Transcript Words and Word Classes

Words and Word
Classes
Lexical Rules
• We have some subconscious rules for the use of words. They
may be related to grammatical rules but actually they are
lexical rules.
• E.g.
• Kevin had some trouble last night with his homework.
• Paul had a trouble last night with his homeworks.
• Homeworks is incorrect here because of the lexical use of the
word ‘homework’; it is a noncountable noun.
• E.g. 2
• Sue is being funny.
• Rob is being tall.
• This shows the semantic qualities of adjectives. ‘Tall’ describes
a static condition, so it cannot be used with the progressive.
• E.g. 3
• Pam walked to school.
• Kate walked to home.
• That is an unsystematic rule! We just know we do not use ‘to’
with home, but use it with school!
Hierarchy of certain features of
nouns
Noun
Common
Proper
(Chicago)
Noncountable
Countable
(homework)
Singular
Plural
(bird)
(people)
• Each word carries with it only the features in the higher
intersections.
• E.g.
• Homework is a noncountable, common noun
• Bird is a singular, countable, common noun
• Determiners:
• They also have built-in features.
• The indefinite article (a/an) includes singular and countable, so
we cannot use it with the word ‘homework’.
• The definite article (the) is more versatile and can be used with
almost all nouns
• There are also some other signalers of nouns (whether
countable or noncountable)
• E.g.
• Less / fewer
• Amount of / number of
• Much / many
Parts of Speech
• Study of grammar begins by defining noun, verb, adjective,
and adverb
• Our internalized grammar includes rules and restrictions that
determine how we use our words. Those rules constitute
word classes.
• The words of our lexicon can be classified in two broad
groups: form classes and structure classes.
• What is the difference between these two groups?
• Look at the difference between these two sentences:
• Strange dog standing porch.
• A strange dog is standing on the porch.
• The first sentence (form-class words) does not sound like
native but it communicates.
• The second (including structure-class words) is more explicit
and sounds exactly like English.
• Generally, the form-class words are nouns, verbs, adjectives
and adverbs (lexical content)
• The structure classes are determiners, pronouns, auxiliaries,
qualifiers, prepositions, and conjunctions (grammatical or
structural relationships)
• Pronouns are listed in structure classes but actually they are
on the line between the form and structure classes.
• Many of them are like form classes (they function as nouns,
substitutes for nouns and noun phrases)
• But they also belong to structure classes (the possessive and
demonstrative pronouns)
• The most striking difference between these two groups is
their numbers.
• Of the half-million words, the structure words are only in the
hundreds; they generally remain constant and limited.
• But form words are large and open classes; new nouns, verbs,
adjectives enter the language.
The Form Classes
• Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are called the form
classes because each class has a set of inflectional endings
(inflections) that distinguish it from all other classes.
• Let’s remember inflection and derivation:
• Inflection (does not change the lexical category of the word-e.g.
book; books)
• Derivation (often changes the lexical category-e.g. sleep, sleepy)
Nouns
• Nouns have an inflection for plural. (Remember Chp. 1)
• Not every noun fits here.
• Noncountable nouns have no plural form: mass nouns (homework,
milk); abstract nouns (peace, tranquility); and proper nouns
• Irregular plurals don’t have an inflection of –s or –es (children, men)
• A common mistake: apostrophe
• We use ’s for possessives, not for plurals
• *Fishing license’s sold here. (wrong!)
• An exception to this rule is when the use of ‘s’ is unreadable without
appostrophe.
• E.g. There are three t’s in my name.
• When a noun ends with s (or an s-like sound), we use –es and the
use of possessive is like this: Church’s, churches’
• If a noun already ends with –s, we can use only apostrophe at the
end.
• E.g. Socrates’ reasons
Plural-only forms
• Some nouns are plural in form but singular in meaning.
• E.g. Scissors, pants, glasses, shorts…
• These words are accepted to be plural
• The scissors were sharper than I had expected
Collective nouns
• Family, choir, team, majority… can be plural or singular
depending on the context and meaning
• The family have all gone their separate ways.
• The whole family is celebrating Christmas at home this year.
• Some noncountable nouns (remainder, rest) take their
numbers from the modifier that follows.
• E.g.
• The rest of the books are being donated to the library.
• The rest of the manuscript is being donated to the library.
Proper nouns
• They refer to a specific referent
• Empire State Building, Grand Canyon, London..
• Most of them are singular, but the names of mountain ranges
(The Rocky Mountains) and island groups (The Falklands) are
plural.
• Now go to exercise 38 on p. 218
Verbs
• Except for be, verbs have only five forms—the base and four
inflected forms
Adjectives
• Adjectives can sometimes be recognized by their comparative
and superlative inflections:
Positive
big
silly
intelligent
Comparative
bigger
sillier
more intelligent
Superlative
biggest
silliest
most intelligent
• More and most are variations of the inflections –er and -est
• Some adjectives do not fit this set.
• E.g. The *mainest reason (wrong!)
• The *afraid child (wrong!)
Adverbs
•
•
•
•
Most of them are formed by adding –ly to the adjective:
Slowly, deliberately, perfectly…
Most –ly adverbs are adverbs of manner.
Some common adverbs (fast, far, near…) are sometimes called
flat adverbs
• Adverbs also have comparative and superlative forms
Positive
slowly
fast
Comparative
more slowly
faster
Superlative
most slowly
fastest
• In addition to flat adverbs, there are other adverbs
•
•
•
•
•
Time: now, today, nowadays, …
Duration: still
Frequency: often, seldom….
Place: here, there, never…
Direction: away
Derivational Affixes
• Derivational affixes (suffix and prefix) help us shift words from
one class to another and/or change their meanings.
• E.g.
• Beauty (noun) becomes a verb with –ify (beautify)
• An adjective becomes an adverb with –ly
• Some change the meaning rather than the class:
boy/boyhood; king/kingdom…
• Some prefixes also change the meaning: undeniable,
interaction, illegal…
• Some change the classes: encourage, enable, disable…
• By the help of this derivational affix system, we can develop
numbers of words (that’s why the certain number of words in
English is not known)
• E.g.
• A noun like ‘system’, can be an adjective (systematic), then a
verb (systematize), then a noun again (systematization)
• Now go to exercise 39 on p. 222
The Structure Classes
• Determiners, auxiliaries, qualifiers, prepositions, particles,
conjunctions, pronouns
• The structure classes provide the filling that holds the formclass bricks in place.
Determiners
• Articles: a, an, the
• Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those
• Possessive pronouns: my, your, his, her, its, our, their
• Possessive nouns/noun phrases: Joe’s, our neighbour’s
• Indefinite pronouns:
• Singular: every, each, any,
• Plural: several, many, few, all
Auxiliaries
• Progressive: am / is / are / was / were laughing
• Perfect: has / have / had laughed
• Perfect progressive: has / have / had been laughing
• ‘Be’ is also an auxiliary for passive voice
• ‘Do’ can be an auxiliary for three purposes:
• To form questions: Do you like?
• To form negations: I don’t like.
• For emphatic reasons: I do like it.
• Modals are also auxiliaries: can, could, will, would…
Qualifiers
• A word that modifies an adjective or adverb. It may amplify
or diminish the meaning of the word it precedes.
• The air was somewhat cold that morning.
• The climber very cautiously set her route.
• Some common qualifiers:
• Quite, rather, too, still, even, much…
• Some adverbs are qualifiers with certain adjectives:
• Dangerously close, particularly harmful, absolutely
true
• If possible, use a single word that covers the meaning of the
qualifiers and the adjective/adverb
• Instead of ‘ran very fast’, you can use ‘rushed’, ‘dashed’, ‘bolted’
• Instead of ‘really nice’, you can use ‘cooperative’, ‘charming’
• Use ‘very’ carefully.
• E.g. ‘Very perfect’ might have negative effect
• Now go to exercise 40 on p. 224
Prepositions
• Prepositions have a large impact on the meanings of the
sentences.
• Read the paragraph on p. 225 to see their importance.
• Some common prepositions and phrasal prepositions are
given on p. 225
• Now go to exercise 41 on p. 226
Particles
• Particles form phrasal verbs.
• They are like prepositions but they are NOT because they
produce a new meaning
• I looked up your phone number. (particle)
• I looked up the narrow street. (preposition)
• Particles are movable; prepositions are not.
• I looked your number up.
Conjunctions
• They can be
• coordinating conjunctions
• and, but, or, nor, for, yet…
• Subordinating conjunctions
• before, if, when….
Pronouns
• Missing Pronouns
• If we need a personal pronoun to an unidentified person (e.g.
the teacher, a student, someone), in speech we generally use
‘they’
• E.g. Don’t let someone else tell you what you need—at
least not if they happen to be selling it.
• In writing we can say ‘she/he’.
• Or use plural throughout to avoid this problem.
• E.g. It has been said that whenever people speak they
are either mimicking or analogizing.
Case Errors
• There is no rivalry between my brother and I*.
• There is no rivalry between my brother and me.
• The supervisor told Jenny and I* that we might get a raise next
week.
• The supervisor told Jenny and me that we might get a raise next
week.
• Me* and Bill are going for a bike ride.
• I and Bill are going for a bike ride.
• Bill and me* are going to be late.
• Bill and I are going to be late.
The unwanted apostrophe
• The cat caught it’s* tail in the door.
• The cat caught its tail in the door.
• Other possible mistakes:
• Your (possessive) / you’re (you are)
• Their (possessive) / they’re (they are)
• Whose / who’s (who is)
The Ambiguous Antecedent
• When a pronoun is not clear what it refers to, it is ambiguous
• Just before they were scheduled to leave, Shelly told Ann that
she couldn’t go after all.
• Is ‘she’ Shelly or Ann?
• Uncle Dick and Aunt Teresa took the kids to their favouite
restaurant for lunch.
• Whose favorite restaurant?
Reflexive Pronouns
• -self / -selves
• I cooked breakfast for Kelly and myself
• Tony cooked dinner for Carmen and myself*.
• Tony cooked dinner for Carmen and me.
• Ted and myself* decided to go out and celebrate.
• Ted and I decided to go out and celebrate.
• John cooked dinner for Jenny and himself (John)
• John cooked dinner for Jenny and him (someone else)
Intensive Pronouns
• Using reflexive pronouns to give emphasis
• I myself prefer classical music.
• I prefer classical music myself.
• Myself, I prefer classical music.
• Now go to Execise 42, p. 233
Reciprocal Pronouns
• Each other (refers to two nouns)
• One another (refers to three or more nouns)
• David and Ann help each other. They even do each other’s
laundry.
• All the students in my peer group help one another with their
rough drafts.
Indefinite Pronouns
• Includes a number of words that we use as determiners.
• Enough, few, less, little, many, all, both, any, either…
• One & none can also be used as pronouns.
• The blue shoes that I bought yesterday….
• The blue ones that I bought yesterday…
• Everyone is generally followed with they
• Everyone picked up their books and left the room.
• Now do Exercise 43, p. 236