Descriptive grammar
Descriptive grammar
Tests applied to various word
classes
University of Szczecin
December 7th, 2008
Descriptive grammar
Descriptive grammar
Tests applied to various word
classes
University of Szczecin
December 7th, 2008
Word categories of English
Word categories of English
Class 1: noun
Class 2: verb
Class 3: adjective
Class 4: adverb
Class A: the, a/an, both,
Class B: may, might,
can,
Class C: not
Class D: very, rather,
pretty,
Class E: and, or, but
Class F: at, by, in
Class G: do, does, did
Class H: there
Class I: when, why
Class J: after, when
Class K: well, now,
Class L: yes, no
Class M: look, say,
listen
Class N: please
Class O: let’s
Distributional tests
Distributional tests
Distributional tests – words that fill
the same syntactic slot are considered
to belong to the same class of words.
Semantics is ignored in such tests.
The ______ book is on the shelf.
large, green, exciting, damaged,
*while, *very, *that, * up, *him, *sing
Inflectional tests
Inflectional tests
In inflectional test all words that take a
particular inflectional suffix are believed
to belong to the same word class.
The _______ [-er, -est] book.
bigger, biggest, thicker, thickest
*hander, *arrivest, *ander, *himest
Derivational morphology is not used in
such tests as it is highly idiosynchratic
and individual in its combinatory
possibilities.
Inflectional tests applied to
Inflectional tests applied to
nouns
nouns
The plural –s inflection and the genitive ‘s
inflection
The plural suffix attaches to:
1.
Count nouns: pencils, dogs, hats
2.
Collective nouns: committees, herds, groups
The plural suffix does not attach to:
1.
Proper nouns: *Jims, *Susans, *Yorks
2.
Abstract nouns: *friendships, *loyalties,
*musics
Genitive inflection
Genitive inflection
The genetive inflection can be
added to all kinds of nouns, but it
is sometimes odd with inanimite
nouns, e.g. the table’s leg – the leg
of the table
Distributional tests for the
Distributional tests for the
category noun – test I
category noun – test I
1. Det ______
Nouns can follow determiners:
1.
Articles (a/an, the)
2.
Determiners (this, that)
3.
Possessives (my, your, his)
4.
Quantifiers (many, several)
Distribution of countable and
Distribution of countable and
uncountable nouns
uncountable nouns
Proper nouns don’t follow a determiner, e.g.
*the London, *the Poland, *the John
Single count nouns always follow a determiner,
e.g. a/the cat, *cat
Plural count nouns may or may not follow a
determiner, e.g. cats, the cats
Single mass nouns may or may not follow a
determiner, e.g. the honey honey, *a honey
Collective behave either like count nouns, e.g.
*herd, herds, the herd, the herds, or like mass
nouns, e.g. furniture, the furniture, *a furniture
Quantifiers in
Quantifiers in
distributional tests
distributional tests
Much, a little, a large amount of,
etc are restricted to mass nouns
Many, a few, several, a large
number of, etc are restricted to
count nouns
A lot of, more, most can appear
with both
Test II
Test II
A _____
Plural count nouns and mass
nouns may follow an adjective,
e.g. fierce dogs, sticky honey, but
single count nouns and proper
nouns cannot, e.g. *big dog,
*beautiful Paris
Test III
Test III
Det A ____
All nouns except proper nouns can
follow the sequence of determiner
and adjective, e.g. the big dog, two
fierce dogs, the sticky honey, *the
beautiful Moscow
Exceptions – geographical names:
the Amazon, the Netherlands, the
Vatican, the Hague, the Smiths,
Infectional tests for the
Infectional tests for the
category adjective
category adjective
Inflectional tests for the category
adjective include the comparative –er
and the superlative –est degree endings,
e.g. larger/largest, prettier/prettiest.
Some adjectives don’t take this
inflection.
This inflection test allows some adverbs,
e.g. late/latest, but not others
*quicklier/quickliest.
Distributional tests for the
Distributional tests for the
category adjective
category adjective
1. Det ____ N
Attributive position of adjectives
Exceptions: afraid, asleep, ablaze
2. Vcop ____
Predicative position of adjectives – follows a copula
verb, e.g. The dog is dangerous.
Exceptions: some adjectives have different
meanings in the two positions, e.g. The poor girl
vs. The girl is poor.
Adjectives may follow degree words or intensifiers
such as so, too, very, somewhat, rather, highly,
completely
Inflectional tests for the
Inflectional tests for the
category verb
category verb
The present participle –ing, which
attaches to all verbs
The 3rd p sg pres –s, which attaches
to all verbs
The past tense –ed, which attaches to
‘weak’ verbs
The past participle –ed, which
attaches to weak, but not strong
verbs
Distributional tests for the
Distributional tests for the
category verb
category verb
1. ____ N
Transitive verbs may precede noun phrases
Intransitive verbs cannot precede noun phrases
2. ____ #
3. ____ AP/NP.
Copula verbs (seem, feel, become) precede
adjective phrases, or noun phrases
4. to ____
Verbs follow the periphrastic marker of the
infinitive
Inflectional tests for the
Inflectional tests for the
category adverb
category adverb
Some adverbs take the comparative
inflectional ending –er and the superlative
ending –est.
Most adverbs are uninflected
In respect to distribution, adverbs are free:
1.
Jim worked quickly.
2.
Jim completed the work quickly.
3.
Jim quickly completed the work.
4.
Quickly Jim completed the work.
Overlap
Overlap
Many words belong to several
different classes, e.g.
Adverb: He’s never been here since. I
haven’t seen him before.
Preposition : I haven’t seen him since
lunch. I saw him before lunch.
Conjunction: He’s been asleep since I
arrived. I spoke to her before she
left.
Distributional tests for the
Distributional tests for the
category preposition
category preposition
Right ____
1.
Look it right up
2.
Go right home
3.
Land right on top
4.
He left right after the music started
Measure phrases
1.
Three feet behind me
2.
Twice before
3.
He was here two hours before I was
_____ NP.
1.
In the garden
2.
After the man leaves
3.
Blow out the candles