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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.’
Fig 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.
Fig 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?
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Answer
This is false. A word can belong to multiple categories of nouns and this may change according to the context of the word.
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Question
Name the two principal categories of nouns.
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Answer
The two principal types of nouns are ‘common nouns’ and ‘proper nouns’.
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Question
Which of the following is an example of a proper noun?
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Question
Name the 6 types of common nouns discussed in the text.
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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?
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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:
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Question
What is the difference between a countable and an uncountable noun? Can you think of an example for each?
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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’.
Show question
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.
Show question
Question
What are the adjectives in this sentence?: ‘The little boy climbed up the big, green tree’
Show answer
Answer
The adjectives are ‘little’ and ‘big’, and ‘green’ as they describe features about the nouns.
Show question
Question
Place the adjectives in this sentence into the correct order: the wooden blue big ship sailed across the Indian vast scary ocean.
Show answer
Answer
The big, blue, wooden ship sailed across the vast, scary, Indian ocean.
Show question
Question
What are the 3 different positions in which an adjective can be placed?
Show answer
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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Question
In this sentence, does the adjective pre-modify or post-modify the noun? ‘It is a scary unicorn’.
Show answer
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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Question
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.
Show question
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.
Show question
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’.
Show question
Question
Which of the following are primary auxiliary verbs?
-
Is
-
Play
-
Have
-
Run
-
Does
-
Could
Show answer
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.
Show question
Question
Name 6 out of the 9 modal auxiliary verbs.
Show answer
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?
Show answer
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’.
Show question
Question
Which of the following are dynamic verbs and which are stative verbs?
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Drink
-
Prefer
-
Talk
-
Seem
-
Understand
-
Write
Show answer
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.
Show question
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’)
Show question
Question
A verb phrase is built around a noun. True or false?
Show answer
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’).
Show question
Question
Which of the following are multi-word verbs?
-
Shake
-
Rely on
-
Dancing
-
Look up to
Show answer
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.
Show question
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’).
Show question
Answer
An adverb is a word that gives more information about a verb, adjective, another adverb, or a full clause.
Show question
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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Question
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.
Show question
Question
‘Additionally’, ‘likewise’, and ‘consequently’ are examples of connecting adverbs. True or false?
Show answer
Answer
True! Connecting adverbs are words used to connect two independent clauses.
Show question
Question
What are intensifying adverbs?
Show answer
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.
Show question
Question
Which of the following are intensifying adverbs?
-
Calmly
-
Incredibly
-
Enough
-
Greatly
Show answer
Answer
The intensifying adverbs are ‘incredibly’ and ‘greatly’. These strengthen the meaning of a word.
Show question
Question
Name the main types of adverbs
Show answer
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.
Show question
Question
What are adverbs of time?
Show answer
Answer
Adverbs of time are the ‘when?’ adverbs. They answer the question ‘when is the action done?’ e.g. ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’
Show question
Question
Which of the following are adverbs of frequency?
-
Usually
-
Patiently
-
Occasionally
-
Nowhere
Show answer
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?’.
Show question
Question
What are adverbs of place?
Show answer
Answer
Adverbs of place are the ‘where?’ adverbs. They answer the question ‘where is the action done?’. For example, ‘outside’ or ‘elsewhere’.
Show question
Question
Which of the following are adverbs of manner?
-
Never
-
Carelessly
-
Kindly
-
Inside
Show answer
Answer
The words ‘carelessly’ and ‘kindly’ are adverbs of manner. They are the ‘how?’ adverbs that answer the question ‘how is the action done?’.
Show question
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Date Posted: 2nd February 2016
For most of us, the thought of English grammar is enough to send shivers down our spine. Even for the most experienced TEFL teacher there are aspects of English grammar which elude us or grammatical questions which we struggle to explain.
But not many people realise the English grammar does not only relate to verbs and tenses. Vocabulary also has a sort of grammar, in that words can differ in relation to their role in a sentence. So, to help you to get your head around this, let’s look at the different word categories or classes we have in English.
Noun
A noun is a word that identifies something; it is an “it”. Nouns can be concrete (book) or abstract (love) or collective (a pride of lions). A noun can be countable (pen) or uncountable (sugar). A singular noun is preceded by a determiner but plural nouns aren’t. Some plural nouns are irregular (people). Whether it is countable or uncountable will determine what determiners can be used with the noun (many hands vs much money).
Pronoun
A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. It is used when the noun is already known and it is used usually to avoid repeating the noun. Personal pronouns are the most recognised, such as he or she or it. Pronouns can also be possessive (mine) and reflexive (myself).
Verb
A verb describes an action. Verbs change form depending on tense, number and person. There are many irregular verbs which cause difficulties for learners. A transitive verb needs an object, while an intransitive verb doesn’t
Read more: how to teach phrasal verbs)
Adjective
An adjective is a word that gives extra information to describe a noun. Adjectives can be used before the noun (attributively) or after the noun (predicatively). Adjectives are used in comparison: comparatives are used to compare two nouns (bigger), superlatives are used to compare three or more nouns (the most expensive).
Adverb
An adverb is a word which is used to describe an adjective or a verb. It usually ends in –ly (quickly). There are many different kinds of adverbs – of time, manner and place.
Preposition
A preposition is used with a noun or pronoun to show its relationship to something else. Prepositions can describe position (opposite), manner (by) and time (on Sunday).
Conjunction
A conjunction is a word which connects phrases, clauses or sentences. A co-ordinating conjunction joins items of equal value (or, and), while a subordinating conjunction joins a subordinate to a main clause (until, before).
Determiner
A determiner is a word which introduces a noun. Determiners are also known as articles .The determiner the is the definite article, while the determiner a is the indefinite article.
These are the different word classes of English, in a nutshell. English learners often have problems with word classes because they do not realise that they are as much a part of grammar as tenses are and so change depending on the situation. Having a thorough understanding of word classes and how they change is one step towards having a handle on English grammar.
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The most
general notions reflecting the most general properties of phenomena
are called categories.
As for the
grammatical category itself, it presents a
unity of form
(that is material factor), and
meaning
(ideal factor). In other terms it presents a unity of content and
expression. The plane of content (ex. plurality) comprises the purely
semantic elements contained in the language while the plane of
expression (ex. boys) comprises the material (formal) units of the
language. The two planes are inseparably connected, so that no
meaning can be realized without some material means of expression.
The
ordered set of grammatical forms expressing a category is a
paradigm.
Paradigms
may be small and large, depending on the number of grammatical
categories they express; (ex: the paradigm of the word ‘man’
consists of 4 forms: a man – men (number), man’s – men’s
(case)).
Parts of
speech
represent larger paradigms possessing particular paradigms of case,
number (noun), degrees of comparison (adjective, adverb), tense,
voice, mood, person (verb), etc. Bigger paradigms after parts of
speech are morphology and syntax. The biggest paradigm of a language
is its grammatical structure.
The
paradigms in a category are arranged in the form of grammatical
oppositions.
The elements of the opposition have two
types of features:
common features and differential features.
In the opposition ‘boy-boys’ the common features is number, the
differential features are singularity (boy)/plurality (boys).
The
opposition along the line of one grammatical category is called an
opposeme,
ex. number opposeme: a table – tables.
The
oppositional theory was originally formulated as a
phonological theory.
The qualitative oppositions are privative
(b-d-g, p-t-k); gradual
(постепен)
— (i:-i-e-a) and equipollent
(равноцен)
– (m-b). By the number of members were divided into binary,
ternary (тройной),
quaternary
(четвертной),
etc. The most important type of opposition is the
binary privative opposition.
It is formed by a contrastive pair of members in which one member is
characterized by the presence of a certain differential feature while
the other member is characterized by the absence of this feature. The
member in which the feature is present is called the ‘marked’ or
‘strong’, or ‘positive’ member, and has the symbol ‘+’
(plus); the member in which the feature is absent — the ‘unmarked’
or ‘weak’, or ‘negative’ member, (minus).
The
gradual opposition
is formed by a contrastive group of members and shows the degree of
feature.
The
equipollent opposition
is formed by members which have different positive features.
The most
important type of opposition in morphology, the same as in phonology,
is the binary
privative opposition.
Ex. in the opposition ‘work-worked’ the marked member is ‘worked’
because it has the differential feature, the morpheme –ed, while
the unmarked member ‘work’ has no differential feature.
Equipollent
oppositions
in English morphology are rare (редкий).
Ex. the correlation of the person forms of the verb ‘be’ — am — is —
are. An example of the gradual
morphological opposition
can be seen in the category of comparison: strong — stronger – the
strongest. Both equipollent and gradual oppositions can be reduced to
privative oppositions.
In various
contextual
conditions,
one member of an opposition can be used in the position of the other,
counter-member. This phenomenon is called oppositional
reduction.
Ex. the opposition present – future: start – shall start, has
been reduced in the sentence (ex. Tonight we start for London) as the
weak member ‘start’ replacing the strong member ‘shall start’.
This
kind of oppositional reduction is called neutralization of
opposition. There is another kind of reduction, by which one of the
members of the opposition is placed in conditions uncommon for it.
This use is stylistically marked. (Ex. This man is constantly
complaining of something.) This contradiction intensifies the implied
disapproval of the man’s behavior.
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A grammatical category is a class of units (such as noun and verb) or features (such as number and case) that share a common set of characteristics.
They are the building blocks of language, allowing us to communicate with one another. There are no hard and fast rules for what defines these shared traits, however, making it difficult for linguists to agree on precisely what is and is not a grammatical category.
As the linguist and author R.L. Trask put it, the term category in linguistics
«is so varied that no general definition is possible; in practice, a category is simply any class of related grammatical objects which someone wants to consider.»
That said, there are some strategies you can use to group words into categories based on how they function in the English language. (Think of parts of speech.)
Identifying Grammar Groups
One of the simplest ways to create grammatical categories is by grouping words together based on their class. Classes are word sets that display the same formal properties, such as inflection or verb tense.
Put another way, grammatical categories can be defined as sets of words with similar meanings (called semantics.)
There are two families of classes:
- lexical
- functional
The lexical class includes:
- nouns
- verbs
- adjectives
- adverbs
The functional class includes:
- determiners
- particles
- prepositions
- modals
- qualifiers
- question words
- conjunctions
- other words denoting position or spatial relationships
Using this definition, you can create grammatical categories like this:
- Verbs denote actions (go, destroy, buy, eat, etc.)
- Nouns denote entities (car, cat, hill, John, etc.)
- Adjectives denote states (ill, happy, rich, etc.)
- Adverbs denote manner (badly, slowly, painfully, cynically, etc.)
- Prepositions denote location (under, over, outside, in, on, etc.)
Grammar groups can be further divided, depending on a word’s defining properties. Nouns, for instance, can be further subdivided into number, gender, case, and countability. Verbs can be subdivided by tense, aspect, or voice.
A word can be classified into more than one grammatical category. For instance, a word can be both plural and feminine.
Grammar Tips
Unless you are a linguist, you probably won’t spend much time thinking about how words can be classified based on how they function in the English language. But just about anyone can identify basic parts of speech.
Be careful, though. Some words have multiple functions, such as «watch,» which can function as both a verb («Watch out over there!») and a noun («My watch is broken.»)
Other words, such as gerunds, may appear to be one part of speech (a verb) and yet function differently (as a noun.) («Buying a house is difficult in this economy.») In these cases, you’ll need to pay close attention to the context in which such words are used in writing or speech.
Sources
- Brinton, Laurel J. The Structure of Modern English: A Linguistic Introduction. John Benjamins, 2000, Philadelphia.
- Crystal, David. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 4th ed. Blackwell, 1997, Malden, Mass.
- Payne, Thomas E. Describing Morphosyntax: A Guide for Field Linguists. Cambridge University Press, 1997, Cambridge, U.K.
- Radford, Andrew. Minimalist Syntax: Exploring the Structure of English. Cambridge University Press, 2004, Cambridge, U.K.
- Trask, R.L. Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts, 2nd ed., ed. by Peter Stockwell. Routledge, 2007, London.
Word is a unit of language that serves as a principal carrier of meaning, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation. One may define a word as the blocks from which sentences are made. Words consist of one or more morphemes that can be of independent use or consist of two or three such units combined under some connection. Words are usually divided into writing by spaces and in many languages. They are differentiated phonologically, as by accent.
Idioms beginning with Words:
-
word for word
-
word of honour
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word of mouth
-
words fail me
-
words of one syllable,
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words stick in one’s throat
-
words to that effect
-
word to the wise
Types of a Word
Word is a speech sound or sequence of speech sounds that typically symbolize and express a message without being divisible into smaller units that can be used separately.
Word is the whole range of linguistic forms generated by combining a single basis with different inflectional elements without altering the part of speech elements.
-
Any part of a written or printed expression that normally occurs between spaces or between a space and a punctuation mark.
-
The act of speaking or talking verbally. A short comment or conversation
-
I just want to have a chat with you.
-
A number of bytes that are processed as a unit and convey a quantity of contact and computer work information
-
To form phrases, we combine words. Typically, a term serves the same purpose as a word from some other class of terms.
What makes a Word Real Word?
In English, the word has a broad variety of meanings and uses. Yet one of the pieces of word-related knowledge most commonly searched for is not something that can be included in its meaning. Instead, what makes a word a real word is some variant of the question?
Vocabulary is one of English’s most prolific fields of change and variation; new terms are constantly being invented to name or characterize new technologies or developments or to better classify aspects of our rapidly changing culture. Time, resources and personnel constraints would make it impossible for any dictionary to capture a completely comprehensive account of all the terms in the language, no matter how big. Most general English dictionaries are intended to contain only terms that fulfil certain usage requirements in large areas and over long periods (for more information about how words are selected for entry in the dictionary).
Classification of Words
Words are grouped in English into parts of speech. The functional adjective and functional adverb are functional derivations.
Noun
A noun is an identifying word:
Eg: An individual (man, female, engineer, friend)
Verb
What a person or thing does or what happens is represented by a verb.
Eg: A case, An action
Adjective
An adjective is a term that identifies a noun, offering additional details about it.
Eg: A thrilling adventure
Adverb
An adverb is a word used to give a verb, adjective or other adverb details. They can make stronger or weaker the meaning of a noun, adjective, or other adverbs, and sometimes appear between the subject and its verb.
Eg: She almost lost everything.
Pronoun
In place of a noun that is already recognized or has already been mentioned, pronouns are used. To stop repeating the noun, this is always done.
Eg: Since she was tired, Laura left early.
Preposition
A preposition is a concept like after, in to, on, and with. Prepositions are normally used in front of nouns or pronouns and illustrate the connection in a sentence between the noun or pronoun and other words.
Conjunction
A conjunction is a term such as and because, but for, if or, and when A conjunction (also called a connective). Conjunctions are used to connect words, clauses, and sentences.
Determiner
A determiner is a phrase that introduces a noun, such as a/an, the any, this, others, or many (as in a dog, the dog, this dog, those dogs, each dog, many dogs).
Exclamation
A word or expression that expresses strong emotions, such as surprise, pleasure, or rage, is an exclamation (also called an interjection). Exclamations sometimes stand on their own.