grammatical category

8/11/2019 Grammatical Category

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rammatical Category

The term "grammatical category" refers to specific properties of a word that can causethat word and/or a related word to change in form for grammatical reasons (ensuring

agreement between words).

For example, the word "boy" is a noun. Nouns hae a grammatical category called

"number". The alues of number are singular(one) and plural(two or more).

1. The boy isplaying.

2. The boysareplaying.

!n sentence , "boy" is in its basic form, giing its "number" the alue of singular. Thereis one boy and the related auxiliary erb "to be" is in the singular form (is).

!n sentence #, the form of "boy" has changed to "boys", giing its "number" the alue ofplural. There is more than one boy and the related "to be" is in the plural form (are).

!n the aboe example, the "number" of "boy" influences the form of boy, and also

influences the form of a related word (be). "Number" is a "grammatical category".

$nglish has oer twenty grammatical categories. %elow we list the most common ones

for $nglish learners and summarise their main features.

Number

Number is a property of nounsand pronouns, and indicates &uantity. Number has twoalues'

singular' indicates one only

plural' indicates two or more

number

singular plural

noun boy boys

pronoun ! we

Case

ase is a property of pronounsand nouns, and expresses their relationship to the rest of

the sentence. ase has three alues (two of which do not apply to nouns)'


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subjective(pronouns only)' when the word is the subect

objective(pronouns only)' when the word is the obect

possessive(pronouns and nouns)' when the word indicates possession

(ownership)

case

subjective objective possessive

pronoun ! me mine

noun boy boy boy*s

ender

Natural gender is a property of pronouns, and differentiates the sexes. Natural gender hasthree alues'

masculine' indicates male

feminine' indicates female

neuter' indicates eerything else

gender

masculine feminine neuter

pronoun he/him/his she/her/hers it/its

Note that +ld $nglish had "grammatical gender" where words themseles had gender.

emnants of this are found in "natural gender", which is based on the sex of people ratherthan the gender of words.

Person

-erson is a property of pronouns, and differentiates participants in a conersation. -erson

has three alues'

first person' refers to the speaer

second person' refers to the hearer

third person' refers to all other people or things

person


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1st 2nd 3rd

pronoun !/me

we/us

you he/him, she/her, it

they

Tense

Tense is a property of verbs, and most closely corresponds with location in time. Tense

has two alues'

past' indicates before now

present' indicates now (and sometimes before and after now)

tense

past present

verb wasdid

had

woredran

amdo

hae

worrun

Note that "future tense" is not shown here because strictlyspeaing it is not a tense but a

structure to tal about the future (after now).

Aspect

0spect is a property of verbs, and expresses our iew of the time structure of an actiity

or state. 0spect has three alues'

simple' the time has no structure

continuous' expresses ongoing action

perfect' expresses completed action

aspect

simple continuous perfect

verb they wor they are woring they hae wored

Mood


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1ood is a property of verbs, and relates to the speaer*s feelings about the reality of what

he is saying. 1ood has three alues'

indicative' expresses simple statement of fact

imperative' expresses command

subjunctive' expresses something desired or imagined

mood

indicative imperative subjunctive

verb 2ames stood up. 3tand up4 5e insist that he stand.

!s it &uiet enough6 %e &uiet4 !t is essential that you be &uiet.

Voice

7oice is a property of transitive verbs8, and expresses the relationship of the subect to

the action. 7oice has two alues'

active' the subect does the action

passive' the subect receies the action

oice

active passive

transitive verb The cat ate the mouse. The mouse was eaten by the cat.

8 0 transitie erb can hae a direct obect.

Degree

9egree is a property of gradable adjectivesand adverbs, and indicates amount. 9egree

has three alues'

positive' indicates a basic &uality

comparative' indicates a greater &uality

superlative' indicates the maximum &uality

degree


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positive comparative superlative

gradable adjective happy happier the happiest

gradable adverb carefully more carefully the most carefully

grammatical category

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