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Hi everybody. Welcome again to Write to
the Top. I'm Adam. Today I'm going to
start my first grammar course. As you
can see on my screen, we're going to
look at the parts of speech and I'm
going to give you a bit of an
introduction into this general area of
English grammar. Now, before I start,
let me just explain to you something
about myself. I'm the type of learner
who needs to know why I'm learning
something in order to learn it well. So,
this is why today I want to make sure
you understand why we're looking at the
parts of speech. A lot of you think that
you already know this area of grammar.
I'm going to show you that you probably
still have something to learn and you
should stick with me and join the ride
as we get along. Okay, so we're going to
just dive right in. Let's look at it.
First of all, what are the parts of
speech? Now, if you've looked at grammar
books before, you've studied grammar
before now, you may have noticed that
some books list eight parts of speech
and some books list nine parts of
speech. So, my thinking is to go with
the nine, and I'll tell you why. So,
first we have nouns, adjectives, verbs,
prepositions, articles, pronouns,
adverbs, conjunctions, and
interjections. I'll explain why that's
in brackets in a second. Now the reason
that I have nine not eight parts of
speech is because I look at the articles
separately.
Technically articles are a type of
adjective right they modify nouns but
articles are very unique in their
approach in how they're used. They have
their own rules. They have their own
exceptions to the rules. They're are
unique part of the language and they're
I've found they're very difficult for
English learners to fully grasp. There
are so many different rules for them. So
that's why I separate this into its own
part of speech part of speech and I will
explain it separately as when we get to
it. As far as interjections,
interjections are things like hey, oh,
whoa. Like these are the sounds that you
say before you're about to say something
else. Right? So these are mostly used in
spoken English, very rarely used in
written English. And for those of you
who are new, my channel focuses on
written English, not spoken English.
However, you may occasionally have to
write dialogue. Maybe you're writing a
novel and you have characters speaking
to each other. In this case, you will
use the interjections, but they're
pretty self-evident. it's pretty easy to
understand how they're used. So, I'm not
going to really focus on these in this
course. Okay. So, now we have our base.
We know what the parts of speech are.
Let's go on. Okay. So, first
pop quiz. Hot shots. If you know the
movie Speed, that's where that comes
from. But don't worry about that. The
word fast. Everybody knows this word.
You've seen it. You've used it. You've
heard it, etc. Very everyday word, very
easy word to understand. So my question
to you is, is this word a noun, verb,
adjective or adverb? Which part of
speech is a word fast? Now, if you think
you know the answer, just go right ahead
in the comment section and uh put put
your answer there. Write your answer
there. Everybody else, just wait a bit.
I'm going to come back to this question
a little bit later on in the video. So
now, let's get into the reasons. I'm
going to give you four reasons that it's
very very important to learn the parts
of speech. First reason is that it is a
base to learning other grammar elements.
So when I'm going to start talking about
all kinds of different structures and
different parts of a clause or a
sentence or whatever, I'm always going
to be referring to the parts of speech
in that clause in that sentence and so
on. So for example like these are four
very very basic sentences. I have
subject verb adjective pronoun
non-active B verb and then adjective.
Okay. I like pizza again pronoun state
verb and then an object a noun a thing.
And then so on and so forth. Subject
verb object adverb. subject, verb,
adverbial, phrase, right? So, all of
these things are going to rely on you
understanding what a noun is, what a
preposition is, what an adverb is, so
that I can explain the other parts of
the sentence. Right? So, that's the main
reason that it's important to learn
these. The next reason it's important to
learn the parts of speech is because I
believe this is the best way to build
your vocabulary. And once you build your
vocabulary, you're going to have a lot
more options, a lot more variety, a lot
easier time with your word choice. And
word choice is very, very important to
writing, right? So, how does how do the
parts of speech help? Once you learn a
word and you learn other forms of it,
other usages, you have a lot more range,
a lot more flexibility. So, for example,
here's a very simple sentence. The
committee chair took her chair to chair
the meeting. Now, this is not a good
sentence, but technically it's correct.
I have the committee chair. Noun person
took her chair means she basically sat
down. Chair, noun, thing. So, noun
person, noun thing, different part, same
part of speech, different usage. To
chair the meeting to chair, basically to
manage, to oversee or lead the meeting.
verb. So, I have three words, three
different uses, but it's all the same
word. The more of these words you know,
the more variety and more flexibility
you have. Let's look at another one.
This is a long longish paragraph about
Superman. You don't need to read it.
It's I'm sorry if it's a little bit
small and you can't see, but I hopefully
I hope you can see all the red words
because I'm using the word fly. You
know, like a bird flies.
very simple word but there are so many
different ways to use it and apply it
with other things and other parts of
speech that it's you can learn a lot of
uh vocabulary this way just by taking
simple words and learning all their
other usage flying
flies another thing you can do is start
learning idioms fly in the face of fly
under the radar fly off the handle
if you only know the word fly like a
bird flies You probably won't be able to
understand these idioms at face value,
right? You're going to have to learn
them, but you're going to have a lot
more available to you if you do know all
of these different parts of speech. His
pants don't have a fly. A fly. Right
away, you understand this is probably a
noun. Has nothing to do with flight or
being in the air. A fly is a colloquial
or a slang word for zipper on a pants.
So, if somebody walks up to you and they
say, "Hey, your fly is open." Don't look
up to see what's flying. Look down at
your pants to see that your zipper is
not open and could be a little bit
embarrassing. We can make compounds fly
over, right? We can do all kinds of
thing and uh where is it? Fly in the
ointment. This fly is a noun. It's like
the little insect that buzzes around,
right? Makes her a little bit crazy. So,
all kinds of different uses. The more
you know, the better your vocabulary,
the better your writing. And when we a
little bit near the end of the video,
I'll show you how to create your own
little library of uh vocabulary. Okay,
so now we're going to get to the next
reason, syntax, flexibility, and range.
So range actually obviously goes with uh
vocabulary. The more words you know, the
more range you have to say things in
different ways. And what is syntax?
Syntax is basically the way you arrange
elements within a sentence or even
within a clause. You can put ideas in
different places in the sentence
depending on what you want to express.
So, okay, let me actually show you the
samples first. Here are four sentences.
Some novels are simply not easily
adaptable to the screen. Adapting a
novel to the screen is not easy with all
works. Some novels are simply not suited
to screenplay adaptation. Some novels
can simply not be easily adapted for the
screen. Four sentences all saying
essentially the same thing. But I'm
using adaptable, adopting, adaptation,
adapted. I'm using one word four
different ways. Now, why do I need to do
this? Why would I think to do this? It
all depends on what came in the sentence
before and what I want to say in the
next sentence. By being able to place
ideas in different parts of the
sentence, you can create better
connections, better flow, easier
readability for your reader. Right? You
can make your writing more interesting,
more effective, more impactful, etc.
Now, before I go on, just a little
personal note here. I hope you don't
mind. I've been teaching for over 20
years, and I know from experience that a
lot of people don't like to study
grammar. Maybe they think it's boring.
They think it's confusing. They view it
like math. It's all equations and rules
that they have to memorize. I really
like grammar. And the reason I really
like grammar is because of this. I look
at it as a game that I get to play. Like
it basically puzzles that I get to put
together in different ways to create the
picture that I want at the end. Right
now, I also work as an editor. I help
people who are applying to universities.
And oftentimes
people send me their, you know, personal
statements or whatever. It's a thousand
words, but the university gave them a
650word
word limit. So they have to squeeze that
thousand words into the 650. This is
where I get to play a game. I get to cut
out pieces. I get to rearrange pieces. I
get to rewrite pieces to make it all fit
without losing any of the message.
Right? So this is why if you think of it
as a game, it can actually be pretty
fun. Grammar fun in the same sentence.
Yes. Let's go on. My last reason, and
this is partly what I just spoke about,
brevity, clarity, readability, and
style. The more options you have in
terms of vocabulary, the more use of
different words, the easier you can make
your writing, and you can make it
shorter, clearer, more effective. When
you have a sentence like this, the
reason why the company decided to
implement this new policy is because
management believed it would result in
increased efficiency and improved
productivity. You've probably lost your
reader halfway through. The key to
getting a reader to stay with your
writing is to get to your message
quickly. Get to the point. Don't waste
their time with words they don't need.
Management introduced the policy to
boost efficiency and productivity. Just
say it right. A lot of the times making
the switch from long to short will come
down to your being able to use words in
different ways and then putting more
into one word and not needing all the
extra words to explain it, right? And
that's where parts of speech comes in.
So now you're thinking, okay, no
problem, but I know what a noun is.
Person, place, thing, maybe idea. Sure.
But there's a lot more to nouns than you
might imagine. Even the first question,
what is a noun? Yes, I will tell you
it's a person place thing. But I will
want to focus on the forms and functions
of nouns. And there's probably more than
you realize. I want to look at common
nouns and jirens, compounds,
collectives, countables, irregular
plurals. All of these things are
important to understand in order to
actually say you understand what a noun
is. And the same thing goes for
adjectives. There's a lot more to it
than you might imagine. It's not just
simply a word that modifies an ad uh a
noun, right? There's a lot to it. So,
don't worry. I will go through all of
these elements carefully and in a way
that hopefully you can understand them
clearly. And of course, you can ask me
questions in the comment section. For
those of you who become members,
especially gold members, I will have a
live stream once a month. you can come
ask me questions directly, work through
some of these uh ideas. Uh again, fix
all your misunderstandings. So now
before I go, I just want to show you one
thing. I want you to start
building a library of vocabulary. Even
words you already know, you can expand
your understanding of vocabulary from
those words. Whenever you learn a new
word, don't learn only one form. Learn
as many forms as you can. So for
example, the word beautiful. Everybody
knows this word, but there are other
ways to use it. As a noun, beauty,
beautifification, but as a verb,
beautify, beautifully,
negative. Look at all the different ways
to use the word negative. And all I'm
doing is adding prefixes and suffixes.
And sometimes negative and negative,
right? The same word is a different part
of speech. Emotion. Everybody knows the
word emotion. Not everybody knows that
there's a verb to emote, to express
emotion. Again, it's used in a bit more
of a dramatic context, but it could be
used in other contexts as well, plus
other ways. The one caveat, the one
thing I will caution you about is
thinking that some words are related
when they are not. So, for example,
positivity, positive, positively, all
related words. The verb to posit has no
relation to this word. To pause it means
to put forth uh an argument or a
assertion or an idea and then have a
discussion about it. Try to prove it
right or wrong. Prove it or disprove it.
The word position also has no connection
here. Position is place. To position is
to put in a place. So do be careful
because sometimes you'll think words are
related that are not. But start building
your notebook, start building your
vocabulary. The more words you have, the
more parts of speech you're aware of,
the better your writing will go uh get.
So now just before I finish off, I want
to give you a challenge.
The word close or close, I've already
given you two. Think, find as many
different forms of this word that are
related,
nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and
put them into the comment section below
and check each other's comments and tell
me if the words are correct, if they're
related, and if you want to put them
into sentences, right? Close, close,
use suffixes, use prefixes, use whatever
you need and put them in the comment
section below.
So now
remember that word fast I gave you that
quiz. If I asked you is it a noun, verb,
adjective or adverb. If you said yes, it
is all four. You're correct.
It's a noun. It's a time when you don't
eat. It's a verb. It's to not eat or
drink anything for a period of time.
Adverb. Adjective. Adverb. Two meanings.
The ones most people know. Quick, not
slow. adjective also quick not slow
drive fast a fast runner but it's also
means to uh sorry the second one is
secure put well together my h hands are
held fast they're not separable they're
tight together adjective same idea but
the adjective use of it so fast friends
sometimes you'll say to somebody oh we
are fast friends means we are very close
friends inseparable
Right now once you start adding suffixes
and prefixes you can take the word fast
and make it into a verb. Fasten it goes
with this meaning. To fasten means to
put together securely. When you're on an
airplane they will tell you please
fasten your seat belt. After takeoff you
can unfassen your seat belt
uh to join closely etc. Then we can make
it in the same word. We can turn it into
an adjective. Fastened. Unfassened. Your
seat belt is fastened. It's put
together. It's unfassened. Taken apart.
A fastener. Something that puts things
together. Like a stapler fastens two
pages with a staple. Okay, lots of
different words. And you can also
combine it with other words to make
compound adjectives. A fast approaching
deadline. Right? So don't think that a
word is simple or that you need to learn
all these big academic words. Learn all
the different parts of speech of the
words you already know and your vocab
will increase significantly.
Okay. So that's it. That's your
introduction. I hope it wasn't too much
for you. Next class we're going to start
with the nouns. We're going to dive into
the nouns. What are nouns? What are
their forms and functions? I hope you
join me. If you like the video, of
course, don't forget to click the like
button, subscribe, share it with your
friends, and I'll see you again very
soon. Bye-bye.
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