Category SS 2 English Language Notes (1st, 2nd & 3rd Term)

A clause is a group of words that has a subject and a finite verb and which forms part of a sentence e.g. The referee blew his whistle and the match stopped. Clauses are of two types: Independent and Dependent…

This refers to the addition of prefixes, suffixes and infixes to words leading to new words, meaning and word classes.   Examples (verbs) verbs+  –ment e.g. Enslavement, achievement Management, movement Development verbs + –ion e.g. Action Conclusion Decision verbs+  –ation…

An idiom is a phrase or group of words whose meaning cannot be deduced from the individual meanings of the words in the phrase. The following are few examples of idiomatic expressions. To play the ostrich – avoiding reality or…

Room service – this is a service that lets guests order food or drinks and have it delivered to their rooms. Bars – where you go to have a drink in hotels Brochure – a small piece of paper containing…

The /I:/vowel sound is long while the /I/ is short. They are contrasted using the following words. /I:/                                                                    /I/ eat                                                                   it beat                                                                 bit seat                                                                  sit heel                                                                  hill feel                                                                  fill seen                                                                 sin leave                                                                live wean                                                                win meal                                                                 mill least                                                                 list EVALUATION…

Slanting the news – expressing the news in a biased or prejudiced way so as to mislead the public censor – to approve whatever is published or broadcast before it is made public. Curtail – restrict Director – A person…

An adjectival clause performs the functions of an adjective i.e. it qualifies a noun or its equivalents. An adjectival clause begins with a relative pronoun such as who, which, that, whose, where, whom etc. hence it is called a (defining)…

A story is a description of events and people that a writer or speaker has invented in order to advocate or entertain. Examples include love story, detective story, adventure, science fiction story e.t.c.   There are two types of story…

In this lesson, we will explain the morphophonemic approach at identifying a stressed syllable. In this approach, stress placement is determined as a result of the occurrence and arrangement of vowels (short, long, diphthongs) and consonants in syllables.   Guidelines…

Concord is the agreement of the subject with the verb in a sentence   Rules When the subject is in the third person and singular, the verb in the present takes ‘s’ or ‘-es’ e.g. Monica listens attentively. When the…

A dictionary is a book that gives a list of the words of a language in alphabetical order and explains what they mean or gives a word for them in a foreign language:e.g a French- English dictionary.   A common…

A prepositional phrase is a group of words, which begins with a preposition and ends with a noun pronoun or noun phrase called its complement.   Examples Preposition + Noun He is in trouble. Trust in me. Preposition + Pronoun…

Definition, Features, Sample Question,Outline An article is a type of writing that is meant to be published in a school magazines, a newspaper or a journal.   Basic Features It must have a heading It must have an introductory paragraph…

A prefix is a group of letters or syllable which is attached to the front of a root word to form another word which usually changes its meaning.   The following are examples with their meaning. Prefix                    Meaning                     New Words/Derivative…

Voice is a term that is used to explain whether the performer of an action comes before the action (verb) or whether it comes after the verb in a sentence. When the performer comes before the verb (action) we say…

Identification and examples. In this lesson, we will explain the morphophonemic approach at identifying a stressed syllable. In this approach, stress placement is determined as a result of the occurrence and arrangement of vowels (short, long, diphthongs) and consonants in…

This is a written composition that is expected to be delivered to a live audience. It is therefore necessary to consider the languagevis-à-vis the interest of the audience. Primarily, speeches should be very informative, educative and entertaining.   The basic…

Publishing: The profession or business of preparing and printing books, magazines, CD-ROMS etc and selling or making them available to the public e.g. Evans Brothers is a reputable publishing company.
Manuscript: Copy of a book, piece of music etc before it has been printed or a very old book or document that was written by hand before printinge.g. The author has sold his manuscript to a publishing outfit.

Content: Definition,Types and Examples A conditional sentence has at least two clauses, one beginning with if (or ‘unless’ which means ‘if …. Not’) Examples: If inflation is high, the value of life insurance policies goes down. Explanation: The ‘if clause’…

The focus here is to see how uncountable nouns can be made countable. Countable nouns are those we can count, they usually have singular and plural forms Example:   girl – girls box – boxes man – men ox – oxen…