ENG • SHS 1Term 1WAEC / WASSCE SyllabusFree Trial Topic
Word Classes (Parts of Speech) and Their Functions
The eight parts of speech, open versus closed word classes, and how to identify a word class by its function in context rather than by position or guesswork.
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Real-World Context & Relevance in Ghana
Stand at a Makola Market fruit stall and listen: "Maa! These ripe plantains are very sweet — buy two bunches and add peanuts!" Every word is doing a job: "ripe" qualifies plantains (adjective), "buy" instructs (verb), "and" joins (conjunction), "Maa!" expresses feeling (interjection). Grammar is alive in everyday Ghanaian speech.
Key Syllabus Learning Objectives
- 1Name the eight parts of speech and give correct examples of each
- 2Distinguish open-class from closed-class word categories
- 3Identify the word class of an underlined word from its function in a sentence
- 4Explain how one word form can belong to different classes in different sentences
- 5Apply substitution and modification tests to verify a word class in WASSCE objectives
1
The Eight Word Classes at a Glance
A word class (part of speech) is a group of words that share the same grammatical behaviour. Nouns typically follow determiners and can be subjects; verbs change form for tense (walk/walked/walking); adjectives grade with -er/more (cheap/cheaper); adverbs of manner answer "how?" after a verb. Learning the classes as families with typical members is the foundation for all grammar questions on WASSCE Paper 1.
- Noun: names person, place, thing, or abstract idea — common (river, teacher), proper (Volta, Ghana), collective (parliament), abstract (honesty).
- Pronoun: stands in place of a noun — personal (I, him), reflexive (herself), relative (who, which), demonstrative (this, those).
- Verb: action or state — main verbs (sell, study), auxiliary/helping verbs (is, has, will), linking verbs (be, seem, become).
- Adjective: qualifies a noun or pronoun — descriptive (tall), quantitative (five), demonstrative (that), comparative (better).
- Adverb: qualifies a verb, adjective or adverb — manner (carefully), time (yesterday), place (everywhere), degree (extremely).
- Preposition: governs a noun/pronoun to form a prepositional phrase — in, on, at, into, during, despite.
- Conjunction: coordinates (and, but, or) or subordinates (because, although, unless).
- Interjection: standalone emotional utterances — Eh!, Hurra!, Tsk tsk!
Practical Example:
A Tema Harbour cargo manifest reads: "Container 45B was carefully unloaded at dawn." — was unloaded (verb), carefully (adverb), at dawn (preposition + noun).
Core Takeaway:
Classify by function: what job does the word perform in this particular sentence?
2
Open Class versus Closed Class
Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are OPEN classes: Ghanaian English keeps absorbing new members — "galamsey", "tro-tro", "zoning" all entered common use as nouns. Pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections are CLOSED classes: their membership is fixed and learned as whole sets. WAEC likes to ask which class is "likely to admit new words" — answer open class, always the big four (noun, verb, adjective, adverb).
- Open classes carry most of the vocabulary load and can be counted in the thousands.
- Closed classes are small, fixed sets that stitch sentences together — you cannot invent a new preposition.
- New slang like "chop money" or "shege" joins the open classes (noun/verb), never the closed ones.
- Determiners (a, the, this, every, my) are now treated as a separate closed class by modern grammars — WAEC may still label them adjectives, so follow the question's terminology.
Practical Example:
Mobile money created new verbs and nouns every year — "momoped", "e-levy", "zongo lane" — but no new conjunction was ever needed to join clauses.
Core Takeaway:
If a class keeps growing with culture and technology, it is open; if the list never changes, it is closed.
3
Function Shift: One Word, Several Classes
The same spelling can belong to different classes depending on its position and job. Test by substitution: replace the word with a prototypical member of each class and see which substitution keeps the sentence grammatical. "Round" in "a round orange" (adjective), "round the pole" (preposition), "the ball round" (verb), "a round of drinks" (noun/adj). WAEC uses these shift words to trap students who memorise word lists by appearance.
- Noun/verb shift: water, book, hammer, phone ("She books a ticket" vs "The book is thick").
- Adjective/adverb shift: early, daily, fast, hard ("He drives fast" — adverb; "a fast car" — adjective).
- The -ing trap: gerunds (Reading is fun — noun function) vs present participles (Ama is reading — verb; the reading lamp — adjective).
- After linking verbs use adjectives, not adverbs: "The banknote smells genuine" (adj), not "genuinely".
Practical Example:
At a Kotoka airport forex bureau: "They changed my cedis" (verb) / "The change was small" (noun) — one form, two classes.
Core Takeaway:
Never name a word class from the word alone; the sentence decides.
4
Verbs: The Engine of the Sentence
Verbs deserve special attention because WASSCE tests them in several ways: main vs auxiliary vs linking; finite vs non-finite (to-infinitives, gerunds, participles); and transitive vs intransitive (does it demand an object?). "Has been selling" is one verb (present perfect continuous) made of three words — never count words, count the verb phrase. Recognising linking verbs (is, seems, looks, became, tastes) matters for concord and for adjective complements later in the term.
- Main verb carries the meaning; auxiliaries add tense, aspect, mood: "will have finished".
- Linking verbs connect the subject to a complement: "The cocoa smells rich." (smells = linking, rich = adjective complement).
- Transitive verbs need an object: "Ama bought salt." Intransitive verbs do not: "The bell rang."
- Do-support in questions and negatives is auxiliary "do" doing no meaning work: "Did he come?"
Practical Example:
A tro-tro conductor shouts: "Change o! Going to Ashaiman!" — "Going" is a non-finite verb used like an announcement; the full sentence hides "This bus is going to Ashaiman."
Core Takeaway:
Find the verb first; the rest of the sentence organises itself around it.
WAEC / WASSCE Examiner Tips
- In Paper 1 Section A, if asked to identify the underlined word class, substitute a typical member of each class into the gap; the class whose substitute still makes sense is your answer.
- Memorise the linking verb list (be, become, seem, appear, look, smell, taste, sound, feel) — WAEC reuses these in both word-class and concord items.
- Timing guide: Section A objectives should take about 1 minute per question; flag word-class questions you are stuck on and return, since the function test takes 5 seconds once you spot it.
- In comprehension Section B/C "grammatical name and function" items, the phrase answer follows the same logic: name the class of the whole group of words (e.g., prepositional phrase), then its job (adverbial — modifies the verb).
- When in doubt about -ing words, ask: is it taking an article/adjective ("the singing") → verbal noun; forming a tense with be ("is singing") → verb; qualifying a noun ("singing bird") → adjective.
Common Candidate Pitfalls & Errors to Avoid
- Naming the class from the word alone ("well" is always an adverb) instead of from its role in the sentence — "well" is a noun in "a deep well".
- Calling every word before a noun an adjective: "the three boys" — "three" is a determiner/numeral, and examiners accept both but expect you to follow WAEC convention.
- Confusing adjectives with adverbs after linking verbs: writing "She looked angry" as "She looked angrily" changes the meaning from her expression to the manner of her looking.
- Missing multi-word verb phrases: counting "is" and "reading" as two separate verbs rather than one present continuous verb.
- Treating interjections as part of the sentence structure — they stand outside the grammar; "Alas, the boy died" still has one subject and one verb.
Topic Mastery Checklist
- Can I name all eight word classes and give two Ghanaian-context examples of each?
- Can I separate open-class from closed-class words and explain why?
- Can I classify an underlined word by applying a substitution test?
- Can I explain how "water" changes word class in two different sentences?
- Can I identify the single verb phrase inside a multi-word verb like "has been selling"?
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