Let’s be acquainted with the Government of the English Language. It has its own Constitution as a rule book, popularly known as English Grammar. For its parts of speech, it has eight departments to govern the English language all across the world, irrespective of geographical location and political or national boundaries. In this regard, each department aims to establish a flow of good communication in coordination with one another. Thus, it enables people to communicate clearly and effectively.
Every department has a distinct nomenclature and a role to play. Well-written is the rule book of the Lingua Family that is asking us to follow it. However, an expression of thought will result in miscommunication or failure of a message if it is not in line with the rules laid down by the Government of the English language.
However, the rulebook itself has undergone a seachange since the Shakespearian time. Moreover, a dictionary as an apex body paves the way for the functional power of any department. The pundits of linguistic society go to bat for what’s right and what’s wrong.
The department that has the maximum numbers to its credit is the Noun. Name anything or anyone; it will fall under this massive department that is very receptive. What works on behalf of a noun is the Department of Pronoun. Thus, it often replaces a noun with its limitation. It is just around a century in number. So, it is easy to master all of them by taking into account how each of them works and functions. These tiny words work wonders.
To add value to the Department of Noun or criticise it in any manner, the next department that comes into play is the Ministry of Adjective, which is used attributively or predicatively. If the third department does not come into use for the first one or the second one, life would be insipid, dull, bland, colourless, unexciting and wishy-washy. Hence, words like ’good’ or’ bad’ or the likes of them must be used to lift our mood or be a critic of something or someone around. Adjective words have a cultural value, too.
The king, however, is the Verb, which is the next department that performs any action or shows the status of something. Noticeably, Present, Past or Future depend on this department. Let’s give it the utmost value. An auxiliary brings about a radical change in the meaning of the performance of any verb. But these auxiliaries add up to only 12. They are: ‘ be’ ‘do’, ‘have’, ‘can/ could’, ‘may/ might’, ‘shall/ should’, ‘will/ would’, ‘must’, ‘dare’, ‘need’, ‘used to’ and ‘ought to’.
However, no less is the role of the next department that is the Adverb, which modifies not only the department of the Verb but also Adjective, or its own department in another form. At times, without considering the department of Adverb, the action becomes meaningless. For example, ‘A teacher teaches something’ sounds incomplete unless a word like well or intelligently is used at its end.
This piece is more than halfway through the linguistic discussion and governing system of the English language, having covered five departments so far. As a relationship manager, what comes into the picture is the Department of Preposition, which shows a relation or position between two or more nouns and pronouns. This piece is for you. This department, too, like that of Pronoun, is limited in number. Hence, the mastery of around 150 prepositions is child’s play.
Then comes the Department of Conjunction that coordinates, subordinates, correlates with or joins other departments together. The acronym ‘FANBOYS’ is famous for its role as seven Coordinating Conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so. These words connect or join anything or everything.
The last department that often comes first in usage is the Department of Interjection, which expresses a strong feeling such as shock, pain or pleasure when it comes to expressing oneself. This small department with a few centuries of utterances always carries a sign of exclamation at its end! Wow! The tone matters a lot! I hope the message is through.
About the author: Dr Birbal Jha is a notable author who heads British Lingua, an institute of international repute for English communication skills. They may be contacted at 9999107254.