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Words are joined together to form larger units like phrases, clauses, sentences.
Phrase- a group of words which can be a part of a sentence. e.g., NP a tube of toothpaste; PP
(over the bridge); VP (built in stone, will tell)
Clause-a group of words consisting of a subject , finite verb+ complement or object if
necessary; the smallest syntactic unit that can be used completely independently in a
language.
Subject- a noun, pronoun or noun phrase
The verb must agree with subject.
Object-a noun, pronoun or a noun phrase
A direct object- a person or thing affected by the action of the verb; comes immediately after
a transitive verb. E.g. Please do not annoy me.
Veronica threw the ball over the wall.
Indirect object- a person who “benefits” from the action expressed in the verb; sb. You give
sth to or buy sth for; it comes immediately after the verb; e.g. Buy your father a present.
(otherwise introduced with to: buy a present to your father)
Complement- follows the verb be and verbs related to be, such as seem, which cannot be
followed by an object; a complement completes the sense of an utterance by telling us
something about the subject.; e.g., Frank is clever. Frank is an architect.
A transitive verb- followed by an object: I met Jim this morning.
An intransitive verb- never followed by an object; can never be used in the passive; My head
aches. The plane touched down.
Simple sentence patterns:
1. subject + verb
2. subject+ verb + complement
Frank is clever.
3. SVDO
My sister enjoyed the play.
4. SVIODO
The firm gave Sam the car.
5. SVO + Complement
They made Sam redundant.
Words are :
-grouped into various categories, called parts of speech,
Parts of speech:
-traditionally 8 in English (nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions,
conjunctions, interjections)
Traditionally:
Nouns- names of persons, places, things (man, city, tree, courage, nothingness)
Pronouns- words that can replace nouns or be used instead of them, e.g. he, someone, who
Verbs- make predications or denote actions or states of being, e.g. sell, leave, become,
appear, be
Adjectives- modify nouns (and sometimes pronouns) e.g. big, alive, principal
Adverbs- modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, e.g. very, not, quickly
Prepositions- indicate relationships between the nouns or pronouns that they are said to
govern and some other parts of speech, e.g. at, in, under,
Conjunctions- join clauses together, e.g. and , until, when, because
Interjections- express emotion, e.g. Oh!, Ouch!, Alas!
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This classification is meaning based; problem! it ignores the many structural features, e.g.
characteristic word endings, how clauses are formed etc.
1. it is meaning based, but what are names, actions, states of being?
2. it combines statements about meaning (nouns are names) with statements about
distribution (adjectives modify nouns); but does not state which one is decisive ( is
brick a noun in a brick because it names something and adjective in a brick house
because of its distribution, because it is a modifier of house
3. it groups words which have different characteristics into the same class, into the class
of adverbs (not, very, quickly)
STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION
-2 approaches to the categorization of words: a) looks at forms of words to find out structural
characteristics they have and what kinds of changes occur as they are used in phrases, clauses
and sentences. Cat vs. cats; bite, bit, bitten; B) looks at distributions of words (believing that
words regularly fill the same slots in basic recurring patterns in the language, e.g. as subjects,
objects, complements, etc. , may be said to belong to the same general category; cat
distributes like plate, bite like take, big like old, very like rather, must like can etc.
FORMAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Inflectional changes and derivational endings
Inflections:
Cat, cats, cat’s, cats’ (noun)
I, you, he, she, it, we, they (pronouns)
Bake, bakes, baking, baked (verbs)
Long longer longest (adj)
Derivations
Judgment, kingdom, baker
Himself,
Pacify, synthesize
Topical, smallish, hopeful
Distributional criteria:
Single words that can be inserted into slots such as those marked by X are:
He bought the X.
X: man, dog, butter (nouns)
He wants to X.
X: dance, leave, sing, cook (verbs)
The boy is very X X: tired, young, pleasant, bright (adj)
He went X.
X: out, in, quietly, there (adverb)
Problems:
The old man is here.
He is alive.
*The alive man is here.
He is old.
Alive may only occur in the position following the verb to be.
Old is a more typical adjective than alive. (“typical”)
Items may be “fuzzy”-when they belong to two or more categories at the same time.
It disappeared rather quickly.(adverbs)
He waited patiently outside.
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But!!!
*rather outside, *Quickly patiently, *quickly rather
solution- rather is an intensifier; subcategories for adverbs: “place” for outside, “manner” for
quickly
I know someone told him. (pronouns)
Who said that?
*I know him told someone. Are interchangeable.
So how many parts of speech do we have???
Are old and alive the same part of speech, sub-varieties of the same part of speech or different
parts of speech????
The approaches are confusing.
Dancing in The dancing ceased where dancing has the –ing ending characteristic of a verb but
the distribution of a noun.
NOUNS
Noun- a word that is marked inflectionally for plural and genitive (-s, -‘s, -s’)
Uninflected forms, cat, dog are called basic forms
Often preceded by determiners: the, some
Function as subject, object or complement of a clause: Apples are popular, I like apples, The
objects are apples
Change form to express contrast- sg Vs pl.; to mark genitive case-cat’s, cats’
Can be formed by adding a list of suffixes to verbs, adjectives and other nouns
Variable nouns- take a singular and plural form
Invariable nouns-do not have a number contrast
Regular vs irregular plural:
Foot (feet), mouse
Calf (calves), knife
Ox (oxen)
Fish (fish), sheep, deer
Alumnus (alumni), stimulus
Alumna (alumnae), formula
Curriculum (curricula), datum, memorandum
Thesis (theses), diagnosis
Criterion (criteria)
Stigma (stigmata)
Graffito (graffiti), concerto
Index (indices), appendix
Cherub (cherubim)
Passers-by, menservants
Some might appear to be plural because of –s ending(names of subjects, diseases) : mumps,
billiards, news, linguistics, mathematics, but they are followed by is rather than are.
(mathematics is… but my mathematics are good)
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Other nouns that end in –s may not have a singular variant at all or, if there is a form without
–s, it may have a different meaning: tweezers, tongs, premises, scissors, pajamas (dregs of
beer vs. He’s a dreg!)
Some do not take plural inflection, but are found with plural verbs: cattle, people, police,
Swiss, Japanese
I have two rabbits.
But!! They’ve been shooting rabbit.
Nouns
Proper
Common
Count
Concrete
Noncount
Abstract
Concrete
Abstract
Proper nouns- names of people, places, times, occasions, events, publication
- can stand alone as a clause element –I like London.-but only certain common nouns
can-Chess is nice; *Egg is bad.
- Do not usually allow plural - *Londons (most common nouns do)
- Are not usually used with determiners: * a London
Proper nouns (names of specific entities):
John, London, Monday
Proper nouns belong to proper names: the Mississippi, Lake Ontario, New Year’s Day
Proper name may be used just like a common noun.
He was not the John Smith I saw.
Common nouns- name any member of a class of entities
Count nouns-refer to individual, countable entities; concrete (denoting something tangible)book, chair; abstract-remark, idea
Noncount nouns (mass nouns)- refer to undifferentiated mass or continuum; concretefurniture; abstract-music
Differences:
1. Count nouns cannot stand alone in the singular, *Book is red; noncount can-Chess is
fun.
2. Count n. allow plural, noncount don’t (*musics)
3. Count n. occur in the singular with a –a book; noncount with some-some music
4. Noncount n. have an equivalent countable expression using such words as a piece, bit,
followed by of: a piece of advice; a loaf of bread
Some do not have a plural when they are used as mass nouns, but may take plural when they
are used as countable nouns:
Cheese, wood, weather, hope
I want some cheese.
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These three cheeses are from Holland.
Case:
A common case (subjective case vs objective case) and genitive case
Objective case taken after prepositions and verbs but also: in structures:
It’s me.
She’s as tall as him.
Ted and me went by bus.
It disagrees with rules of Latin, that’s why, due to strong objection to “me” it is often avoided
even when it constitutes a part of a clause: Between you and I, He asked Mike and I to do it.
A common case has no ending at all; genitive takes –‘s, s’
Genitive:
-‘s, -s’
inflected genitive=marked genitive (John’s father)
periphrastic genitive – requires the use of of, e.g. a friend of mine
The genitive can encompass a variety of meaning relationships (that’s why the term genitive
is used instead of genitive):
Possession: Edward’s hat (Edward possesses the hat).
Origin:
Sally’s cable (Sally sent the cable)
Appositive the city of New York (the city is New York)
Partitive
a few of the men (several, not all)
Objective
the army’s defeat (someone defeated the army)
Descriptive a ship’s bell ( a bell made for ship)
Measure
a month’s delay ( a delay lasting a month)
Group genitives: the Queen of England’s son
Double genitive : a friend of my mother’s, a play of Shakespeare’s
Location genitive : at the doctor’s
Elliptical genitive : This book sells better than John’s.
Gender:
grammatical gender in German, which is not always a reflection of natural gender: der, die,
das (das Madchen)
In English there is no grammatical gender, but there is a distinction b-n animate beings and
inanimate beings; personal vs. nonpersonal; male and female sexes:
Inanimate nouns- box, advice-pattern only with it, which
Animate-make use of he/she, who; nonpersonal vs personal
Personal animate- refer to males and females, pattern with he/she/who; occur in pairshost/hostess-where the ending makes the gender clear; occur also in dual gender-singer,
cousin
Nonpersonal animate- take it, which and refer to animals; those with a special place in human
society take he/she/who; some have distinct male/female form-bull/cow; dog/bitch
Collective nouns- committee, government, team, army, family take either it/which or they/who
depending on the context.
Certain derivational suffixes are characteristic of nouns:
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Gangster, hunter, handful, trainee, hostess, realism, normalcy, kindness, motherhood,
friendship, amusement, nation, pamphlet, growth, mutant, physician, cigarette, sadist,
boredom, usage
But!! Bigger/ plentiful (adj)
Some English nouns show gender, i.e. sex-linking:
Waiter, waitress
Hero, heroine
Goose, gander
Bull, cow
Brother, sister
Man-child, girl-child
Typical distributional uses for nouns:
The X is here.
X: man, sugar, house, mail
Give me some X.
X: money, eggs, paper, encouragement
Show me a X.
X: poem, tree, spoon, sailor
X is good.
X: snow, faith, John, courage
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
Pronouns
personal-I, you, he, she
possessive-my, mine, her
relative-who, whom, which, that
interrogative pronouns-what, who, whose, whom, which
reflexive-myself, yourself
reciprocal-each other, one another
demonstrative-this, that, theses, those
indefinite-some, many, all, none
-various kinds of pronouns which can be inflected for plural and genitive
-personal and relative pronouns may also be inflected for object case (when occurring as the
objects of verbs or prepositions)e.g. We introduced her to them; the boy to whom you sent her.
-personal pronouns show inflectional marking for singular and plural and for subject and
object uses
-personal pronouns have two genitive forms; first possessive (attributive form), e.g. It is my
book; second possessive (absolute form), e.g. It is mine.
-it has a gender distinction in the third person sg. (masc., femin. , neuter); personal vs.
nonpersonal gender; sg. Vs pl
-their flectional system is irregular
Central pronouns (express contrasts of persons, gender and number)-personal, possessive
and reflexive
Personal pronouns- means of identifying speakers, addressees: I, you, he, she, it, we, they
Possessive pronouns-express ownership
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Singular
Person Subject
1
I
2
you
3m.
he
3f.
she
3n.
it
Plural
1
2
3
we
you
they
object
me
you
him
her
it
us
you
them
1Poss.
my
your
his
her
its
our
your
their
2 Poss.
mine
yours
his
hers
its
ours
yours
theirs
we – may or may not include a person or persons who are addressed.
Inclusive – if it contains an addressee(s); We (you and I) should see him about it.
Exclusive – if it does not. We (“some one or ones including I but not you”) intend to stop
you.
You, we, they-may mean “people in general”(vague in reference). You know what people are
like. We do not do things that way here. They do not do it that way any more.
He, she, it are linked to gender, but babies and household pets may be referred to as he, she,
it; cars and ships are often referred to as she.
-object form of p.p. are required after verbs and prepositions when a clear subject-object
distinction exists, e.g. I followed him. He preceded me, to her, between you and me.
-the first poss. Is used before a noun but not necessarily directly before, e.g., her house, his
old friend (then it is referred to as a determiner or possessive pronoun)
-second poss. Is used in absolute positions, i.e., by itself: It is hers, Mine is ready.
The reflexive (I hurt myself) and intensifying or emphatic (He himself said so) forms of the
personal pronouns are composed of the first possessive forms plus –self or –selves; “reflect”
the meaning of a noun or pronoun elsewhere in the clause.
The demonstrative pronouns are this and that, theses and those. These pronouns can be
used alone, This is the book I want, He said that, or can be used as determiners, He asked for
that book you had mentioned. This new cake is good.; express contrast b-n near and distant
This- has a vague referent, e.g. This resulted in a complaint being lodged.
The relative pronouns – used to link a subordinate clause to the head of the noun phrase;
either the personal who or one of its forms or the impersonal which. Who has an object form
whom and a genitive form whose.
The man who came in was Tim’s father.
The person whom you saw gave permission.
Whose may be used impersonally , i.e. to refer to something non-human: It is a new drug
whose potential is as yet unknown.
Interrogative pronouns – the same as relative pronouns + what. Whose, which and what may
also be used as determiners; used to ask questions
Who came in?
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Which books do you want? (offers the listener a choice from among a predetermined set)
What books do you want? (offers a completely free choice)
Reciprocals: each other (2 referents), one another (more than 2): ; express two way
relationships
John and Mary like each other. The triplets strongly resemble one another
Reciprocal p. also have genitive forms: Sally and Mary wear each other’s clothes.
The indefinite pronouns are: some, any, none, or combinations of some, any and no with
thing, body, and one:
Some handed in their work on time.
I don’t have any.
None survived the trip.
Everything is fine today.
Nothing happened to her.
Don’t tell anybody.
Someone will have to do it.
Indefinite pronouns express a notion of quantity
The combinations are occasionally found in plural and genitive forms. As plurals and
genitives they distribute very much like nouns:
What a silly nobodies!
It must be someone’s property.
It, there, and one are also pronouns when they are used as follows;
It’s raining.
It’s five o’clock.
It’s good to know that.
It happened that he knew.
I thought it silly of him to do that.
There’s a time for everything.
There happens to be a war on.
Sue bought a red dress and Brenda bought a green one.
He wants a book and I want one too.
It is needed for grammatical purposes in clauses connected with weather or time.
There acts as a “dummy” subject in certain sentence types. One is a pronoun that actually
does replace a noun in the penultimate sentence (dress) but a noun phrase (a book) in the final
sentence.
Pronouns=nouns:
John left. He left.
Someone left.
Who left?
The boy asked the girl.
He asked her.
Pronouns=noun phrases:
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The boy spoke to his mother and she (his mother) listened to him (the boy ) carefully.
Those boys climbing the tree will hurt themselves (those boys climbing the tree).
Verbs
-typical verbs like e.g. take, make are marked inflectionally for third person singular present
tense subject agreement (-s), he bakes, she plays, the present participle (-ing), as in we are
baking and they are playing, the past tense (-ed), as in I baked and they played, and the past
participle (-ed), as in she has baked and they had played.
- base forms of verbs are sometimes cited with to, e.g., to bake, to play, etc. To is called
a marked infinitive and know in I don’t know as a bare infinitive.
- There are also irregular forms, which involve the change in the base forms of the
verbs:
Bet (bet, bet), hit, cut, put
Burn (burnt, burnt), learn, spill
Bend (bent, bent0, lend, spend
Feed (fed, fed), hold, read
Creep (crept, crept), feel, sweep, meet, keep
Dig (dug, dug), stick, strike
Bring (brought, brought), catch, buy, seek, teach
Bind (bound, bound), find, wind
Get (got, got), shine
Sell (sold, sold), tell
Become (became, became), come, run
Break (broke, broken), know, swear
Drink (drank, drunk), sing, swim
Go (went, gone)
The change from go to went is called suppletive change, because there is no phonological
resemblance.
Be, have and do are also quite irregular (also include suppletive forms)
Be
Sg.
Past tense
Present participle
Past participle
Am, are, is
was, were
being
been
have
do
has(3rd sg)
had
having
had
does (3dr sg)
did
doing
done
Each of them can be used as a full verb ( a lexical verb) or as an auxiliary verb.
John is happy (lexical verb).
John is going . (aux)
Fred does his homework well.
Fred does not work well.
She had a good time.
She has taken her time.
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Lexical verbs: are the main verbs (have semantic content) and also the only verbs in a
sentence:
I like chocolate.
I have not done my homework.
Tense vs. aspect
Tense: a grammatical category that shows time distinction. There are two tenses: present and
past.
Aspect: a grammatical category that stresses completion and duration:
“Perfective aspect”: Have + Past participle: I have done it.
“Progressive aspect”: be + Present Participle: I am working.
Auxiliary verbs: Primary aux. (be, have, do) and modal auxiliaries
Primary auxiliaries:
Be – used in the passive: was played - the progressive aspect: was playing
Have – used in the perfective aspect: - has played
Do (“dummy operator”) used in questions/ negation and emphasis
Modal verbs:
Show tense distinction
Present: can/ may/ will/ shall/ must
Past: could/ might/ would/ should
-irregular
-lack inflections for the third person sg. (they are defective), the participles and cannot appear
after to in marked infinitives: *to must, *to can
-must does not have a past tense form, like:
can (could), will (would), shall (should), may (might), must
-modal verbs are used along with lexical verbs in English :
He can go.
Subjunctive form of the verb:
I insist that she go.
I demand that they be told.
It is necessary that she see her immediately.
If I were to go, what then?
He wished he were dead.
The condition is that Sally ask them to come.
The condition is that he report to the authorities daily.
I insist she not go.
In fixed expressions:
God save the queen!
God help him!
Finite vs. non-finite verbs:
Finite – limit a verb to a particular number, person and mood, e.g. runs.
 It is always the first verb, e.g. I was being asked.
 Show contrast in tense: She works/worked in London.
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

Contrast in number and person: he works/ they work.
Allow the expressions of facts, possibilities, whishes and other contrasts of mood:
They suggested that the papers be delivered by hand.
Non-finite verbs: do not limit verbs in this way:
 ‘ing’ participle: I am leaving.
 ‘ed’ participle: I have asked.
 The base form used as an infinitive: I might see/ he wants to see.
Verbs may be also recognized by certain characteristic derivational suffixes:
Indemnify, widen, hyphenate, synthesize, sparkle
Distribution:
Verbs are the words that can fill more than one slot marked by X:
Birds X.
He will X.
Fred X happy.
People X such things.
X: sing, fly, exist, die
X: go, complain, eat
X: became, is, appears, seems
X: eat, say, find, take
Adjectives
-take comparative/superlative form (er, est) (inflectional endings)
-irregular forms exist –good, better, best (suppletive change)
-most inflectable adj are monosyllabic, but also disyllabic can be inflected: simple-er,est/
common, narrower
-uninflectable adj take more and most forms BUT!!! They have to be gradable – (subject to
comparison, e.g. nice, beautiful, easy); non-gradable adj. cannot occur after: more, most,
very, rather and quite; *very main, very principal
-sometimes non-gradable adjectives can be used as if they were gradable:
He is more open about it than she is.
He is a very moral person.
-
gradable adj. have pairs in which there are marked and unmarked (those asked
elements) words: long vs. short, high vs. small, deep/shallow, wide/narrow.
How old/*young are you?
How deep/*shallow is it?
Stative vs. dynamic
Sative adjectives – have a stable property, e.g. young/ old
Dynamic – may change the sate quickly, e.g. careful/ careless
Derivational suffixes:
widen, active, helpful, hopeless, poisonous, weepy, mulish, handsome, manlike, manic,
fertile, approachable
Distribution:
-some occur after intensifiers: very, rather, quite, but some do not *very main
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-
occur after words like: this, so, too – It was this big/ I am so happy/ it is too small.
between articles and nouns – a big car
the position before a noun is called attributive position, after a verb – predicative
position:
a nice man – attributive position
He is nice.- predicative position
Central vs. peripheral adjectives:
Central – used in both positions: an old man/ the man is old.
Peripheral – used in one of the positions:
He is awake. / * an awake man
The main reason/ *the reason is main
-
- sometimes position changes the meaning:
A big talker/ the talker was big
A small businessman/ the businessman is small
A real hero/ the hero was real
The late Fred Jones/ Fred Jones was late
Some adjectives cannot be used attributively and they occur predicatively after the verb
be:
Kim is awake/afraid/alive/ashamed.
She is quite ill/well today.
Some adjectives occur only with some prepositions like of, to (fond of/* fond to; due
to/*of)
-
in certain fixed expressions adjectives follow nouns: attorney general/ notary public;
pl. attorneys (because it is a noun) general
ADVERBS
-
typically take –ly ending e.g. beautifully, slowly, nicely
but!!! Friendly/ worldly/ manly are adjectives
some adverbs have comparative and superlative forms: badly, worse/worst;
well/better/best( suppletive change) ; more commonly/ most successfully
here/there/then cannot be compared at all.
Derivational suffixes:
Onward, backwards, sideways, province-wide, business-wise, headlong, southern-style
Distribution:
He did it X.
She sings X.
X, she eats there.
They modify a verb/ an adjective or another adverb, eg:
She did not drive slowly.
Rather patiently
Rather interesting
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Some adverbs are sentence adverbs, eg. certainly:
[S C He will C [VP pass the exam] C.
Many occur after intensifiers: very quickly/ rather well/ quite slowly
I caught an early train. (adj)
I arrived home early. (adv)
He aimed at the higher target.
He aimed higher next time.
It is a hard job.
We tried hard to convince her.
Some constructions offer a choice b-n adjectives and adverbs:
She bought them cheap/ cheaply.
Drive slow/slowly and live.
Some forms look like adjectives but they distribute as adverbs: cheap/slow (flat adjective)
Examples of types of modification:
o manner: quietly/ slowly
o place: here/ there/ abroad
o time: now/ just/ recently/ today
o degree: very/ rather/ quite/ surprisingly
o frequency: always/ often
o truth: perhaps/ probably/ certainly
o viewpoint: philosophically/ financially
o connective: however/ furthermore/ moreover
Class boundaries
-ing ending may or may not belong to verbs, they may also be nouns or adjectives, e.g.
building, painting; they are inflected for plural (paintings)
- gerund or verbal nouns:
Singing is fun.
He likes fishing.
His drinking is excessive.
( no possibility of plural)
Verb or noun aspect of a gerund:
He likes the good fishing (noun-emphasis)
He likes fishing that stream. (verb emphasis)
- ing in adjectives (as they may be graded):
an interesting example
an amusing movie
they can insert : very/ rather/ quite e.g. a very interesting example
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- the non gradable ones are regarded as verb formsHer dying wish
An ailing friend
A falling star
Entertaining!!
He was very entertaining. ( adj) (can be modified with very)
He was entertaining his friends. ( verb) (takes an object)
Present Participle forms of verbs:
Weeping, the girl left the room.
He died laughing.
*Playing in the garden, the window got broken. – dangling participle (the relationship is
violated).
-ed
a walled garden, a skilled worker- the ending is attached rather to a noun than to a verb,
but they behave as adjectives, they can be modified :
It is a very skilled worker.
It is a very isolated place.
Adjectives/verbs???:
He fixed the broken window.
The engaged couple left.
-ed as a verbal inflection:
He has picked the apples.
The leg was broken in the accident.
-ed past participle:
Badly wounded, he surrendered.
OTHER PARTS OF SPEECH
“ joining words”-conjunctions and prepositions
Conjunctions:
Coordinating/ subordinating/ correlating
Coordinating:
e.g. and, but, or; they coordinate similar structural elements e.g. pairs or identical parts of
speech, phrases, clauses; coordinated elements have the same weight.
Jack and Jill left.
Subordinating conjunctions: because, if, when; the element headed by the subordinating
conjunction has less “weight”
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I took it because it belonged to me.
If you see him, tell him I am coming.
Correlating conjunctions: pairs like: either or, neither nor, not only but also
Either Sally or Fred should tell him.
Conjunctive adverbs: they distribute in some ways like conjunctions and in some like
adverbs.
John left; Mary stayed, however. (adv)
John left; however, Mary stayed. (conj)
Prepositions: words like: at/ in/ by/ for/ from
Govern the n/ pronoun/NP that follows
for John/ him/ that handsome man
Complex prepositions:
Because of the war/ on account of this/ in case of fire
?????? How many parts of speech do we have; it is difficult to name those parts of speech.
They began a new round (noun) of talks.
She pointed to a round (adj.) area in the middle.
Please round (verb) it off.
He went round (preposition) the corner for a while.
She’ll come round (adverb) to our point of view.
Go and ask that (determiner) man.
I want that (demonstrative pronoun).
He is not that (intensifying adverb) fat.
They died that (conjunction) we might be free.
It was then that (complementizer) I noticed her.
DETERMINERS:
Determiners introduce noun phrases. The three classes of determiners are defined by the order
in which they come:
1. predeterminers
2. central determiners
3. postdeterminers
CENTRAL DETERMINERS
The central det. fall into several subclasses:
1. definite article: the
2. indefinite article: a/an
3. demonstratives: this/that/ these/ those
4. possessives: my, his, her
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5. interrogatives: what/ which/ whose
6. relatives: which/ whose/ whatever/ whichever/ whosoever
7. indefinites: some/ any/ no/ enough/ every/ each/ either/ neither
PREDETERMINERS
They include multipliers ( double, twice, three times) and fractions (half, one-third…):
Double her fee
Half a loaf
All/ both/ such/ what:
All their problems
Such a mess
What a good idea
They can occur without a central determiner: all stations
Both children
Such jokes
Such – is an exception as it may:
- combine with other predeterminers (all such jokes)
- come after a central determiner (no such jokes)
- a postdeterminer: many such jokes
POSTDETERMINERS
Come after the central determiners. They include the cardinal numbers and the ordinal
numbers:
The three largest rooms
Our first apartment
They also include many/ few, and little(=closed-class quantifiers):
My many good friends
The little furniture that I have
Open-class quantifiers: most consist of a noun of quantity (lot, deal, amount) followed by of
and often preceded by the indefinite article:
The room contained plenty of/ a lot of/ lots of students.
The chest contained a great/good deal of money.
a large/ small amount/ quantity of money.
The ordinal and cardinal numbers can co-occur:
The first two weeks
The postdeterminers can occur without other determiners:
He has few vices.
We saw two accidents on our way here.
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