– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

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.