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ENGLISH GRAMMAR: PARTS OF SPEECH & STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS - Coggle Diagram
ENGLISH GRAMMAR: PARTS OF SPEECH & STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS (Distributional Approach)
Core Principle: Analyze units by position & combinability, not just meaning
Key Relations
Syntagmatic: Linear combination (words in a string/sentence)
Paradigmatic: Substitution choice (same slot, different options)
Types of Distribution
Complementary: Two units NEVER occur in same environment
Example: [pʰ] (aspirated) vs [p] (non-aspirated) in English
Contrastive: Units occur in same environment → change meaning
Minimal pairs: /pɪn/ vs /bɪn/ (pin/bin)
Method: FRAMES (slots) to identify grammatical categories objectively
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF GRAMMAR
Traditional Grammar (Greek/Roman model)
Based on logic & morphology
Borrowed PARTS OF SPEECH NAMES for English (Noun, Verb, etc.)
Limitation: Didn't account for English's analytic/Germanic structure
Modern Grammar Shift (Late 19th Century)
Henry Sweet: Introduced FUNCTIONAL principle
Focus: How words WORK in sentences, not just what they MEAN
Recognition: English = layered language (Germanic + Latin + Celtic)
Key Insight: Grammar evolves from prescriptive → descriptive → functional
CRITERIA FOR PARTS OF SPEECH (M-F-U-P Framework)
M = MEANING (Generalized grammatical meaning)
Noun: substance/object/person/phenomenon
Verb: action/state/existence
Adjective: property/quality
Adverb: manner/time/place/degree
F = FORM (Morphological markers)
Affixes: -s (plural), -ed (past), -er (comparative)
Inflections: internal changes (sing→sang→sung)
Derivational patterns: -ness (noun), -ful (adjective), -ly (adverb)
U = USE/FUNCTION (Syntactic role in sentence)
Subject / Object / Predicate / Attribute / Adverbial
Example: Noun can be Subject ("Dogs bark") OR Attribute ("dog food")
P = PRONUNCIATION (Optional, methodological grammar)
Stress patterns, phonetic realization, dialectal variants
Important for oral communication & teaching methodology
MAJOR PARTS OF SPEECH: DETAILED BREAKDOWN
NOUN
Meaning: Objects, persons, substances, abstract concepts
Form (Grammatical Categories)
Number: Singular vs Plural (regular: -s; irregular: child→children)
Case: Possessive 's → SYNTACTIC marker (not morphological inflection)
Gender: LEXICAL (not grammatical)
Suffixes: waiter/waitress, actor/actress
Compounds: man/woman + noun (man-doctor, woman-writer)
Pronominal reference: he/she/it based on biological sex
Collective Nouns: family, police, government → singular OR plural verb
Functions
Subject ("The book is interesting")
Object ("I read the book")
Attribute ("book cover")
Predicative ("He is a teacher")
Adverbial Modifier ("I'll see you Monday")
ARTICLE (Determiner System)
Status: Auxiliary part of speech / Functional word
Types: Definite (the), Indefinite (a/an), Zero (∅)
Functions
Anaphoric: refers BACK to known info ("I saw a cat. The cat was black")
Cataphoric: refers FORWARD to explanation ("The man who called yesterday...")
Generic: represents whole class ("The tiger is endangered")
Key Rule: Article + Noun = inseparable syntactic unit in English
ADJECTIVE
Meaning: Properties, qualities, characteristics
Form
Derivational suffixes: -ful, -less, -able, -ive, -ous
Degrees of Comparison
Synthetic: -er / -est (fast→faster→fastest)
Analytic: more / most (beautiful→more beautiful→most beautiful)
Functions
Attribute (pre-noun): "a beautiful day"
Predicative (post-link verb): "The day is beautiful"
Substantivization: Adjectives used as nouns → "the poor", "the rich"
VERB (Most Complex Category)
Meaning: Actions, states, processes, existence
Grammatical Categories
Tense: Past / Present / Future (time reference)
Aspect: Continuous (progress) / Perfect (completion)
Voice
Active: Subject = agent ("She wrote the letter")
Passive: Subject = patient ("The letter was written")
Middle/Reflexive: Action reflects on subject ("Help yourself")
Mood: Indicative (facts) / Subjunctive (hypothetical) / Imperative (commands)
Verb Types by Function
Notional Verbs: Full lexical meaning (run, think, create)
Modal Verbs: Express attitude/obligation (can, must, should, may)
Link Verbs: Connect subject to predicate (be, become, seem, appear)
Auxiliary Verbs: Grammatical helpers (do, have, be for tense/passive)
PREPOSITIONS
Function: Connective words showing relations (time, place, direction)
Structural Types
Simple: one word (in, on, at, by, with)
Complex: blended pair (into, upon, within, without)
Composite/Phrasal: multi-word units (because of, as soon as, in front of)
Key Feature: Always govern a noun/pronoun (preposition + object = phrase)
MODAL WORDS
Function: Express speaker's attitude toward proposition
Examples: fortunately, unfortunately, probably, supposedly, apparently
Syntactic Flexibility: Can modify whole sentence OR stand alone
Difference from Adverbs: Modal words comment on truth/likelihood, not manner