How To Classify Words Into Parts Of Speech
It is too easy to misunderstand the nature of a word in a sentence. This confusion arises due to the versatility of certain words; they have the ability of being polymorphic. In simple terms, a word under the same form can act differently. Let’s see some concrete examples:
1) Using words which are most commonly tagged as verbs, into nouns
=> Words like drink, look, smoke, wash, swim, drive, try, ..etc – generally used as verbs
We can use them as nouns just by preceding them with ‘have a‘ as you can see below:
- have a drink
- have a smoke
- {.. try the rest for yourself ..}
2) Using words which are most commonly tagged as nouns, into verbs
=> Words like shoulder, head, finger, eye, elbow, hand, ..etc – generally used as nouns
We can use them as verbs as shown below:
- shoulder our responsibilities
- head towards the dressing room
- finger an object
- eye a girl
- elbow someone else aside
- hand him a glassful of water
What Can We Conclude?
It is wise to classify words, into parts of speech, according to the work they do instead according to their general form. That is, words should be grouped based on their function in a sentence.
Another Interesting Example
=> With the word ‘fast‘
a) I need a very fast connection
b) Michael Phelps swims very fast
c) These people are going to fast for one month; during that time they won’t eat anything
d) At the end of their one month fast, they will have normal meals.
Short Exercises For You – The Reader!
1) In the above example, give the form or class of the word ‘fast‘ in each sentence
2) Make sentences with the words ‘spring‘ and ‘watch‘ to show the possible forms they might take
=> Use the comment form below to show your answers..
Previously:
=> The Eight Classes Grouping All Words In The English Language
i have a linguistics test and im not able no classify sentences into parts of speech like (i saw the cat that chased the rat that ate the cheese which the farmer made) need help
i cannot give an example
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@zainab:
Could you tell where on my website you have asked me some questions, I could not find? I think you are making a mistake. If you have a look around on my other articles, I do give replies and advice.
And most of the time, people give me their fake email, so I’m not to be blamed for that. I ask for a valid email because I do email back people.
Thank you!
I need help constructing tree diagrams especially those that require sbar.
My branching is a problem
Help!!!!!
I have my B.A. Hons. in English and Literary Studies.
Your write up on “word classification” is clearly explicit.
Thank you.
@jacquie:
Tree diagram is for programming right? I think you are on the wrong article.
@Larga:
Thank you for the confirmation and support.
i m studying parts of speech for my work…
especially to classify the Burmese/Myanmar words….
ur article really help me to clear …
thz
hi
i want to know that according to the latest research on the parts of speech, how many parts of speech we have, eight or twelve?
@May:
Thanks alot for the kind words and glad it is useful.
@Tanzila:
From what I know, it’s eight, not twelve.
Thanks everyone for dropping a comment, really appreciate!