If I had to pick a single grammar topic to focus on for the rest of my life, I would likely choose determiners. I did not learn the term determiner until my junior year as an undergraduate when I took the linguistics class that inspired my subsequent study of all things linguistic. I have often […] More
As I have written repeatedly, the line between grammatical forms is blurry at best, especially among lexical categories like noun, verb, and adjective. Grammatical form and grammatical function distinguish one word class from other. The lines between functional categories are typically much clearer than the lines between lexical categories. As closed classes that do not […] More
I recently shared a photo across my social media accounts of the grammar textbook that I currently use with my oldest. I included the following caption: “I always have to fix my kids’ grammar books. Plural means “not one.” If you have zero or less than zero of something, you use the plural form: ‘I […] More
Traditional grammars categorize determiners with either adjectives or pronouns. But determiners are not adjectives. Repeat after me: Determiners are not adjectives. Notional grammars define adjectives as “words that modify nouns.” Adjectives describe attributes of nouns, pronouns, and noun phrases, functioning as noun phrase modifiers, subject complements, and object complements. Determiners provide non-attributive information such as […] More
Determiners are a closed class of words that provide information such as familiarity, location, quantity, and number about a noun phrase or verb phrase in the form of a present participle. Determiners differ in form and function from adjectives, which describe attributes of nouns, pronouns, and noun phrases. Grammatical Forms Grammatical Forms of English Determiners […] More
Determiners are a closed class of words that provide information such as familiarity, location, quantity, and number about a noun or noun phrase. Determiners differ in form and function from adjectives, which describe attributes of nouns and noun phrases. Determiners perform the grammatical function of determinative. In the English language, determiners are classified into seven […] More
Determiner phrase heads are words that function as the heads of determiner phrases. A determiner phrase consist of two or more determiners plus any p-words and functions as a determinative. Only one grammatical form can perform the function of determiner phrase head in the English language. The one grammatical form that can function as the […] More
Determiners are a closed class of words that provide information such as familiarity, location, quantity, and number about a noun or noun phrase. A determiner phrase is a phrase in which at least one determiner functions as the head of the phrase plus any additional determiners or p-words functioning as particles. The two grammatical forms […] More
Belonging to a closed class of words, determiners provide information such as familiarity, location, quantity, and number about a noun or noun phrase. Determiners differ in form and function from adjectives, which describe attributes of nouns and noun phrases. Similar to quantifiers, numerals are counting numbers such as one, two, three, and four that provide […] More
Determiners are a closed class of words that provide information such as familiarity, location, quantity, and number about a noun or noun phrase. Determiners differ in form and function from adjectives, which describe attributes of nouns and noun phrases. Quantifiers provide information about quantity of another word or phrase. Some of the most common English […] More
Determiners are a closed class of words that provide information such as familiarity, location, quantity, and number about a noun or noun phrase. Determiners differ in form and function from adjectives, which describe attributes of nouns and noun phrases. Possessive interrogative determiners both (1) express possession of or some other relationship to another word or […] More
A verb phrase is a phrase in which a verb functions as the head of the phrase plus any auxiliaries (modals, operators, perfects, progressives, passives), modifiers, complements, objects, particles, and determinatives. The six grammatical forms that appear within the internal structure of English verb phrases are: Auxiliary verbs P-words Prepositional phrases Verb phrases Adverb phrases […] More
