Word class of do not - Word и Excel - помощь в работе с программами

Hello everyone!

Which word class/part of speech would you ascribe to «not»?
Some sources say it is an adverb (as for example the OED) while others say it is a (negative) particle.

Thank you very much!

‘Adverb’ is a vague category. It’s often used to hold anything that’s not clearly some other class like noun or preposition. ‘Particle’ overlaps with it; a particle is a small grammatical word that has no inflected forms. Most grammarians don’t list a separate class of particles for English.

Thank you for your answer.
Yes, I’m familiar with the definitions.
I just struggle with putting «not» into one of the conventional word classes. To me, «not» does not function the way a regular adverb does.

It has a variety of uses, but I think the best argument for calling it an adverb is that its most common use shares a distribution with some words that are adjective + -ly, that is prototypical adverbs:

That’s not helpful.
That’s hardly/scarcely helpful.
That’s definitely/obviously helpful.

(I’ve tried to use examples where the adverb modifies the verb phrase, not the adjective as in ‘really/very helpful’.)

This doesn’t cover quirky uses like ‘not only’ or ‘not that I care’, but there’s no very good reason for setting up special classes for a scattering of quirky uses.

Thank you!
Okay, so in your first example, «not» indicates the, let’ say definite state of negation, as «it is not helpful, at all», whereas «hardly» and «scarcely» can be found somewhere near «not» on a scale between «helpful» and «not helpful». «Definitely» and «obviously» refer to the speaker’s opinion about it and can be found on the other half of the scale.

However, «not» negates the verb «is» = isn’t. And adverbs are actually not able to do that; they just modify the verb. Perhaps this is another indicator for «not» being not an adverb?

What about cases in which «not» is used as a negative particle, similar to «no». For example when it is used to substitute parts of the sentence (as for example verbs) and to enable an elision, such as in:
«Is it really like that? Certainly not.»
I feel like there is a difference in function and thus in the word class, as well.

Last edited: Jun 29, 2017

What is the negative of ‘certainly’? We might naively expect ‘not certainly’, but in fact we use ‘certainly not’. The adverb examples I gave can be combined with others or each other:

That’s very definitely helpful.
That’s certainly not helpful.
That’s quite obviously helpful.

And they can all be stranded in the same way. Was this helpful? Definitely. Hardly. Certainly not. Quite definitely.

But again, «not» in your second sentence still belongs to the verb «is».
A: This is (certainly) helpful.
B: Yes, it (certainly) is. / No, it (certainly) isn’t (is not). / Certainly not.

In all cases, certainly modifies the verb «is», in the affirmative and the negated form.

What we are looking for is not the «negative of certainly» or the opposite of it, but for the word class «not» belongs to….
(By the way, if you argue like that you could say that the «negative of really» is «not really», and this can certainly be used: «Is this helpful? Not really…» Here I could agree that «not» functions as an adverb, as it modifies really, but still I feel that «not» belongs to the verb (is) that was elided)

I’m not sure of your point. My examples were of two adverbs combined into an adverb phrase. In each, the first adverb modifies the second. (Adverbs can modify adverbs as well as verbs and adjectives.) The two-word adverb phrase modifies the verb, just as a one-word adverb phrase does. So the stranded answers ‘Certainly’ and ‘Certainly not’ are of the same type.

(Adverbs can modify adverbs as well as verbs and adjectives.).

and sentences!

Okay, so back to my initial question… For you «not» is clearly an adverb, whether it belongs to the verb «is» or any other verb it negates, right? And that «particle» is just a subgroup of adverbs?

Well, my original post was neutral and unenthusiastic about so-called adverbs. We have a number of words like ‘so’ and ‘as’ with a confusingly varied use, but if they don’t fit neatly in the same class with clear-cut examples, it’s even harder to justify setting up new classes. We just have to accept that class boundaries can be vague. Nothing in English deserves being called a ‘particle’ in the sense that Ancient Greek or Japanese have particles.

Источник

Select your language

Suggested languages for you:

Lerne mit deinen Freunden und bleibe auf dem richtigen Kurs mit deinen persönlichen Lernstatistiken

Jetzt kostenlos anmelden

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

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.

Towards

Through

Into

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.

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?

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’.

Show question

Question

Pick out the collective noun from the following:

Show answer

Question

What is the collective noun for a group of sheep?

Show answer

Answer

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

Show question

Question

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

Show answer

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.

Show question

Question

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

Show answer

Answer

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

Show question

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’.

Show question

Question

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

Show answer

Answer

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

Show question

Question

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

Show answer

Answer

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

Show question

Question

Which of the following adjectives is an absolute adjective?

Show answer

Question

Which of these adjectives is a classifying adjective?

Show answer

Question

Convert the noun ‘quick’ to its comparative form.

Show answer

Answer

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

Show question

Question

Convert the noun ‘slow’ to its superlative form.

Show answer

Answer

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

Show question

Question

What is an adjective phrase?

Show answer

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.

Show answer

Answer

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

Show question

Question

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

Show answer

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?

Show answer

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

Show question

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).

Show question

Question

What is the difference between dynamic verbs and stative verbs?

Show answer

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?

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?

Show answer

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!’.

Show question

Question

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

Show answer

Question

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

Show answer

Answer

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

Show question

Question

How do you know if a verb is irregular?

Show answer

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.

Show question

Question

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

Show answer

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?

Show answer

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?

Show answer

Answer

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

Show question

Question

What are modifying adverbs?

Show answer

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

Discover the right content for your subjects

No need to cheat if you have everything you need to succeed! Packed into one app!

Study Plan

Be perfectly prepared on time with an individual plan.

Quizzes

Test your knowledge with gamified quizzes.

Flashcards

Create and find flashcards in record time.

Notes

Create beautiful notes faster than ever before.

Study Sets

Have all your study materials in one place.

Documents

Upload unlimited documents and save them online.

Study Analytics

Identify your study strength and weaknesses.

Weekly Goals

Set individual study goals and earn points reaching them.

Smart Reminders

Stop procrastinating with our study reminders.

Rewards

Earn points, unlock badges and level up while studying.

Magic Marker

Create flashcards in notes completely automatically.

Smart Formatting

Create the most beautiful study materials using our templates.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We’ll assume you’re ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept

Privacy & Cookies Policy

Источник

Предложите, как улучшить StudyLib

(Для жалоб на нарушения авторских прав, используйте

другую форму
)

Ваш е-мэйл

Заполните, если хотите получить ответ

Оцените наш проект

Источник

Major word classes

English has four major word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. They have many thousands of members, and new nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are often created. Nouns are the most common type of word, followed by verbs. Adjectives are less common and adverbs are even less common.

Many words belong to more than one word class. For example, book can be used as a noun or as a verb; fast can be used as an adjective or an adverb:

It’s an interesting book. (noun)

We ought to book a holiday soon. (verb)

He loves fast cars. (adjective)

Don’t drive so fast! (adverb)

Typical word-class suffixes

A suffix can often, but not always, tell us if a word is a noun, verb, adjective or adverb:

nouns	verbs	adjectives	adverbs
station government cruelty	soften identify industrialise	drinkable Japanese useless	carefully easily sadly

nouns

verbs

adjectives

adverbs

station

government

cruelty

soften

identify

industrialise

drinkable

Japanese

useless

carefully

easily

sadly

A good learner’s dictionary will tell you what class or classes a word belongs to.

Other word classes

The other word classes include prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions and interjections.

Prepositions

Prepositions describe the relationship between words from the major word classes. They include words such as at, in, on, across, behind, for:

We went to the top of the mountain. (to describes the relationship between went and top; of describes the relationship between top and mountain)

Are you ready for lunch yet? (for describes the relationship between ready and lunch)

Pronouns

Pronouns are words which substitute for noun phrases, so that we do not need to say the whole noun phrase or repeat it unnecessarily. Pronouns include words such as you, it, we, mine, ours, theirs, someone, anyone, one, this, those:

That’s Gerry in the photo. He lives in Barcelona.

This jacket’s mine. That must be Linda’s.

Determiners

Determiners come before nouns. They show what type of reference the noun is making. They include words such as a/an, the, my, his, some, this, both:

Have you got a ruler I can borrow?

I need some paper for my printer.

This phone isn’t easy to use.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions show a link between one word, phrase or clause and another word, phrase or clause. They include and, but, when, if, because:

Joe and Dan are brothers.

It was okay, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a restaurant.

We’ll ring you when we get to London.

Interjections

Interjections are mostly exclamation words (e.g. gosh! wow! oh!), which show people’s reactions to events and situations:

Yippee! I don’t have to go to work tomorrow!

Gosh! What an awful smell!

Phrase classes

The different word classes can form the basis of phrases. When they do this, they operate as the head of the phrase. So, a noun operates as the head of a noun phrase, a verb as the head of a verb phrase, and so on. Heads of phrases (H) can have words before them (e.g. determiners (det), adjectives (adj), adverbs (adv)) or after them (e.g. postmodifiers (pm) or complements (c)):

Noun phrase (underlined)

[DET]That [ADJ] [H]old box [PM (clause)]you left in the kitchen has got a hole in it.

Adverb phrase (underlined)

It all happened [ADJ]very [H]suddenly.

Prepositional phrase (underlined)

[H]The President [C]of the United States arrives tomorrow.

Источник

In English grammar, a word class is a set of words that display the same formal properties, especially their inflections and distribution. The term «word class» is similar to the more traditional term, part of speech. It is also variously called grammatical category, lexical category, and syntactic category (although these terms are not wholly or universally synonymous).

The two major families of word classes are lexical (or open or form) classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) and function (or closed or structure) classes (determiners, particles, prepositions, and others).

Examples and Observations

«When linguists began to look closely at English grammatical structure in the 1940s and 1950s, they encountered so many problems of identification and definition that the term part of speech soon fell out of favor, word class being introduced instead. Word classes are equivalent to parts of speech, but defined according to strict linguistic criteria.» (David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2003)
«There is no single correct way of analyzing words into word classes…Grammarians disagree about the boundaries between the word classes (see gradience), and it is not always clear whether to lump subcategories together or to split them. For example, in some grammars…pronouns are classed as nouns, whereas in other frameworks…they are treated as a separate word class.» (Bas Aarts, Sylvia Chalker, Edmund Weiner, The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2014)

Form Classes and Structure Classes

«[The] distinction between lexical and grammatical meaning determines the first division in our classification: form-class words and structure-class words. In general, the form classes provide the primary lexical content; the structure classes explain the grammatical or structural relationship. Think of the form-class words as the bricks of the language and the structure words as the mortar that holds them together.»

The form classes also known as content words or open classes include:

Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs

The structure classes, also known as function words or closed classes, include:

Determiners
Pronouns
Auxiliaries
Conjunctions
Qualifiers
Interrogatives
Prepositions
Expletives
Particles

«Probably the most striking difference between the form classes and the structure classes is characterized by their numbers. Of the half million or more words in our language, the structure words—with some notable exceptions—can be counted in the hundreds. The form classes, however, are large, open classes; new nouns and verbs and adjectives and adverbs regularly enter the language as new technology and new ideas require them.» (Martha Kolln and Robert Funk, Understanding English Grammar. Allyn and Bacon, 1998)

One Word, Multiple Classes

«Items may belong to more than one class. In most instances, we can only assign a word to a word class when we encounter it in context. Looks is a verb in ‘It looks good,’ but a noun in ‘She has good looks‘; that is a conjunction in ‘I know that they are abroad,’ but a pronoun in ‘I know that‘ and a determiner in ‘I know that man’; one is a generic pronoun in ‘One must be careful not to offend them,’ but a numeral in ‘Give me one good reason.'» (Sidney Greenbaum, Oxford English Grammar. Oxford University Press, 1996)

Suffixes as Signals

«We recognize the class of a word by its use in context. Some words have suffixes (endings added to words to form new words) that help to signal the class they belong to. These suffixes are not necessarily sufficient in themselves to identify the class of a word. For example, -ly is a typical suffix for adverbs (slowly, proudly), but we also find this suffix in adjectives: cowardly, homely, manly. And we can sometimes convert words from one class to another even though they have suffixes that are typical of their original class: an engineer, to engineer; a negative response, a negative.» (Sidney Greenbaum and Gerald Nelson, An Introduction to English Grammar, 3rd ed. Pearson, 2009)

A Matter of Degree

«[N]ot all the members of a class will necessarily have all the identifying properties. Membership in a particular class is really a matter of degree. In this regard, grammar is not so different from the real world. There are prototypical sports like ‘football’ and not so sporty sports like ‘darts.’ There are exemplary mammals like ‘dogs’ and freakish ones like the ‘platypus.’ Similarly, there are good examples of verbs like watch and lousy examples like beware; exemplary nouns like chair that display all the features of a typical noun and some not so good ones like Kenny.» (Kersti Börjars and Kate Burridge, Introducing English Grammar, 2nd ed. Hodder, 2010)

Источник