Undestanding English - I

Let’s dive into the nuts and bolts of language. This guide turns the abstract world of linguistics into a hands‑on practice kit. Whether you're decoding a sentence, classifying sounds or pondering why tone can change a statement into a question, this unit helps you build a strong foundation in grammar. You’ll find clear explanations, illustrative examples, and short practice activities to test your skills. Let’s get started!

1 Speech Sounds and Letters

English uses 26 letters to spell many more sounds. Letters are the symbols we see in writing; sounds are the voices/noises we make. Vowels (a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y) represent sounds produced with an open vocal tract; consonants are formed by some constriction in the mouth. The study of how these sounds are produced and classified belongs to phonology and phonetics.

1.1 Consonant Sounds

When you pronounce a consonant you manipulate the airflow: you might stop it completely, narrow it so it hisses, or make it vibrate through your nose. Consonants are classified according to place of articulation (where the airstream is modified) and manner of articulation (how it is modified). Voicing (vibration of the vocal cords) and the soft palate position (nasal vs oral) also matter.

 

Place of Articulation	Description & examples
Bilabial	Both lips come together: /p, b, m, w/
Labio‑dental	Lower lip touches upper teeth: /f, v/
Dental	Tongue touches the teeth: /θ/ (thin), /ð/ (this)
Alveolar	Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge behind the teeth: /t, d, n, s, z, l/
Palato‑alveolar	Tongue tip and blade contact area between alveolar ridge and hard palate: /ʃ/ (shoe), /ʒ/ (measure), /tʃ/ (ch‑), /dʒ/ (j)
Palatal	Body of the tongue rises toward the hard palate: /j/ (y in yes)
Velar	Back of the tongue contacts the soft palate: /k, g, ŋ/ (ng)
Glottal	Produced at the vocal cords: /h/

 

Manner of Articulation	How the sound is made
Plosive (stop)	Airflow is completely stopped then released: /p, b, t, d, k, g/
Nasal	Air passes through the nose because the soft palate lowers: /m, n, ŋ/
Fricative	Air passes through a narrow gap causing friction: /f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h/
Affricate	A plosive released into a fricative: /tʃ, dʒ/
Lateral	Air flows around the sides of the tongue: /l/
Approximant	Minimal obstruction, like a vowel: /w, r, j/

1.2 Vowel Sounds

Vowels are produced without significant obstruction. English has 12 monophthongs (pure vowels) and 8 diphthongs. Vowels are classified by tongue height (close, half‑close, half‑open, open), tongue position (front, central, back), lip rounding (spread, neutral, rounded), and length. For example:

• /iː/ in see is a close front unrounded vowel.
• /uː/ in food is a close back rounded vowel.
• /eɪ/ in day and /aʊ/ in cow are diphthongs where the tongue moves from one position to another.

1.3 Why Sounds and Letters Matter

Understanding how sounds are produced helps you pronounce unfamiliar words and recognise patterns. For instance, knowing that /k/ and /g/ are velar stops explains why they often appear together (candy, gaga). In writing, the letters c and g can represent these sounds, but letters are not always faithful: c in place is /s/, not /k/. Paying attention to the sound–letter relationship is the first step toward mastering spelling and pronunciation.

2 Suprasegmental Features: Stress, Pitch, Tone, Intonation and Juncture

Consonants and vowels are called segmental features because they happen at specific positions in speech. Suprasegmentals are properties that stretch over syllables or words, such as stress, tone, intonation and juncture. They give language rhythm, melody and meaning beyond individual sounds.

2.1 Stress

Word stress is the emphasis placed on a syllable. In English, stressed syllables have longer, louder and higher‑pitched vowels. Unstressed vowels often reduce to the schwa /ə/ (as in the second syllable of banana). Stress is important for intelligibility: pronouncing record with stress on the first syllable (/ˈrɛk.ɔːd/) turns it into a noun, while stressing the second syllable (/rɪˈkɔːd/) makes it a verb.

2.2 Pitch and Intonation

Pitch refers to the highness or lowness of the voice. Intonation is how pitch changes across an utterance. English often uses rising intonation at the end of questions and falling intonation at the end of statements. Intonation can convey attitudes: a rising–falling pitch may signal surprise or disbelief.

2.3 Tone

In tonal languages like Mandarin, pitch contour distinguishes meanings of words. The word ma can mean “mother,” “hemp,” “horse,” or “to scold” depending on its tone. Tone uses pitch to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning; pitch‑accent languages like Japanese mark just one syllable.

2.4 Juncture

Juncture refers to the way sounds are linked between syllables or words. A plus/open juncture occurs at word boundaries, while a close juncture occurs within words; differences can signal meaning. For example, saying “an aim” vs “a name” depends on the juncture between the vowel and the nasal. Understanding juncture helps avoid misunderstandings like confusing night rate and nitrate.

3 Parts of Speech

English words fall into categories known as parts of speech. Knowing these categories helps you analyze sentences and choose the right form of a word. Here are the eight major parts of speech with brief explanations and examples:

Part of speech	Role	Examples
Noun	Names a person, place, thing or idea	teacher, city, happiness
Pronoun	Stands in for a noun	he, they, which
Verb	Expresses an action or state of being	run, is, write
Adjective	Describes a noun	happy, blue, tall
Adverb	Describes a verb, adjective or other adverb	quickly, very, well
Preposition	Shows relationships (direction, location, time)	in, on, before
Conjunction	Connects words or clauses	and, but, because
Interjection	Expresses emotion or surprise	wow!, oh no!

Tip for practice

Try labelling the parts of speech in this sentence: “She quickly wrote a very long letter because her friend moved.”

4 Morphemes and Word Formation

Words are built from morphemes, the smallest units of meaning. Understanding morphemes allows you to analyse complex words and spot patterns.

4.1 Free vs Bound Morphemes

• Free morphemes can stand alone as words (e.g., book, happy).
• Bound morphemes must attach to other morphemes. They include derivational affixes, which change meaning or part of speech (e.g., happy → unhappy, organise → organisation), and inflectional affixes, which add grammatical information such as tense, number or possession (e.g., walk → walked, dog → dogs, Anna → Anna’s).

4.2 Identifying Morphemes (Practice)

Break down the following words into morphemes:

1. Unhappiness → un + happy + ness (derivational prefix + free root + derivational suffix).
2. Rewriting → re + write + ing.
3. Bookshelves → book + shelf + es.

Understanding morphemes helps with spelling and vocabulary development. For example, if you know that -ment turns verbs into nouns (as in develop → development), you can apply this pattern to new words.

4.3 Word Formation Processes

New words enter a language through several processes:

Process	Description	Examples
Compounding	Combining two or more roots	mailman, sunflower, football
Derivation (affixation)	Adding prefixes or suffixes to modify a root and often change its part of speech	happiness (from happy + -ness), unfair, modernise
Blending	Merging parts of words based on sound or spelling	brunch (breakfast + lunch), smog (smoke + fog)
Clipping	Shortening a longer word	ad from advertisement, flu from influenza
Acronyms and initialisms	Forming a word from initial letters of a phrase	scuba (self‑contained underwater breathing apparatus), NASA

Other processes include borrowing from other languages (café, guru), converting one part of speech into another (verbing nouns like to Google), and onomatopoeia (buzz, splash). Recognising these patterns helps you decode new vocabulary and appreciate language creativity.

5 Sentence Types and Structure

Sentences are the building blocks of written and spoken communication. They can be classified by the number and type of clauses they contain:

Sentence type	Structure	Example
Simple sentence	Contains one independent clause (subject + predicate)	The dog barked.
Compound sentence	Contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction, conjunctive adverb, or semicolon	She writes stories, and he draws illustrations.
Complex sentence	Contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause	Because it was raining, we stayed inside.
Compound‑complex sentence	Contains at least two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses	While I like tea, she prefers coffee, and we still enjoy chatting together.

Practice by turning simple sentences into complex ones using subordinating conjunctions (because, although, when) or combining ideas with coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or).

6 Semantics and Pragmatics

6.1 Semantics vs Pragmatics

Semantics studies the literal meaning of words and sentences, while pragmatics examines how context influences meaning. For instance, “It’s cold in here” semantically describes temperature, but pragmatically it might be a request to close a window.

Semantics includes denotation (the core meaning) and connotation (associations). Pragmatics deals with implied meanings, conversational principles and speech acts. The cooperative principle and Gricean maxims (quantity, quality, relation and manner) help speakers convey and interpret implied meaning.

6.2 Lexical Semantics and Lexical Relations

Within semantics, lexical semantics focuses on word meanings and relations. Words participate in networks that show their relationships. Important relations include:

Relation	Definition & examples
Synonymy	Words with similar meanings (happy / joyful)
Antonymy	Words with opposite meanings. Gradable antonyms form a scale (hot / cold), complementary antonyms are mutually exclusive (alive / dead), and relational antonyms are opposites in a relationship (teacher / student)
Hyponymy/Hypernymy	A hierarchical relationship between a general term (fruit) and specific members (apple, orange)
Meronymy	A part‑whole relationship (wheel is a meronym of car)
Homonymy	Words that are spelled or pronounced the same but have unrelated meanings (bank (river) vs bank (money))
Polysemy	A word having multiple related meanings (bright meaning “shining” or “intelligent”)

Understanding lexical relations helps organise vocabulary and recognise wordplay. For example, the hyponymy hierarchy animal → mammal → dog → Labrador shows increasing specificity.

6.3 Vocabulary Formation and Semantic Fields

Words belong to semantic fields, groups of words with related meanings (e.g., bake, boil, fry, and roast in the cooking field). Semantic field theory suggests that understanding vocabulary involves recognising these networks and contrasts. Expanding your vocabulary is easier when you connect new words to a familiar field.

7 Speech Acts

Language doesn’t just describe; it does things. When you say “I apologise,” you are performing an act. This insight leads to speech act theory. J. L. Austin distinguished three layers:

1. Locutionary act – the actual utterance and its literal meaning (saying “It’s cold here”).
2. Illocutionary act – the intended function of the utterance (requesting someone to close the window).
3. Perlocutionary act – the effect on the listener (they shut the window).

John Searle further classified illocutionary acts into five categories:

Category	Purpose & examples
Assertive (representatives)	Commit the speaker to the truth of a proposition – stating, reporting, claiming (“It’s raining.”)
Directives	Try to get the hearer to do something – ordering, requesting, advising (“Please sit down.”)
Commissive	Commit the speaker to a future action – promising, offering, threatening (“I’ll help you tomorrow.”)
Expressives	Express psychological state – thanking, apologising, congratulating (“I’m sorry.”)
Declarations	Bring about a change in the world by uttering the words – christening, sentencing, appointing (“I now pronounce you husband and wife.”)

Understanding speech acts helps you infer intentions beyond literal meaning. Indirect speech acts (e.g., “Can you pass the salt?” functioning as a request) require sensitivity to context.

8 Production of Speech Sounds and Suprasegmentals

While sections 1 and 2 looked at classification, this section emphasises how we physically produce sounds:

• Airstream mechanism: Most languages use the pulmonic egressive airstream (air pushed out of the lungs). Some sounds use clicks or glottalic mechanisms.
• Articulators: Lips, teeth, tongue, alveolar ridge, hard and soft palate, uvula, and glottis work together. For example, to produce a bilabial /p/, you close both lips and then release air; to produce a nasal /m/, you lower the soft palate so air flows through the nose.
• Voicing: Vibration of the vocal folds distinguishes pairs such as /p/ (voiceless) vs /b/ (voiced).
• Suprasegmentals: As described in Section 2, stress, pitch, tone and juncture overlay segmental sounds. They require control of vocal fold tension (for pitch), timing (for stress) and articulator coordination (for juncture).

Understanding production allows you to imitate unfamiliar sounds accurately, such as rolling the /r/ in Spanish or producing tonal distinctions in Mandarin.

9 Pragmatics in Practice

Pragmatics looks at how context shapes meaning. Key concepts include:

• Contextual clues: Non‑verbal signals, social roles, shared knowledge and situational factors influence interpretation.
• Cooperative principle: Speakers generally try to be informative, truthful, relevant and clear. Recognising when these maxims are flouted can reveal irony or sarcasm.
• Deixis: Words like this, that, here, there, you, and now rely on context. Without context, “Come here” is meaningless.
• Speech acts: As above, consider what a speaker does in addition to what they say.

Practice Activity – Pragmatics and Speech Acts

For each sentence, identify the type of speech act and its illocutionary force:

1. “If you could open the window, that would be great.” – Directive (a polite request).
2. “I promise I’ll study for the exam.” – Commissive (a promise).
3. “Wow, you really aced that test!” – Expressive (congratulating).
4. “I declare this meeting open.” – Declaration (bringing about a change).

10 Putting It All Together

Grammar is more than memorising rules; it’s understanding how sounds, words, sentences and meaning interact. Here are some final tips:

1. Listen and mimic: Pay attention to stress and intonation in real conversations and try to imitate them.
2. Play with words: Break words into morphemes, invent blends, or create your own acronyms to strengthen your morphological awareness.
3. Analyse sentences: Practise identifying subjects, verbs and clauses. Combine short sentences into complex structures.
4. Think beyond the words: Ask yourself what the speaker intends and how context affects interpretation.

In short, mastering Unit II gives you the tools to decode and encode language with confidence. With practice you’ll recognise patterns, spot nuances and use language more creatively. Happy learning!