Unit #1: The Secret Life

of a High School Grammar Snob

Chapter 2: The Form & Structure Classes

Form & Structure Classes

Form Classes: 99% of the vocabulary is made up of these words, so-called because they change form.

• Nouns• Verbs• Adjectives• Adverbs

Form & Structure Classes

Nouns:• Have singular and plural forms: • Dog/Dogs•Woman/women

• Change form to show possession: • The dog’s owner•Women’s rights

Form & Structure Classes

Nouns:• Are marked or signaled by articles (a,

an, the) or other determiners: • A dog• That woman•My pet• Some people

Form & Structure Classes

Noun Phrases:• Consists of a noun headword and its

adjectivals/modifiers• The welcoming smell of morning

coffee

Form & Structure Classes

Verbs:• Have present-tense and past-tense

forms:• Bark/barked• Buy/bought

• Have an –s form and an –ing form:• Barks/barking• Buys/buying

Form & Structure Classes

Verb Phrases:• Includes verb headword and its

modifiers/adverbials•mysteriously disappeared from her

Superwoman lunch box.

Form & Structure ClassesAdjectives:• Have comparative and superlative

forms:• Happy/happier/happiest• Expensive/more expensive/most

expensive• Can be qualified by words like very

and too:• Very happy• Too expensive

Form & Structure ClassesAdverbs:• Have comparative and superlative

forms:• Soon/sooner/soonest• Carefully/more carefully/most

carefully• Can be qualified by words like Very,

Quite, and Too:• Very carefully• Too soon

Form & Structure ClassesAdverbs:• Are often formed by adding –ly to

adjectives:• Expensive/expensively• Happy/happily

Form & Structure Classes

We can distinguish adjectives from adverbs in three ways:

(1) Most Adj fit into both blanks:• The ___ NOUN is very ___.• The happy leprechaun is very

happy.• The expensive necklace is very

expensive.

Form & Structure Classes

We can distinguish adjectives from adverbs in three ways:

(2) Adv are often moveable:• The dogs barked frequently• The dogs frequently barked• Frequently the dogs barked

Form & Structure Classes

We can distinguish adjectives from adverbs in three ways:

(3) Adv can usually be identified by the information they provide:•When•Where•Why• How• How Often / To What Extent

Form & Structure ClassesStructure Classes: small, limited groups of

words that explain the grammatical / structural relationships of the form classes.

• Prepositions• Determiners• Auxiliaries• Qualifiers• Particles• Conjunctions

Form & Structure Classes

Prepositions:• Forms prep phrase with a noun phrase•May function as either adverbial or

adjectival:• The child with the brain deficiency

is playing with the blender.

Form & Structure Classes

Determiners:• Articles (a, an, the)• Possessive nouns/Pronouns (Austin’s

girlfriend, their apartment)• Demonstrative Pronouns (this old

house, these grammar notes)• Indefinite pronouns (several pies,

fewer Americans)

Form & Structure Classes

Auxiliaries:• Helping verbs (has, have, had, will,

would, can, could, shall, should, may, might, must, ought to, & forms of to be)• Precedes the main verb:• has been squinting• should not frolic

Form & Structure Classes

Qualifiers:• Intensify or alter the meaning of

adjectives and adverbs• quite tired• very thirsty• every Sunday

Form & Structure Classes

Particles:• A preposition that combines with a

verb to form a phrasal verb (idiomatic expression)• Look up• Find out• Turn in

Form & Structure Classes

Particles:• A preposition that combines with a

verb to form a phrasal verb (idiomatic expression)• Look up on Wikipedia

Particle• Look up at the sun

Adverb

Form & Structure Classes

Conjunctions:• Coordinating• Correlative• Subordinating

Form & Structure Classes

Conjunctions:• Coordinating • (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet)

• Correlative• (not only/but also, neither/nor,

either/or, both/and)• Subordinating• (because, when, after, if, etc.)