expressed by a preposition.

Adjectives express the qualities which distinguish one person or thing from another; in one form they express quality without comparison; in another, they express comparison between two, or between one and a number taken collectively,—and in a third they express comparison between one and a number of others taken separately.

Pronouns are used in place of nouns; one class of them is used merely as the substitutes of names; the pronouns of another class have a peculiar reference to some preceding words in the sentence, of which they are the substitutes,—and those of a third class refer adjectively to the persons or things they represent. Some pronouns are used for both the name and the substitute; and several are frequently employed in asking questions.

Affirmations and commands are expressed by the verb; and different inflections of the verb express number, person, time and manner. With regard to time, an affirmation may be present or past or future; with regard to manner, an affirmation may be positive or conditional, it being doubtful whether the condition is fulfilled or not, or it being implied that it is not fulfilled;—the verb may express command or entreaty; or the sense of the verb may be expressed without affirming or commanding. The verb also expresses that an action or state is or was going on, by a form which is also used sometimes as a noun, and sometimes to qualify nouns.

Affirmations are modified by adverbs, some of which can be inflected to express different degrees of modification.

Words are joined together by conjunctions; and the various relations which one thing bears to another are expressed by ‘prepositions. Sudden emotions of the mind, and exclamations are expressed by interjections.

Some words according to meaning belong sometimes to one part of speech, sometimes to another. Thus, in “After a storm comes a calm,” calm is a noun; in “It is a calm evening,” calm is an adjective; and in “Calm your fears,” calm is a verb.

The following sentence containing all the parts of speech is parsed etymologically:

“I now see the old man coming, but, alas, he has walked with much difficulty.”

I, a personal pronoun, first person singular, masculine or feminine gender, nominative case, subject of the verb see.

now, an adverb of time modifying the verb see.

see, an irregular, transitive verb, indicative mood, present tense, first person singular to agree with its nominative or subject I.

the, the definite article particularizing the noun man.

old, an adjective, positive degree, qualifying the noun man.

man, a common noun, 3rd person singular, masculine gender, objective case governed by the transitive verb see.

coming, the present or imperfect participle of the verb “to come” referring to the noun man.

but, a conjunction.

alas, an interjection, expressing pity or sorrow.

he, a personal pronoun, 3rd person singular, masculine gender, nominative case, subject of verb has walked.

has walked, a regular, intransitive verb, indicative mood, perfect tense, 3rd person singular to agree with its nominative or subject he.

with, a preposition, governing the noun difficulty.

much, an adjective, positive degree, qualifying the noun difficulty.

difficulty, a common noun, 3rd person singular, neuter gender, objective case governed by the preposition with.

N.B.-Much is generally an adverb. As an adjective it is thus compared:

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
much	more	most

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