GNS 102 Use of English

TARABA STATE POLYTECHNIC, SUNTAI
JALINGO CAMPUS
DEPARTMENT OF MASS COMMUNICATION
LECTURE NOTE
ON
USE OF ENGLISH
COURSE CODE
GNS 102
TITI ANNABEL ABRAHAM

THE CONCEPT OF GRAMMAR
In speaking and writing the English language,
we use words to express ourselves in ideas,
thoughts, conversations, and in whatever
transaction involving speaking and writing.
There are thousands of words in the English
language, but all of them have been put into
eight groups or classes referred to as the parts of
speech.
The following names have been given to these
parts of speech:
 Noun
 Pronoun
 Verbs
 Adjectives
 Adverbs
 Conjunction
 Preposition and
 Interjection or Exclamation
 Each group has its special function. It is the work, they
do that differentiate them and show their individual
peculiarity and usefulness in every sentence or group of
words.
 Let us take them one after the other:
NOUN
A noun is one of the most important words
you use when either speaking or writing. It is
the word that tells what you are talking
about. Nouns are the names of persons,
animals, places, and things. It is also the
names of substances, qualities, actions, and
measures of time and quantity.
Typical Examples of Nouns
According to the above definition, they
include:
Persons- Pastor, teacher, Victor, trader, etc
Animals- cat, dog, goat, rat, etc
Places- Nigeria, Abuja, Jalingo, London, etc
Things- book, car, handset, computer, table,
etc
Substances- air, water, food, atmosphere, etc
Qualities- kindness, hero, happy, generous,
etc
Types of Nouns
Proper noun
Common noun
Uncountable noun
Abstract nouns
Collective nouns
Possessive noun
Concrete nouns
PROPER NOUN
 This refers to the name given to a person specially.

Examples include: David, Ando, Victoria, Usman etc.
Proper nouns also refer to animals‟ special names like
Bingo, Jack, Screw, etc. And names of places and
institutions like Jalingo, Akure, Lagos, Taraba State
College of Nursing and Midwifery, Ministry of Health,
etc.
 The English language has certain rules governing the
use of proper nouns. The general rule states that
whenever you write a proper noun, it must start with a
capital letter in respective of its position in a sentence or
any group of words.
 Other rules governing the use of proper nouns are as
follows:
 Capitalize names of particular persons and places:
Persons –Sefiyat Usman, Mary John, Senator Aishat
Abubakar, Mr. James Ahmed, Chief Roland Sola, Alhaji
Bini Dukku, etc. Places- Jalingo, Taraba State, Mile Six,
Road Block, Ikeja, Gombe, etc.
 Capitalize geographic names; continents, countries,
states, cities, rivers, lakes, falls, valleys, mountains, etc.
Continents- Africa, North America, South America;
Countries- Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Chad,
Cameroun; States- Taraba State, Lagos State, Adamawa
State; Cities- Jalingo, Yola ,Abuja; Rivers-River Benue,
River Niger, etc.
 Capitalize names of definite regions, localities, and political
divisions. In Nigeria, there are six political regions- South –
South, South- West, South- East, North- East, North- Central and
North West.
 Capitalize names of bridges, buildings, monuments, parks, ships,
cars, hotels, dams, railroads, roads, streets, e.g. Nukkai Bridge,
Eko Hotel, Abuja Park, Honda Civic, Abubakar Sani Road, etc.
 Capitalize names of historical events, historical periods, and
historical documents, e.g. Nigeria Civil War, Democracy Day,
Independence Day, etc.
 Capitalize names of government bodies and departments, e.g.
Ministry of Works, Federal Inland Revenue System, etc.
 Capitalize names of political parties, businesses, companies,
clubs, institutions, e.g. Peoples Democratic Party, MTN,
Globacom
COMMON NOUN
This refers to nouns used for general
representation of a particular group of nouns. It
is a general name given to nouns that have their
proper nouns, e.g. school, church, man, animal,
dog, company, girl, country, book, car, cloth,
etc.
The English rule states clearly that you use
small letter for them, except at the beginning of
a sentence. E.g. I heard a dog barking, My
daughter attends school, etc.
UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
This refers to nouns that cannot be
counted. E.g. water, salt, rice, sand, milk,
fluid, etc.
The guiding English rule states that you
must not add “s” to them nor turn them to
plurals. You must use singular verbs with
them.
ABSTRACT NOUNS
These are nouns we can feel but cannot touch
them. We only believe they exist but cannot see
them. Examples: Knowledge, loyalty,
intelligence, equality, information, joy,
happiness, trouble, courage, etc.
The guiding English language rule is that you
must not add „‟s‟‟ to them and must not give
them plural verbs. For instance, we say
„knowledge is power‟, „information is available‟
and so on.
COLLECTIVE NOUNS
These are nouns that are used to refer to
the collection of people, places, or things.
They usually appear in both singular and
plural forms, but carry a plural sense.
They stand to represent a group of similar
objects or people. E.g. man, woman, girl,
boy, people animals, furniture, cutleries,
etc.
POSSESSIVE NOUN
 This kind of noun shows the ownership of something. It is to show who
owns something. Example: That is Comfort’s book.
 The English language rule guiding the use of the possessive noun
states that the possessive form of singular nouns is made by putting an
apostrophe [‘s] before the noun that stands for the possessor.
Examples:
 Comfort’s book,
 The Provost’s wife, etc.
 We should also note, that when the noun ends with ‘’s’’ we add an
apostrophe mark [‘] after the noun.
Examples:
 Teachers’ salaries,
 Students’ books and so on.
 But if the plural does not end in ‘’s’’, we add an apostrophe [‘s] to it.
Examples:
 Men’s clothes,
 Children’s Day, and so on.
 It is important to note that possessive nouns are mainly used for people
and in rare occasions for animals, particularly animals with proper
nouns as names.
CONCRETE NOUNS
These are nouns that refer to objects that

occupy space or that can be recognized by
any of the sense organs. Examples:
Oxygen, planets, music, mint, and so on.

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TARABA STATE POLYTECHNIC, SUNTAI

TITI ANNABEL ABRAHAM

 This refers to the name given to a person specially.

These are nouns that refer to objects that

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