WORD CLASSES
FORMS & FUNCTIONS
& DESCRIPTIONS,
but NOT definitions
the problem with definitions
COIK
problem with definitions
 COIK
clear
only
if
known
Open Word Classes
 Nouns
 Verbs
 Adjectives
 Adverbs
Noun tests
 can be marked by articles (a, the, an)
and other determiners (such as
numbers):
___ farmer(s) went to town.
BUT don’t have to have determiners.
Girls just want to have fun.
AND may have adjectives in between:
My stupid dad smokes pot.
Types of nouns
 abstract (e.g., friendliness, childhood,
chastity) & concrete (e.g.,)dog,
mother, tree…
 Count (e.g., cat) & non-count (e.g.,
mankind, purity)
 Collective (e.g., class, team, faculty,
committee, army)
Types of nouns, cont’d
 Proper (e.g., Jane, Grand Canyon,
Main Street) & common (e.g., girl,
canyon, street)
Verbs
 can put an -ing on it...
 test sentences:
They want to _________.
It is going to ________.
Please ________ (it).
Grammar Joke of the Day
 What did the noun say to the verb?
 “Stop telling me what to do!”
Adjectives
 describe a noun
 have comparative and superlative forms
ex. happy/happier/happiest
 test sentence:
The _ dog was very ___.
 answer these questions:




Which one?
How many?
Which kind?
Whose?
Adverbs
 Describe a verb. . .
ex. He is already gone.
 an adjective...
ex. He is very happy.
 or another adverb...
ex. He is way too happy, if you ask me.
Adverbs
 Answer these questions:







When?
Where?
How?
How often
How much?
To what degree?
Why?
Adverbs
 often end in “-ly”
ex. Edward gingerly nuzzled Bella’s
neck.
 often are found next to or within the
verb
ex. He was really excited, but managed
to restrain himself.
Adverbs vs. Adjectives
 the moveability test:
Generally, adverbs can move around in
the sentence.
Adverbs generally can move.
Adverbs can generally move.
Adverbs can move, generally.
vs.
Adjectives can’t be moved.
BUT…
 Not just a matter of “forms”
 Also a matter of “functions”…
Ex: We had fried chicken for dinner.
We chickened out.
SO WHAT? You can only truly identify a
word’s class within a given sentence.
How to Bartle Puzballs
There are tork gooboos of puzballs, including
laplies, mushos, and fushos. Even if you
bartle the puzballs that tovo inny and onny
of the pern, they do not grunto any lipples.
In order to geemee a puzball that gruntos
lipples, you should bartle the fusho who has
rarckled the parshtootoos after her humply
fluflu.