MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX

CHAPTER 6 STRUCTURE CLASSES

 STRUCTURE CLASSES

1. Qualifiers

2. Prepositions

3. Determiners

4. Auxiliaries

5. Pronouns
 STRUCTURE CLASSES
Three characteristics:

•Excepting a few, do not change form.

•A structure class is small.
•It rarely admits new members.
 1. QUALIFIERS

Position: before an adjectival or an adverbial.

Functions: modify other words.
Most qualifiers are uninflected words. Examples:
very, much
A few qualifiers have the same form as adjective.
=> They are considered as uninflected qualifiers.
pretty good, mighty fine, jolly hot, great big, full
well, dead right
 2. PREPOSITIONS
Prepositions are usually followed by a noun phrase,
personal pronoun called the object of preposition.

Preposition+ Noun Phrase (object of preposition)

= Prepositional Phrase

Ex: on the table, at the airport, in the room

Kinds of prepositions:

Single prepositions:
mono syllabic prepositions: at, on, to, in
two- syllable prepositions: before, above, after
Compound prepositions: on behalf of, due to, apart
from, in front, up to, out of, away from, up at, as for,
inside of, because of, owning to, instead of, on
account of, in spite of, with regard to, in advance of,
in front of, in place of , in lieu of, in addition to, by
way of, in comparison with, in case of, by mean of,
by way of.
-ing prepositions: assuming, beginning, barring,
concerning, considering, during (stem dure means
“to last”), following, including, involving, pending
(French base pend- means “to hang, suspend” ),
regarding, succeeding...
All –ing prepositions have a verb as a stem.
Ex: Concerning the weather, the trip should be
canceled.
Preposition
Coming home late, I found a man in my room.
Present Participle
• The teachers have accepted longer workdays in
lieu of a pay cut. (instead of)
• She went to the bank by way of the drugstore.
(passing through)
 3. DETERMINERS
It precedes the noun and signals that a noun is soon
to follow.
articles —the, a, an.
demonstratives —this, that, these, those.
possessives —John’s, the fat man’s, her, my, and
whose.
wh-determiners —which and what.
quantifying determiners — some, every, most, no,
any, both, and half
 4. AUXILIARIES
Auxiliaries are closely associated with the verb and
are of two kinds.
Modal auxiliaries.
can could
may might
shall should
will would
must
ought (to)
Primary auxiliaries: have, be, do
 5. PRONOUNS
words that stand in place of a noun
Reflexive pronouns: -self –selves
Reciprocal pronouns: each other, one another
Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, those, these
Indefinite pronouns: some, any,
someone, somebody, somewhere, something,
somehow
anyone, anybody, anywhere, anything
 PERSONAL PRONOUNS:
Subject Object Prenominal Substitutional
Possessive Possessive

1st I me my mine
2nd you you your yours
3rd Male he him his his
Female she her her hers
N it it its its
Plural
1st we us our ours
2nd you you your yours
3rd they them their theirs
Interr. who whom whose whose
Relative
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS: WHO,
WHOM, WHOSE
Ex: Who borrowed my book? (Subject of verb)
Who (whom) did you take to the theater? (Object
of verb)
Who (whom) are you referring to? (Object of
preposition)
RELATIVE PRONOUNS: WHO, WHOM,
WHOSE
Ex: The girl who is sitting on the second floor has
received a letter.
• Tom and Mark hurt themselves.
• Tom and Mark hurt each other.
• This is mine.
1. That girl never controls herself .
2. My son and my daughter are very fond of each
other.
3. I think you and I have learned a lot about each
other in this section.
4. Charles and Karen had an accident and hurt
themselves .
5. He looked at himself in the mirror.
6. I painted the house all by myself.
7. Jenny and Terry wrote to each other for a long
time.
8. All the members of the family looked at one
another.