Word class and parts of speech

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The terms «part of speech», «word class» and «word category» are typically used interchangeably. For a recent, brief and accessible discussion by an eminent linguist, see this paper by David Denison. Each individual word has its own part of speech.

Subject and object are grammatical relations. Grammatical relations are different from parts of speech, because parts of speech do not depend on the role of the word in the sentence, whereas grammatical relations do. For instance, in the sentence Cats like mice, the words cats and mice are both nouns, but Cats is the subject whereas mice is the direct object. In the sentence Mice like cats, it is the other way round: mice is the subject whereas cats is the direct object.

An important difference between parts of speech and grammatical relations is that phrases can bear grammatical relations, but only words can bear parts of speech. In the sentence The cats like the mice, the subject is the whole phrase The cats. The word cats is a noun, and The is an article or a determiner.

If you want to find out more about these notions, I’d recommend the book Introducing English Grammar by Börjars and Burridge (2010). It’s what we use at Manchester to teach first-year Linguistics and English Language undergraduates.

The
parts of speech are classes of words, all the members of these
classes having certain characteristics in common which distinguish
them fr om the members of other classes. The problem of word
classification into parts of speech still remains one of the most
controversial problems in modern linguistics. The attitude of
grammarians with regard to parts of speech and the basis of their
classification varied a good deal at different times. Only in English
grammarians have been vacillating between 3 and 13 parts of speech.
There
are four approaches to the problem:

1. Classical
   (logical-inflectional)

2. Functional

3. Distributional

4. Complex

The
classical
parts of speech theory goes back to ancient times. It is based on
Latin grammar. According to the Latin classification of the parts of
speech all words were divided dichotomically into declinable
and
indeclinable
parts
of speech. This system was reproduced in the earliest English
grammars. The first of these groups, declinable words, included
nouns, pronouns, verbs and participles, the second – indeclinable
words – adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. The
logical-inflectional classification is quite successful for Latin or
other languages with developed morphology and synthetic paradigms but
it cannot be applied to the English language because the principle of
declinability/indeclinability is not relevant for analytical
languages.

A
new approach to the problem was introduced in the XIX century by
Henry Sweet. He took into account the peculiarities of the English
language. This approach may be defined as functional.
He resorted to the functional features of words and singled out
nominative units and particles. To nominative
parts of speech belonged noun-words
(noun, noun-pronoun, noun-numeral, infinitive, gerund),
adjective-words
(adjective, adjective-pronoun, adjective-numeral, participles), verb
(finite verb, verbals – gerund, infinitive, participles), while
adverb,
preposition,
conjunction
and interjection
belonged to the group of particles.
However, though the criterion for classification was functional,
Henry Sweet failed to break the tradition and classified words into
those having morphological forms and lacking morphological forms, in
other words, declinable and indeclinable.
A distributional
approach
to
the parts to the parts of speech classification can be illustrated by
the classification introduced by Charles Fries. He wanted to avoid
the traditional terminology and establish a classification of words
based on distributive analysis, that is, the ability of words to
combine with other words of different types. At the same time, the
lexical meaning of words was not taken into account. According to
Charles Fries, the words in such sentences as 1. Woggles ugged
diggles; 2. Uggs woggled diggs; and 3. Woggs diggled uggles are quite
evident structural signals, their position and combinability are
enough to classify them into three word-classes. In this way, he
introduced four major classes
of words
and 15 form-classes.
Let us see how it worked. Three test frames
formed
the basis for his analysis:

Frame
A — The concert was good (always);
Frame B — The clerk remembered
the tax (suddenly);
Frame C – The team went there.

It
turned out that his four classes of words were practically the same
as traditional nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. What is really
valuable in Charles Fries’ classification is his investigation of
15 groups of function words (form-classes) because he was the first
linguist to pay attention to some of their peculiarities.

All
the classifications mentioned above appear to be one-sided because
parts of speech are discriminated on the basis of only one aspect of
the word: either its meaning or its form, or its function.

In
modern linguistics, parts of speech are discriminated according to
three criteria: semantic, formal and functional. This approach may be
defined as complex.
The semantic
criterion presupposes the grammatical meaning of the whole class of
words (general grammatical meaning). The formal
criterion
reveals paradigmatic properties: relevant grammatical categories, the
form of the words, their specific inflectional and derivational
features. The functional
criterion
concerns the syntactic function of words in the sentence and their
combinability. Thus, when characterizing any part of speech we are to
describe: a) its semantics; b) its morphological features; c) its
syntactic peculiarities.

The
linguistic evidence drawn fr om our grammatical study makes it
possible to divide all the words of the language into:

1. those
   denoting things, objects, notions, qualities, etc. – words with
   the corresponding references in the objective reality – notional
   words;

2. those
   having no references of their own in the objective reality; most of
   them are used only as grammatical means to form up and frame
   utterances – function
   words,
   or grammatical
   words.

It
is commonly recognized that the notional parts of speech are nouns,
pronouns, numerals, verbs, adjectives, adverbs; the functional parts
of speech are articles, particles, prepositions, conjunctions and
modal words.

The
division of language units into notion and function words reveals the
interrelation of lexical and grammatical types of meaning. In
notional words the lexical meaning is predominant. In function words
the grammatical meaning dominates over the lexical one. However, in
actual speech the border line between notional and function words is
not always clear cut. Some notional words develop the meanings
peculiar to function words — e.g. seminotional words – to
turn, to get, etc.

Notional
words constitute the bulk of the existing word stock while function
words constitute a smaller group of words. Although the number of
function words is limited (there are only about 50 of them in Modern
English), they are the most frequently used units.

Generally
speaking, the problem of words’ classification into parts of speech
is far fr om being solved. Some words cannot find their proper place.
The most striking example here is the class of adverbs. Some language
analysts call it a
ragbag, a dustbin
(Frank Palmer), Russian academician V.V.Vinogradov defined the class
of adverbs in the Russian language as мусорная
куча.
It can be explained by the fact that to the class of adverbs belong
those words that cannot find their place anywhere else. At the same
time, there are no grounds for grouping them together either.
Compare: perfectly
(She speaks English perfectly)
and
again
(He is here again).
Examples are numerous (all temporals). There are some words that do
not belong anywhere — e.g. after
all.
Speaking about after
all
it should be mentioned that this unit is quite often used by native
speakers, and practically never by our students. Some more striking
examples: anyway,
actually, in fact.
The problem is that if these words belong nowhere, there is no place
for them in the system of words, then how can we use them correctly?
What makes things worse is the fact that these words are devoid of
nominative power, and they have no direct equivalents in the
Ukrainian or Russian languages. Meanwhile, native speakers use these
words subconsciously, without realizing how they work.

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In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech (abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class^[1] or grammatical category^[2]) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are assigned to the same part of speech generally display similar syntactic behavior (they play similar roles within the grammatical structure of sentences), sometimes similar morphological behavior in that they undergo inflection for similar properties and even similar semantic behavior. Commonly listed English parts of speech are noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, interjection, numeral, article, and determiner.

Other terms than part of speech—particularly in modern linguistic classifications, which often make more precise distinctions than the traditional scheme does—include word class, lexical class, and lexical category. Some authors restrict the term lexical category to refer only to a particular type of syntactic category; for them the term excludes those parts of speech that are considered to be function words, such as pronouns. The term form class is also used, although this has various conflicting definitions.^[3] Word classes may be classified as open or closed: open classes (typically including nouns, verbs and adjectives) acquire new members constantly, while closed classes (such as pronouns and conjunctions) acquire new members infrequently, if at all.

Almost all languages have the word classes noun and verb, but beyond these two there are significant variations among different languages.^[4] For example:

• Japanese has as many as three classes of adjectives, where English has one.
• Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese have a class of nominal classifiers.
• Many languages do not distinguish between adjectives and adverbs, or between adjectives and verbs (see stative verb).

Because of such variation in the number of categories and their identifying properties, analysis of parts of speech must be done for each individual language. Nevertheless, the labels for each category are assigned on the basis of universal criteria.^[4]

History[edit]

The classification of words into lexical categories is found from the earliest moments in the history of linguistics.^[5]

India[edit]

In the Nirukta, written in the 6th or 5th century BCE, the Sanskrit grammarian Yāska defined four main categories of words:^[6]

1. नाम nāma – noun (including adjective)
2. आख्यात ākhyāta – verb
3. उपसर्ग upasarga – pre-verb or prefix
4. निपात nipāta – particle, invariant word (perhaps preposition)

These four were grouped into two larger classes: inflectable (nouns and verbs) and uninflectable (pre-verbs and particles).

The ancient work on the grammar of the Tamil language, Tolkāppiyam, argued to have been written around 2nd century CE,^[7] classifies Tamil words as peyar (பெயர்; noun), vinai (வினை; verb), idai (part of speech which modifies the relationships between verbs and nouns), and uri (word that further qualifies a noun or verb).^[8]

Western tradition[edit]

A century or two after the work of Yāska, the Greek scholar Plato wrote in his Cratylus dialogue, «sentences are, I conceive, a combination of verbs [rhêma] and nouns [ónoma]».^[9] Aristotle added another class, «conjunction» [sýndesmos], which included not only the words known today as conjunctions, but also other parts (the interpretations differ; in one interpretation it is pronouns, prepositions, and the article).^[10]

By the end of the 2nd century BCE, grammarians had expanded this classification scheme into eight categories, seen in the Art of Grammar, attributed to Dionysius Thrax:^[11]

1. ‘Name’ (ónoma) translated as «Noun«: a part of speech inflected for case, signifying a concrete or abstract entity. It includes various species like nouns, adjectives, proper nouns, appellatives, collectives, ordinals, numerals and more.^[12]
2. Verb (rhêma): a part of speech without case inflection, but inflected for tense, person and number, signifying an activity or process performed or undergone
3. Participle (metokhḗ): a part of speech sharing features of the verb and the noun
4. Article (árthron): a declinable part of speech, taken to include the definite article, but also the basic relative pronoun
5. Pronoun (antōnymíā): a part of speech substitutable for a noun and marked for a person
6. Preposition (próthesis): a part of speech placed before other words in composition and in syntax
7. Adverb (epírrhēma): a part of speech without inflection, in modification of or in addition to a verb, adjective, clause, sentence, or other adverb
8. Conjunction (sýndesmos): a part of speech binding together the discourse and filling gaps in its interpretation

It can be seen that these parts of speech are defined by morphological, syntactic and semantic criteria.

The Latin grammarian Priscian (fl. 500 CE) modified the above eightfold system, excluding «article» (since the Latin language, unlike Greek, does not have articles) but adding «interjection».^[13][14]

The Latin names for the parts of speech, from which the corresponding modern English terms derive, were nomen, verbum, participium, pronomen, praepositio, adverbium, conjunctio and interjectio. The category nomen included substantives (nomen substantivum, corresponding to what are today called nouns in English), adjectives (nomen adjectivum) and numerals (nomen numerale). This is reflected in the older English terminology noun substantive, noun adjective and noun numeral. Later^[15] the adjective became a separate class, as often did the numerals, and the English word noun came to be applied to substantives only.

Classification[edit]

Works of English grammar generally follow the pattern of the European tradition as described above, except that participles are now usually regarded as forms of verbs rather than as a separate part of speech, and numerals are often conflated with other parts of speech: nouns (cardinal numerals, e.g., «one», and collective numerals, e.g., «dozen»), adjectives (ordinal numerals, e.g., «first», and multiplier numerals, e.g., «single») and adverbs (multiplicative numerals, e.g., «once», and distributive numerals, e.g., «singly»). Eight or nine parts of speech are commonly listed:

1. noun
2. verb
3. adjective
4. adverb
5. pronoun
6. preposition
7. conjunction
8. interjection
9. article* or (more recently) determiner

Additionally, there are other parts of speech including particles (yes, no)^[a] and postpositions (ago, notwithstanding) although many fewer words are in these categories.

Some traditional classifications consider articles to be adjectives, yielding eight parts of speech rather than nine. And some modern classifications define further classes in addition to these. For discussion see the sections below.

The classification below, or slight expansions of it, is still followed in most dictionaries:

Noun (names)

a word or lexical item denoting any abstract (abstract noun: e.g. home) or concrete entity (concrete noun: e.g. house); a person (police officer, Michael), place (coastline, London), thing (necktie, television), idea (happiness), or quality (bravery). Nouns can also be classified as count nouns or non-count nouns; some can belong to either category. The most common part of speech; they are called naming words.

Pronoun (replaces or places again)

a substitute for a noun or noun phrase (them, he). Pronouns make sentences shorter and clearer since they replace nouns.

Adjective (describes, limits)

a modifier of a noun or pronoun (big, brave). Adjectives make the meaning of another word (noun) more precise.

Verb (states action or being)

a word denoting an action (walk), occurrence (happen), or state of being (be). Without a verb, a group of words cannot be a clause or sentence.

Adverb (describes, limits)

a modifier of an adjective, verb, or another adverb (very, quite). Adverbs make language more precise.

Preposition (relates)

a word that relates words to each other in a phrase or sentence and aids in syntactic context (in, of). Prepositions show the relationship between a noun or a pronoun with another word in the sentence.

Conjunction (connects)

a syntactic connector; links words, phrases, or clauses (and, but). Conjunctions connect words or group of words

Interjection (expresses feelings and emotions)

an emotional greeting or exclamation (Huzzah, Alas). Interjections express strong feelings and emotions.

Article (describes, limits)

a grammatical marker of definiteness (the) or indefiniteness (a, an). The article is not always listed among the parts of speech. It is considered by some grammarians to be a type of adjective^[16] or sometimes the term ‘determiner’ (a broader class) is used.

English words are not generally marked as belonging to one part of speech or another; this contrasts with many other European languages, which use inflection more extensively, meaning that a given word form can often be identified as belonging to a particular part of speech and having certain additional grammatical properties. In English, most words are uninflected, while the inflected endings that exist are mostly ambiguous: -ed may mark a verbal past tense, a participle or a fully adjectival form; -s may mark a plural noun, a possessive noun, or a present-tense verb form; -ing may mark a participle, gerund, or pure adjective or noun. Although -ly is a frequent adverb marker, some adverbs (e.g. tomorrow, fast, very) do not have that ending, while many adjectives do have it (e.g. friendly, ugly, lovely), as do occasional words in other parts of speech (e.g. jelly, fly, rely).

Many English words can belong to more than one part of speech. Words like neigh, break, outlaw, laser, microwave, and telephone might all be either verbs or nouns. In certain circumstances, even words with primarily grammatical functions can be used as verbs or nouns, as in, «We must look to the hows and not just the whys.» The process whereby a word comes to be used as a different part of speech is called conversion or zero derivation.

Functional classification[edit]

Linguists recognize that the above list of eight or nine word classes is drastically simplified.^[17] For example, «adverb» is to some extent a catch-all class that includes words with many different functions. Some have even argued that the most basic of category distinctions, that of nouns and verbs, is unfounded,^[18] or not applicable to certain languages.^[19][20] Modern linguists have proposed many different schemes whereby the words of English or other languages are placed into more specific categories and subcategories based on a more precise understanding of their grammatical functions.

Common lexical category set defined by function may include the following (not all of them will necessarily be applicable in a given language):

• Categories that will usually be open classes:
  • adjectives
  • adverbs
  • nouns
  • verbs (except auxiliary verbs)
  • interjections
• Categories that will usually be closed classes:
  • auxiliary verbs
  • clitics
  • coverbs
  • conjunctions
  • determiners (articles, quantifiers, demonstrative adjectives, and possessive adjectives)
  • particles
  • measure words or classifiers
  • adpositions (prepositions, postpositions, and circumpositions)
  • preverbs
  • pronouns
  • contractions
  • cardinal numbers

Within a given category, subgroups of words may be identified based on more precise grammatical properties. For example, verbs may be specified according to the number and type of objects or other complements which they take. This is called subcategorization.

Many modern descriptions of grammar include not only lexical categories or word classes, but also phrasal categories, used to classify phrases, in the sense of groups of words that form units having specific grammatical functions. Phrasal categories may include noun phrases (NP), verb phrases (VP) and so on. Lexical and phrasal categories together are called syntactic categories.

Open and closed classes[edit]

Word classes may be either open or closed. An open class is one that commonly accepts the addition of new words, while a closed class is one to which new items are very rarely added. Open classes normally contain large numbers of words, while closed classes are much smaller. Typical open classes found in English and many other languages are nouns, verbs (excluding auxiliary verbs, if these are regarded as a separate class), adjectives, adverbs and interjections. Ideophones are often an open class, though less familiar to English speakers,^[21][22][b] and are often open to nonce words. Typical closed classes are prepositions (or postpositions), determiners, conjunctions, and pronouns.^[24]

The open–closed distinction is related to the distinction between lexical and functional categories, and to that between content words and function words, and some authors consider these identical, but the connection is not strict. Open classes are generally lexical categories in the stricter sense, containing words with greater semantic content,^[25] while closed classes are normally functional categories, consisting of words that perform essentially grammatical functions. This is not universal: in many languages verbs and adjectives^[26][27][28] are closed classes, usually consisting of few members, and in Japanese the formation of new pronouns from existing nouns is relatively common, though to what extent these form a distinct word class is debated.

Words are added to open classes through such processes as compounding, derivation, coining, and borrowing. When a new word is added through some such process, it can subsequently be used grammatically in sentences in the same ways as other words in its class.^[29] A closed class may obtain new items through these same processes, but such changes are much rarer and take much more time. A closed class is normally seen as part of the core language and is not expected to change. In English, for example, new nouns, verbs, etc. are being added to the language constantly (including by the common process of verbing and other types of conversion, where an existing word comes to be used in a different part of speech). However, it is very unusual for a new pronoun, for example, to become accepted in the language, even in cases where there may be felt to be a need for one, as in the case of gender-neutral pronouns.

The open or closed status of word classes varies between languages, even assuming that corresponding word classes exist. Most conspicuously, in many languages verbs and adjectives form closed classes of content words. An extreme example is found in Jingulu, which has only three verbs, while even the modern Indo-European Persian has no more than a few hundred simple verbs, a great deal of which are archaic. (Some twenty Persian verbs are used as light verbs to form compounds; this lack of lexical verbs is shared with other Iranian languages.) Japanese is similar, having few lexical verbs.^[30] Basque verbs are also a closed class, with the vast majority of verbal senses instead expressed periphrastically.

In Japanese, verbs and adjectives are closed classes,^[31] though these are quite large, with about 700 adjectives,^[32][33] and verbs have opened slightly in recent years. Japanese adjectives are closely related to verbs (they can predicate a sentence, for instance). New verbal meanings are nearly always expressed periphrastically by appending suru (する, to do) to a noun, as in undō suru (運動する, to (do) exercise), and new adjectival meanings are nearly always expressed by adjectival nouns, using the suffix -na (〜な) when an adjectival noun modifies a noun phrase, as in hen-na ojisan (変なおじさん, strange man). The closedness of verbs has weakened in recent years, and in a few cases new verbs are created by appending -ru (〜る) to a noun or using it to replace the end of a word. This is mostly in casual speech for borrowed words, with the most well-established example being sabo-ru (サボる, cut class; play hooky), from sabotāju (サボタージュ, sabotage).^[34] This recent innovation aside, the huge contribution of Sino-Japanese vocabulary was almost entirely borrowed as nouns (often verbal nouns or adjectival nouns). Other languages where adjectives are closed class include Swahili,^[28] Bemba, and Luganda.

By contrast, Japanese pronouns are an open class and nouns become used as pronouns with some frequency; a recent example is jibun (自分, self), now used by some young men as a first-person pronoun. The status of Japanese pronouns as a distinct class is disputed,^{[by whom?]} however, with some considering it only a use of nouns, not a distinct class. The case is similar in languages of Southeast Asia, including Thai and Lao, in which, like Japanese, pronouns and terms of address vary significantly based on relative social standing and respect.^[35]

Some word classes are universally closed, however, including demonstratives and interrogative words.^[35]

See also[edit]

• Part-of-speech tagging
• Sliding window based part-of-speech tagging

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Media related to Parts of speech at Wikimedia Commons
• The parts of speech
• Guide to Grammar and Writing
• Martin Haspelmath. 2001. «Word Classes and Parts of Speech.» In: Baltes, Paul B. & Smelser, Neil J. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Amsterdam: Pergamon, 16538–16545. (PDF)

The word classes or parts of speech in English Lecture 4

Lecture outline Parts of speech: a historical perspective Traditional approaches based on various criteria Debatable issues

The word A meaningful, expressive, nominative unit of language; Belongs to a particular language level; Consists of form and meaning (signified and signifier).

Groups of words in lexicology Semantic classification of words: synonyms and antonyms; etymologically: words of native origin and borrowing; stylistically: neutral or stylistically marked; frequency: active and passive, etc.

Classes of words in grammar Grammar organizes the words into a comparatively small number of classes: grammatically relevant classes; traditionally – parts of speech (from Ancient Greece, rather confusing); the system of the parts of speech is historically variable.

Lexical and grammatical properties of the word A word has a certain lexical meaning: the individual meaning of the word (chair – a definite piece of furniture); it also possesses a more general and abstract meaning – grammatical meaning, the meaning of the whole class or subclass of words (thingness, countableness of ‘chair’).

The grammatical meaning is a generalized, abstract meaning, which unites big sets or classes of words and is expressed with the help of characteristic formal markers or their absence.

The historical perspective Prescriptive grammars Latin grammars; declinables (nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, participles) and indeclinables (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, articles); the number of parts of speech varied from author to author: for instance, nouns and adjectives formed one part of speech.

The historical perspective Non-structural descriptive grammars Henry Sweet: declinables and indiclinables (based on form, meaning, and function): Declinables: • noun-words (noun, noun-pronoun, noun-numeral, infinitive, gerund), adjective-words (adjective, adjective-pronoun, adjective-numeral, participle), verb (finite verb), verbals (infinitive, gerund, participle). Indeclinables: • adverb, • preposition, • conjunction, • interjection.

The historical perspective Non-structural descriptive grammars Otto Jespersen (form and function) • substantives, • adjectives, • pronouns, • verbs, • and particles (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections). Otto Jespersen (function in a sentence): primary, secondary, tertiary word. A happily laughing child (3) (2) (1)

The historical perspective Structural Descriptive Grammarians Charles Fries , syntactic and distributional analysis (the combinability tested by substitution) Words that exhibit the same distribution (which is the set of contexts, i. e. immediate linguistic environments, in which a word can appear) belong to the same class. Frame A: The concert was good. Frame B: The clerk remembered the tax. Frame C: The team went there. Class 1 words (all words that can take the position of the words ‘concert, clerk, tax, team. Class 2 words (was, remembered and went). Class 3 words (good). Class 4 words (there). 15 groups of function words: Group A (determiners), Group B (modal verbs, Group C (the negative particle ‘not’), etc.

Modern traditional approaches The criteria: (generalized meaning) semantic – meaning; • formal (inflexional an derivation features) – form; • functional (syntactic role) – function. •

Modern traditional approaches (1) Notional (having independent lexical meaning): noun, adjective, numeral, pronoun, verb, adverb. Functional (deprived of independent lexical meaning): article, preposition, conjunction, particle, modal word, interjection.

Modern traditional approaches The Noun • meaning: ‘thingness’; • form: the changeable forms of number and case (dog’s, dogs) and suffixal forms of derivation (happi. NESS, child. HOOD, etc. ); • function: subject, object, substantival predicative, preposition connections, modification by an adjective.

The Noun (function) Subject: The boy is very happy. Object: She saw the boy. Substantival predicative: This is a boy. Prepositional connections: He came up to the boy. Modification by an adjective: He was a clever boy.

Functional words The preposition expresses the dependencies and interdependencies of referents. The article expresses the specific limitation of the substantive function.

Subclasses: the noun Proper and common (the Danube vs. a girl; Animate and inanimate (a man vs. a chair); Countable and uncountable ( a dog vs. information).

Modern traditional approaches (2) A part of speech is a class of words characterized by: 1) Its lexico-grammatical meaning; 2) Its lexico-grammatical morphemes; 3) Its grammatical categories or its paradigms; 4) Its combinability; 5) Its function in a sentence.

Modern traditional approaches (2) lexico-grammatical meaning: nouns ‘substance’, verbs ‘action’, etc. ; lexico-grammatical morphemes: -ness, ist, -ism; -ize, -ify; -ful, -less, -ish, etc. ; grammatical categories of paradigms: case and number for nouns (dog vs. dog’s, dog vs. dogs); tense, mood, voice, etc, for verbs (walk, walked, is walking, has walked, etc. ).

Modern traditional approaches (2) combinability (the power of words to form combinations of definite patterns with word of certain classes): nouns+ prepositions, but * preposition+ adverb (*for loudly); function in a sentence. The words often lack one or more features.

Modern traditional approaches (2) Nouns, adjective, pronouns, numerals, verbs, adlinks (the category of state: seem, look), modal words, prepositions, conjunctions, particles, interjections, articles, response words (yes, no); • notional vs. semi-notional. •

Semi-notional parts of speech very general and comparatively weak lexical meaning (rare or no substitutes); unilateral or bilateral combinability (1) articles; 2) preposition); the functions of linking or specifying.

The latest approach (form and function) “A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language”; word classes are the most general categories to which lexical items can be appropriately assigned (state further subclassification).

The latest approach Closed classed (only exceptionally extended by the creation of additional members); Open classes (indefinitely extendable); Numerals (between open-class and closedclass items); interjections (a closed class – fully institutionalized and few in number, but are grammatically peripheral); a small number of words of unique function.

The latest approach Closed classes: preposition – of, at, in, without, in spite of; pronoun – he, they, anybody, one, which; determiner – the, a, that, every, some; conjunction –and, that, when, although; modal verb – can, must, will, could; primary verb – be, have, do); Open classes: noun – John, room, answer, play, adjective – happy, steady, new, large, round, full verb – search, grow, play, adverb – steadily, completely, really; Numerals – two, three; first, second, third; Interjections – oh, ah, wow etc; words of unique function – the negative particle not and the infinitive marker to.

Disputable points in the parts of speech classification Nouns, verbs and their properties are agreed upon by most scientists vs. particles, modal word are more problematic; Adverbs (a dustbin (F. Palmer), мусорная куча (V. Vinogradov): perfectly vs, again; after all, anyway, actually, etc.

The theory of field structure of the parts of speech (V. Admoni) Each part of speech has units (words) possessing all the features typical of that parts of speech – the centre of the field; there are unit which have some features only (periphery).

Conclusion Parts of speech are lexico-grammatical classes of words. The classification can be based on various criteria: formal, semantic, functional, or all of them together. Part of speech are historical variable. There are problematic points which require solving.