Chapter 5
Grammatical Categories and Word Classes
Exercise 5.3Grammatical Categories
Name and give concrete examples of three different formal means for expressing each of the following grammatical distinctions in English on the part of speech indicated.
| Example: | generic number in nouns | |
| Answer: | the + N |
The cat is an independent animal. |
| a + N |
A cat is an independent animal. |
|
| Ns |
Cats are independent animals. |
|
genitive case in nouns
passive voice in verbs
future tense in verbs
dative case in nouns
Identify the grammatical distinction exemplified by the underlined word and explain its meaning.
Example: person: You never can tell.
Answer: 2nd person used for generic purposes
| a. | case: | The building's collapse was impressive. |
| b. | tense: | The moon circles the earth. |
| c. | aspect: | We have argued since we were children. |
| d. | tense: | My parents are going to visit next weekend. |
| e. | definiteness: | I wonder where the remote control is. |
| f. | number: | Rattlesnakes live in the desert. |
| g. | gender: | Who is it at the door? |
| h. | voice: | The dog's tail got caught in the door. |
| i. | tense: | All's well that ends well. |
| j. | case: | You should have given Jack the opportunity to answer. |
| k. | person: | She let me copy her class notes. |
Identify the grammatical distinction exemplified by the underlined word and explain its form.
Example: person: He claims to have been caught in traffic.
Answer: inflection
| a. | aspect: | He has forgotten her birthday. |
| b. | mood: | The engineer recommended that the street be widened. |
| c. | gender: | The audience gave the pianist a standing ovation. |
| d. | definiteness: | I just had a very strange experience. |
| e. | mood: | Let's begin the meeting. |
| f. | gender: | We consider Pat someone to reckon with. |
| g. | aspect: | The alarm has been sounding for several minutes |
| h. | tense: | She might have seen the movie already. |
Name all of the grammatical distinction(s) expressed by each of the underlined forms. Then describe the means used to express this distinction (periphrasis, inflection, word order, etc.).
He is seeing her these days.
That bicycle is mine.
Give me a hand here.
She granted the student an extension.
He had forgotten her birthday.
Janice has several boyfriends.
I was pleased to be promoted.
The weather is pleasant today.
You could make this paper better – less verbose, clearer, and more coherent.
| a. | inflection: | the student's paper |
| periphrasis: | the title page of the paper | |
| inflection and periphrasis: | one of the student's papers | |
| b. | periphrasis: | be + pstprt - The tree was felled. |
| get + pstprt - The roof got damaged. | ||
| inflection: | notional passive - This fabric holds up well. | |
| c. | periphrases: | will - I will help you. |
| will + progressive - I will be working tomorrow. | ||
| be going to - I am going to look into the problem. | ||
| progressive - I am running a race this weekend. | ||
| inflection: | simple present - I finish my job tomorrow. | |
| d. | periphrases: | to - I gave the food to the dog. |
| for - I made a house for the dog. | ||
| word order: | I made the dog a house. |
| a. | genitive case | subjective |
| b. | present tense | timeless statement |
| c. | perfect aspect | continuative |
| d. | future tense | present intention |
| e. | definiteness | immediate context |
| f. | plural number | generic |
| g. | neuter gender | expedient |
| h. | passive voice | actional (get -passive) |
| i. | present tense | gnomic |
| j. | dative case | indirect object |
| k. | first person | speaker |
| a. | perfect aspect | periphrasis |
| b. | subjunctive mood | inflection |
| c. | common gender | derivational affix |
| d. | indefiniteness | covert |
| e. | 1st p imperative | periphrasis |
| f. | common gender | lexical |
| g. | perfect-progressive aspect | periphrasis |
| h. | past tense | inflection |
| a. |
progressive aspect present tense 3rd p sg indicative mood, active voice |
expressed by periphrasis expressed by inflection of auxiliary expressed by inflection expressed by inflection |
| b. | genitive case, 1st person, and singular number | expressed by inflected form of pronoun |
| c. | imperative mood | expressed by syntactic form |
| d. |
objective case singular number neuter gender indefiniteness |
|
| e. |
perfect aspect past tense 3rd p sg indicative mood, active voice |
expressed by word order expressed by zero inflection on noun expressed covertly expressed by indefinite article expressed covertly on noun by cooccurrence |
| f. |
plural number masculine gender objective case indefiniteness |
expressed by periphrasis expressed by inflection of auxiliary expressed by inflection expressed by inflection |
| g. | passive voice | expressed by periphrasis |
| h. | definiteness | expressed by definite article, expressed covertly on noun by cooccurrence |
| i. | comparative degree |
expressed by suppletion (better) periphrasis (less verbose, more coherent) inflection (clearer) |