INFLECTIONAL PARADIGMS

A paradigm is a set of related forms having the same stem but different affixes. As a reminder, here is a derivational paradigm with the steam head: ahead, behead, header, headlong, headship, heady, subhead. Paradigms are also formed by the words to which the inflectional affixes are attached. These are called inflectional paradigms. There are only four of them. NOUN PARADIGM Forms: Stem Inflectional suffixes: Model: woman PRONOUN PARADIGM 1st 2nd 3rd M F N 1st 2nd 3rd Interrogative Relative Subject I you he she it we you they who Singular Object Prenominal Possessive me my you your him his her her it its Plural us our you your them their whom whose Substitutional Possessive mine yours his hers its ours yours theirs whose Plural {-S pl} women Possessive {-S ps} womans Plural + Possessive {-S pl ps} womens

The pronoun paradigm differs from the other three in that it is not a stem-and-affix group but a small and closed set of words of fixed form. VERB PARADIGM Forms: Stem Inflectional suffixes: Model: Present Third- Present Person Participle Singular {S 3d} {-ING vb} rings ringing Comparative {-ER cp} friendlier Past Tense {-D pt} rang Superlative {-EST sp} friendliest Past participle {-D pp} rung

ring

COMPARABLE PARADIGM Forms: Stem Inflectional suffixes: Model: friendly

In paradigms the meaning of the stem remains constant; the suffixes produce the differences in meaning among the forms of each paradigm.

A. The Noun Paradigm Many nouns do not take the possessive forms, since an of structure often takes the place of the {S ps} morpheme. For example, one is more likely to say the ceiling of the room than the rooms ceiling. A few groups of so-called nouns have only one form of this paradigm. The words in one group like tennis, courage, and haste have the form of the stem. Another group does not have a singular form but only that of the s plural: clothes, environs, trousers, and others. Still another group ends in an s, words like economics, linguistics, mathematics, physics, but these take it as a pronoun substitute and go with a singular form of the verb. Words in a certain ill-defined group end in s, like ethics, oats, pliers, suds, measles, but may be either singular or plural, depending on the context in which they occur or on the meaning expressed. Examples: Singular: Measles is a contagious disease. Plural: Have you ever had them, the measles? I Write the paradigmatic forms of these nouns. For some slots you may have two forms or none. Stem Plural Possessive Plural + Possessive 1. carpenter ____________ ____________ ____________ 2. woman ____________ ____________ ____________ 3. brother ____________ ____________ ____________ 4. cloud ____________ ____________ ____________ 5. cattle ____________ ____________ ____________ 6. duck ____________ ____________ ____________ 7. Japanese ____________ ____________ ____________ 8. means ____________ ____________ ____________ 9. athletics ____________ ____________ ____________ 10. scissors ____________ ____________ ____________ 1. NOUN PLURALS There are three useful tests for number in the noun. 1.A noun is singular if it can take one of these substitutes: he/him, she/her, it, this, or that. It is plural if it can take as a substitute they/them, these, or those. Examples: Have you studied phonetics? (= it) Where did you put my trousers? (= them) 2.The number of a noun may be signaled by a modifier like several, many, this, that, those, these, fifteen, or by a pronoun reference like his/her/its/their. Examples: In returning to the fold, the sheep changed its direction. In returning to the fold, the sheep changed their direction. 3.When a noun functions as subject of a verb, its number is sometimes shown by the form of the verb. It is the singular noun that goes with the {-S 3d} form of the verbs, as in Measles is a contagious disease. Contrast this with The goods are on the way in which the verb form are shows that goods is plural.

II In the blanks of the first column write a word that you would substitute for the italicized word he/him, she/her, it, this, that, they/them, these, those. In the blanks of the second column write Sg (singular) or Pl (plural) to show the number of the italicized noun. 1.Miss Shen is wearing hose today. ____________ _____ 2.What did they do with the molasses? ____________ _____ 3.The summons came in the mail. ____________ _____ 4.Why doesnt she call the police? ____________ _____ 5.Jack likes to fish for pike. ____________ _____ 6.The firm transported the goods to Australia. ____________ _____ 7.The jar is filled with sugar. ____________ _____ 8.Have you ever had the mumps? ____________ _____ 9.She became fond of mathematics. ____________ _____ 10.Does your brother eat soap? ____________ _____ III Encircle the noun modifier or pronoun reference that reveals the number of the italicized noun. 1.The hunting party saw few deer this season. 2.That news delighted her. 3.He studied poetics in all its complication. 4.My scissors lost their sharpness. 5.She shot both quail on the wing. IV Encircle the verb that reveals the number of the italicized noun. 1.The Chinese was preparing the dinner. 2.The Chinese were preparing the dinner. 3.Oats is his best crop. 4.The bass are biting today. 5.The species has become extinct. One group of nouns known as collective nouns may be either singular or plural in meaning when they are singular in form. These are nouns that represent a collection or unit of individuals, like tribe, family, team, committee, faculty, choir. A speaker is likely to use singular forms in connection with such nouns when he is thinking of the unit as a single whole, but he will use plural forms when he has uppermost in mind the separate individuals within the unit. Examples: Singular: The family (= it, the unit) is sitting at the dinner table. Plural: The family (= they, the individuals) have gathered from many parts of the country. V Indicate in the blanks by Sg or Pl whether the italicized collective nouns are singular or plural. 1.The band is playing well today. 2.The band are playing well today. 3.The choir became dissatisfied with their robes. 4.The choir became dissatisfied with its singing. 5.The staff of the college paper were assembled to discuss their last edition. 3

6.The staff of the college paper was a high-quality group. 7.The tribe were on the warpath. 8.The tribe was the owner of the river bottom. 9.The congregation rose to its feet. 10.The congregation have all helped with the fund-raising drive. In addition to the regular s plural there are several small groups of irregular plurals. 1.Three nouns still retain an en plural oxen, children, and brethren. 2.This group has a zero suffixal plural. The words in this group are the names of edible animals, game animals, fish, and birds. Among them are deer, sheep, swine, bear, antelope, bass, pike, carp, perch, pickerel, quail, grouse. Some nouns have both forms; a farmer, for example, who has ducks on his pond may go out hunting duck. 3.Seven common nouns form their plural by a replacive allomorph. These are man, woman, goose, tooth, foot, louse, and mouse. 4.One set of nouns has as the stem of the plural an allomorph that is different from the stem of the singular. Nouns in this group end in /-s/, /-f/, or /-/. Here are some examples: house, knife, mouth, half, loaf, self, wife, bath, path, oath. Some nouns ending in /-f/ or /-/ do not make a morphophonemic change, like chiefs; others have two forms of the plural, like youths. VI Write in phonemic script the allomorphic formula for the formation of the plural of these words. example: brother brethren 1. child 2. herring 3. foot 4. leaf 5. wolf VII Divide these words into two groups: (1) those that undergo no change of the base allomorph in the plural, e.g., "those two toughs"; (2) those that have two forms of the plural, e.g., hoofs, hooves. The words are grief, scarf, chief, truth, wharf, sheath, belief, wreath, waif, staff. One Allomorph Two Allomorphs __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ When foreign words are borrowed into English, their pronunciation becomes assimilated more or less to the phonemic system of English. What happens to the pluralizing morpheme of foreign nouns that are imported into English? An instance is the Italian soprano, which has lost its native plural of soprani and is pluralized like any English word ending in a vowel sopranos. This has been the fate of many such Italian imports in -o: piano, cello, solo, rondo, casino, studio, canto. Spanish plurals are so similar to the English that they seem to assimilate to English plural pattern without exception: patio, mosquito, barbecue, cafeteria, guitar, cigar, lariat, canyon, alligator, tornado. On other occasions the foreign spelling is retained but the pronunciation, with occasional exceptions, is modified. Thus the Latin singular and plural forms, datum-data, keep in English 4

the original spelling. Many borrowed nouns have both plurals - their foreign ones, often modified, and the English plural, like concerti and concertos, curricula and curriculums, syllabi and syllabuses. VIII Look up the plural of these words in your dictionary. Then write in phonemic script the pluralizing allomorph of each. If there are two plurals, write both. 1. criterion 2. thesis 3. formula 4. opus 5. appendix 6. stratum 7. kibbutz 8. apparatus 9. medium 10. stimulus 11. memorandum 12. graffito 13. nucleus 14. analysis 15. fedayee 16. alumna 17. hypothesis 2. NOUN POSSESSIVE The noun possessive morpheme {-S ps} has the same phonologically conditioned allomorphs as the plural. The term possessive is not a satisfactory label for this morpheme because a variety of different semantic relationships can exist between the possessive noun and the one that follows. The following cases will illustrate. Relationship Example 1, Possession or belongingness John's hat 2. Characterization or description a cowboy's walk men's coats 3. Origin Raphael's paintings 4. Measure (time, value, space) an hour's wait a dollar's worth a stone's throw 5. Subject of act John's flight (John flew) the judge's decision (the judge decided) 6. Object of act Jane's punishment was deserved Eliot's critics were many. IX Using the numbers above, indicate the relation shown between the italicized possessive and its following noun. 1. We missed the other car by a hair's breadth. 2. A wren's song floated through the window. 3. They were playing children's games. 5

4. The police provided for Richard's protection. 5. The boy's jump saved his life. 6. The moon's beams were brilliant that night. 7. Willards arrival was a surprise. 8. He has never done a day's work. 9. She met Dickeys father. 10. He was happy about Jane's winning. A noun possessive is ambiguous when it expresses more than one of the above relationships at the same time. For example, "His son's loss grieved him" has two meanings: (1) He lost his son (object of underlying verb), and this grieved him; or (2) His son (subject of underlying verb) lost something, perhaps a family heirloom, and this grieved him. X Using the numbers 1-6 (noun possessive relationships), indicate the relationship expressed by each ambiguous possessive. 1. Dr. McCoy's examination was a long one. 2. That is my father's photograph. 3. He was carrying a woman's coat on his arm. 4. We bought one of Rutherford's paintings. 5. The case was about his wife's fatal shooting. In making a choice between the possessive (student's) and the of structure (of the student), there is no hard-and-fast guideline, and often the form chosen depends on personal taste. The tendency, however, is to use the possessive with animate nouns and the of structure with inanimate nouns; thus, the dog's leg, but the leg of the table. XI This is an exercise to investigate the usage of the class in regard to the possessive {-S ps} in contrast to the of structure. You will be given parts of sentences like this: a. The garage's cement floor is cracking. b. The cement floor of the garage is cracking. If you would use only one of these forms, write only after the sentence containing that one. If you would use either without any particular preference, write both in both blanks. If you would give preference to one but might also use the other, write pref in the proper blank. 1 a. The building's roof was blown off by the wind. b. The roof of the building was blown off by the wind. 2 a. The soldier's rifle had been thoroughly cleaned. b. The rifle of the soldier had been thoroughly cleaned. 3 a. The lawn's color had become brown. b. The color of the lawn had become brown. 4 a. We admired the dog's silky coat. b. We admired the silky coat of the dog. 5 a. The hat's brim was torn. b. The brim of the hat was torn. B. The Verb Paradigm The verb paradigm goes as follows: 6

Forms Inflectional suffixes: pp} Model:

Stem

Present Third-person Singular {-S 3d}

Present Participle

Past Tense {-Dpt}

Past Participle {-D chosen

{-ING vb} choosing chose

choose

chooses

1. Stem occurs after to, after auxiliaries such as can and will, and in the present tense, except for the third-person singular. Examples: to sit, can go, we eat 2.The present third-person singular is the form used with singular nouns, with he, she, it, and words for which these pronouns will substitute, and with word groups. Examples: Each is expected to do his duty. Winning the championship cuts no ice with me. 3.The present participle is the {-ING vb} form. It combines with seven of the eight forms of be am, is, are, was, were, be, been to make verb phrases. Example: She must have been sleeping. It is also used as a subjectless verbal, that is, when it is not the main verb and does not have a subject, as in His passion used to be playing golf. A few verbs mostly referring to mental activities are seldom heard in the {-ING vb} form as main verbs in the sentence. These verbs include own, need, prefer, hear, like, remember, and understand. But they are in common use as subjectless verbals, as in Owning a cabin in the north woods, Jake was very popular during the summer vacation period. Not knowing what to say, Marylin maintained a discreet silence. 4.The past tense takes numerous forms, e.g., shrunk, kept, led, began, rode, built, found, knew, swore, shook. 5.The past participle also has numerous forms. The past participle is used with have, has, had, having to form verbal phrases. Example: He had never flown in a helicopter. It is also used with the forms of be to form the passive. Example: By night the missing lad had been found. XIII Fill out the following verb paradigms. Then indicate by a 3, 4, or 5 whether the verbs are threeform, four-form, or five-form. Stem Pres. 3d Sg. Pres. P. Past T. Past P. Number 1. bid ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ 2. bite ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ 3. keep ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ 4. freeze ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ 5. set ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ 6. sell ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ 7. put ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ 8. rise ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ 9. tease ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ 7

10. sleep

________

________

________

________

________

XIV Write the past tense and past participle of each verb. Then classify the verbs into four classes according to the phonemic forms they have in common. Past Tense Past Participle Examples: 1. blow blew blown 2. freeze froze frozen 3. grow grew grown 4. speak spoke spoken Class 1: blow and grow. Class 2: freeze and speak. 1. sting 2. creep 3. drive 4. sing 5. ride 6. write 7. cling 8. ring 9. keep 10. deal 11. swim 12. spin 13. win 14. spring ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________

Class 1: _______________________________________________________________________ Class 2: _______________________________________________________________________ Class 3: _______________________________________________________________________ Class 4: _______________________________________________________________________ 1. SUPPLETION Lets look at the five-part verb go. go goes going went gone In this paradigm one form, went, seems out of place. The entire stem has been replaced by a wholly different stem. Such a total change within a paradigm is called suppletion, and the new form is a suppletive form. Knowledge of the verb paradigm is helpful in determining whether or not a given word should be classified as a verb. Cut has three of the five possible forms: cut cuts cutting cut cut But it also fits partially into the noun paradigm cut (singular) cuts (plural XV 8

Classify these words as N (nouns), V (verbs), or NV (both noun and verb). 1. driver ___ 11. bird ___ 2. compliment ___ 12. join ___ 3. appear ___ 13. end ___ 4. world ___ 14. morning ___ 5. agency ___ 15. variety ___ 6. agonize ___ 16. mother ___ 7. truck ___ 17. grammar ___ 8. decide ___ 18. melt ___ 9. emotion ___ 19. note ___ 10. book ___ 20. carve ___ 2. ASPECT IN THE VERB PHRASE Aspect is the expression of meaning concerned with the continuity or distribution of events in time. Here are a few such MEANINGS, expressed in various ways in English: 1. Beginning of event He began to sweat. 2. End of event He stopped sweating. 3. Frequency of event She sang often. 4. Repetition of event Jim pounded on the door. 5. Habitual performance of event (called habitual aspect) They used to eat dinner early. 6. Single occurrence of event in time (called indefinite aspect) I ate my lunch. 7. Progression or duration of event in time (called progressive or durative aspect) I was eating my lunch. He walked to the library. 8. Completion of event (called completive aspect) I have eaten my lunch. Aspectual meaning may be implicit in the meaning of the verb itself, as in strike (single event in time, indefinite aspect, number 6) and in beat (progressive aspect, number 7; or repetitive aspect, number 4). Or the aspectual meaning may be determined by the context in which the verb is embedded. Examples: He wrote a letter this morning. (single event, indefinite aspect, number 6) As a young man, he wrote for a living. (habitual aspect, number 5) He wrote all morning to finish hi report. (progressive aspect, number 7) Although English expresses aspectual meanings in many various ways as part of its verb system, English may be said to have only three aspects: indefinite, progressive, and completive. 1. Indefinite aspect The form of the indefinite aspect is the verb alone, without auxiliaries, like write, writes, wrote. The event is thought of as a single event in time, as in She wrote a letter this morning. 2. Progressive or durative aspect, as in 9

She was writing a letter. The form of the progressive is be + verb + -ing. In the progressive aspect the event is thought as progressing, going on, without any indication of an end. The progressive aspect is generally employed with verbs whose meaning is capable of noticeable extension in time; these are verbs of activity and process, such as walk, throw, grow, change. 3. Completive aspect, as in He has written a letter. The form is have (in any of its forms) + past participle. The completive aspect presents us with two ways of interpreting the continuity of time. First, the event began in the past and has been completed, as in Jane has attended college. Second, the event continues up to the present, as in Jane has attended college since last September. In a sentence like this, with the present-tense has or have before the verb, the time adverbial is one of duration since last Saturday, for two months, the whole evening answering the question How long? But an adverbial of definite time (answering the question When?) is not commonly used with the completive aspect. For example, this sentence is ungrammatical: *Jane has attended college last year. XVI Cross out the adverbials that are improperly used. 1. I have practiced my piano lesson yesterday afternoon. 2. I practiced my piano lesson yesterday afternoon. 3. Her roommate received an award last Wednesday. 4. Her roommate has received an award last Wednesday. 5. Two years ago I have visited Spain. 6. She stayed in the hospital fifteen days. 7. She has stayed in the hospital fifteen days. 8. It has rained since one oclock. 9. She has played tennis last night. 10. I have worked in the garden for three days. The completive aspect combines with the progressive in verb phrases like George has been working. This verb phrase is completive for three reasons. First, it has the form of have + past participle in this case, been. Second, it cannot take an adverbial of definite time, like yesterday. And finally, it can take an adverbial of duration, as in George has been working all week. On the other hand it is progressive because the form includes be + verb + -ing, been working, and in meaning it expresses the going-on of an event. So we can say that such verb phrases carry a compound aspect, completive-progressive. XVII Indicate by initial letters the aspect of the underlined verb phrases. Indefinite Progressive Completive Completive-Progressive ___ 1. Jorge played in the band last night. 10

___ 2. Hans was building a doghouse. ___ 3. Charlotte had been sick. ___ 4. Miss Garcia had been lecturing on water pollution. ___ 5. We saw the movie last night. ___ 6. She was preparing for an exam. ___ 7. They have been practicing the whole day. ___ 8. He shaved at seven oclock. ___ 9. Have you done your homework? ___ 10. Geraldine noticed an error in the minutes. C. The Comparable Paradigm The comparable paradigm is as follows: Forms: Stem Comparative Superlative Inflectional suffixes: {-ER cp} {-EST sp} Model: deadly deadlier deadliest This paradigm furnishes the pattern for these groups: 1. Nearly all one-syllable adjectives, e.g., hot, small, proud. 2. Some two-syllable adjectives, especially those ending in ly and y, such as lovely, funny, polite. 3. A few adverbials of one or two syllables, e.g., fast, early. 4. One preposition, near, as in She sat nearest the door. Other adjectives and adverbs usually take a preceding more or most in lieu of the inflectional er and est. XVIII Here is a list of two-syllable adjectives. Write the comparative and superlative forms, -er and est, of those that you would inflect in this way. 1. angry ____ ____ 11. quiet ____ ____ 2. healthy ____ ____ 12. remote ____ ____ 3. bitter ____ ____ 13. severe ____ ____ 4. common ____ ____ 14. solid ____ ____ 5. cruel ____ ____ 15. stupid ____ ____ 6. foolish ____ ____ 16. noble ____ ____ 7. handsome ____ ____ 17. dusty ____ ____ 8. honest ____ ____ 18. dirty ____ ____ 9. mellow ____ ____ 19. lively ____ ____ 10. pleasant ____ ____ 20. gentle ____ ____ XIX Here is a list of adverbials of one and two syllables. Write out the comparative and superlative forms of those that you would inflect with er and est. Write no after the adverbials that you would not use with these inflectional endings. 1. often ____ ____ 11. under ____ ____ 2. seldom ____ ____ 12. near ____ ____ 3. already ____ ____ 13. upward ____ ____ 4. gently ____ ____ 14. far ____ ____ 11

5. late 6. ahead 7. weekly 8. perhaps 9. sidewise 10. slow

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

15. quick 16. above 17. loud 18. quickly 19. high 20. low

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

A few adjectives have suppletive and irregular forms in the comparative and superlative, like good: good better best XX Write the forms of the comparative and superlative of these words. 1. well ________ ________ 4. little ________ 2. bad, ill, badly ________ ________ 5. much, many________ 3. old ________ ________ 6. few ________

________ ________ ________

The capacity to take the inflectional suffixes er and est is one of the signals that enables us to distinguish adjectives from nouns in the position of modifier preceding a noun. In the cluster a stone fence the stone is not an adjective because we would never say a stoner fence or the stonest fence. XI In the blanks write Aj (adjective) or NA (nonadjective) to label the italicized words. 1. the light plane ___ 6. that clay pot ___ 2. the night plane ___ 7. her red davenport ___ 3. a strange idea ___ 8. a dull volume ___ 4. a glass vase ___ 9. a bound volume ___ 5. his steel file ___ 10. my close friend ___

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