Grammatical Categories/Classes of Words

 Words are classified into different categories according to their forms or functions. These
categories are called parts of speech.
 They determine the position of the word in the clause or sentence.
Three Tests for four Lexical Word Classes
 Morphological: what forms does a word have (in terms of stems and affixes)?
 Syntactic: what syntactic roles does a word play in phrases or other higher units?
 Semantic: what type(s) of meaning does a word convey?
Nouns (pp. 20-21)
Morphological characteristics
 Nouns have inflectional suffixes for plural number, and for genitive case
 Many nouns, however, are uncountable, and cannot have a plural form
 Nouns quite often contain more than one morpheme
 can take derivational prefixes and suffixes (pp. 88-90)
 Derivational prefixes do not normally alter the word class of the base word; that is, a
prefix is added to a noun to form a new noun with a different meaning: group = subgroup
 Derivational suffixes, on the other hand, usually change both the meaning and the word
class; that is, a suffix is often added to a verb or adjective to form a new noun with a
different meaning:
 Derivational suffixes: -tion, -ment, -ness, -er, -ship, -al, -ance, -ence, -cy, -dom, etc
Syntactic
 Nouns can occur as the head of a noun phrase
 common nouns can be modified by many kinds of words both before and after them
 Proper nouns rarely have any modifiers
Semantic (not a reliable test)
 Name of person, place, thing, quality, state (happiness, childhood, youth, slavery,
sickness, death), action (theft, laughter, movement), feeling (love, hatred)
Types of Nouns (pp. 56-61): Nouns can be grouped into a small number of classes which differ
in meaning and grammatical behavior.
Proper Noun
  Refer to individuals
 the particular name of a person or place
 persons, places, months, days, religions, languages, etc
 marked by an initial capital letter in writing
 do not vary for number
 do not usually take article
Common Noun
 refer to classes
 A name given in common to every person or thing of the same class or kind
 can vary for number
 can take article
Concrete Noun
 refers to physical entities or substances
Abstract Noun
 denote entities which are not concrete
 no physical shape
 can vary for number (not always) (desire, wish, quality)
 can take both definite and indefinite articles
 derived from adjectives
 derived from verbs (obedient, grow)
 from common nouns (child, slave)
 The distinction between concrete and abstract nouns is purely semantic: it has no real
grammatical role, since abstract nouns, like concrete nouns, can be countable,
uncountable, common, or proper.
Activity
 Form abstract nouns from the following adjectives: long, young, humble, decent, cruel,
bitter, strong, true, dark, deep, wide, wise, good, vacant, sweet, human, broad, free,
proud, novel, quick, high, poor, just, vain, sane, ignorant
 Form abstract nouns from the following verbs: laugh, obey, excel, expect, know, steal,
believe, serve, hate, please, act, starve, occupy, choose, move, flatter, depart, defend,
 think, protect, advise, punish, die, succeed, free, see, judge, pursue, relieve, converse,
discover
 Form abstract nouns from the following common nouns: king, man, thief, bankrupt,
infant, owner, author, hero, beggar, coward, boy, bond, pirate, pilgrim, friend, patriot
Collective Noun
 refers to a collection of persons, animals, or things taken together and spoken of as one
whole (heap)
 vary for number
 can take both definite and indefinite articles
Countable Nouns
 names of objects that we can count
 take numbers
 take plural forms
 singular forms can take both definite and indefinite articles
 plural form can only take definite article
Uncountable Nouns
 names of things which we cannot count
 do not vary for number
 do not take indefinite article
 can take definite article
 Some nouns can be countable as well as uncountable. Six teas please. Tea is included in
plant beverages
Compound Noun (pp. 91-92)
 consists of two or more words, one of which is a noun, that can be written as a single
word, a hyphenated word, or two words
 Noun + Noun
 Noun + Verb-er (dishwasher, dressmaker, screwdriver)
 Noun + Verb-ing (window shopping, fire-fighting, kite-flying, back biting)
 Self + Noun (Self-control, self-esteem, self-help)
 Verb-ing + Noun (drawing room)
  Adjective + Noun (blackboard, grandmother)
 Noun + Preposition + Noun
Noun and Number (pp. 78-79)
 Number is the term for the contrast between singular and plural
 A contrast in English grammar affecting not only nouns, but pronouns, determiners and
verbs
 However, our concern now is with nouns
 The singular form of nouns is the unmarked and most common form, and plural nouns
are formed from the singular by inflectional change, normally the addition of a suffix.
 A noun that denotes one person or thing is said to be in the singular number.
 A noun that denotes more than one person or thing is said to be in the plural number.
How are plurals formed?
Regular Plurals
 The plural of nouns is generally formed by adding –s to the singular.
 Singular nouns ending in s, z, x, ch, sh, form the plural by adding –es to the singular.
 Singular nouns ending in a consonant letter + y form their plural by changing y into I and
adding –es.
 Singular nouns ending in a vowel letter + y form their plural by adding only –s to the
singular.
 Singular nouns ending in o form their plural by adding –s or –es to the singular. Piano,
radio, video, vs. hero, potato, volcano
Irregular Plurals
 Some nouns ending in f or fe form the plural by changing f or fe into v and adding –es.
 Most nouns ending in f form their plural by adding –s to the singular. Belief, chief, chef,
proof, roof
 Some nouns form their plural by changing the vowel of the singular. Man, woman, foot,
tooth, mouse
 Some nouns form their plural by adding (r) en to the singular. Child, ox
Latin and Greek Plurals
  Nouns borrowed from Latin and Greek keep their original plurals. However, sometimes
regular plural form is used. Alumnus, syllabus, curriculum, formula, appendix, axis,
crisis, criterion, phenomenon, medium, datum
Zero plurals
 Some nouns have same form for both singular and plural. Fish, sheep, deer
 dozen, hundred, foot: when they are part of a numerical quantity
 two dozen people, five hundred kids
Plural-only nouns and singular nouns in -s
 Some nouns look plural but they are actually singular. News, measles, electronics,
physics
 Certain collective nouns are used as plural. People, cattle
 Some nouns are always used as plural. Glasses, scissors, trousers
Abbreviations and letters
 Abbreviations are made plural by adding –s at the end.
 Letters and digits are pluralized by adding apostrophe + s to the singular. A’s
Compound nouns
In case of compound nouns, the principal word is normally made plural. Exception: men drivers,
women drivers, Ns – P - N commander-in-chief, step son, passer-by
Noun and Gender (pp. 85-86)
 Gender is not an important grammatical category in English; it is a semantic category.
 English has no masculine and feminine inflections for nouns or determiners.
Four semantic gender classes can be distinguished:
Masculine gender: Nouns that refer primarily to male people.
Feminine gender: Nouns that refer primarily to female people.
Neuter gender: Noun that refer primarily to lifeless or inanimate things.
Common/personal gender: Nouns that refer primarily to people, regardless of whether they are
male or female.
Noun and Case (pp. 79-85)
 The way in which a noun phrase functions in a clause or sentence is called case.
Nominative case
  When a noun phrase functions as the subject of a verb, it is said to be in the nominative
case.
 It answers the question “who”.
Accusative Case
 When a noun phrase functions as the direct object (receiver, affected by an action) of a
verb, it is said to be in the accusative case.
 It answers the question “what, whom”. Whom did the horse kick?
 It can stand alone, that is, without indirect object.
Dative Case
 When a noun phrase functions as the indirect object (receives the benefits of an action), it
is said to be in the dative case.
 It cannot stand alone, that is, it requires a direct object.
 Two structures: IO + DO or DO + P + IO
Genitive Case
 When a noun phrase shows ownership or possession, it is said to be in the genitive case.
 The only case in modern English which takes inflection.
 It generally answers the question “whose”.
How to form genitive?
 When the noun is singular, the genitive case is formed by adding apostrophe + s to the
noun.
 When the noun is plural and ends in s, the genitive case is formed by adding only an
apostrophe.
 When the noun is plural but does not end in s, the genitive case is formed by adding
apostrophe + s.
 When a proper noun ends in s or z, the genitive case is formed by adding apostrophe + s.
 In case of compound nouns, genitive case is marked on the last word.
Vocative case:
 When a noun or a noun phrase is used to address someone, it is said to be in the vocative
case. Ali, come here.