Word Classes
Rhetorical Grammar (7ed)
Chapter 12--Words and Word Classes
Lexicon=words we have at our immediate disposal
Countable and Non-countable Nouns
Non-countable nouns normally do not take indefinite articles (a, an)


I had a strange experience the other day.
I have experience working with animals.
fewer, number of, and many = countable nouns
less, amount of, and much = non-countable nouns

There were fewer accidents last weekend because there was less
traffic. The number of police officers and the amount of awareness
probably helped.
o There were less than a dozen bicycle accidents in the county
this year.
o We had fewer accidents than last year.
o We have less dollars than we need.
o We have less money than we need.
o We have less than ten dollars to last until payday.
Parts of Speech
Form Class words-->nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
 provide content
 have specific forms (inflections)
o nouns-->inflections = plural, possessive
singular
plural
singular
plural
possessive
possessive
cat
cats
cat's
cats'
child
children
child's
children's
 collective nouns--singular or plural depend on context
o The entire class was sleepy.
o The entire class wants me to end this lecture.
o The majority of the class are smart students.
o verbs (chapter 3)
o adjectives-->inflections = comparative and superlative
positive
comparative
superlative
big
bigger
biggest
clever
more clever
most clever
Word Classes
o adverbs
o adverbs of manner--> -ly endings (suddenly, quickly, etc.)
 comparative and superlative forms like adjectives,
use the superlative for super-emphasis
(She worked on her project most studiously.)
o flat adverbs-->same for as adjective (hard, late, etc.)
Derivational Affixes--suffixes and prefixes (primarily) that shift words from
one class to another (Ex. #39, page 222)
Structure Class words--> (determiners, pronouns, auxiliaries, qualifiers,
prepositions, conjunctions)
 provide structural/grammatical relationships
o Qualifiers--"amplifies or diminishes" meaning
 "somewhat humid," "very careful," "pretty good day"
 avoid over use, be precise (Ex #40, page 224)
o Prepositions
o Particles--combine with short verbs to create phrasal verbs,
don't confuse with prepositions (look up, carry on, turn in)
 PROBLEM: Where to put the object.
You should turn in your draft.
You should turn your draft in.
Pronouns
Both form and structure classes.
 personal pronouns behave like form class words.
o He has a bad attitude.
 possessive pronouns and demonstrative pronouns behave like
structure class words.
o His attitude made that class ugly.
personal pronouns
English does not have a gender-neutral pronoun. Make plural when possible
and watch antecedent.
have no apostrophe in the possessive case (his, her, their, its)
Case Errors--watch the objective and subjective pronouns ("between you
and me")
ambiguous antecedents
 When Bob accidentally backed the car into the toolshed, it was wrecked
beond repair.
 Just before they were scheduled to leave, Shelley told Anne that she couldn’t
go after all.
reflective pronouns
Word Classes


used as the object when the antecedent is the subject
o "I made myself a casserole."
intensive pronouns--when the reflexive pronouns is used to
emphasize
o "I myself prefer steak to casseroles"
Everyone/Everybody and Their
everyone and everybody are singular in form
 Everyone is present in class today.
possessive form?
 Everyone is present in class today with his or her books.
 Everyone is present in class today with their books.
Exercise #43, page 236