Part of Speech : positional
classes
8th meeting
Nominal and Verbal
Three Modes of Classification
1.Classification by
function(S,V,DO,IO,SC,OC,O.prep)
2. Classification by form (noun, verb,
adjective, adverb, non-suffixing words)
3. Classification by position (nominal, verbal,
adjectival, adverbial)
ex: The prettiest sat in the center.
nominal
Positional Classes
1.
Nominal
Nominal position is occupied by any words, phrases,
or even clauses that function as S,SC,DO,IO,OC,OP in
a sentence.
ex: The rich live on the bay.
In this sentence the word rich is an adjective by form
but it’s called a nominal because it occupies the
subject position in the sentence.
He hated starving.
In this sentence the word starving is a verb by form
but it’s called a nominal because it occupies the direct
object position in the sentence.
2. Verbal
Verbal are those forms that occupy verb
positions. The verb by form is a verbal by
position.
ex: The golf team may play tomorrow.
verbal
The verbal position is occupied only by
the main verb, so the aux verb may is not
included in the verbal.
Finite Verbs
Finite verbs are the verb forms that are
capable of full assertion in a sentence and
of changing their form to indicate person,
number, or tense.
ex: the verb choose(look in page 254)
Nonfinite verbs
The verb forms which don’t assert fully and do not
change their form to indicate person, number, or
tense.There are only three forms of nonfinite
forms which are present participle(-ING vb), past
participle(-D pp), and the infinitive(to)+ verb
stem.
ex: Shaking his fist
Having stayed calm
To stop this nonsense
3. Adjectivals
Adjectivals are those words from any forms
that fill in the adjective position in the
sentence.
There are 4 characterictics of adjectival positions:
1. Between the determiner(words such as a, the,
this, that, these, those, his, her, our, their,
Johny’s) and noun
ex:
That
joyful
freshman
det
adjectival noun
2. The third slot in the pattern 2
ex:Those boys
are young.
NP
LV AJ
3. After the noun.It accepts adjectives,
adverbs, verbs(participles), non-suffixing
words, and word groups.
ex: The waitress, old and weary, sat
heavily down.
4. At the beginning of a sentence before the
subject.
Angry and upset, the applicant slammed the
door.
4. Adverbial
Adverbial are those words or even group of words
that can fill in adverb position in a sentence.
We limit the position of adverbial into 5
positions:
1. Before the pattern, with or without juncture
Really, you should know better.
Now it’s time to go.
2. After the subject and before the auxiliary or
verb.
She often would forget her keys.
He actually expects to marry her.
3. After the auxiliary or the first auxiliary.
He would seldom make the effort.
They could easily have made the touchdown.
4. After the verb in pattern 1 and after be in pattern
2 and 3.
He drove recklessly.
Her brother is always a gentleman.
She is outside.
5. After the complement of the verb
(SC,DO,OC)
Hoskins will be quarterback tomorrow.
SC
Hoskins will play football tomorrow.
DO
They may choose Hoskins captain
tomorrow.
OC
Verb-Adverbial Composites
•
A verb-adverbial composite is a group of word consists
of a verb and adverbial ( Or in practice, u know it as
phrasal verb).The meaning of a verb adverbial
composite is different from the meaning of its verb and
adverbial itself, therefore it produces a new meaning.
ex; He turned up at seven o’clock.
There are two kinds of Verb-adverbial composites;
1. Intransitive Verb-Adverbial Composite (VAC)
ex; The car broke down.
2. Transitive Verb-Adverbial Composite (VAC + O)
ex; He turned down the offer.