INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

WORD CLASSES

Lecturer:Dr.Esron Ambarita,SS.M,Hum.
Arranged by :

-Regina Ruth Sitepu (222-110-015)

pages :147-159
 1.INTRODUCTION
2.DEFINITION OF WORD CLASSES
3.TYPES AND EXAMPLE OF WORD CLASSES
 WORD CLASSES
• word classes are groups of words in a language. The
division of these word classes is distinguished based on
several categories such as word forms, functions and
meanings in the grammatical system that applies in
that language. • Knowledge of word classes is
important because it is absolutely necessary to
compose good and standard sentences according to
the applicable rules.
 WORD CLASSES
•In English; There are several categories of word
classes or parts of speech based on the role played
by a word in a sentence. Some words may occupy
several categories because they can have different
meanings in a sentence structure. The following
are the categories English word classes:
1.lexical categories
2.Functional categories

 1.lexical categories
・The lexical category is a syntactic category for
elements that are part of the lexicon of a language.
These elements are at the word level.
・ Lexical categories can be defined in terms of core
ideas or 'prototypes'. A given form may or may not fit
into one of the categories (see Analyzing lexical
categories). The category membership of a form can
vary according to how that form is used in discourse.

 Example lexical categories :

a.harriet applauds my suggestion

b.Tom and Harriet applaud my suggestion
c.The children are applaunding the clown
d.The children applauded the clown

from the following example we can see that

nouns and verbs combine with other words to
form phrases in distinct ways

 2.Functional categories
Functional categories is Elements which have purely
grammatical meanings (or sometimes no meaning), as
opposed to lexical categories, which have more obvious
descriptive content.
Words like the, will, in, and very belong to functional
categories, which can be thought of as the grammatical glue
that holds syntax together. While lexical categories mostly
describe non-linguistic things, states, or events, functional
categories often have purely grammatical meanings or uses.
 The morphological properties of
english verbs
An English verb has four morphological forms (forms of
word formation) ever needful to be ascertained in the
first place: the present, the past, the present participle,
and the past participle. The third person singular is the
fifth morphological form.
The present is that form of the verb, which is the root of all
the rest; the verb itself; or that simple term which we should
look for in a dictionary: as, be, act, rule, love, defend,
terminate.


The past is that simple form of the verb, which denotes time
past; and which is always connected with some noun or
pronoun, denoting the subject of the assertion: as, I was, I
acted, I ruled, I loved, I defended.
The present participle is that form of the verb, which ends
commonly in ing, and implies a continuance of the being,
action, or passion: as, being, acting, ruling, loving, defending,
terminating.
The past participle is that form of the verb, which ends
commonly in d or ed, and implies what has taken place: as,
been, acted, ruled, loved.

 inflectional classes in italian and russian

Focusing on English up to now we have seen that the

only type of inflection information which needs to
appear in world's lexical entry

is that which exhibits
irregularity