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Functional English: Grammar

The document provides information about grammar and word classes in English. It discusses what grammar is, the rules that govern word selection and ordering to form sentences. It also describes the different word classes or parts of speech - nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions. Words can belong to different classes depending on how they are used in sentences. The document further explains the internal structure of words through inflection, derivation and compounding and provides examples.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
70 views21 pages

Functional English: Grammar

The document provides information about grammar and word classes in English. It discusses what grammar is, the rules that govern word selection and ordering to form sentences. It also describes the different word classes or parts of speech - nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions. Words can belong to different classes depending on how they are used in sentences. The document further explains the internal structure of words through inflection, derivation and compounding and provides examples.

Uploaded by

Ali Ali Anees
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Functional English

Grammar
Topics

 What is Grammar

 Words and Word Classes

2
Grammar

Grammar is the means by which we structure the


language that we speak and write

Grammar is the set of rules, conventions and


principles, together with their exceptions, that we
have stored in our heads (‘internalized’) as a
consequence of acquiring or learning the language

The whole system and structure of a language

3
Grammar

The rules in grammar cover the selection and


ordering of words to create sentences

Word

A word is a sequence of letters separated by


spaces from other words

This is how we define word in written language

4
Grammar
Consider these:

1. How are talk, talks, talking, talked related?

2. Is put up with the same as tolerate?

3. Are lead (a metal) and lead (go ahead of) the


same word?

4. Is seat belt one word or two?

We use the term ‘word’ in a number of ways, to


refer to different but related concepts
5
Word Classes
Word Classes

Words are relatively fixed in their internal form, but


they are independent in their role in larger units

Based on how words are used in grammar – word


stock of a language, its vocabulary or lexicon, is
divided into a number of classes

Traditionally there are eight such parts


noun pronoun
verb determiner
adjective preposition
adverb conjunction 6
Word Classes

Every word belongs to one of a number of classes


depending on how it is used in a sentence

• These different classes are called “parts of


speech”

• The same word might be a different part of


speech
in different sentences depending on the context
of its use
EVEN: Adjective. The chances are even.
Verb. Let us even the ground.
Adverb. Does he even suspect the danger ? 7
LIKE: Adjective. They are men of like build and
stature.
Preposition. Do not talk like that.
Adverb. Like as a father pitieth his own
children.
Noun. We shall not see his like again.
Verb. Children like sweets.

ONE: Adjective. One day I met him in the street.

Pronoun. The little ones cried for joy.

Noun. One would think he was mad.

UP: Adverb. Prices are up.

Preposition. Let us go up the hill.

Adjective. The next up train will leave here at


12.30.

Noun. They had their ups and downs of


fortune.
8
Word Classes

Word Classes

Three major families of words


On the basis of main function and their
grammatical behavior

Lexical words

Main carriers of information in a text or speech act

Subdivided into the following word classes (or


parts of speech):
nouns, lexical verbs, adjectives, and adverbs 9
Word Classes

Word Classes
lexical words
Lexical words are the most numerous and
growing all the time

Nouns, lexical verbs, adjectives, and adverbs

They are members of open classes


e.g Cat, Traffic light, run, high e.t.c

Function words
Word classes such as prepositions, coordinators,
auxiliary verbs, and pronouns 10
Word Classes

Word Classes
Function words

Indicate meaning relationships

Help to understand meaning relationship by


showing how the lexical words are related to
each other

belong to closed classes – limited and fixed


membership
e.g the, or , and ,at, of e.t.c
11
Word Classes

Word Classes
Inserts:

Found mainly in spoken language

Inserted freely in a text

Generally carry emotional and discourse


meanings
e.g as well, oh, wow etc.

12
Word Classes

The Structure of Words (Morphology)

Inflection:

Lexical words can take inflectional suffixes to


signal meanings and roles

Such as 'plural' in the case of nouns, and 'past


tense' in the case of verbs

13
Word Classes

The Structure of Words (Morphology)

Derivation:

Derivation usually involves adding an affix, i.e. a


morpheme attached to the beginning of a word (a
prefix)

or to the end of a word (a suffix)

14
15
• Inflectional morphemes change what a word
does in terms of grammar, but does not create
a new word.
• For example, the word <skip> has many forms:
skip (base form), skipping (present
progressive), skipped (past tense).
• The inflectional morphemes -ing and -ed are
added to the base word skip, to indicate the
tense of the word.
16
inflectional morphemes are always suffixes in English,
and they include the following:

Suffix Function Example Attaches to

-s plural cats Nouns

-’s possessive brother’s Nouns

-er comparative taller faster Adjectives

-est superlative tallest fastest Adjectives

-s third person singular present (she) walks (he) eats Verbs


tense

-ed past tense walked called Verbs

-ing progressive walking giving Verbs

-en past participle (have) given (have) eaten Verbs

17
IRREGULAR INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES

• Because of the rich history of English as a language and


spelling system, there are numerous irregular morphemes.
• Irregular inflectional morphemes are exceptions to the rules.
Regular Suffix Function Example Attaches to Examples of Irregular Morphemes
-s plural cats Nouns algae alumni analyses appendices bacteria
calves children cacti fish stimuli syllabi
syntheses synopses teeth
 
and many more!

-ed past tense walked Verbs was began broke brought built bought
caught chose came crept drew drank
drove ate fell fed fought flew found sang
 
and many more!

-en past (have) Verbs (have …) begun sung drunk grown known
participle given thrown ridden rung seen
 
and many more!
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Word Classes

The Structure of Words (Morphology)

Compounding:
Compounding, which also leads to more complex
words

Combination of two words

For example:
Noun + Noun chair + man
Verb + Noun cook + book
Adjective + Noun flat + fish
Noun + Adjective head + long 19
THANK YOU
20
1(a). From the From the following list of words, select five words with inflectional morphology.
Click on 'Check Inflectional' to check.

1(b). Clear your answers and then select five words with derivational morphology.


Click on 'Check Derivational' to check.

elements example egg such


gain feature off cram
and great ordering tend
unkind have one the
as linked morphology these
some Indo-European Persians thought
case speech killed within

21

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