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2 views

ES class 3

Uploaded by

fjd9xg5stm
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Applied Linguistics (AL)

BED018
Faculty of Human and Social Sciences
English Department
Translation
A Course in English Syntax
2024-2025
Dr. Waleed Ahmed
[email protected]
Parts of speech

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:


• demonstrate knowledge about the traditional and modern definitions of
parts of speech.
• analyze sentences for various parts of speech

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

This lesson will cover:


• Traditional and modern definitions of parts of speech.
• Analysis of sentences for various parts of speech.

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

Revision:
• Define nouns and pronouns according to modern grammar.

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

A verb is a word that …


✓describes an action (e.g. play & walk);
✓can take …
❑ the simple present suffix –s/ -es (e.g. drinks & washes),
❑ the past suffix –d/ -ed (e.g. moved & stayed),
❑ the past participle suffix –d/ -ed/ -en (e.g. moved, stayed & eaten)
❑ the present participle suffix –ing (e.g. writing).

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

An adjective is a word that can …


✓ operate/ work as a pre-modifier/ post-modifier in the structure of a
noun phrase;
Examples:
1. New books sell well. (pre-modifier)
2. We need a person qualified for the job. (post-modifier)

✓ function as the subject-complement or object-complement of a sentence.


Examples:
1. The books are new. (subject complement)
2. My father made me happy. (object complement)
Dr. Waleed Ahmed
Parts of speech

✓An adjective can also take the comparative or superlative suffixes


or their equivalents.
Examples:
1. John is happier than Mary.
2. He is the happiest one in the family.
3. The car is more expensive than a bicycle.
4. She is the best student in the class.

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

Pair-work activity
Identify the function of the underlined adjectives in the following
sentences:
1. Hard-working students score high marks.
2. The boy is clever.
3. Something new can be invented next year.
3. The police made the criminal frightened.

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

Group-work activity
Identify the adjectives and their function in the following
sentences:
1. The weather is unpredictable.
2. The broken vase was irreplaceable.
3. The children were excited about the trip.
4. The story was really interesting.
5. The man responsible for the accident is unknown.
6. The boy with the blue jacket is my brother.
7. The man wearing a hat is a detective.

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

In English, a grammatical class of a word (part of speech) can be


determined based on:
1. Syntactic characteristics (form & function) and
2. Morphological features (derivational & inflectional suffixes).
• However, syntactic features are more dependable as some
words may share same morphological features.
Examples:
1. The suffix –er in the words: softer, nicer, and older has the
function of an inflectional suffix of comparison, but in words like
writer, player and trainer, it operates as a derivational suffix
with an agentival function.
Dr. Waleed Ahmed
Parts of speech

2. The suffix –ly in the words: foolishly, nicely and wisely, operates as
an adverbial suffix whereas in words like lovely, deadly and lively, it
is an adjectival suffix.
Thus, it is only on the basis of the syntactic function word, we can
decide the word-class (whether drier and cooler are nouns or
adjectives).

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

Group-work activity:
I. Identify the type of suffix in these words (derivational or
inflectional):
driver, drier, colder, higher, cooler, painter
II. Identify the type of suffix attached to words in the following
sentences (derivational or inflectional):
1. I have bought an expensive hair-drier.
2. The weather may become drier next week.
3. She has bought an expensive water-cooler.
4. It is much cooler in the shade here.

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

Note:
Some English words cannot take suffixes and there is no change in
their form even if there is a change of their grammatical function;
therefore, their grammatical class (part of speech) cannot be
identified in terms of their morphological features, but their
syntactic function in a phrase or a sentence is the only way of
recognizing their grammatical class.
Examples:
1. Eleven comes before twelve. (preposition)
2. She had cooked before the children arrived. (conjunction)
3. Have you travelled before? (adverb)
Dr. Waleed Ahmed
Parts of speech

Parts of speech in English can be classified into two main classes:


1. Open classes (major classes):
New words are formed or borrowed from other languages to suit the
needs of the community.
Open class words include nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
2. Closed classes (minor classes):
They are highly restricted/ fixed.
They include pronouns, determiners (articles, demonstratives,
possessives, etc.), prepositions, conjunctions and interjections.

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

Group work activity:


• Identify what parts of speech are the underlined words:
• 1. No one can help lazy people.
• 2. Three is her favorite number.
• 3. Yesterday was not a holiday.
• 4. I feel so relaxed in the cool of the evening here.
• 5. Nothing will be changed.
• 6. They said nothings to each other.
• 7. You can stand behind him.
• 8. Don’t stay behind.
• 9. Is it a he or a she?
Dr. Waleed Ahmed
Parts of speech

Group work activity:


• 10. Small is beautiful.
• 11. His worst is better than any other person’s best.
• 12. History is past politics.
• 13. The good ended happily.
• 14. This is something different.
• 15. She ran quickly enough to catch the bus.
• 16. What time do you get home?

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

Group-work exercise
Define the following parts of speech from the perspective of modern
English grammarians:
1.adverbs
2. articles
3. conjunctions
4. interjections

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

References:
• Thakur, D. (2002) Syntax Simplified, Lohani Publication, Patna, India

Dr. Waleed Ahmed


Parts of speech

End of the Lesson

Thank you

Dr. Waleed Ahmed

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