Lexical and Grammatical Categories

LEXICAL AND
GRAMMATICAL
CATEGORIES
LEXICAL
CATEGORIES
LEXICAL CATEGORIES= they carry meaning; synonym and antonym;
functions as the head of phrases
• Noun
• Adjective
• Verb
• Adverb
• Preposition
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES= do not contribute to the meaning but
determines the syntax of the sentence; do not function as head of
phrases
• Determiner
• Auxiliary
• Coordinator
• Complementizer
NOUN
1. Plural -s with a few exceptions, e.g. Children, deer, mice & irregular noun
• The actions by the government came too late.
2. Possessive ’s
• Jenny’s neighbor always knows the answer.
3. Some end in -ity, -ness -ation, -er, -ion, -ment

• Creativity, Creativeness, Modernization, Worker, Education
4. May follow the/a and this/that/ these/those

• A desk, An eagle, The keyboard, This laptop, That mask, These games, Those students
5. May be modified by adjective

• A wide desk, The clean keyboard, This old laptop
6. May be followed by preposition and noun

• The hurricane caused the destruction of the villages
7. Person, place, thing

• Kelly, Alicia, board
VERB
1. Past tense -ed with a few exceptions, e.g. went, left, (irregular verbs)
• He walked 50 meters.
2. Third person singular agreement -s

• The writer buys a new set of ink.
3. Some end in -ize,-ate

• modernize, indiginize, organize, actualize, educate, propagate, elevate
4. May follow an auxiliary e.g. have and will

• That writer has modernized postmodernism.
5. May be modified by adverb

• He drives slowly; They danced gracefully; We quickly jumped.
6. May be followed by noun or preposition and noun

• Olivia loves dogs; The hurricane caused the destruction of the villages
7. Act, event, state, emotion

ADJECTIVES (PLUS COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE FORMS)
1. End in -ous, -ary, -al, -ic; mostly have no -ly;
• monstrous, customary, educational, analytic
2. Modify noun
• The punctual writer; Hazardous plant; Educational channel
3. Describe qualities typical of nouns, e.g: nationality, color, size, trait

• Filipino, white, big, passionate
ADVERBS & DEGREE ADVERBS
1. End in -ly in many cases, -wise, -ways, etc. or have no ending (fast, now)
• quickly, wisely, neatly
2. Modify V, Adj, or Adv

• The expensive book sold out quickly; She is too nice; They walked very quickly
3. Describe qualities of verbs, e.g: place, manner, time, duration, etc. and of adjectives/ adverbs: degree
• jumped there, jumped quickly, talks frequently
• A nice book is on the table
• The Hopi bowl is very precious
• He drove very fast
PREPOSITIONS
1. Expresses place & time (at, in, on, before, etc)
• He is at home
• I’ll leave on March 20, 2022
2. Expresses direction (to from into, down)

• He went to the city.
• She fell into the ground
3. Expresses relation ( of, about, with, like, as, near)

• Books about linguistics.
• The damage of storm.
4. Can be used as verb

• They upped the price.
• He went down; they ran out; he jumped up
GRAMMATICAL
CATEGORIES
DETERMINERS= specifies which noun is meant or whose it is.
1. Articles
• a, an, the
2. Demonstrative
• that, this, those, these
3. Possessive
• my, our, your, his, her, its, and their (POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS)
• NP’s like Perry’s, Jake’s Annalise’s
4. Interrogative
• whose, what, which
5. Numeral
• one, two, three, etc
• Can function as Adjective
6. Quantifiers
• all, both, half, some, many, few, any, much
• They can be considered as Pre-determiner and adjective in some cases.
AUXILIARY
1. Be-verbs
• is, am, are, was, were, be, been, being
2. Forms of do and have

• do, does, did
• has, have, had
3. Modal verbs
• shall, should, may, might, can, could, will, would
EXAMPLES: AUXILIARY OR NOT?

1. I have worked here for 6 years.
2. Santa will work in Thanksgiving Day.
3. I have a book in my hand.
4. She did her homework.
5. He did not sleep at all.
COORDINATOR=joins two elements of the same kind
1. Rigobertha and Pablo went to Madrid or Barcelona.
2. He is sweet and mature.
3. They jumped and rolled together.
There are also two-part coordinators such as both … and, either … or, and neither … nor.
COMPLEMENTIZER=join two clauses where one clause is subordinate to the other

1. Rigobertha and Pablo left [because Isabella was about to arrive].
2. You are anxious for a compliment, so I will tell you that you have improved her.
Some complementizers are: that, because, whether, if, and since

PRONOUNS
• Personal pronouns, such as I, me, she, he and it, and reflexive pronouns, such as myself, yourself, and
herself, are seen as grammatical categories by many. The reason is that they don’t mean very much: they
are used to refer to phrases already mentioned.
• They function like full Noun Phrases as Subjects and Objects
1. First person singular and plural

• I, me, we, us.
2. Second person singular and plural
• you
3. Third person singular and plural
• he/him, she/her, and it
• they, them
There are some possessive pronouns that occur on their own, and are therefore not determiners.
Examples are mine, yours, his, hers, ours, and theirs.
a. That e-mail is not mine, but it is yours.
b. That e-mail is not my e-mail, but it is your e-mail
The result is awkward, however, and I will suggest that mine and yours are really independent
pronouns, not determiners with the noun left out.
PHRASES
• Phrase- is a group of words in a sentence. It is named according to its head.
• Tree diagram- is a way to understand the relationship of words and phrases in a sentence. It helps us to see the structure
of the sentence in a clearer way and to avoid ambiguity.
• Nodes- are the place where branches of the tree meet.
• Branches- indicate how the phrase is divided.
• Apposition- when two NPs are used side by side with the same reference
• Coordination- is the joining of two phrases or categories with the same kind.
• Intermediate categories- placeholders for a group of words that go together

We can find the head of NP through pronominalization, subject-verb agreement, and looking for modifiers
inside the NP.
PRONOMINALIZATION= use of pronoun to replace the subject.

James is doing the laundry
He is doing the laundry.
SUBJ-VERB AGREEMENT
Perry shoots the ball to the ring.
The animals from the zoo are adorable.
MODIFIERS
The stinky old man.
The police car outside the garage.
All types of phrases can be pronominalized. We can assume
that a word/a group of words is a phrase if they can be replaced
by pronouns, pro-VP, or pro-forms.
a. [The pleasant wocket in my pocket that I adore] loves cranberry chutney.=

It loves cranberry chutney.
b. I was [happy] and so was she.
c. He behaved [nicely], and she behaved so/thus.
d. Gijsbert [washed the dishes] and Mariken did so as well.
e. Dylan went [to the store] and Kate went there too.
Apposition occurs when two NPs are used side by side but
with the same reference. The second NP can replace the first.
a. Napoleon Bonaparte, the past Emperor of France, went to war

against most of Europe.
b. We the people of the United States, …, do ordain and establish

this Constitution for the United States of America. (from the Preamble to
the US Constitution)
c. My friend Bill sent a letter.

All phrases can be pronominalized and coordinated. However, not all
phrases can be deleted like NP.
Pronominalization: [He] sat beside the table.
Coordination: [Gerald] and [Marie] sat beside the table.
Deletion: […] sat beside the table.

PHRASE
STRUCTURE RULES
Pre-Det: all, both
Core Det: articles, demonstratives,
possessive
Post Det: quantifiers and comparative
references like other
RULES 1-4
TENSES: Present and Past
ASPECTS: Perfect and Progressive
AUXILIARY VERBS:
1. Modal= will, can, must, shall, may
2. Phrasal Modal= be going to, have to, be able to
3. Form of be= is, am, are, was , were, be, been, being
4. Forms of have= has, have, had
5. Forms of do= do, does, did
John should write a book= past tense modal + write

John has written a book= pres tense + perfect have…en + write
John is writing a book= pres tense + prog be… ing + write
John is going to write a book= pres tense + phrasal modal be going to + write
I have worked here= pres tense + perfect have…en + work
She had been working here= past tense + perfect have…en + be + prog be…ing + work
She is working here= pres tense + prog be…ing + work

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LEXICAL AND

3. Some end in -ity, -ness -ation, -er, -ion, -ment

4. May follow the/a and this/that/ these/those

5. May be modified by adjective

6. May be followed by preposition and noun

7. Person, place, thing

2. Third person singular agreement -s

3. Some end in -ize,-ate

4. May follow an auxiliary e.g. have and will

5. May be modified by adverb

6. May be followed by noun or preposition and noun

7. Act, event, state, emotion

3. Describe qualities typical of nouns, e.g: nationality, color, size, trait

2. Modify V, Adj, or Adv

2. Expresses direction (to from into, down)

3. Expresses relation ( of, about, with, like, as, near)

4. Can be used as verb

2. Forms of do and have

EXAMPLES: AUXILIARY OR NOT?

COMPLEMENTIZER=join two clauses where one clause is subordinate to the other

Some complementizers are: that, because, whether, if, and since

• They function like full Noun Phrases as Subjects and Objects

1. First person singular and plural

• Nodes- are the place where branches of the tree meet.

• Branches- indicate how the phrase is divided.

• Intermediate categories- placeholders for a group of words that go together

PRONOMINALIZATION= use of pronoun to replace the subject.

a. [The pleasant wocket in my pocket that I adore] loves cranberry chutney.=

b. I was [happy] and so was she.

c. He behaved [nicely], and she behaved so/thus.

d. Gijsbert [washed the dishes] and Mariken did so as well.

a. Napoleon Bonaparte, the past Emperor of France, went to war

b. We the people of the United States, …, do ordain and establish

c. My friend Bill sent a letter.

Pronominalization: [He] sat beside the table.

Coordination: [Gerald] and [Marie] sat beside the table.

Deletion: […] sat beside the table.

John should write a book= past tense modal + write

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