This post aims at revealing the necessary English Language Keypoints for ease of understanding for students and teachers.
(1) ADVERBS: Modify a verb, adjective or another adverb in a sentence. To modify it to add to the meaning of verb, an adjective, another adverb or a preposition e.g Jide studied hard. (hard modify the verb studied)
Formation of Adverbs
(a) Some adverbs can be formed by adding ‘-ly’ to adjective e.g. honest = honestly, bad = badly.
(b)Some are formed with ‘-wise’ suffix e.g. healthwise, educationwise.
© Some adverbs are formed with ‘-wards’ suffix e.g. Northwards, eastwards.
Adverbs Comparison
Positive Comparative Superlative
Much more Most
hard harder Hardest
little less least
(2) PREPOSITION: These are words that show relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. e.g. on, beneath, over, under, from, at, of, into, in, near, beside.
(3) CONJUNCTIONS: Words that tie two or more words, phrases, clauses or sentences together are called conjunctions.
Types of Conjunctions
(a) Correlative Conjunctions are used in pairs e.g. either the principal or the vice principal is around. Others are both …and, neither …nor, not only …but also.
(b) Subordinating Conjunctions connects a subordinating clause to the main clause e.g. He had come before we left. Others are where, when, after, while, since, although, than, though.
© Co-ordinating Conjunctions are nor, or, yet, and, but, etc. example we came but we left early.
(d) Semi-Co-ordinating Conjunctions are more than, as much as, along with, as well as, rather than.
(4) INTERJECTION: Word that expresses joy, anger, surprise, etc. it is always followed by an exclamation mark e.g. Ah! The car has been stolen.
(5) VERBS: These are words that tell us what someone or something does in a sentence. it is an action word.
Kinds of Verbs
(a) Transitive Verb needs an object to make it meaningful e.g. I read a novel. (a novel is an object)
(b) Intransitive Verb does not need an object before it is meaningful. E.g. he smiled.
© Auxiliary Verb: This is also known as helping verb. It helps another verb to complete its meaning. There are primary and modal auxiliary verbs. Primary auxiliary verbs: To Be (am, is, was, are, were which are in finite form) and (be, being, been, which are in infinite form). To Have (has, have, had, which are in finite form) and (have, having, which are in infinite form). To Do (do, does, did) and (be, being, been, which are in infinite form). To Have (has, have, had, which are in finite form) and (have, having, which are in infinite form). To Do (do, does, did). Modal auxiliary verbs: may, might, will, shall, can, could, would, should, ought to, must, used to, dare, need.
Forms of Verbs
Present Tense Past Tense Past Participle
Accept, accepts accepted Has, have, had accepted
Beat, beats beat Has, have, had beaten
Bear, bears bore Has, have, had borne
Begin, begins began Has, have, had begun
Bleed, bleeds bled Has, have, had bled
Blow, blows blew Has, have, had blown
Buy, buys bought Has, have, had bought
Cast, casts cast Has, have, had cast
Choose, chooses chose Has, have, had chosen
Come, comes came Has, have, had come
Cut, cuts cut Has, have, had cut
Vital Rule: Singular verbs should be used with singular nouns or pronouns and plural verbs should be used with plural nouns or pronouns. NOTE: Letter “s” must be added to verb in the present tense form when used with the third person singular nouns or pronouns. Example: Mary sings (correct usage) but Mary sing (wrong usage)
Singular Pronoun/Noun Singular Present Tense Singular Past Tense
I, Sing: I sing Sang: I sang
You Sing: You sing Sang: You sang
He (John), She (Mary), It (Dog), sings : He sings (John sings) Sang: He sang (John sang)
Plural Pronoun/Noun Plural Present Tense Plural Past Tense
We Sing: We sing Sang: We sang
You Sing: You sing Sang: You sang
They (John, Mary and Dog) Sing: They sing (John, Mary and Dog sing) Sang: They sing (John, Mary and Dog sing)
Tenses in Verb
i. simple present tense: The dog barks on Sunday
ii. present continuous tense: He is teaching now
iii. present perfect tense: he/she has taught the class or they have taught the class
iv. present perfect continuous tense: he/she has been teaching the class or they have been teaching the class
v. simple past tense: he passed with distinction
vi. past continuous tense: he was sleeping then
vii. past perfect tense: he had slept
viii. past perfect continuous tense: he had been sleeping
ix. future present tense: the family will attend tomorrow
x. future present continuous tense: I shall be eating
xi. future perfect continuous tense: they would visit your house
(6) Prefixes and Suffixes
Prefix Meaning Example
anti against antibiotic
auto self automobile
bi two bicameral
de down dethrown
dis not disclose
ex Out of expose
fore before forecast
in not inconvenience
ir not irreversable
il not illegal
Suffix Meaning Example
an Connected with African
er One who plumber
less without useless
ous Known for glorious
(7) Grammatical Structure
Phrase: A phrase is a group of words without finite verb; which means that a phrase can contain non-finite or infinitive verb.
Types of non-finite verb are infinitive (to sing, to dance, to buy, etc); gerund (singing, dancing, buying, etc)
Kinds of Phrase and Their Grammatical Functions
1. Noun Phrase: it performs the functions of noun such as subject of verb (To cry aloud is a crime), object of verb (They climb the tree), complement of a verb (Richard is the senior boy), apposition of a noun (Joy, the hostess, entered the cabin), object of a preposition (he thought about travelling abroad).
2. Adjectival Phrase: it qualifies a noun or pronoun (The girl with chocolate teeth kissed me).
3. Adverbial Phrase: it modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb. We have adverbial phrase of time (I saw the boy during the break time), adverbial phrase of reason (he cried in the face of frustration), adverbial phrase of place (the baby is sleeping in the room), adverbial phrase of purpose (Bayo worked in order to succeed), adverbial phrase of result (having left the room, I locked the door), adverbial phrase of condition (to pass the exam, the student must prepare well), adverbial phrase of concession (although fierce in outlook, Mr. Olaniran is kind).
Clause: a clause is a group of words which often has a subject, a finite verb and forms a single part of a sentence. Clause can either be main clause or subordinate clause. The main clause is the main point in the sentence and it can stand alone while subordinate clause relies on main clause to make complete sense.
Kinds of Clause and Their Grammatical Functions
1. Noun Clause: it performs the functions of noun such as subject of verb (what you told us is true), object of verb (kola said he would travel), complement of verb (the principal’s decision was that the senior should stay), apposition to noun (the assumption that students fail English Language is logical), object of preposition (Tolu thought about how he would travel abroad).
2. Adjectival Clause: it qualifies a noun or pronoun it immediately follows (this is the dog that bit her).
3. Adverbial Clause: it modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb in a sentence. Adverbial clause of time (I saw him when he came in), adverbial clause of condition (the boy will not sleep unless you feed him), adverbial clause of reason (the teacher failed because she was not serious), adverbial clause of purpose (Obi went to school in order that he might acquire formal education), adverbial clause of place (Americans can stay wherever they like), adverbial clause of manner (he talked as if he sponsored my education), adverbial clause of result (she cried that she could not close her eyes), adverbial clause of concession (although she studied hard, she failed Chemistry).
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October 01, 2025
