3. OPEN CLASS
Open class words (content words) carry semantic
contents. We can and regularly add new words to
these classes.
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
4. STRUCTURAL GRAMMAR VS. TRADITIONAL
GRAMMAR
TRADITIONAL STRUCTURAL
• Classify and identify words
according to meaning
• Classify and identify words
according to form
I will water the plants.
Did you plant these?
It’s a planted evidence.
Give me water.
The watering can has a hole.
6. A noun can be extended to a noun phrase. In the
example phrases given below, the noun (in the first
example) and the noun phrase (in the remaining
examples) is in bold. Note how much the noun
phrase can be extended by adding extra
information each time.
Dogs can be vicious
Some dogs can be vicious
Some of the dogs can be vicious
Some of the bigger dogs can be vicious
Some of the bigger dogs in the dog pound can
be vicious
8. Properties of nouns:
Can be pluralized by adding /-s/
Can occur in frame: [Det (Adjective) ___]
Can be added with /-’s/ to show possession
9. NOUN FUNCTIONS
Subject
Barnabas chewed your loafers. (pre-verb)
Your loafers were chewed by Barnabas. (post-verb)
Direct Object of Transitive Verbs (post-transitive verb)
We love Barnabas.
Subjective Complement (post-linking verb)
My favourite pet is Barnabas.
10. Indirect Object (between verb and DO)
We give Barnabas some biscuits to eat.
Object of the Preposition (Prepositional Complement)
(after a preposition)
These bones are for Barnabas.
Object Complement (after DO)
We named our dog Barnabas.
Appositive (after another noun)
Our old dog, Barnabas, died at the garage.
11. Noun Phrase Modifier
The bedroom walls are all oak panels.
Books are repaired in the Conservation Lab.
Determinatives
A determinative is a noun or noun phrase plus the
possessive clitic (apostrophe s or s apostrophe)
that indicates possession of or some other
relationship to another noun or noun phrase.
The cat is eating the dog's food.
My parents' house is in the same part of town as
mine.
12. FULL VERBS
A full verb is a word that tells
what someone or something
is, does or experiences.
Transitive
Intransitive
Commands Statements
Yes-no questions Wh-questions
13. Command: Baste the chicken.
Yes-no question: Did you baste the chicken?
Are you finished talking?
Wh-question: How will you baste the chicken?
Why should I baste the chicken?
Statement: Someone will baste the chicken.
14. Regular Verbs Irregular Verbs
Base form dance clear sing cut throw
-s form dances clears sings cuts throws
-ing participle dancing clearing singing cutting throwing
Past form danced cleared sang cut threw
Past participle danced cleared sung cut thrown
15. Present and past participles of verbs may occur in
noun or adjective positions depending on how they
are used in the sentence or structure.
Cooking
Subject Cooking is what kept her alive.
Direct Object Mrs. Josh loves cooking.
Indirect Object She gave cooking a new name.
Subject Complement Her hobby is cooking.
Object of the
Preposition
She is so tired of cooking for you.
Appositive His first love, cooking, will always be his first love.
16. Here are examples of present and participle forms of
verbs used as adjectives.
The lady was accompanied by a giggling maidservant.
Note: The maidservant is giggling. (verb)
Roy’s family sells woven baskets and mats.
17. Properties of verbs:
Can be marked for tense, person and number
Can receive /–ing/ suffix
Can appear in frame: [Aux ___] (Aux = ‘helping
verb’)
Can appear in frame: [Please ___]
18. Exercise
1. You must use a good hammer for this job.
2. You must hammer the joists like this.
3. Jake is hammering the floor joists now.
4. Several hammers went missing yesterday.
Question: Is hammer a noun or verb in the above
sentences?
19. ADJECTIVES
Adjectives are
usually placed as
subject
complements
Placed before the
noun described if
they are single-word
adjectives
Placed after nouns if
they are clausal or
phrasal
20. Subjective Complement That car is so expensive.
Pre-noun position What an expensive car!
Post-noun position This car, so expensive like a 4-year
college tuition, should be maintained
properly.
Phrasal adjective The lady in the blue dress is your new
boss.
Clausal adjective I want to meet the man who broke your
heart into pieces.
21. An adjective gives the reader or speaker extra
information about a noun or delimits it in some way.
It can occur in two positions in a phrase:
before the noun as in clear water, beautiful
beaches, a terrible decision. The adjectives in these
examples are said to be attributive, following any
form of the verb be (e.g. am, is, was, been) and
similar verbs (seem, appear,become) as in the
water became clear, the beaches are beautiful.
These adjectives are in predicative position.
22. ADVERBS
Adverb of time may occur
in sentence-initial or
sentence-final positions.
Adverbs of manner and place
are usually found after the
verb and may interchange
their positions, provided that
single-modifiers come before
phrase modifiers.
23. Time initial: [Time+Sentence+Manner+Place]
Yesterday, the dancers came quietly at the palace.
Time final: [Sentence+Manner+Place+Time]
The dancers came quietly at the palace yesterday.
[Sentence+Place+Manner+Time]
The dancer came here alone yesterday.
24. Mid-position adverbs are found in the middle of the
sentence. These adverbs are adverbs of frequency
and their position in the sentence depends on the
verb they modify.
Verb to be (is, are, was, were) – the adverb of
frequency comes after the verb
Action verb – the adverb of frequency comes before
the verb
Verb phrase – it is placed after the first auxiliary
25. [verb to be + mid-position adverb]
Jackson is usually early.
[mid-position adverb + action verb]
Jackson regularly cleans the car.
26. [auxiliary + mid-position adverb + main verb]
You should always listen to me.
He has never been known to listen to anyone.
27. The traditional approach to adverbs has been to assign
mainly those words which are made from adjectives by
the addition of the ending –ly (quickly, hopelessly), plus
certain other words which are difficult to classify,
like not, just and soon.
Their main function is to qualify the action of the verb in the
clause in some way, but they can also be used to add
more information to an adjective or other adverb
e.g. awfully good, incredibly slowly. The class of
adverbs is very wide-ranging in form and is used to add
comments to many of the other word classes.
