What’s in a word — the word classes of English (handout — week 3)
Vocabulary items are grouped into various classes or categories, known as either word classes or parts of
speech. Traditionally, eight parts of speech have been identified for English: verbs, nouns, pronouns,
adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. Interjections are quite peripheral to the
language. They include items like Wow! Psst!. We will not be considering them here, but will add determiners, a
class traditionally included within adjectives. Classes fall into two main groups: major and minor. Major include
nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. These classes are open; i.e. they have a large and ever-changing
membership. Minor classes, like pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions, have few members and are not
receptive to new ones. Many English words belong to more than one part of speech.
There are 3 basic criteria for assigning word classes:
SEMANTICS meaning
MORPHOLOGY form (e.g. what sort of endings can they take?)
SYNTAX distribution (where do they occur?)
function (what are the functions within a phrase of words belonging to a given class and
what are the functions within larger constructions of the phrases which they head?)
dependents (what sort of modifying words do they take?)
THE MAJOR WORD CLASSES OF ENGLISH:
(1) NOUNS AND NOUN PHRASES (This is only a sketch; we will be considering nouns in week 7)
(1) Semantics
Proto-typical nouns refer to objects (physical objects and abstractions) and people. There are all sorts of ways
they can be classified, but here we will look at only two important subclasses that have some bearing on the
grammatical behaviour of nouns (See below)
(2) Morphology
Nouns can have a possessive form; i.e. ‘s. Prototypical nouns also express number obligatorily in their
morphology. The singular is unmarked; the plural carries a marker (e.g. -s). As far as lexical morphology goes,
the most common noun-forming suffixes include -ness, -ity (< adjectives); -er, -ee, ment (< verbs).
(3) Syntax
Syntactically nouns are the heads of noun phrases and function as subjects, objects, complements of verbs like
seem, be, etc. and complements of prepositions. They occur in construction with dependents like adjectives (small)
and determiners (the, a, that). There are some syntactically distinguishable subclasses:
Proper nouns versus common nouns:
These are names (of persons, places, organizations etc.) and are spelled with a capital. Proper nouns are
distinguished from common nouns in that they stand alone as proper names and generally speaking cannot take
the sort of dependents common nouns can (e.g. the etc.).
Count nouns versus non-count (mass) nouns:
Countable nouns have an individuated interpretation and are compatible with determiners like the, a and
numerals. Non-count nouns (e.g. knowledge, information etc.) only have a mass interpretation (e.g. *two clothes).
(2) ADJECTIVES
a) Semantics
The core members of the class of adjective typically denote properties or states (relating to shape, size, colour,
evaluation etc.).
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b) Morphology
Typical adjectives are gradable which means they denote properties etc. that can be possessed in varying degrees.
Morphologically this is reflected in their ability to inflect for grade; e.g. tall-taller-tallest. As far as lexical
morphology goes, there are suffixes deriving adjectives from nouns (-ful, -ly, -ish, -al, -ic,) and from verbs (-able).
c) Syntax
Adjectives are the head of adjective phrases and have three functions:
(i) Attributive function: Typical adjectives occur as a pre-head modifier within NPs; e.g. “The sick child”.
(ii) Predicative function: Typical adjectives can occur as complements after verbs like to be, become, look, feel,
appear; e.g. “He became/looked/was sick”.
(iii) Postpositive function: Some adjectives occur in a post-head modifier; e.g. “Anyone tired should leave”.
Adjectives take various dependents. Being gradable, they can take a range of degree expressions as dependents;
more, most, almost, quite, rather, so, too, very, much, frightfully. In post-head position, you find prepositional phrases;
e.g. “He’s big for his age”; “sick of porridge” or clauses; e.g. “He was so sick that he couldn’t leave”.
(3) VERBS AND VERB PHRASES (we will be considering these more closely in Week 6)
(1) Semantics
In general terms, verbs are those words denoting actions, processes, states or events.
(2) Morphological features
Verbs can be identified in terms of morphology; indeed, most morphological complexity in English is associated
with verbs. In addition to derivational affixes like -ee, -er and -ment (verb —> noun); -able, -ing and
-ive (verb —> adjective), the most distinctive property of English verbs is their ability to inflect.
A. The Basic Modern English Verb:
Most English verbs follow the inflectional pattern of 1 of the 3 verb types given below:
Tensed Forms: take walk shut
Past Tense took walked shut
Present Tense general take walk shut
3rd person sg takes walks shuts
Non-Tensed Forms:
Base Form/Infinitive take walk shut
Present Participle taking walking shutting
Past Participle taken walked shut
The main departures from this basic pattern are the following.
B. The Auxiliary:
Auxiliaries (be, have do, can...) have negative and positive forms in the tensed part of the paradigm:
Tensed Forms: Positive Negative
Past Tense had hadn't
Present Tense general have haven't
3rd person sg has hasn't
Non-Tensed Forms: Base/Infinitive Present Participle Past Participle
have having had
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C. Modal Auxiliaries:
A subset of auxiliary, the so-called modal auxiliaries have only tensed forms and only a single positive present
tense form; for example 'will' (note also the exceptional negative forms):
Tensed Forms of Modals: Positive Negative
Past Tense (these are historically past forms) would wouldn't
Present Tense will won't
D. The Verb 'To Be' (a crazy mixed up verb!):
The verb 'to be' has extra person and number contrasts in the past and present tenses:
Tensed Forms: Positive Negative
Past Tense 1st / 3rd singular was wasn't
unmarked were weren't
Present Tense 1 person sg am aren't***
3rd person sg is isn't
unmarked are aren't
Non-Tensed Forms: Base/Infinitive Present Participle Past Participle
be being been
*A(N) HISTORICAL NOTE ON THE MODAL (to highlight their aberrant behavior)*
Originally modals behaved like other verbs but now:
1. They can't occur with a direct object (*Jane must the cat/can music)
2. They can't occur in an infinitive construction after to (*to may)
3. They can't occur with any inflection (*he mayed/mays/is maying)
4. The verbs following them do not take to (*She can to play music)
5. In questions they change positions with subject; i.e. they don’t need do (*Do I can play music?)
6. In negatives they simply add not; i.e. they do not need 'do' (*I don’t can play music)
(C) Syntactic behaviour
The syntax of verbs warrants separate treatment and we explore this later in a separate lecture.
(4) ADVERBS
a) Semantics
Traditionally, adverbs are defined as words that modify verbs, adjectives or adverbs. In truth the class of adverbs
is a mixed bag and is a difficult class to define — they range from the purely lexical to the grammatical and
show diversity not only in meaning, but also in their grammatical behaviour. Proto-typical adverbs fall closer to
the more lexical end and express concepts like time, manner and place.
b) Morphology
As far as inflectional endings go, adverbs fare badly. Many are gradable, but only a handful inflects for grade;
e.g. soon-sooner. As far as lexical morphology goes, a large proportion of adverbs are derived from adjectives with
-ly suffix. Other affixes include suffixes -wise and -wards and prefix a-.
c) Syntax
Adverbs are the head of adverbial phrases functioning as dependents (modifiers/adjuncts) of verbs, adjectives,
other adverbs and even entire clauses. For example:
Verbs He ran fast (how did he run?)
Adjs He was very/exceedingly tall
Advs He ran rather fast
Cls Frankly/Surprisingly/Really, he is a total idiot
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Some adverbs are gradable and take the same range of dependents as adjectives (e.g. degree adverbs like very
etc.); e.g. “He behaved rather badly”. But adjectives take a much wider range of dependents than adverbs.
THE MINOR WORD CLASSES OF ENGLISH:
The minor classes contain the more abstract grammatical vocabulary, and this is used to build structure and
show how the various parts of the sentence relate to one another. They will be covered more in later classes.
(1) PREPOSITIONS
a) Semantics
Most express spatial relations; e.g. at, in, on, under, etc. Some have a more grammatical meaning. For example:
the infinitive marker to; e.g. “To err is human”.
the indirect object marker to; “I gave the flowers to Jack”.
the agent marker by in a passive clause; e.g. “The dog was hit by the man”.
possessive marker of; e.g. “the cover of the book”.
b) Morphology
With the exception of a tiny handful of prepositions such as near, nearer, nearest the fireplace (if these are indeed
prepositions!), there is nothing in the way of morphology.
c) Syntax
Prepositions function as heads in prepositional phrases and occur in a range of functions, mainly dependents:
of verbs; e.g. “He relied on me”; “He ran in the morning”
of nouns; e.g. “cover of the book”; “the man in the moon”
of adjectives; e.g. “fond of meat”; “tall for his age”.
Prepositions take noun phrase complements; e.g. “he ran up the hill”. Generally though, they allow much less
in the way of modification than of the other classes we have discussed.
(2) PRONOUNS
• Personal pronouns (these make up the central class of pronouns):
Subjective Case Objective Case
First person
singular I me
plural we us
Second person
singular/plural you you
Third person
singular masculine he him
feminine she her
non-personal it it
plural they them
• Indefinite pronouns:
These express notions involving definiteness or quantity and comprise the largest group of pronouns. They
fall into two types: (1) compounds consisting of two elements: some-, any-, every- and no- with -thing, -one and -
body; e.g. everything, nobody; (2) alone, or followed by of; for example, many, most, some, neither etc.
• Reflexive pronouns:
These reflect (or are “reflexes” of) noun phrases that occur elsewhere in the same clause. They all end in -self
or -selves; e.g. myself is the reflexive form of I. Uses include:
Complement in clause or prepositional phrase You have outdone yourself; She always cooked for herself
Emphatic Elspeth cooked that cake herself; Elspeth herself cooked that cake
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• Reciprocal pronouns:
These express a two-way relationship and include pronouns like each other and one another.
• Possessive pronouns:
These express ownership (and more). They occur as the head of a noun phrase; e.g. This book is mine/yours/his
and in terms of distribution parallel ordinary possessive noun phrases.
• Demonstrative pronouns:
English has four demonstrative pronouns: singular this and that versus plural these and those. In their general
sense, they have to do with the orientational features of language.
• Interrogative pronouns
These are used to ask questions of personal and non-personal nouns. The personal pronouns include who
(subjective case), whom (objective case — endangered!) and whose (possessive).
• Relative pronouns (we will be looking at relative clauses later)
These pronouns are used to link modifying clauses (or relative clauses) to the head of the noun phrases; e.g.
This is the recipe which I always use. They include who, whom, whose, what, which and also that..
(3) CONJUNCTIONS (these will be looked at more closely when we consider clause combining)
Conjunctions are items that link clauses or parts of clauses together. Coordinators link units of equal status
like two noun phrases, two clauses etc.; e.g. and (expresses addition), but (expresses contrast) and or (expresses
alternatives). Subordinators also link units but they don’t have the same grammatical status; e.g. one clause is
dependent; e.g. in It will be cooked, if it sounds hollow.
(4) DETERMINERS
Determiners express notions like definiteness, quantity, number and possession; i.e. they “determine” what
kind of a noun follows (is it definite/indefinite, count/mass, concrete/abstract. There are many subclasses:
• Articles
English articles are complex. The meanings have to do with notions of reference and are notoriously difficult
to define. Basically, the definite article the signals that a noun phrase is definite, perhaps because it refers to
something in the immediate context (Have you put on the toast?); or it might refer back to an earlier noun (Break
in the eggs — the refers back to the “3 large eggs” specified earlier); or perhaps an object that has become part
of shared general knowledge (I enjoy the cooking programs). The indefinite article a is used when nouns haven’t
already been specified (He gave me a recipe for truffles), or refer to a general state of affairs (I’m learning to be a chef).
• Quantifiers
These are modifiers of the noun and express quantity or extent. They include words like all, few, little, much,
several, some and phrases like a great deal, lots of, hardly any. They also include more exact quantifying expressions
like numbers one, two, and so on. Note, quantifiers do not form a neat subclass of determiner.
• Demonstratives, Possessives, Interrogatives, Relatives
Pronouns, demonstratives, possessives, interrogatives and relatives can be pronouns; i.e. entire noun phrases;
they also form natural subclasses of determiners. Like other determiners, they occur before the noun and
modify the noun in some way; e.g. those/my/which/whose eggs. Think of them as pronominal determiners.
Note, not all the members of a word class have all these characteristics of the class — membership to a particular
class is a matter of degree. The following tests help to determine class membership:
Substitution: Members of the same class are mutually substitutable. Find a proto-typical class member and try
substituting it for the problematical word; see if they both can occur in the same position in the sentence.
Co-ordination: Only words of the same class can be conjoined. In a similar procedure to the above, find a
proto-typical class member and try coordinating it with the problematical word.
