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
“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
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
Adpositional complements are defined as the word, phrase, or clause that directly follows the adposition and completes the meaning of the adpositional phrase. Adpositional complements are also called objects of adpositions and complements of adpositions. Both prepositional complements and postpositional complements are subcategories of adpositional complements. Prepositional complements follow the preposition. Postpositional complements precede the […] More
Traditional notional grammars define prepositions as words that “link to other words, phrases, and clauses” and that “express spatial or temporal relations.” A prepositional phrase is a phrase that consists of a preposition plus another word, phrase, or clause functioning as the prepositional complement. In grammar, a prepositional complement is a word, phrase, or clause […] More
Verbs are traditionally defined by notional grammars as “words that denote an action or a state of being.” A verb phrase is a grammatical structure that consists of a verb functioning as the head of the phrase plus any auxiliary verbs, particles, modifiers, complements, and objects. In grammar, a prepositional complement is a word, phrase, […] More
Noun clauses are independent, or subordinate, clauses that perform nominal functions. Clauses are grammatical structures that contain a subject and a predicate. Grammatical Forms Grammatical Forms of English Noun Clauses explains the internal structure of noun clauses in English. Forming Noun Clauses from Questions explains the formation of noun clauses from interrogative constructions. Grammatical Functions […] More
