In which word classes is the word cool used

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Beyond its traditional definition of «pleasantly cold» (as in «cool weather»), the word «cool» has acquired a number of additional meanings, originating from slang and entering the mainstream. The word is so popular that even languages other than English have adopted it (like the Slovenian version, spelled «kul,» for example).

The topic I want to discuss is not the most common meaning of the word, something like «fantastic» or «interesting,» but a separate meaning best described as «acceptable.» For example, take the question, «Is it cool if I crash at your place?» The speaker is asking if the listener is «cool with it,» that is, if they are accepting the proposal.

But I’ve noticed that even this meaning has changed to refer to being acceptable to society in general, as opposed to being acceptable to the speaker and/or listener. For example, that this bit by Chris Rock:

And there was a lot of accepted racism when the war started. It was accepted. «I’m American man, I’m American. F—k all these foreigners!» And that was cool. «I’m American man, I’m American. F—k the French!» That was cool. «I’m American man, I’m American. F—k all these Arabs!» And that was cool. Then they went to «I’m American man, I’m American. F—k all these illegal aliens!» Then I started listening. Cause I know niggas and Jews is next. It’s like any day now. That train’s never late.

Rock seems to be using the word «cool» here to explain that it was generally considered acceptable to be a bigot, even though, presumably, it wasn’t acceptable to Rock himself.

I’m not a native speaker, which may explain why this bit puzzled me when I first heard it. Is this last sense of «cool» mainstream, or would it still be considered slang? It’s definitely true that «cool» as adopted in other languages than English does not have this sense, only the generic positive sense.

Words are the building blocks in any sentence. They just don’t ‘mean’ something, they ‘do’ something in every sentence. Hence words are grouped into word classes based on what they do. A word class is a group of words that have certain common features. The term “word class” is analogous to the more conventional term, “part of speech.” It is also variously named grammatical category, lexical category, and syntactic category.

• Types of Word Classes
• Open and Closed Word Classes
• Open Word Classes
• Closed Word Classes
• How to identify the word classes in a sentence?
• How to classify a word class?
• What is the difference between a word class and part of speech?

Word classes can be divided into two families:

• Lexical Classes: Also known as open classes and form classes. The lexical classes include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
• Function Classes: Also known as closed classes and structure classes. Includes: pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections.

Open and Closed Word Classes

As previously mentioned some word classes are open, that is, the class can be expanded with the addition of new words. Take the example of the class of nouns, it is potentially infinite as the number of words in the class is increasing as new scientific and technological discoveries are made.

The latter half of the twentieth century witnessed developments in computer technology which have in turn given rise to many new nouns like the Internet, URL website, bitmap, email, etc.

On the other hand, the word classes of prepositions, determiners, or conjunctions are known as closed word classes. Words like of, the, and but come under these. They are named closed word classes because they consist of a definite set of words. These classes never expand even though the words included in the class may change their spelling.

Open Word Classes

1) Nouns

This class includes words that you frequently use in everyday life. Nouns are most commonly understood as “naming” words, that is, it performs the function of naming “people, places or things”.

• A person – Boy, Girl, John, etc
• A thing- House, Dog, etc
• A place- China, America, etc

However, the use of nouns is not restricted to just names of people, places, or things. Nouns also denote abstract and intangible concepts such as an idea, quality, or state. Example: Danger, Happiness, Love, etc.

2) Verbs

The words that you use to describe an action are known as verbs. Hence verbs are generally known as “action” words. Have a look at the given example: Rahul rides a scooter. The verb in the above sentence denotes an action that Rahul performs which is the action of riding a scooter.

However, the idea of verbs as “action” words is somewhat restricted. Many verbs don’t stand for action at all as in the given instance: Rahul seems desperate. We cannot say that the verb ‘seems ‘ refer to an action.

3) Adverbs

In English, an adverb describes a word that alters the meaning of a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs in a sentence give you more information about the sentence. They are used to express how an action is fulfilled. Adverbs can broadly be categorized into Simple Adverbs, IInterrogative adverbs, and Relative Adverbs.

Remember:

• Most adverbs end with the common ending – ly.
• An adverb that modifies an adjective or another adverb usually goes before it.

4) Adjectives

Adjectives describe the quality of a noun. For example They stay in a beautiful house

The word beautiful indicates or refers to one of the attributes of the house that is described. Hence beautiful becomes the adjective in the above sentence.

A point to keep in mind: Some adjectives can be identified by their ending. Typical adjective endings include: able, al, ful, ic, etc.

You can even try out our other articles on How to Improve Your Vocabulary as well to expand your knowledge base.

Closed Word Classes

1) Determiners

You might have often noticed that nouns are preceded by words like the, a, or an. These words are known as Determiners. They suggest the type of reference that the noun has.

• The determiner ‘the’ is called a Definite Article. It can be placed both before singular and plural nouns. For example The Taxi, The taxis
• The determiner a or an is known as the Indefinite Article. It is used along with a singular noun. Example: A taxi

Apart from these, many other determiners express quantity. These include ‘al’, ‘both’, ‘many’ etc.

2) Conjunctions

These are used to express connections between different words.

Example: John and David are friends. And is used as a conjunction in the given sentence.
The most familiar conjunctions in English are: and, but, and or.

Conjunctions are further divided into two:

• Coordinating Conjunctions: These conjunctions connect elements of equal syntactic structure. Example: Paul and David study together.
• Subordinating Conjunctions: Connects elements of unequal syntactic structure. Example: I left early because I had an interview the next day.

3) Prepositions

Prepositions indicate the relation between different words. They occur before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase and indicate a direction, time, place, location, and spatial relationship. Common prepositions include across, after, at, before, by, during, from, in, into, of, on, to, under, with, without, etc.

4) Pronouns

If we did not have the pronoun word families we would have to repeat a whole lot of nouns. A word that takes the position of a noun is named as a pronoun. Pronouns can be employed as a substitute for a noun.

• Pronouns are divided into 5 categories:
• Personal Pronouns: I, you, she, etc
• Demonstrative Pronouns: This, these, etc
• Possessive Pronouns: Yours, His, etc
• Interrogative Pronouns: Which, What, etc
• Reflexive Pronouns: Herself, Himself, etc.
• Reciprocal Pronouns: Each other
• Indefinite Pronouns: Few, Nobody, etc.
• Relative Pronouns: Which, Whom, etc.

5) Interjections

Short exclamations like Oh!, Ah! etc are known as Interjections. Even though they have no grammatical value, we often use them in daily speech. Interjections are primarily used to express emotions such as anger, surprise, etc. Given below are a few examples.

Well! That hurts
Hey! Don’t be so clumsy

Remember, an interjection is always followed by an exclamation mark.

Read More:

• English Idioms
• Literary Devices

FAQs on Word Classes

1. How to identify the word classes in a sentence?

A word class is a group of words that have certain common features. To find out the word classes within a sentence it is important that you familiarise yourself with the most common word classes in English. These include nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, etc.

2. How to classify a word class?

Word classes in English belong to two major categories. These are Open word classes that include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The second category is closed word classes that include: pronouns, determiners, interjections, etc.

3. What is the difference between a word class and part of speech?

The term “word class” is analogous to the more conventional term, “part of speech”. Both these terms refer to a group of words that have certain common features.

Conclusion

To understand the grammatical structures of sentences in a better way it’s best if you begin with word classes. Even though comprehending the different word classes may initially be a hectic task, once you master word classes, you will reach the exact meaning or message conveyed by a sentence.

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On these pages we look at vocabulary categorised by word class (verbs, nouns, adjectives etc) and by word form (contractions, prefixes, suffixes etc). These pages deal mainly with vocabulary, for example word lists, meanings and sample sentences with the words in context. But see also the grammar of word classes.

Word Classes

Modern grammars normally recognise four major word classes (verb, noun, adjective, adverb) and five other word classes (determiners, preposition, pronoun, conjunction, interjection), making nine word classes (or parts of speech) in total. But note that some grammarians use different systems and may recognise eight or ten different word classes.

Verbs
Verbs are action or state words like: run, work, study, be, seem

Nouns
Nouns are words for people, places or things like: mother, town, Rome, car, dog

Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe nouns, like: kind, clever, expensive

Adverbs
Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs, like: quickly, back, ever, badly, away generally, completely

Prepositions
Prepositions are words usually in front of a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element, like: after, down, near, of, plus, round, to

Pronouns
Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns, like: me, you, his, it, this, that, mine, yours, who, what

Interjections
Interjections have no grammatical value — words like: ah, hey, oh, ouch, um, well

Word Forms

Prefixes with Prefixes Quiz
List of prefixes with examples: non-, inter-, post-

Suffixes
Lists of suffixes and examples in use: -ation, -al, -ize

Words starting with mono- and poly-
Lists of words starting with the combining forms mono- and poly-

Contractions
Shortened forms of words and phrases, common in speech: I’m, aren’t, here’s, gonna

WH Question Words
The words we use to make question word questions: WHo, WHat, HoW

Without grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.D.A. Wilkins, Linguistics in Language Teaching

The words
of language, depending on various formal and semantic features,
are divided into grammatically relevant sets or classes. The
tra­ditional grammatical classes of words are called «parts
of speech». Since the
word is distinguished not only by grammatical, but also by
semantico-lexemic properties, some scholars refer to parts of speech
as «lexico-grammatical»
series of words, or as «lexico-grammatical categories.

It
should be noted that the term «part of speech» is purely
traditional and
conventional, it cannot be taken as in any way defining or
explana­tory. This name was introduced in the grammatical
teaching of Ancient Greece, where the concept of the sentence was not
yet explicitly identi­fied
in distinction to the general idea of speech, and where,
consequently, no
strict differentiation was drawn between the word as a vocabulary
unit and the word as a functional element of the sentence.

In
modern linguistics, parts of speech are discriminated on the basis of
the three
criteria:
«semantic»,
«formal», and «functional».

The
se­mantic
criterion
presupposes the evaluation of the generalized meaning, which
is characteristic of all the subsets of words constituting a given
part of speech. This meaning is understood as the «categorial
meaning of
the part of speech».

The
formal criterion
provides for the exposition of the
specific inflexional and derivational (word-building) features of
allthe
lexemic subsets of a part of speech.

The
functional criterion
concerns the
syntactic role of words in the sentence typical of a part of speech.
The said
three factors of categorial characterization of words are
conven­tionally
referred to as, respectively, «meaning», «form»,
and «function».

In accord
with the described criteria, words on the upper level of
classification
are divided into notional
and functional,
which reflects their division
in the earlier grammatical tradition into changeable and
un­changeable.

To the
notional
parts of speech
of the English language belong the noun, the adjective, the numeral,
the pronoun, the verb, the adverb.

Contrasted against the
notional parts of speech are words of incom­plete nominative
meaning and non-self-dependent, mediatory functions in the sentence.
These are functional parts of speech.

To
the basic functional
series of words
in English belong the article, the
preposition, the conjunction, the particle, the modal word, the
inter­jection.

Each part of speech after its
identification is further subdivided into subseries in accord with
various particular semantico-functional and formal features of the
constituent words. This subdivision is some­times called
«subcategorization» of parts of speech.

Thus, nouns
are subcategorized into proper and common, ani­mate and
inanimate, countable and uncountable, concrete and ab­stract,
etc.

Verbs
are subcategorized into fully predicative and partially pred­icative,
transitive and intransitive, actional and statal, purely nomi­native
and evaluative, etc.

Adjectives
are subcategorized into qualitative and relative, of con­stant
feature and temporary feature (the latter are referred to as
«statives» and identified by some scholars as a separate
part of speech un­der the heading of «category of state»),
factual and evaluative, etc.

The adverb,
the numeral, the pronoun are also subject to the cor­responding
subcategorizations.

We have
drawn a general outline of the division of the lexicon into part
of speech classes developed by modern linguists on the lines of
tra­ditional
morphology.

Alongside
the three-criteria principle of dividing the words into grammatical
(lexico-grammatical) classes, modern linguistics has de­veloped
another, narrower principle
of word-class identification based on syntactic featuring of words
only.

The fact is
that the three-criteria principle faces a special difficulty in
determining the part of speech status of such lexemes as have
mor­phological characteristics of notional words, but are
essentially distin­guished from notional words by their playing
the role of grammatical mediators in phrases and sentences. Here
belong, for instance, modal verbs
together with their equivalents — suppletive fillers, auxiliary
verbs, aspective
verbs, intensifying adverbs, determiner pronouns. This diffi­culty,
consisting in the intersection of heterogeneous properties in the
established
word-classes, can evidently be overcome by recognizing only one
criterion of the three as decisive.

Comparing
the syntactico-distributional classification of words with the
traditional part of speech division of words, one cannot but see the
similarity of the general schemes of the two: the opposition of
notional and
functional words, the four absolutely cardinal classes of notional
words (since numerals and pronouns have no positional functions of
their
own and serve as pro-nounal and pro-adjectival elements), the
in­terpretation of functional words as syntactic mediators and
their formal representation
by the list.

However,
under these unquestionable traits of similarity are distinctly
revealed
essential features of difference, the proper evaluation of which
allows us to make some important generalizations about the structure
of the
lexemic system of language.

As
a result of the undertaken analysis
we have obtained a founda­tion
for dividing the whole of the lexicon at the upper level of
classifica­tion
into three unequal parts.

The
first part of the lexicon forming an open set includes an
indefi­nitely large number of notional words which have a
complete nomina­tive
function. In accord with the said function, these words can be re
ferred to as «names»: nouns as substance names, verbs as
process names, adjectives
as primary property names and adverbs as secondary proper­ty
names. The whole notional set is represented by the four-stage
deriva­tional
paradigm of nomination.

The
second part of the lexicon forming a closed set includes substi­tutes
of names (pro-names). Here belong pronouns, and also broad-mean­ing
notional words which constitute various marginal subsets.

The
third part of the lexicon also forming a closed set includes
spec­ifiers
of names. These are function-categorial words of various
servo-status.

Substitutes
of names (pro-names) and specifiers of names, while stand­ing
with the names in nominative correlation as elements of the lexicon,
at
the same time serve as connecting links between the names within the
lexicon
and their actual uses in the sentences of living speech.

ЛИТЕРАТУРА:

1. Блох, М.Я.
   Теоретическая грамматика английского
   языка : Учеб. / М.Я. Блох. – 5–е изд.,
   стер. – М. : Высш. шк., 2006. – 423 с.

2. Блох, М.Я.
   Теоретические основы грамматики :
   учеб. / М.Я. Блох. – 3–е изд., испр. –
   М. : Высш. шк., 2002. – 160 с.

3. Blokh,
   M.Y. A course in theoretical English grammar / M.Y. Blokh. –
   M., 1983.

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