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 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
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
Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns, noun phrases, and other grammatical forms. Intensive pronouns are pronouns that add emphasis to a statement. In English grammar, intensive pronouns are identical in form to reflexive pronouns. Unlike reflexive pronouns, however, intensive pronouns can be removed without altering the meaning or grammaticality of a sentence. […] 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
Pronouns are small words that can take the place of nouns, noun phrases, and other grammatical forms. Subject pronouns are pronouns that perform two functions in clauses: subject and subject complement. Subjects are words, phrases, and clauses that perform the action of or act upon the verb. Subject complements are words, phrases, and clauses that […] 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
