lOMoARcPSD|46342985 lOMoARcPSD|46342985
ÑAÏI HOÏC QUOÁC GIA THAØNH PHOÁ HOÀ CHÍ MINH
TRÖÔØNG ÑAÏI HOÏC KHOA HOÏC XAÕ HOÄI & NHAÂN VAÊN Toâ Minh Thanh TAØI LIEÄU OÂN THI
TUYEÅN SINH SAU ÑAÏI HOÏC CHUYEÂN NGAØNH Giaûng daïy tieáng Anh
(Taùi baûn laàn thöù nhaát, coù chænh söûa)
NHAØ XUAÁT BAÛN ÑAÏI HOÏC QUOÁC GIA
TP HOÀ CHÍ MINH – 2008 CONTENTS
Content.................................................................................................................................................................i
Preface..............................................................................................................................................................vii
Outline for revision.....................................................................................................................................ix
Table of notational symbols................................................................................................................xii Section one: WORD CLASSES
1 Parts of speech, word classes and grammatical categories...........................................................................1
2 Classification of word classes...................................................................................................................2
2.1 Major classes vs. minor classes............................................................................................................2
2.2 English major classes.........................................................................................................................3
2.2.1 English form classes........................................................................................................4
2.2.2 English positional classes...............................................................................................6
2.3 English minor classes.......................................................................................................................10
2.4 Word-class exercises............................................................................................................................10
2.4.1 Exercises for form classes...............................................................................................10
2.4.2 Exercises for positional classes.......................................................................................12
Section two: TYPES of PHRASES, CLAUSES and SENTENCES
3 Phrases vs. clauses..........................................................................................................................................15
4 Adjective phrases vs. adverb phrases............................................................................................................15
5 Attributive vs. predicative adjectives/adjective phrases..........................................................17
6 Noun phrases vs. verb phrases.......................................................................................................................18
7 The N-bar (N’) as a level of NP-structure that is intermediate
between the phrasal (NP) level and the lexical (N) level..............................................................20
8 Types of pre-nominal modifiers..................................................................................................................21
8.1 Determiners.........................................................................................................................................21
8.2 Quanyifying adjectives.......................................................................................................................23
8.3 Adjective phrases.................................................................................................................................26
8.4 Pre-modifying nouns...........................................................................................................................27
8.5 Possessive common nouns...................................................................................................................28 i
8.6 Verb participles...................................................................................................................................29
8.7 Gerunds................................................................................................................................................30
8.8 Restricters............................................................................................................................................31
9 Types of post-nominal modifiers................................................................................................................32
9.1 Prepositional phrases...........................................................................................................................32
9.2 Adjective phrases..................................................................................................................................33
9.3 Participial phrases................................................................................................................................35
9.4 Infinitive phrases.................................................................................................................................35
9.5 Subordinate adjective clauses..............................................................................................................36
10 Noun complements vs. optional post-nominal modifiers............................................................................36
11 Classification of English verbs/verb phrases.......................................................................................38
11.1 Intensive verbs/verb phrases..............................................................................................................39
11.2 Complex transitive verbs/verb phrases..............................................................................................40
11.3 Ditransitive verbs/verb phrases.........................................................................................................43
11.4 Monotransitive verbs/verb phrases....................................................................................................47
11.5 Prepositional verbs/verb phrases........................................................................................................51
11.5.1 Monotransitive Prepositional verbs/verb phrases.........................................................51
11.5.2 Ditransitive Prepositional verbs/verb phrases...............................................................53
11.6 Intransitive verbs/verb phrases..........................................................................................................55
11.7 Summary of the classification of English verbs/verb phrases..........................................................57
11.8 Troublesome verbs..............................................................................................................................59
12 Types of clause links................................................................................................................................61
13 Types of clauses........................................................................................................................................62
13.1 Finite clauses vs. non-finite clauses...............................................................................................62
13.2 Independent clauses vs. dependent clauses....................................................................................63
13.3 Subordinate clauses vs. embedded clauses.....................................................................................64
14 Covert subjects vs. overt subjects...............................................................................................................66
15 Types of finite dependent clauses...........................................................................................................67
15.1 Nonimal clauses.................................................................................................................................67
15.2 Relative clauses..................................................................................................................................67 ii
15.3 Adverbial clauses...............................................................................................................................68
15.4 Reporting clauses...............................................................................................................................68
15.5 Comment clauses................................................................................................................................68
16 Types of non-finite clauses.....................................................................................................................69
16.1 Infinitive non-finite clauses..............................................................................................................69
16.2 Gerund non-finite clauses..................................................................................................................69
16.3 Participial non-finite clauses............................................................................................................70
16.4 Verbless clauses..................................................................................................................................71
17 Classification of sentences according to their structures....................................................................71
17.1 Simple sentences.................................................................................................................................71
17.2 Compound sentences..........................................................................................................................72
17.3 Complex sentences..............................................................................................................................72
17.3.1 Embedded nominal clauses....................................................................................................73
17.3.1.1 As the subject..........................................................................................................73
17.3.1.2 As the direct object/the predicator complement......................................................78
17.3.1.3 As the indirect object...............................................................................................89
17.3.1.4 As the subject(ive) complement.............................................................................90
17.3.1.5 As the object(ive) complement...............................................................................91
17.3.1.6 As the complement of a preposition......................................................................94
17.3.2 Subordinate/embedded adjectival clauses............................................................................95
17.3.3 Subordinate/embedded adverbial clauses.............................................................................96
17.4 Compound-Complex sentences..........................................................................................................97
Section three: GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS
18 Structure.........................................................................................................................................................99
19 Endocentric structures vs. exocentric structures......................................................................................99
20 Types of syntactic structures................................................................................................................100
20.1 Structures of modification..............................................................................................................100
20.2 Structures of complementation......................................................................................................101
20.3 Structures of coordination..............................................................................................................101
20.4 Structures of predication................................................................................................................103 ii
21 Constructions vs. constituents.................................................................................................................104
22 Immediate constituents vs. ultimate constituents.................................................................................104
23 Immediate constituents of a sentence.......................................................................................................105
24 Intervening level of organization between word and sentence.......................................................106
25 Modifiers vs. complements.......................................................................................................................106
26 Types of adjective complements...........................................................................................................108
27 Pre-adjectival modifiers vs. post-adjectival modifiers............................................................................108
28 Adjective complements vs. optional post-adjectival modifiers................................................................109
29 Classification of English adjectives according to their post-modifiers................................................111
30 Types of adverbial adjuncts.................................................................................................................112
31 Noun phrase analyses.................................................................................................................................123
32 Mis-diagraming...........................................................................................................................................125
33 Structural ambiguity in English noun phrases...........................................................................................126
33.1 Define a structurally ambiguous noun phrase......................................................126
33.2 Explain structurally ambiguous noun phrases......................................................128
33.3 Disambiguate structurally ambiguous noun phrases............................................134
33.4 Account for structurally non-ambiguous noun phrases.....................................138
34 Verb phrase analyses..............................................................................................................................140
34.1 Noun phrases as the sP/sC of an intensive verb or as the dO of
a monotransitive verb.....................................................................................................................140
34.2 NP direct objects of a monotransitive verb or NP adverbial
adjuncts of an intransitive verb....................................................................................................141
34.3 Prepositional phrases as the sP/sC of an intensive verb or as
the optional adverbial adjunct of any verb..................................................................................142
34.4 IntransVAC vs. intransV—Adv.................................................................................................143
34.5 MonotransVAC—NP vs. intransV—PP..................................................................................144
34.6 MonotransVAC—NP vs. monotrans-prepV—prepO...............................................................146
35 Sentence analyses....................................................................................................................................147
35.1 Identify the syntactic function of a PP....................................................................................147
35.2 Decide whether a PP is part of the complementation of a
ditransitive verb..............................................................................................................................148 iv
35.3 Explain the difference between two sentences................................................................151
35.4 Re-analyse sentence pairs, using tree-diagrams.................................................................154
36 Structural ambiguity in English verb phrases............................................................................................157
37 Phrase structure..........................................................................................................................................162
37.1 Definition.........................................................................................................................................162
37.2 How to determine phrase structure?...............................................................................................162
37.2.1 Substitution..................................................................................................................162
37.2.2 Conjoinability...............................................................................................................165
37.2.3 Movement.....................................................................................................................166
37.2.4 Checking the antecedent for a pro-form.......................................................................167
37.3 Phrase structure exercises................................................................................................................167
38 Phrase structure rules.................................................................................................................................170
39 Surface structures vs. deep structures.....................................................................................................172
40 Signals of syntactic structures...................................................................................................................174
40.1 Word order.......................................................................................................................................174
40.2 Function words...............................................................................................................................174
40.3 Inflection.........................................................................................................................................175
40.4 Derivational contrast.....................................................................................................................176
40.5 Prosody............................................................................................................................................176
41 What is syntax?..........................................................................................................................................177
Section four: SAMPLE TESTS IN ENGLISH LINGUISTICS.........................................................................178
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................................197 v LÔØI NOÙI ÑAÀU
Thöïc teá laø khoâng phaûi saùch ngoân ngöõ cuûa taùc giaû ngöôøi nöôùc ngoaøi naøo
cuõng ñaùp öùng ñuùng vaø ñuû noäi dung oân taäp thi tuyeån sinh sau ñaïi hoïc chuyeân
ngaønh Giaûng daïy tieáng Anh (Teaching English to Speakers of Other
Languages) theo quy ñònh cuûa Tröôøng Ñaïi hoïc Khoa hoïc Xaõ hoäi
vaø Nhaân vaên, thuoäc Ñaïi hoïc Quoác gia Thaønh phoá Hoà Chí Minh.
Taøi lieäu naøy ra ñôøi nhaèm ñaùp öùng nhu caàu oân taäp thi tuyeån
sinh sau ñaïi hoïc cho moân Ngöõ hoïc trong chuyeân ngaønh neâu treân.
Ñeå giuùp caùc ñoái töôïng döï thi laøm quen vaø chuaån bò toát cho kyø thi cuûa
mình, taøi lieäu naøy (1) bao goàm nhöõng troïng ñieåm theo ñuùng qui ñònh veà noäi
dung oân taäp cuûa Ñeà cöông oân taäp Cuù phaùp cho kyø thi tuyeån sinh sau ñaïi hoïc
chuyeân ngaønh Giaûng daïy tieáng Anh vaø (2) ñöôïc trình baøy thaønh boán phaàn:
Phaàn 1: Caùc töø loaïi (Word Classes)
Phaàn 2: Caùc loaïi ngöõ, cuù vaø caâu (Types of phrases, clauses and sentences)
Phaàn 3: Caùc moái quan heä ngöõ phaùp (Grammatical relations)
Phaàn 4: Moät soá ñeà thi vaø ñaùp aùn ñaõ thöïc teá ñöôïc duøng trong caùc kyø thi gaàn ñaây.
Taøi lieäu naøy cuõng coù theå naèm trong thö muïc saùch tham khaûo giuùp sinh
vieân heä taïi chöùc vaø heä chính quy baèng 1 vaø baèng 2 cuûa chuyeân ngaønh Ngöõ
vaên Anh hoïc thaønh coâng moân Syntax trong chöông trình chính khoùa cuûa caùc heä
ñaøo taïo ñaïi hoïc naøy. Ngoaøi ra, caùc hoïc vieân cao hoïc chuyeân ngaønh Giaûng daïy
tieáng Anh vaø caùc thaày coâ cuûa khoùa Boài döôõng giaùo vieân taïi Tröôøng Ñaïi
hoïc Khoa hoïc Xaõ hoäi vaø Nhaân vaên, thuoäc Ñaïi hoïc Quoác gia Thaønh phoá Hoà
Chí Minh cuõng coù theå tham khaûo taøi lieäu naøy khi theo hoïc moân Linguistics PG
trong chöông trình chính khoùa cuûa caû hai heä ñaøo taïo sau ñaïi hoïc naøy.
Raát mong taøi lieäu naøy seõ giuùp caùc ñoái töôïng döï thi töï oân luyeän toát hôn
duø coù ñieàu kieän hay khoâng theå tröïc tieáp theo hoïc caùc lôùp luyeän thi taïi tröôøng.
Thaønh phoá Hoà Chí Minh, ngaøy 20 thaùng 1 naêm 2005. Toâ Minh Thanh vi vii
Ñaïi Hoïc Quoác Gia Tp. Hoà Chí Minh
TRÖÔØNG ÑAÏI HOÏC KHOA HOÏC XAÕ HOÄI & NHAÂN VAÊN Y 
ÑEÀ CÖÔNG OÂN TAÄP THI TUYEÅN SINH CAO HOÏC Moân Cô
sôû: LINGUISTICS (cho chuyeân ngaønh Giaûng daïy tieáng Anh) 1. Linguistics (a) Semantics
- The expression of meaning in English at the word and sentence level;
- The relations of different kinds of meaning; - Meaning shifts or words;
- Use of language in social interaction. (b) Syntax - Word classes; - Grammatical relations;
- Types of phrases, clauses & sentences. 2. Academic Writing
Write an essay of 250 - 300 words on an issue of second
language teaching and learning. REFERENCES
Fromkin V. et al (1988) An Introduction to Language.
Sydney: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Hurdford, J. R. & Heasley, B. (1984) Semantics. A Course Book.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jordan, R.R. (1990) Academic Writing Course. Collins ELT. A Division of Harper Collins Publishers.
Kaplan, J.P. (1989) English Grammar. Principles and Facts.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. viii ix SEMANTICS
GUIDELINES FOR REVIEW
I. Semantic Properties and Semantic Fields II. Reference and Sense
III. Denotation and Connotation
IV. Taxonomy—Hypernyms and Hyponyms
V. Multiple Senses of Lexical Items * Primary Sense * Secondary Senses (polysemy)
* Figurative Senses (metaphors, similes, metonymy, synecdoche,
euphemism, hyperbole, litotes, alliteration, assonance, consonance) VI. Synonymy vs. Antonymy
VII. Homonyms (homophones and homograph), acronyms, anomaly VIII. Speech Acts
Propositions-Utterances-Sentences Performative sentences
Presuppositions and Implicatures Felicity conditions Speech events Deixis (time, place, person) Pragmatic meaning Maxims of conversation Maxims of politeness x ENGLISH SYNTAX Introduction
• Chapters 1 & 2 in Jackson
• Syntax: “the study of how words combine to (1980)
form sentences and the rules which govern the • Chapter 5 in Francis (1958)
information of sentences” (Richards, Platt &
• “The Grammar of English” by Weber) Heatherington, in Clar et al
• Traditional grammar — Structural grammar — (1981: 329-42) Transformational grammar
• What do native speakers know
Five signals of syntactic structures: Word order, about their language?
Prosody, Function words, Inflections, and by Jacbs and Rosenbaum,
Derivational contrast (Francis, 1958: 234) in Clark et al (1981: 343-49)
Word classes: open ad closed classes
• Open classes: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs (Jackson, 1980)
• Closed classes: Pronouns, Numerals,
Determiners, Prepositions, Conjunctions (Jackson, 1980) IC’s in Syntax
• Chapter 6 in Francis (1958)
Four basic types of syntactic structures:
• Chapter 6 in Fromkin et al
modification, predication, complementation, (1990)
and coordination (Francis, 1958)
• Chapter 1in Nida (1996)
Endocentric and exocentric constructions
• John Lyons (translated (Bloomfield, 1933; Nida, 1966) version) pp. 368-70 Noun phrases Chapter 3 in Jackson (1980)
Types of modifiers in noun phrases
• Premodification: identifier, numeral/quantifier, adjective, noun modifier
• Postmodification: relative clauses, non-finite clauses, prepositional phrases
Verb phrases: tense, aspect, mood, voice Chapter 4 in Jackson (1980)
Adjective phrases, adverb phrases, and Chapter 5 in Jackson (1980) prepositional phrases Clauses
Chapter 6 & 7 in Jackson (1980)
• Structures and types • Dependent clauses
Phrase structure rules & Transformational rules Chapter 5 in Fromkin et al (1990) xi NOTATIONAL SYMBOLS
Most of the symbols used in this text follow conventions, but since conventions vary, the following list
indicates the meanings assigned to them here. A = adjective iO = indirect object Adv = (general) adverb M = modifier ART = article ModN = pre-modifying noun AP = adjective phrase
monotrans = monotransitive verb AdvP = adverb phrase
monotrans-prep = monotransitive C = complement prepositional verb ComN = compound noun
monotransVAC = monotransitive verb- COMP = complementizer adverbial composite
complex = complex transitive verb N = noun Conj = conjunction N’ = N-bar
Co-P = a coordination of Prepositions nC = noun complement
Co-PP = a coordinate Prepositional NP = noun phrase phrase NUM = numeral/number
Co-NP = a coordinate noun phrase
opA = optional adverbial adjunct
Co-AP = a coordinate adjective phrase
obA = obligatory adverbial adjunct DEG = degree adverb oC = object(ive) complement DEM = demonstrative oP = object-predicative DET = determiner POST-MOD = post-modifier dO = direct object POST-DET = post-determiner ditrans = ditransitive verb PRE-MOD = pre-modifier ditrans-prep = ditransitive PRE-DET = pre-determiner prepositional verb PRO = pronoun
EmACl = embedded adjective clause PropN = proper noun
EmAdvCl = embedded adverbial clause Poss = possessive EXCLAMATORY DET = exclamatory PossA = possessive adjective determiner
PossPropN = possessive proper noun
[E] = empty/covert/zero/implicit subject
PossCommN = possessive common noun H = the head PossMarker = possessive marker
PossNP = possessive noun phrase headN = the head noun predC = predicator complement headPRO = the head pronoun P = preposition
headPropN = the head proper noun prep = prepositional verb headA = the head adjective prepO = prepositional object headGer = the head gerund
prepC = complement of a preposition IC = immediate constituent PP = prepositional phrase InfP = infinitive phrase PartP = participial phrase intens = intensive verb Q = quantifier intrans = intransitive verb QA = quantifying adjective
intransVAC = intransitive verb- RESTRIC = restricter adverbial composite S = sentence xii S’= S-bar Prt = adverbial particle sC = subject(ive) complement VAC = verb-adverbial composite sP = subject-predicative * = unaccepted form
SubACl = subordinate adjective clause ? = doubtfully acceptable form
SubAdvCl = subordinate adverbial clause [ ] = embedded unit VP = verb phrase / = or Vgrp = verb group φ = unfilled V-Part = verb participle
⇒ = one-way dependence V-Ger = gerund
⇔ = two-way dependence xii SECTION 1: WORD CLASSES
1 Parts of speech, word classes and grammatical categories1
“The traditional term ‘parts of speech’ is puzzling; it’s not clear why kinds
of words — really, classes of words — would be ‘parts’ of speech any more than,
say, phonemes, allophones, morphemes, allomorphs, or even phrases or sentences. In fact,
instead of ‘parts of speech,’ linguists usually employ the terms ‘word class’ or
‘grammatical category.’ The term ‘grammatical category’ is a useful one, since it
captures an important aspect of a ‘part of speech,’ namely, that all tokens of a
particular part of speech share important grammatical characteristics that other
parts of speech lack. The term ‘word class,’ however, is valuable in its simplicity
and is certainly an improvement over ‘part of speech’.” [Kaplan, 1989: 105]
1“The syntactic categories of words and groups of words are revealed by the way they
pattern in sentences. If you didn’t have knowledge of these syntactic categories, you
would be unable to form grammatical sentences or distinguish between
grammatical and ungrammatical sentences.” [Fromkin et al, 1988: 214] For
example, the child belong to a family that includes the police officer, your neighbour, this
yellow cat, he, and countless others. Each member of this family can be substituted
for the child without affecting the grammaticality of the sentence, although the
meanings of course would change.
“A family of expressions that can substitute for one another without loss of grammaticality
is called a syntactic category.” [Fromkin and Rodman, 1993: 79] 1
2 Classification of word classes
2.1 Major classes vs. minor classes: Kaplan, [1989: 106] divides word classes
into two main groups—major and minor. major classes minor classes
1. The major classes — nouns,
1. The minor classes — pronouns,
verbs, adjectives, and adverbs —
numerals, determiners, prepositions,
have a great many members, e.g. a
conjunctions, and so on — have few hundred thousand nouns.
members. It’s easy to list all the
articles of English: a, an, and the.
There are maybe 70 prepositions and
approximately a dozen subordinate
conjunctions: when, since, because,
after, before, while, although, as, etc.
2. Major class words tend to have
2. Minor class words tend not to have
referential meanings, since they
referential meanings. That is their
involve, or allow, reference to actual
meanings are not easily specified by
things, actions, events, or properties,
means of a neat definition, e.g. how
e.g. “Horse means that kind of
would you define the or of? In other
animals.” uttered while pointing to a
words, “the open classes bear the horse.
greatest load in terms of meaning, in
the sense of refrence to things in the
world while the function of closed
classes is oriented more towards
internal linguistic relationships.” [Jackson, 1980: 7]
3. Major classes are receptive to new
3. Minor classes are not receptive to
members. As a result, major classes
new members; they are closed. It’s
are also called open classes [Jackson,
unlikely you can think of any last new
1980: 7]. Originating in slang or
slangy article, conjunction, pronoun,
casual contexts are the following new
or preposition you’ve learned.
nouns, verbs, and adjectives (new
adverbs are harder to come up with):
teflon, yuppie, nerd (nouns); scam,
boot up, book (verbs); rad, gnardly,
killer, tubular, (adjectives). 2
2.2 English major classes: In defining major/open classes, Stageberg
[1965: 191-219] presents a double-track classification, one by form and the other by position2. 2
1. House and Harman [1965] also classifies major/open classes according to their meaning.
“According to the meaning they represent, nouns may be divided into several
classes: common or proper, concrete or abstract, collective, individual, mass, material, etc.” [House and Harman, 1965: 22]
“When classified as to meaning, adjectives are descriptive or definitive, some of
each class having definite and some indefinite application.” [House and Harman, 1965: 73]
2. Fromkin et al [1988, 214-215] present three types of criteria to define
major/open classes: - F
orm : The class of a word may be apparent from its form. Certain inflectional and
derivational morphemes are associated with certain word classes. - F
unction : The class of words may be indicated by the way it functions in a phrase or
sentence. For example, in the sentence
He will not score any more runs unless he runs faster.
The first runs is recognized as a noun and the second as a verb because of their function. - Me
aning : Some words are commonly classified according to their semantic type,
such as abstract nouns (truth, kindness, beauty) and stative verbs (be,
appear, resemble).
Unfortunately meaning is not a reliable guide because there are many words
which belong to more than one word class (kick, love, drink), but those whose meaning
remains essentially the same. Meaning is therefore best regarded as a
secondary criterion, to be used to check the purely grammatical criteria of form and function.
3. Kaplan [1989:108] points out that one problem with the traditional definition of noun
and verb since it is meaning-based (a noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing; a verb
is a word that names an action or state), it ought to be universal — valid in all languages, that
is. But concepts that are encoded linguistically as nouns in one language may be
encoded as verbs or adjectives in others. In English, for example, we normally say I’m
hungry, using an adjective to describe how we feel; but in Spanish one says tengo
hambre — literally, “I have hunger”, using a noun, hambre, to describe the same feeling. 3
Stageberg’s four form classes are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Each
form-class has its correlative position class, which will be later labelled as nominals,
verbals, adjectivals, or adverbials.
2.2.1 English form classes 2.2.1.1 Nouns
Noun are identified as nouns by two aspects of form, their
inflectional morphemes, and their derivational morphemes.
2.2.1.1.1 The two noun inflectional suffixes in English are:
The noun plural morpheme {–S1}: book–s, apple–s, box–es, etc.
The noun possessive morpheme {–S2}: man–’s, girl–’s, students–’,
Alice–’s, etc.
2.2.1.1.2 Nouns are identified not only by inflectional morphemes but
also by noun-forming derivational suffixes added to
verbs, adjectives, nouns, and bound forms: accept → acceptance, big → bigness,
book → booklet, dent- → dentist, etc. 2.2.1.2 Verbs
Verbs are identified as verbs by two aspects of form, their
inflectional morphemes, and their derivational morphemes.
2.2.1.2.1 The four verb inflectional suffixes in English are:
The verb third person singular present tense morpheme {–S3}:
walk–s, find–s, mix–es, etc.
The verb present participle morpheme {–ing1}:
play–ing, typ(e)–ing, dig(g)–ing, etc.
The verb past simple morpheme {–D1}:
flow–ed, work–ed, creat(e)–ed, drank, broke, thought, show–ed, etc.
The verb past participle morpheme {–D2}:
flow–ed, work–ed, creat(e)–ed, drunk, broken, thought, show–n, etc.
2.2.1.2.2 Verbs are identified not only by inflectional morphemes but
also by verb-forming derivational affixes added to
nouns or adjectives: knowledge → acknowledge, bath → bathe, ripe → ripen,
large → enlarge, etc. 4
2.2.1.3 Adjectives
Adjectives are identified as adjectives by two aspects of form, their
inflectional morphemes, and their derivational morphemes.
2.2.1.3.1 The two adjective inflectional suffixes in English are:
The adjective comparative morpheme {–er1}:
small–er, saf(e)–er, thinn–er, etc.
The adjective superlative morpheme {–est1}:
small–est, saf(e)–est, thinn–est, etc. 2.2.1.3.2 Adjectives are
identified not only by inflectional
morphemes but also by adjective-forming derivational suffixes3 added to nouns or verbs:
athlete → athletic, child → childish, collect → collective, read → readable, etc.
In short, “a word which is inflected with –er and –est and which is capable
of forming adverbs with –ly and/or nouns with –ness is called an adjective.” [Stageberg, 1965: 202]
Or, “an adjective will be any word which has one or more of the following positive attributes:
i. it can occur between Article and Noun.
ii. it can occur in the slot (Art) N is _____.
iii. it can occur before (or contains) –er and –est, or after more and most.
and in addition has all of the following negative attributes.
i. it cannot occur with a plural.
ii. it cannot occur with a possessive.
iii. it cannot occur in the slot (Art) N _____Verb.” [Kaplan, 1989: 116]
3 There is a group of about seventy-five, mostly of two syllables, which begin with the
prefix a-: afoot, aground, awake, agape, aloud, afresh, alert, adroit, etc.
“These are uninflected words (UW’s) because they take no inflectional endings. Although they
do have the prefix a- in common, it seems unwise to label them formally as either
adjectives or adverbs since positionally they appear in both adjectival and adverbial
slots.” [Stageberg, 1965: 206] 5
2.2.1.3.4 Adverbs
2.2.1.3.4.1 The two adverb inflectional suffixes in English are:
The adverb comparative morpheme {–er1}: fast–er, hard–er, etc.
The adverb superlative morpheme {–est 1}: fast–est, hard–est, etc.
2.2.1.3.4.2 Adverbs are identified not only by inflectional
morphemes but also by the adverb-forming derivational suffix {–ly1}4 added to
adjectives: just → justly, beautiful→ beautifully, etc.
2.2.2 English positional classes
According to Stageberg [1965: 196-219], the four positional classes in
English are the nominal, the verbal, the adjectival and the adverbial.
2.2.2.1 “Any word, whatever its form-class (noun, verb, comparable, pronoun,
uninflected word) will be tabbed a nominal if it occupies one of the seven noun
positions” [Stageberg,1965:196] listed below:
1. The position of the subject: - U
pstairs IS the safest hiding place.
4“In the word-stock of English there are many uninflected words often employed in the adverbial positions:
1. Uninflected words used both as adverbials and prepositions: above, about, after, around,
before, behind, below, down, in, inside, on, out, outside, since, to, under, up.
2. “-ward” series, with optional –s: afterward, backward, downward, forward,
homeward, inward, northward, outward, upward, windward.
3. “Here” series: here, herein, hereby, heretofore, hereafter.
4. “There” series: there, therein, thereby, theretofore, thereafter.
5. “-where” series: anywhere, everywhere, somewhere, nowhere.
6. “-ways” series: crossways, sideways; also, anyway.
7. “-time” series: meantime, sometime, anytime, sometimes.
8. Miscellaneous: today, tonight, tomorrow, yesterday, now, then, seldom, still, yet,
already, meanwhile, also, too, never, not, forth, thus, sidelong, headlong, maybe,
perhaps, instead, indeed, henceforth, piecemeal, nevertheless, downstairs, indoors,
outdoors, offhand, overseas, unawares, besides, furthermore, always.” [Stageberg, 1965:215] 6