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
The other day I read a tweet that made some claims about adverbs: “The -s in “unawares,” as in “they were caught unawares,” is completely distinct from the pluralizing -s. It’s an adverb suffix, and it’s also in “always” and “nowadays,” and in “nights,” “weekends,” etc., as in “they work nights/weekends.” #FunWithMorphology” The -s in […] More
Are the words yesterday, today, and tomorrow adverbs or nouns? Oxford Living Dictionaries identifies all three words as an adverb first and a noun second. Etymonline lists yesterday as a noun and adverb but today and tomorrow as only adverbs. Wiktionary defines today and tomorrow as adverbs first and nouns second but yesterday as a […] More
Notional grammars define adjectives as “words that describe nouns.” Big, cute, green, small, and wonky are prototypical adjectives. In big bully, The baby is cute, and I painted the wall green, each adjective describes a noun. Big describes the noun bully, cute describes the noun baby, and green describes the noun wall. However, stating that […] More
I recently tweeted my post entitled Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Indirect Objects. To my tweet, I received a comment that argued that, although the cat in I gave the cat a bath is indeed a recipient, the cat is not an indirect object but rather a direct object. Analyzing the cat as a […] More
“What’s wrong with you?” posits the Oxford Dictionaries. But, seriously, what’s up with the oddness that is the second person personal pronoun in English: you. Spanish has six ways of referring to you: tú, vos, usted, vosotros, vosotras, and ustedes. German has eight: du, dich, dir, ihr, euch, Sie, Ihnen. Why does English have only […] More
Verbs are traditionally defined as “words that describe actions or states of being.” Main or principal English verbs may be either intransitive or transitive. Ambitranitive verbs are English verbs that may be either transitive/ditransitive or intransitive depending on the context. Ambitransitive verbs can occur within passive constructions when transitive or ditransitive. Most English verbs are […] More
Verbs have traditionally been defined as “action or state of being words.” Main verbs, or principal verbs, fall into five categories in English grammar. Transitive verbs are English verbs that take an object. Ditransitive verbs take two objects: (1) a direct object and an indirect object or (2) a direct object and an object complement. […] More
Verbs have traditionally been defined as “action or state of being words.” Main verbs, or principal verbs, fall into five categories in English grammar. Transitive verbs are English verbs that take an object. Monotransitive verbs take only one object: a direct object. Ditransitive verbs take two objects: (1) a direct object and an indirect object […] More
Pronouns are small words that can take the place of nouns, noun phrases, and other grammatical forms. Reflexive pronouns are pronouns that end in -self or -selves, function as objects, and refer to a previously named noun or pronoun. Reflexive pronouns are a special kind of pronoun usually used in constructions in which the subject […] More
Pronouns are small words that can take the place of other grammatical forms such as nouns and noun phrases. Possessive pronouns express possession of or some other relationship to another word or phrase and can perform five grammatical functions: subject, subject complement, direct object, indirect object, and prepositional complement. Pronouns from three categories of pronouns […] More
Pronouns are small words that can take the place of nouns, noun phrases, and other grammatical forms. Object pronouns are pronouns that perform four functions in clauses: direct object, indirect object, object complement, and prepositional complement. Direct objects are words, phrases, and clauses that follow a transitive verb and receive the action of the verb. […] More
