e.g. Adjective modifies Noun The big train (Adj) The evening train (Noun) The in group (Preposition) The definitions are based on two different criteria (Noun and Verb are based on meaning, The rest are based on function or the use in the sentence)
Form Classes Positional Classes Structure Classes
Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb,
Uninflected Words The membership is determined by form of a word Large and Open Noun, Verb, Adjective, and Adverb are identified by (1) inflectional Morpheme and (2) Derivational Morpheme Uninflected Words cant be inflected
Nominal, verbal, Adjectival,
Adverbial The membership is determined by position or word order e.g. We enjoyed the ______ (nominal)
Preposition, Auxiliary, Conjunction The membership is fixed and closed
1.
2. 3.
The members are recognized mainly by
position, as they have no characteristics of form in common and, excepting a few, do not change form. A Structure class is small, the largest one, preposition, have only fifty members. A structure class has a stable membership and is a closed class, that is rarely admits new members.
It occurs in the position just before an
adjectival or an adverbial. The functions is to modify . The word following the qualifier is called the head. e.g. The dinner was _________good. Most qualifiers are uninflected words. A few qualifiers have the same form as adjectives. Some qualifiers are not used before all adjectivals and adverbial, but have a limited distribution.
It is followed by noun, noun phrase,
personal pronoun, or object of preposition. Some prepositions are monosyllabic, while the others consist of two syllables. There is a group of ing prepositions that have a verb as a stem. There is a group of compound prepositions.
It is a word that patterns with a noun.
It precedes noun and serves as a signal that a noun is soon to follow. e.g. The gymnasium The new gymnasium The members are: demonstrative, possesive adjective, and articles
It is closely associated with the verb
and are of three kinds. Modal Auxiliary
e.g. can, could, may, might
Primary Auxiliary e.g. have, be Periphrastic Auxiliary e.g. do
e.g. I, you, we, her, him, etc.
The framework terms Number Function terms
subject, object, prenominal possesive,
substitutional possesive. Person Sex Reference
Interrogative Pronoun: Who, whom, whose
e.g. Who borrowed my tie? Whose book is this? Relative Pronoun: Who, whom, whose, which, that e.g. The girl who found the money calls me The tree which fell was a large oak