Word classes are divided into open classes and closed classes. Open classes include nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs which can have new elements added through processes like coinage or loan words. They are defined by their lexical meaning. Closed classes contain prepositions, conjunctions, articles, pronouns and exclamations, which cannot easily have new elements added. They serve a grammatical function in language.

1. Word Class
Dina Hashem Oweidat
Supervised by
Dr. Khaleel B. Al Bataineh
English Language & Translation
Amman Arab University

2. Definition of Word Class
• British English :
a form class in which the members are words
• American English:
a group of words all of which are members of the same form class or part
of speech.

3. Types of Word Class
• There are Two types of Class Words
• Open Class Word
• Close Class Word

4. Open Class Word
• Noun :
• A noun is a word that identifies:
• a person (man, girl, engineer, friend)
a thing (horse, wall, flower, country)
an idea, quality, or state (anger, courage, life, luckiness)

5. Open Class Word
• Verb
• A verb describes what a person or thing does or what happens. For example,
verbs describe:
• an action – jump, stop, explore
an event – snow, happen
a situation – be, seem, have
a change – evolve, shrink, widen

6. Open Class Word
• Adjective
• An adjective is a word that describes a noun, giving extra information about
it. For example:
• an exciting adventure
a green apple
a tidy room

7. Open Class Words
• Adverb
• An adverb is a word that’s used to give information about a verb, adjective, or
other adverb. They can make the meaning of a verb, adjective, or other
adverb stronger or weaker, and often appear between the subject and its verb
(She nearly lost everything.)
• Adverb is description of verb.

8. Features of Open Word Class
• Lexical Meaning
• New words can be added :
- Coinage, other word formation
- Loan Words

9. Close Word Class
• Pronoun
• Pronouns are used in place of a noun that is already known or has already
been mentioned. This is often done in order to avoid repeating the noun. For
example:
• Laura left early because she was tired.
Anthony brought the avocados with him.
That is the only option left.
Something will have to change.

10. Close Word Class
• Preposition
• A preposition is a word such as after, in, to, on, and with. Prepositions are
usually used in front of nouns or pronouns and they show the relationship
between the noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. They describe,
for example, the position of something, the time when something happens,
or the way in which something is done.

11. Close Word Class
• Conjunction
• A conjunction (also called a connective) is a word such as and, because, but, for,
if, or, and when. Conjunctions are used to connect phrases, clauses,
and sentences. The two main kinds are known as coordinating
conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.

12. Close Word Class
• Determiner
• A determiner is a word that introduces a noun, such
as a/an, the, every, this, those, or many (as
in a dog, the dog, this dog, those dogs, every dog, many dogs).
• The determiner the is sometimes known as the definite article and the
determiner a (or an) as the indefinite article.

13. Close Word Class
• Exclamation
• An exclamation (also called an interjection) is a word or phrase that expresses
strong emotion, such as surprise, pleasure, or anger. Exclamations often
stand on their own, and in writing they are usually followed by an
exclamation mark rather than a full stop.

14. Features of Close Word Class
• Grammatical function
• New Words can not be added easily

15. Examples of Close Word Class
• In the House, In here is a Prepositions.
• You and I , And here is a Conjunction (Co.)
• I waited at home until she arrived, until here is a Conjunction (Sub.)
• The White house, The here is a Determiner, Article.
• You and I, You, I here is a pronouns.
• How wonderful!, this word is an exclamation.

16. Summary
• Open Classes :
- New Elements can be added easily
- Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs
- Lexical meaning
• Close Classes :
- New Elements are not easily added
- Prepositions ,conjunctions ,articles ,pronouns ,exclamations
- Grammatical function