A noun can be defined semantically as “a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.” In English, nouns can be singular or plural. Singular means “one.” Plural means “not one.” English nouns can also be possessive or non-possessive. English nouns can be classified into categories: common and proper. Common Nouns A common noun […] More
Notional 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 complement is a words, phrases, and clauses that complete the meaning of a noun or noun phrase. Verb phrases in the […] 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
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
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
One way in which nouns differ from other grammatical forms in the English language is grammatical number. Prototypical English nouns have both singular and plural forms. The holiday season often causes problems for English users when mailing out seasonal cards. While some last names are easy to pluralize (Johnson becomes Johnsons), others are trickier (Does […] More
Appositives are words, phrases, and clauses that support another word, phrase, or clause by describing or modifying the other word, phrase, or clause. Although nouns and noun phrases most frequently function as appositive in sentences, three grammatical forms can perform the grammatical function of appositive in the English language. The three grammatical forms that can […] 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
Notional grammars define pronouns as “small words that take the place of nouns and other grammatical forms.” Pronoun is a subcategory of the larger category of noun. A pronoun phrase, which is a type of noun phrase, consists of a pronoun plus any modifiers. Grammatical Forms Types of Pronouns: Personal, Indefinite, Demonstrative, Interrogative, and Relative […] More
Noun phrase heads are words that function as the heads of noun phrases. A noun phrase consists of a noun or pronoun plus any determiners, modifiers, and complements. Only two grammatical forms can perform the function of noun phrase head in the English language. The two grammatical forms that can function as the noun phrase […] More
Predicate nominatives, or predicate nouns, are defined as nominal grammatical forms that perform the grammatical function of subject complement. Subject complements are words, phrases, and clauses that follow a copular, or linking, verb and refer back to modify, describe, or complete the grammatical subject of the clause. Subject complements are grammatical constituents embedded in the […] More