As I have written many times before, the line between grammatical forms is blurry at best, especially among lexical categories like adjectives and verbs. Adjectives are “words that describe nouns.” Verbs are “words that denote actions, occurrences, and states.” Participles are nonfinite verbs that share characteristics and functions of verbs, adjectives, and nouns. A present […] 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
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
The basic definition of an adjective clause is a dependent or subordinate clause that consists of a subordinating conjunction, specifically a relative pronoun, followed by a clause and that performs an adjectival function. Some grammars use the term relative clause for adjectives clauses. Grammatical Forms Grammatical Forms of English Adjective Clauses explains the internal structure […] More
Traditional grammars define prepositions as words that “link to other words, phrases, and clauses” and that “express spatial or temporal relations.” A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition plus another word, phrase, or clause functioning as the prepositional complement. In grammar, a noun phrase modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies or describes […] More
As a type of dependent or subordinate clause, adjective clauses consist of a relative pronoun followed by a clause that consists of a subject and a predicate. Also known as relative clauses, adjective clauses perform adjectival functions. In grammar, a noun phrase modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies or describes a noun, […] More
Traditional grammars define verbs as “words that denote actions and states of being.” A verb phrase consists of a verb plus any auxiliary verbs, particles, modifiers, complements, and objects. In grammar, a noun phrase modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies or describes a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase. Verb phrases in the […] More
Adjective clauses are dependent clauses that consists of a relative pronoun followed by a clause and that perform adjectival functions. Adjective clauses perform four grammatical functions within sentences in the English language. The four functions of adjective clauses are: Noun phrase modifier Verb phrase modifier Prepositional phrase modifier Noun clause modifier Some grammars use the […] More
English verbs and verb phrases perform seven primary grammatical functions within sentences in the English language. Traditional grammars define verbs as words that name actions and states. Verb phrases consist of a verb plus any modifiers, complements, particles, and auxiliaries. The seven prototypical functions of English verbs and verbs phrases are: Verb phrase head Predicate […] More
Noun phrase modifiers are defined as words, phrases, and clauses that describe a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase. Although adjectives and adjective phrases most frequently function to describe nouns, five grammatical forms can perform the grammatical function of noun phrase modifier in the English language. The five grammatical forms that can function as noun phrase […] More