The word classification in a sentence

1. Science is the systematic classification of experience. 

2. I am studying spectral classification.

3. The classification of bony fish is extremely complicated.

4. These things belong in a different classification.

5. It belongs in a different classification.

6. Do you understand the system of classification used in ornithology?

7. There is a hierarchy in the classification of all living creatures.

8. The classification of additives by ‘E’ number is made under an EC directive.

9. Table 3.1 provides a classification of such institutions.

10. Its very existence had the highest classification.

11. This brings us back to the purpose of classification.

12. Classification as a linking device or pivot.

13. A lower classification does not imply lower standards.

14. This has been demonstrated with a bird classification system.

15. They provide coding, classification and lists of parts.

16. The colonic carcinomas were staged using Dukes’s classification.

17. Scope Classification of capital instruments Debt Convertible debt 22.

18. This thematic classification is not without its drawbacks.

19. Apart from any other objection, a different classification would be reached if the characters were used in a different sequence.

20. Our threefold classification of participant, subject, and parochial is only the beginning of a classification of political cultures.

21. In parallel with the work of the classification theorists, general systems theory has evolved to consider similar problems.

22. Moreover although, with hindsight, such a classification appears scientifically absurd it is zoologically perfectly sensible.

23. This classification fits some university courses well, but it is now inadequate for the system as a whole.

24. The rooms are of the standard expected from a hotel in a higher classification.

25. It is therefore in many ways an ideal empirical test bed for assessing the validity of Pahl’s classification in the 1980s.

26. Given the standard revenue account above there are two further issues which this objective versus subjective classification introduces.

27. This chapter considers each of these components of a classification scheme in turn.

28. I am using this fact as an excuse to evade the problem and leave it out of the classification altogether.

29. Facet analysis underlies the structure[sentencedict.com/classification.html], but is not emphasized by facet indicators as in a more conventional faceted classification scheme.

30. Notation has an important impact on the effectiveness of a classification scheme.

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Her classification of the files impressed the manager; she’s now
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Q: How do you use the word classification in a sentence?

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This is a rather broad question, so I’d like to limit this to verbs, at least in this explication of the question.

Verbs take many forms and roles in sentences. Present participles can take the role of subject, object, adjective, and non-finite verbs in reduced clauses. Past participles can function as adjectives, passive verbs, and are used in the perfect tenses. The role of subject and object can be played by several types of words and word phrases (and even clauses); is it really necessary to reclassify them based on the roles they take?

Isn’t classification independent of the role a word plays in a sentence; aren’t all of the uses still properly classified as VERB in terms of their PoS?

I get so many questions from students about PoS, and I just want to tell them that these are all verbs, that role/usage/ and function do not necessarily correlate to parts of speech.

But in some cases they could. For example the words swim and look can be a noun or a verb.

I had a nice swim this morning.

She gave me a dirty look.

As a teacher, I would classify swim and look as nouns in these sentences.

But in other uses where the words take a distinctly verbal form in a subject or object I would still classify them as verbs.

Swimming is good exercise.

I like swimming.

I like to swim.

To swim to Kathmandu is a fool’s errand.

I need to look for my dog.

I enjoy looking at old pictures.

Swimming, to swim, to look and looking are verb forms (PoS) that take the role of subject in or object in these sentences. At least for instructional purposes, they should not be classified as nouns just because they take the role of a thing in a sentence — they are still participle or infinitive forms of a VERB.

I understand that in linguistics this reclassification is called conversion or zero-derivation, but for students, requiring them to understand this concept seems onerous (as with many concepts in linguistics that are used in instructional or prescriptive grammars — too often in my opinion). I also get that even the noun swim is derivative (but one would need to understand etymology to know that, and this is well beyond the requirements of language learners.)

The human brain is a very capable language processor — we learn our first language without any comprehension of grammar concepts, and we can rely on this capability to learn second languages too, albeit with a bit of grammatical help but in a significantly reduced way than that employed for the purposes of linguistics. For learners, the primary thing they need to grasp is the nature of relations, which are primarily descriptive and adverbial, and the many ways they are produced and the different forms these relations take.

So, would I be committing some kind of linguistic or grammatical sin if I instruct my students to see these forms as their root PoS, and that these PoS can take multiple roles in sentences?

In
the original Ancient Greek grammatical teaching which put forward the
first outline of the part of speech theo­ry, the division of
words into grammatical classes was also based on one determining
criterion only, namely, on the formal-morphological featuring. It
means that any given word under analysis was turned into a classified
lexeme on the principle of its relation to grammatical change. In
conditions of the primary acquisition of linguistic knowledge, and in
connection with the study of a highly inflexional language this
char­acteristic proved quite efficient.

Still,
at the present stage of the development of linguistic science,
syntactic characterization of words that has been made possible after
the exposition of their fundamental morphological properties, is far
more important and universal from the point of view of the general
classificational requirements.

This
characterization is more important, because it shows the
dis­tribution of words between different sets in accord with
their function-

al
specialization. The role of morphology by this presentation is not
underrated, rather it is further clarified from the point of view of
ex­posing connections between the categorial composition of the
word and its sentence-forming relevance.

This
characterization is more universal, because it is not specially
destined for the inflexional aspect of language and hence is equally
ap­plicable to languages of various morphological types.

On
the material of Russian, the principles of syntactic approach to the
classification of word stock were outlined in the works of A.M.
Peshkovsky. The principles of syntactic (syntactico-distributional)
classifica­tion of English words were worked out by L. Bloomfield
and his follow­ers Z. Harris and especially Ch. Fries.

The
syntactico-distributional classification of words is based on the
study of their combinability by means of substitution testing. The
testing results in developing the standard model of four main
«positions» of notional words in the English sentence:
those of the noun (N), verb (V), adjective (A), ad­verb (D).

Fries
chooses tape-recorded spontaneous conversa­tions comprising about
250,000 word entries (50 hours of talk). The words isolated from this
corpus are tested on the three typical sentences (that are isolated
from the records, too), and used as substitution test-frames:

Frame
A.
The
concert was good (always).

Frame
B.
The
clerk remembered the tax (suddenly).

Frame
C.
The
team went there.

As
a result of successive substitution tests on the cited «frames»
the following lists of positional words («form-words», or
«parts of speech») are established:

Class
1.
(A)
concert, coffee, taste, container, difference, etc. (B) clerk,
husband, supervisor, etc.; tax, food, coffee, etc. (C) team, husband,
wom­an, etc.

Class
2.
(A)
was, seemed, became, etc. (B) remembered, wanted, saw, suggested,
etc. (C) went, came, ran,… lived, worked, etc.

Class
3.
(A)
good, large, necessary, foreign, new, empty, etc.

Class
4.
(A)
there, here, always, then, sometimes, etc. (B) clearly,
suf­ficiently, especially, repeatedly, soon, etc. (C) there,
back, out, etc.; rapid­ly, eagerly, confidently, etc.

All
these words can fill in the positions of the frames without affecting
their general structural meaning:


the first
frame
;
«actor — action — thing acted upon — characteristic of the
action»


the second
frame
;
«actor — action — direction of the action»


the third
frame
.

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 fist.

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.

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.


Two survey categories were underspecified for our purposes, and we used socioeconomic data to check the validity of our classifications.


Thus, he concludes that classifications of verbs based on theta-roles are misconceived.


In fact, these industry classifications are very broad and the relevant conditions of interest could occur at a finer level of disaggregation, or across industries.


In addition, traditional classifications based on morphological characters do not necessarily represent the phylogeny of filarial nematodes.


If both the highly suitable and suitable classifications are selected, a crop list will be provided showing all highly suitable and suitable crops.


Comparisons of functions could be based on suggested classifications of functions.


Given the categorical nature of these classifications, they were assigned dummy weightings and analyzed with point-biserial correlations.


Associations with the four group classifications were examined by cross tabulation and tested for significance by chi-square.


To lend empirical support for the viability of the classifications, we assessed correlations of the classifications with word classes.


As applied here, the observed variables are the classifications assigned by the judges.


We can see that all tables show evidence of confusion among the classifications.


We find here the introduction of artificial intelligence, and the attempt to create meaningful classifications of sound which would aid the principles of synthesis.


Such classifications of knowledge came into existence with a view to how they would fit with bureaucracies.


On the other hand, when an institution fails to make correct or appropriate classifications, the very legitimacy of the institution is at stake.


Allowing for multiple-race responses requires new thinking about the very purposes of racial classifications in the first place.


Globally, precision is the number of correct classifications divided by the total number of objects in the test set.


Consequently, institutional responsibility for the process of revising cause-of-death classifications was no longer indisputable.


However, toddlers with disorganized attachments and secure forced classifications had caregivers who exhibited lower levels of intrusive involvement.


Temperament, however, can also influence attachment classifications indirectly.


The extent to which negative reactivity influences attachment classifications has been a point of debate.


However, we could not completely «rule in» these organized classifications.


In summary, across multiple measures and sources of information, concurrent construct validation was obtained for the attachment classifications.


Next, the distributions of attachment classifications according to presence and severity of deprivation are presented.


At 27 months, negative reactivity and attachment classifications were not associated.


Table 4 shows the distribution of attachment classifications across the four levels of cumulative risk.


Therefore, the two groups should be given different classifications.


The substantial problems that exist in the classifications of mental disorders exemplify the difficulties that arise when information at different levels does not converge.


Two final patterns in the regressions involve attachment classifications.


In our meta-analyses, we were unable to test for differences between alternate and secondary classifications because the primary studies did not provide sufficiently detailed data.


In this context, there is a growing trend to integrate results from neuroscience and try to correlate them with today’s clearer psychiatric classifications.


We have seen several correlations between language, equicontinuity and attractor classifications.


We show relations between these classifications and give examples of cellular automata in the intersection classes.


We relate these classifications to other properties of cellular automata such as topological transitivity, surjectivity and openness.


The following algebraic classifications of expansiveness will be useful.


Disagreements about classifications were resolved through conference and by bringing in an independent third rater to reach consensus, when necessary.


Table 5 shows the number and percentage of disrupted and nondisrupted classifications by attachment groups for both maternal and infant attachment.


Further analyses are based on the secure — autonomous and insecure classifications.


In an effort to encourage the export of better quality palm oil new classifications were added in 1946 (grade 1 oil) and 1950 (special grade).


However, it will be restricted by cargo terminal capacity and classification’s rule because excessive-sized depth produces poor stability per formance in calm water and waves.


We do not, however, use their exact classifications because their object differed too greatly from ours.


First, our author argues, because maps, classifications, schemes and the like cannot be reconciled with change.


Clear definitions and examples are provided for all categories and classifications.


Such classifications are obviously incomplete ; they therefore further motivate the need for controlled comprehension studies.


Consequently, the insufficiency of positional criteria led to alternative classifications of child language by semantic and/or prosodic criteria.


In each case, a diathesis deter mines a response’s special neurophysiological pathway, thus justifying taxonomic boundar ies between classifications.


None of the suggested classifications had diagnostic/inclusion criteria of sufficient specificity to achieve consensus support from the scientific community.


The use of plant functional type classifications to model global land cover and simulate the interactions between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere.


On the other hand, she also argues that the female body allows no clear distinctions, is fluid and plural, and defies phallocentric classifications.


The classifications yielded unexpectedly high numbers of harmful and hazardous drinkers.


However, manual creation of verb classifications comes at exorbitant expense, requiring large amounts of human time and expertise.


The degree to which the formal diagnostic systems have included cycloid features, other than the remitting course, varies highly among classifications.


The intensity classifications were 0, 1-10, 11-50 and 51 individuals.


Again, we estimated these coefficients separately for classifications based on the directional and the proximity models.


We have incorporated these classifications into our work.


The categorical classifications are then kept unchanged for the entire 1870-1992 period.


Rather, selectorate and coalition size are correlated with regime classifications.


In these classifications, word class definition is based on various complementary types of criteria, mainly semantics and grammar.


Previous classifications of taxes, however, have not been satisfactorily coherent or enlightening.


The fact however is that the previous dialogue acts are obtained from previous classifications and are not as certain as feature-value pairs suggest.


Although differences can be found, in general the two classifications are rather similar.


Since reactivity classifications were based upon the children’s peak intensity ratings, we examined the correlations between distress intensity during separations at 19 and 27 months.


As we have noted, the almost-century-long experiments in redefining the racial order through census classifications largely ended after 1930.


Using the classifications for each article, it becomes possible to chart the incidence over time of economically based frames.


In early modern times such macro-orders were described in a multitude of classifications of the sciences.


Theoretically, there are numerous proposed classifications of inherent lexical aspect, not just three-way or four-way, each having its strengths and weaknesses.


The general agreement between the above reports is satisfying given the traditional difficulties associated with morphological classifications.


From these failures, it appeared that about only 10% of the classifications were incorrect.


Moreover, to ensure utility, the classifier should be able to generalize within this environment, providing correct classifications of patterns not used for training.


He also classifies communities as ‘ towns ‘ or ‘ villages ‘ without defining what he means by those terms, and without knowledge on which to base his classifications.


The formal classifications of up-diffeomorphisms and of their infinitesimal generators are equivalent tasks.


We show the correlations between these classifications, give examples of cellular automata in the intersection classes, and prove that some intersection classes are empty.


Usually classifications make use of invariants, that is characteristics of objects that are the same for isomorphic objects.


Improved classifications may result for all species tested if spectra were collected using a spectrometer that measures absorbance at wavelengths above 1700 nm.


First, preliminary descriptive analyses focus on the distribution of attachment classifications in the clinical and comparison groups.


We found nearly 80 studies on more than 100 samples with 6,282 parent-child dyads and 1,285 disorganized attachment classifications.


A similar lack of concordance was observed for preoccupied and dismissing classifications in four-way distributions, although agreement improved slightly when unresolved status was not considered.


Such classifications will always raise the hackles of those who think they fall outside, or across, their terms.


We use language to order and to classify, and our classifications are historical, stylistic, generic, idiomatic, descriptive, and so on.


Agreement between the two sets of classifications was 86%.


Understanding the link between maternal adult attachment classifications and feelings about emotions.


Given the scarcity of secure and organized insecure classifications in the three maltreatment groups, we further contrasted the groups on the rate of disorganized attachment.


Entropy values range from zero to 1, with values closer to 1 indicating better classifications of individuals to specific classes.


In contrast, infants with insecure-resistant attachment classifications seek to elicit their caregiver’s attention through heightened vigilance and indicators of distress.


Truth is a function of classifications, definitions, and statements arrived at reflexively.


Since they are not easily describable or classifiable, they have less power in literature than the measurable geological classifications.


Most of the classifications used are based on the time characteristics of internal motions.


To judge from such comments as were returned with the tables, they instead combined several classifications.


If we highlighted those, would the classifications be the same?


Therefore, these studies do not identify, either a unique system or well-defined hierarchical classifications.


Expert classifications of disability and difficulty, and the apparatus of assessment that goes with them, appear to be scientifically objective.


Another consideration is whether conceptual distinctions and classifications in family and marriage sociology are appropriate to a female perspective.


The following table of classifications of errors from test recognition data shows that it is impossible to tell what type the original error was.


One of the problems has been that personality disorder is hard to specify and define and classifications tend to be arbitrary.


Manual classifications are subjective, and often based on the few sentences that are deemed important for individual indexers.


In another context, the animals have symbolic meanings in classifications.


Therefore, our findings cannot be generalized to more at-risk populations, where associations between all insecure attachment classifications and behavior problems are likely to be stronger.


Individual dyads used for reliability were selected randomly and included all four classifications.

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

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Words don’t only mean something; they also do something. In the English language, words are grouped into word classes based on their function, i.e. what they do in a phrase or sentence. In total, there are nine word classes in English.

Word class meaning and example

All words can be categorised into classes within a language based on their function and purpose.

An example of various word classes is ‘The cat ate a cupcake quickly.’

  • The = a determiner

  • cat = a noun

  • ate = a verb

  • a = determiner

  • cupcake = noun

  • quickly = an adverb

Word class function

The function of a word class, also known as a part of speech, is to classify words according to their grammatical properties and the roles they play in sentences. By assigning words to different word classes, we can understand how they should be used in context and how they relate to other words in a sentence.

Each word class has its own unique set of characteristics and rules for usage, and understanding the function of word classes is essential for effective communication in English. Knowing our word classes allows us to create clear and grammatically correct sentences that convey our intended meaning.

Word classes in English

In English, there are four main word classes; nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. These are considered lexical words, and they provide the main meaning of a phrase or sentence.

The other five word classes are; prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, and interjections. These are considered functional words, and they provide structural and relational information in a sentence or phrase.

Don’t worry if it sounds a bit confusing right now. Read ahead and you’ll be a master of the different types of word classes in no time!

All word classes Definition Examples of word classification
Noun A word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea. cat, house, plant
Pronoun A word that is used in place of a noun to avoid repetition. he, she, they, it
Verb A word that expresses action, occurrence, or state of being. run, sing, grow
Adjective A word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun. blue, tall, happy
Adverb A word that describes or modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb. quickly, very
Preposition A word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. in, on, at
Conjunction A word that connects words, phrases, or clauses. and, or, but
Interjection A word that expresses strong emotions or feelings. wow, oh, ouch
Determiners A word that clarifies information about the quantity, location, or ownership of the noun Articles like ‘the’ and ‘an’, and quantifiers like ‘some’ and ‘all’.

The four main word classes

In the English language, there are four main word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Let’s look at all the word classes in detail.

Nouns

Nouns are the words we use to describe people, places, objects, feelings, concepts, etc. Usually, nouns are tangible (touchable) things, such as a table, a person, or a building.

However, we also have abstract nouns, which are things we can feel and describe but can’t necessarily see or touch, such as love, honour, or excitement. Proper nouns are the names we give to specific and official people, places, or things, such as England, Claire, or Hoover.

Cat

House

School

Britain

Harry

Book

Hatred

‘My sister went to school.

Verbs

Verbs are words that show action, event, feeling, or state of being. This can be a physical action or event, or it can be a feeling that is experienced.

Lexical verbs are considered one of the four main word classes, and auxiliary verbs are not. Lexical verbs are the main verb in a sentence that shows action, event, feeling, or state of being, such as walk, ran, felt, and want, whereas an auxiliary verb helps the main verb and expresses grammatical meaning, such as has, is, and do.

Run

Walk

Swim

Curse

Wish

Help

Leave

‘She wished for a sunny day.’

Adjectives

Adjectives are words used to modify nouns, usually by describing them. Adjectives describe an attribute, quality, or state of being of the noun.

Long

Short

Friendly

Broken

Loud

Embarrassed

Dull

Boring

‘The friendly woman wore a beautiful dress.’

Word class, Image of woman in dress, StudySmarterFig 1. Adjectives can describe the woman and the dress

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that work alongside verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They provide further descriptions of how, where, when, and how often something is done.

Quickly

Softly

Very

More

Too

Loudly

The music was too loud.’

All of the above examples are lexical word classes and carry most of the meaning in a sentence. They make up the majority of the words in the English language.

The other five word classes

The other five remaining word classes are; prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, and interjections. These words are considered functional words and are used to explain grammatical and structural relationships between words.

For example, prepositions can be used to explain where one object is in relation to another.

Prepositions

Prepositions are used to show the relationship between words in terms of place, time, direction, and agency.

In

At

On

Towards

To

Through

Into

By

With

They went through the tunnel.’

Pronouns

Pronouns take the place of a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence. They often refer to a noun that has already been mentioned and are commonly used to avoid repetition.

Chloe (noun) → she (pronoun)

Chloe’s dog → her dog (possessive pronoun)

There are several different types of pronouns; let’s look at some examples of each.

  • He, she, it, they — personal pronouns
  • His, hers, its, theirs, mine, ours — possessive pronouns
  • Himself, herself, myself, ourselves, themselves — reflexive pronouns
  • This, that, those, these — demonstrative pronouns
  • Anyone, somebody, everyone, anything, something — Indefinite pronouns
  • Which, what, that, who, who — Relative pronouns

She sat on the chair which was broken.’

Determiners

Determiners work alongside nouns to clarify information about the quantity, location, or ownership of the noun. It ‘determines’ exactly what is being referred to. Much like pronouns, there are also several different types of determiners.

  • The, a, an — articles
  • This, that, those — you might recognise these for demonstrative pronouns are also determiners
  • One, two, three etc. — cardinal numbers
  • First, second, third etc. — ordinal numbers
  • Some, most, all — quantifiers
  • Other, another — difference words

The first restaurant is better than the other.’

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words that connect other words, phrases, and clauses together within a sentence. There are three main types of conjunctions;

  • Coordinating conjunctions — these link independent clauses together.

  • Subordinating conjunctions — these link dependent clauses to independent clauses.

  • Correlative conjunctions — words that work in pairs to join two parts of a sentence of equal importance.

For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so — coordinating conjunctions

After, as, because, when, while, before, if, even though — subordinating conjunctions

Either/or, neither/nor, both/and — correlative conjunctions

If it rains, I’m not going out.’

Interjections

Interjections are exclamatory words used to express an emotion or a reaction. They often stand alone from the rest of the sentence and are accompanied by an exclamation mark.

Oh

Oops!

Phew!

Ahh!

Oh, what a surprise!’

Word class: lexical classes and function classes

A helpful way to understand lexical word classes is to see them as the building blocks of sentences. If the lexical word classes are the blocks themselves, then the function word classes are the cement holding the words together and giving structure to the sentence.

Word class, lexical class, functional class, StudySmarterFig 2. Lexical and functional word classes

In this diagram, the lexical classes are in blue and the function classes are in yellow. We can see that the words in blue provide the key information, and the words in yellow bring this information together in a structured way.

Word class examples

Sometimes it can be tricky to know exactly which word class a word belongs to. Some words can function as more than one word class depending on how they are used in a sentence. For this reason, we must look at words in context, i.e. how a word works within the sentence. Take a look at the following examples of word classes to see the importance of word class categorisation.

The dog will bark if you open the door.

The tree bark was dark and rugged.

Here we can see that the same word (bark) has a different meaning and different word class in each sentence. In the first example, ‘bark’ is used as a verb, and in the second as a noun (an object in this case).

I left my sunglasses on the beach.

The horse stood on Sarah’s left foot.

In the first sentence, the word ‘left’ is used as a verb (an action), and in the second, it is used to modify the noun (foot). In this case, it is an adjective.

I run every day

I went for a run

In this example, ‘run’ can be a verb or a noun.

Word Class — Key takeaways

  • We group words into word classes based on the function they perform in a sentence.

  • The four main word classes are nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. These are lexical classes that give meaning to a sentence.

  • The other five word classes are prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, and interjections. These are function classes that are used to explain grammatical and structural relationships between words.

  • It is important to look at the context of a sentence in order to work out which word class a word belongs to.

Frequently Asked Questions about Word Class

A word class is a group of words that have similar properties and play a similar role in a sentence.

Some examples of how some words can function as more than one word class include the way ‘run’ can be a verb (‘I run every day’) or a noun (‘I went for a run’). Similarly, ‘well’ can be an adverb (‘He plays the guitar well’) or an adjective (‘She’s feeling well today’). 

The nine word classes are; Nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, interjections.

Categorising words into word classes helps us to understand the function the word is playing within a sentence.

Parts of speech is another term for word classes.

The different groups of word classes include lexical classes that act as the building blocks of a sentence e.g. nouns. The other word classes are function classes that act as the ‘glue’ and give grammatical information in a sentence e.g. prepositions.

The word classes for all, that, and the is:
‘All’ = determiner (quantifier)
‘That’ = pronoun and/or determiner (demonstrative pronoun)
‘The’ = determiner (article)

Final Word Class Quiz

Word Class Quiz — Teste dein Wissen

Question

A word can only belong to one type of noun. True or false?

Show answer

Answer

This is false. A word can belong to multiple categories of nouns and this may change according to the context of the word.

Show question

Question

Name the two principal categories of nouns.

Show answer

Answer

The two principal types of nouns are ‘common nouns’ and ‘proper nouns’.

Show question

Question

Which of the following is an example of a proper noun?

Show answer

Question

Name the 6 types of common nouns discussed in the text.

Show answer

Answer

Concrete nouns, abstract nouns, countable nouns, uncountable nouns, collective nouns, and compound nouns.

Show question

Question

What is the difference between a concrete noun and an abstract noun?

Show answer

Answer

A concrete noun is a thing that physically exists. We can usually touch this thing and measure its proportions. An abstract noun, however, does not physically exist. It is a concept, idea, or feeling that only exists within the mind.

Show question

Question

Pick out the concrete noun from the following:

Show answer

Question

Pick out the abstract noun from the following:

Show answer

Question

What is the difference between a countable and an uncountable noun? Can you think of an example for each?

Show answer

Answer

A countable noun is a thing that can be ‘counted’, i.e. it can exist in the plural. Some examples include ‘bottle’, ‘dog’ and ‘boy’. These are often concrete nouns. 

An uncountable noun is something that can not be counted, so you often cannot place a number in front of it. Examples include ‘love’, ‘joy’, and ‘milk’.

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Question

Pick out the collective noun from the following:

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Question

What is the collective noun for a group of sheep?

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Answer

The collective noun is a ‘flock’, as in ‘flock of sheep’.

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Question

The word ‘greenhouse’ is a compound noun. True or false?

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Answer

This is true. The word ‘greenhouse’ is a compound noun as it is made up of two separate words ‘green’ and ‘house’. These come together to form a new word.

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Question

What are the adjectives in this sentence?: ‘The little boy climbed up the big, green tree’

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Answer

The adjectives are ‘little’ and ‘big’, and ‘green’ as they describe features about the nouns.

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Question

Place the adjectives in this sentence into the correct order: the wooden blue big ship sailed across the Indian vast scary ocean.

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Answer

The big, blue, wooden ship sailed across the vast, scary, Indian ocean.

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Question

What are the 3 different positions in which an adjective can be placed?

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Answer

An adjective can be placed before a noun (pre-modification), after a noun (post-modification), or following a verb as a complement.

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Question

In this sentence, does the adjective pre-modify or post-modify the noun? ‘The unicorn is angry’.

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Answer

The adjective ‘angry’ post-modifies the noun ‘unicorn’.

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In this sentence, does the adjective pre-modify or post-modify the noun? ‘It is a scary unicorn’.

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Answer

The adjective ‘scary’ pre-modifies the noun ‘unicorn’.

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Question

What kind of adjectives are ‘purple’ and ‘shiny’?

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Answer

‘Purple’ and ‘Shiny’ are qualitative adjectives as they describe a quality or feature of a noun

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What kind of adjectives are ‘ugly’ and ‘easy’?

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Answer

The words ‘ugly’ and ‘easy’ are evaluative adjectives as they give a subjective opinion on the noun.

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Question

Which of the following adjectives is an absolute adjective?

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Question

Which of these adjectives is a classifying adjective?

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Question

Convert the noun ‘quick’ to its comparative form.

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Answer

The comparative form of ‘quick’ is ‘quicker’.

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Question

Convert the noun ‘slow’ to its superlative form.

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Answer

The comparative form of ‘slow’ is ‘slowest’.

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Question

What is an adjective phrase?

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Answer

An adjective phrase is a group of words that is ‘built’ around the adjective (it takes centre stage in the sentence). For example, in the phrase ‘the dog is big’ the word ‘big’ is the most important information.

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Question

Give 2 examples of suffixes that are typical of adjectives.

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Answer

Suffixes typical of adjectives include -able, -ible, -ful, -y, -less, -ous, -some, -ive, -ish, -al.

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Question

What is the difference between a main verb and an auxiliary verb?

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Answer

A main verb is a verb that can stand on its own and carries most of the meaning in a verb phrase. For example, ‘run’, ‘find’. Auxiliary verbs cannot stand alone, instead, they work alongside a main verb and ‘help’ the verb to express more grammatical information e.g. tense, mood, possibility.

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Question

What is the difference between a primary auxiliary verb and a modal auxiliary verb?

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Answer

Primary auxiliary verbs consist of the various forms of ‘to have’, ‘to be’, and ‘to do’ e.g. ‘had’, ‘was’, ‘done’. They help to express a verb’s tense, voice, or mood. Modal auxiliary verbs show possibility, ability, permission, or obligation. There are 9 auxiliary verbs including ‘could’, ‘will’, might’.

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Question

Which of the following are primary auxiliary verbs?

  • Is

  • Play

  • Have

  • Run

  • Does

  • Could

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Answer

The primary auxiliary verbs in this list are ‘is’, ‘have’, and ‘does’. They are all forms of the main primary auxiliary verbs ‘to have’, ‘to be’, and ‘to do’. ‘Play’ and ‘run’ are main verbs and ‘could’ is a modal auxiliary verb.

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Question

Name 6 out of the 9 modal auxiliary verbs.

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Answer

Answers include: Could, would, should, may, might, can, will, must, shall

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Question

‘The fairies were asleep’. In this sentence, is the verb ‘were’ a linking verb or an auxiliary verb?

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Answer

The word ‘were’ is used as a linking verb as it stands alone in the sentence. It is used to link the subject (fairies) and the adjective (asleep).

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Question

What is the difference between dynamic verbs and stative verbs?

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Answer

A dynamic verb describes an action or process done by a noun or subject. They are thought of as ‘action verbs’ e.g. ‘kick’, ‘run’, ‘eat’. Stative verbs describe the state of being of a person or thing. These are states that are not necessarily physical action e.g. ‘know’, ‘love’, ‘suppose’.

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Question

Which of the following are dynamic verbs and which are stative verbs?

  • Drink

  • Prefer

  • Talk

  • Seem

  • Understand

  • Write

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Answer

The dynamic verbs are ‘drink’, ‘talk’, and ‘write’ as they all describe an action. The stative verbs are ‘prefer’, ‘seem’, and ‘understand’ as they all describe a state of being.

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Question

What is an imperative verb?

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Answer

Imperative verbs are verbs used to give orders, give instructions, make a request or give warning. They tell someone to do something. For example, ‘clean your room!’.

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Question

Inflections give information about tense, person, number, mood, or voice. True or false?

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Question

What information does the inflection ‘-ing’ give for a verb?

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Answer

The inflection ‘-ing’ is often used to show that an action or state is continuous and ongoing.

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Question

How do you know if a verb is irregular?

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Answer

An irregular verb does not take the regular inflections, instead the whole word is spelt a different way. For example, begin becomes ‘began’ or ‘begun’. We can’t add the regular past tense inflection -ed as this would become ‘beginned’ which doesn’t make sense.

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Question

Suffixes can never signal what word class a word belongs to. True or false?

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Answer

False. Suffixes can signal what word class a word belongs to. For example, ‘-ify’ is a common suffix for verbs (‘identity’, ‘simplify’)

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Question

A verb phrase is built around a noun. True or false?

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Answer

False. A verb phrase is a group of words that has a main verb along with any other auxiliary verbs that ‘help’ the main verb. For example, ‘could eat’ is a verb phrase as it contains a main verb (‘could’) and an auxiliary verb (‘could’).

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Question

Which of the following are multi-word verbs? 

  • Shake

  • Rely on

  • Dancing

  • Look up to

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Answer

The verbs ‘rely on’ and ‘look up to’ are multi-word verbs as they consist of a verb that has one or more prepositions or particles linked to it.

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Question

What is the difference between a transition verb and an intransitive verb?

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Answer

Transitive verbs are verbs that require an object in order to make sense. For example, the word ‘bring’ requires an object that is brought (‘I bring news’). Intransitive verbs do not require an object to complete the meaning of the sentence e.g. ‘exist’ (‘I exist’).

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Answer

An adverb is a word that gives more information about a verb, adjective, another adverb, or a full clause.

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Question

What are the 3 ways we can use adverbs?

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Answer

We can use adverbs to modify a word (modifying adverbs), to intensify a word (intensifying adverbs), or to connect two clauses (connecting adverbs).

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What are modifying adverbs?

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Answer

Modifying adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They add further information about the word.

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Question

‘Additionally’, ‘likewise’, and ‘consequently’ are examples of connecting adverbs. True or false?

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Answer

True! Connecting adverbs are words used to connect two independent clauses.

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Question

What are intensifying adverbs?

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Answer

Intensifying adverbs are words used to strengthen the meaning of an adjective, another adverb, or a verb. In other words, they ‘intensify’ another word.

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Question

Which of the following are intensifying adverbs?

  • Calmly

  • Incredibly

  • Enough

  • Greatly

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Answer

The intensifying adverbs are ‘incredibly’ and ‘greatly’. These strengthen the meaning of a word.

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Question

Name the main types of adverbs

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Answer

The main adverbs are; adverbs of place, adverbs of time, adverbs of manner, adverbs of frequency, adverbs of degree, adverbs of probability, and adverbs of purpose.

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Question

What are adverbs of time?

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Answer

Adverbs of time are the ‘when?’ adverbs. They answer the question ‘when is the action done?’ e.g. ‘I’ll do it tomorrow

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Question

Which of the following are adverbs of frequency?

  • Usually

  • Patiently

  • Occasionally

  • Nowhere

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Answer

The adverbs of frequency are ‘usually’ and ‘occasionally’. They are the ‘how often?’ adverbs. They answer the question ‘how often is the action done?’. 

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Question

What are adverbs of place?

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Answer

Adverbs of place are the ‘where?’ adverbs. They answer the question ‘where is the action done?’. For example, ‘outside’ or ‘elsewhere’.

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Question

Which of the following are adverbs of manner?

  • Never

  • Carelessly

  • Kindly

  • Inside

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Answer

The words ‘carelessly’ and ‘kindly’ are adverbs of manner. They are the ‘how?’ adverbs that answer the question ‘how is the action done?’. 

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