1.

Introduction

In order to explain the differences, various ways to classify words are available. Choosing
the classification depends on our aim. For example, lexicographers are interested in arranging
words alphabetically and pairing them off with their pronunciation and meaning. If we are
interested in history of a language (in this case English) we might want to group words into an
open class items (a class of words that is constantly enlarged and new members are added as time
progresses) and closed class items (a class of words that is static in which no new members can be
added).

Categorization of words is shown in following table:

Open class items Closed class items

Nouns Pronouns
Verbs Prepositions
Adjectives Numerals
Adverbs Conjunctions
Interjections

Table no. 1
 2. Open class items

When we say that a word class is OPEN, we mean that the class is open for new members
as the need arises. The class of nouns, for instance, is potentially infinite, since it is continually
being expanded as new scientific discoveries are made, new products are developed, and new
ideas are explored.

In following text, we will look in detail at each of four major open word classes.

3. Nouns

Nouns are commonly thought of as “naming” words, and specifically as the names of
“people, places, or things”. Nouns such as John, London, and computer certainly fit this
description, but the class of nouns is much broader than this. Nouns also denote abstract and
intangible concepts such as birth, happiness, evolution, technology, management, imagination,
revenge, politics, hope, cookery, sport, literacy.... Because of this enormous diversity of reference,
it is not very useful to study nouns solely in terms of their meaning. It is much more fruitful to
consider them from the point of view of their formal characteristics.

3.1. Characteristics of Nouns

Many nouns can be recognised by their endings. Typical noun endings include:
-er/-or actor, painter, plumber, writer
-ism criticism, egotism, magnetism, vandalism
-ist artist, capitalist, journalist, scientist
-ment arrangement, development, establishment, government
-tion foundation, organisation, recognition, supposition

Most nouns have distinctive SINGULAR and PLURAL forms. The plural of regular nouns is
formed by adding -s to the singular:
car car-s
dog dog-s
house house-s

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 However, there are many irregular nouns which do not form the plural in this way:
man men
child children
sheep sheep

The distinction between singular and plural is known as NUMBER CONTRAST. We can
recognise many nouns because they often have the, a, or an in front of them:
the car
an artist
a surprise

Nouns may take an -‘s (“apostrophe s”) or GENITIVE MARKER to indicate possession:
the boy’s pen
a spider’s web
my girlfriend’s brother
John’s house

If the noun already has an -s ending to mark the plural, then the genitive marker appears
only as an apostrophe after the plural form:
the boys’ pens
the spiders’ webs
the Browns’ house

The genitive marker should not be confused with the ‘s form of contracted verbs, as in
John’s a good boy (= John is a good boy). Nouns often co-occur without a genitive marker between
them:
rally car
table top

3.2. Common and Proper Nouns

Nouns which names specific people or places are known as PROPER NOUNS.
John
Mary

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London
France

Many names consist of more than one word:

John Wesley
Queen Mary
South Africa
Atlantic Ocean

Proper nouns may also refer to times or to dates in the calendar:

January, February, Monday, Tuesday, Christmas, Thanksgiving

All other nouns are COMMON NOUNS. Since proper nouns usually refer to something or
someone unique, they do not normally take plurals. However, they may do so, especially when
number is being specifically referred to:
there are three Davids in my class
we met two Christmases ago

For the same reason, names of people and places are not normally preceded by
determiners the or a/an, though they can be in certain circumstances:
it’s nothing like the America I remember
my brother is an Einstein at maths

3.3 Count and Non-count Nouns

Common nouns are either count or non-count. COUNT nouns can be “counted”, as follows:
one pen, two pens, three pens, four pens...

NON-COUNT nouns, on the other hand, cannot be counted in this way:

one software, two softwares, three softwares, four softwares...

From the point of view of grammar, this means that count nouns have singular as well as
plural forms, whereas non-count nouns have only a singular form. It also means that non-count
nouns do not take a/an before them:

Count Non-count
a pen a software

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 In general, non-count nouns are considered to refer to indivisible wholes. For this reason,
they are sometimes called MASS nouns. Some common nouns may be either count or non-count,
depending on the kind of reference they have. For example, in I made a cake, cake is a count noun,
and the a before it indicates singular number. However, in I like cake, the reference is less specific.
It refers to “cake in general”, and so cake is non-count in this sentence.

4. Verbs
Verbs have traditionally been defined as “action” words or “doing” words. The verb in the
following sentence is rides:
Paul rides a bicycle

Here, the verb rides certainly denotes an action which Paul performs - the action of riding a
bicycle. However, there are many verbs which do not denote an action at all. For example, in Paul
seems unhappy, we cannot say that the verb seems denotes an action. We would hardly say that
Paul is performing any action when he seems unhappy. So the notion of verbs as “action” words is
somewhat limited. We can achieve a more robust definition of verbs by looking first at their formal
features.

4.1. The Base Form

Here are some examples of verbs in sentences:

[1] She travels to work by train
[2] David sings in the choir
[3] We walked five miles to a garage
[4] I cooked a meal for the family

Notice that in [1] and [2], the verbs have an -s ending, while in [3] and [4], they have an -ed
ending. These endings are known as INFLECTIONS, and they are added to the BASE FORM of the
verb. In [1], for instance, the -s inflection is added to the base form travel. Certain endings are
characteristic of the base forms of verbs:
Ending Base Form
-ate concentrate, demonstrate, illustrate
-ify clarify, dignify, magnify
-ise/-ize baptize, conceptualize, realise

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4.2. Past and Present Forms

When we refer to a verb in general terms, we usually cite its base form, as in “the verb
travel”, “the verb sing”. We then add inflections to the base form as required.
Base Form + Inflection
[1] She travel + s to work by train
[2] David sing + s in the choir
[3] We walk + ed five miles to a garage
[4] I cook + ed a meal for the whole family

These inflections indicate TENSE. The -s inflection indicates the PRESENT TENSE, and the
-ed inflection indicates the PAST TENSE. Verb endings also indicate PERSON. Recall that when we
looked at nouns and pronouns, we saw that there are three persons, each with a singular and a
plural form. These are shown in the table below.
Person Singular Plural
1st Person I we
2nd person you you
3rd Person he/she/John/the dog they/the dogs

In sentence [1], She travels to work by train, we have a third person singular pronoun she,
and the present tense ending -s. However, if we replace she with a plural pronoun, then the verb
will change:
[1] She travels to work by train
[1a] They travel to work by train

The verb travel in [1a] is still in the present tense, but it has changed because the pronoun
in front of it has changed. This correspondence between the pronoun (or noun) and the verb is
called AGREEMENT or CONCORD. Agreement applies only to verbs in the present tense. In the
past tense, there is no distinction between verb forms: she travelled/they travelled.

4.3. The Infinitive Form

The INFINITIVE form of a verb is the form which follows to:

to ask
to believe

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to cry
to go to protect
to sing
to talk
to wish

This form is indistinguishable from the base form. Indeed, many people cite this form when
they identify a verb, as in “This is the verb to be”, although to is not part of the verb. Infinitives
with to are referred to specifically as TO-INFINITIVES, in order to distinguish them from BARE
INFINITIVES, in which to is absent:
To-infinitive Bare infinitive
Help me to open the gate Help me open the gate

4.4. More Verb Forms: -ing and -ed

So far we have looked at three verb forms: the present form, the past form, and the
infinitive/base form. Verbs have two further forms which we will look at now.
[1] The old lady is writing a play
[2] The film was produced in Hollywood

The verb form writing in [1] is known as the -ing form, or the -ING PARTICIPLE form. In [2],
the verb form produced is called the -ed form, or -ED PARTICIPLE form. Many so-called -ed
participle forms do not end in -ed at all:
The film was written by John Brown
The film was bought by a British company
The film was made in Hollywood

All of these forms are called -ed participle forms, despite their various endings. The term “-
ed participle form” is simply a cover term for all of these forms. The -ed participle form should not
be confused with the -ed inflection which is used to indicate the past tense of many verbs. We
have now looked at all five verb forms. By way of summary, let us bring them together and see
how they look for different verbs. For convenience, we will illustrate only the third person singular
forms (the forms which agree with he/she/it) of each verb. Notice that some verbs have irregular
past forms and -ed forms.
Base/Infinitive Form Present Tense Form Past Tense Form -ing Form -ed Form
cook he cooks he cooked he is cooking he has cooked
walk he walks he walked he is walking he has walked
take he takes he took he is taking he has taken

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bring he brings he brought he is bringing he has brought
be he is he was he is being he has been

4.5. Finite and Nonfinite Verbs

Verbs which have the past or the present form are called FINITE verbs. Verbs in any other
form (infinitive, -ing, or -ed) are called NONFINITE verbs. This means that verbs with tense are
finite, and verbs without tense are nonfinite. The distinction between finite and nonfinite verbs is a
very important one in grammar, since it affects how verbs behave in sentences. Here are some
examples of each type:

David plays the piano Present Finite

My sister spoke French on Past Finite
holiday
It took courage to continue the verb has the infinitive Nonfinite
after the accident form
Leaving home can be very the verb has the -ing form Nonfinite
traumatic
Leave immediately when you the verb has the -ed form Nonfinite
are asked to do so
Table no. 2

4.6. Auxiliary Verbs

In the examples of -ing and -ed forms which we looked at, you may have noticed that in each case
two verbs appeared:
[1] The old lady is writing a play
[2] The film was produced in Hollywood

Writing and produced each has another verb before it. These other verbs (is and was) are
known as AUXILIARY VERBS, while writing and produced are known as MAIN VERBS or LEXICAL
VERBS. In fact, all the verbs we have looked at on the previous pages have been main verbs.
Auxiliary verbs are sometimes called HELPING VERBS. This is because they may be said to “help”

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the main verb which comes after them. For example, in The old lady is writing a play, the auxiliary
is helps the main verb writing by specifying that the action it denotes is still in progress.

5. Adjectives

Adjectives can be identified using a number of formal criteria. However, we may begin by
saying that they typically describe an attribute of a noun:
cold weather
large windows
violent storms

Some adjectives can be identified by their endings. Typical adjective endings include:
-able/-ible achievable, capable, illegible, remarkable
-al biographical, functional, internal, logical
-ful beautiful, careful, grateful, harmful
-ic cubic, manic, rustic, terrific
-ive attractive, dismissive, inventive, persuasive
-less breathless, careless, groundless, restless
-ous courageous, dangerous, disastrous, fabulous

However, a large number of very common adjectives cannot be identified in this way. They
do not have typical adjectival form:
bad
bright
clever
cold
common
complete
dark
deep
difficult
distant
elementary
good
great... etc.

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 As this list shows, adjectives are formally very diverse. However, they have a number of
characteristics which we can use to identify them.

5.1. Characteristics of Adjectives

Adjectives can take a modifying word, such as very, extremely, or less, before them:
very cold weather
extremely large windows
less violent storms

Here, the modifying word locates the adjective on a scale of comparison, at a position
higher or lower than the one indicated by the adjective alone. This characteristic is known as
GRADABILITY. Most adjectives are gradable, though if the adjective already denotes the highest
position on a scale, then it is non-gradable:

my main reason for coming ~*my very main reason for coming
the principal role in the play ~*the very principal role in the play

As well as taking modifying words like very and extremely, adjectives also take different
forms to indicate their position on a scale of comparison:
big bigger biggest

The lowest point on the scale is known as the ABSOLUTE form, the middle point is known
as the COMPARATIVE form, and the highest point is known as the SUPERLATIVE form. Here are
some more examples:
Absolute Comparative Superlative
dark darker darkest
new newer newest
old older oldest
young younger youngest

In most cases, the comparative is formed by adding -er, and the superlative is formed by
adding -est to the absolute form. However, a number of very common adjectives are irregular in
this respect:
Absolute Comparative Superlative
good better best

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bad worse worst
far farther farthest

Some adjectives form the comparative and superlative using more and most respectively:
Absolute Comparative Superlative
important more important most important
miserable more miserable most miserable
recent more recent most recent

5.2. Attributive and Predicative Adjectives

Most adjectives can occur both before and after a noun:

the blue sea ~ the sea is blue
the old man ~ the man is old
happy children ~ the children are happy

Adjectives in the first position - before the noun - are called ATTRIBUTIVE adjectives. Those
in the second position - after the noun - are called PREDICATIVE adjectives. Notice that predicative
adjectives do not occur immediately after the noun. Instead, they follow a verb. Sometimes an
adjective does occur immediately after a noun, especially in certain institutionalised expressions:
the Governor General
the Princess Royal
times past

We refer to these as POSTPOSITIVE adjectives. Postposition is obligatory when the

adjective modifies a pronoun:
something useful
everyone present
those responsible

Postpositive adjectives are commonly found together with superlative, attributive

adjectives:
the shortest route possible
the worst conditions imaginable
the best hotel available

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 Most adjectives can freely occur in both the attributive and the predicative positions.
However, a small number of adjectives are restricted to one position only. For example, the
adjective main (the main reason) can only occur in the attributive position (predicative: the reason
is main). Conversely, the adjective afraid (the child was afraid) can only occur predicatively
(attributive: an afraid child).

We have now looked at the main criteria for the adjective class - gradability, comparative
and superlative forms, and the ability to occur attributively and predicatively. Most adjectives fulfil
all these criteria, and are known as CENTRAL adjectives. Those which do not fulfil all the criteria
are known as PERIPHERAL adjectives.

5.3. Nominal Adjectives

Certain adjectives are used to denote a class by describing one of the attributes of the
class. For example, the poor denotes a class of people who share a similar financial status. Other
nominal adjectives are:
the old
the sick
the wealthy

A major subclass of nominal adjectives refers to nationalities:

the French
the British
the Japanese

However, not all nationalities have corresponding nominal adjectives. Many of them are
denoted by plural, proper nouns:
the Germans
the Russians
the Americans
the Poles

Nominal adjectives do not refer exclusively to classes of people. Indeed some of them do
not denote classes at all:
the opposite
the contrary
the good

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 Comparative and superlative forms can also be nominal adjectives:
the best is yet to come
the elder of the two
the greatest of these
the most important among them

We refer to all of these types as nominal adjectives because they share some of the
characteristics of nouns (hence ‘nominal’) and some of the characteristics of adjectives.

They have the following nominal characteristics:

They are preceded by a determiner (usually the definite article the)
They can be modified by adjectives (the gallant French, the unfortunate poor)

They have the following adjectival features:

They are gradable (the very old, the extremely wealthy)
Many can take comparative and superlative forms (the poorer, the poorest).

6. Adverbs

Adverbs are used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb:

[1] Mary sings beautifully
[2] David is extremely clever
[3] This car goes incredibly fast

In [1], the adverb beautifully tells us how Mary sings. In [2], extremely tells us the degree to
which David is clever. Finally, in [3], the adverb incredibly tells us how fast the car goes. Before
discussing the meaning of adverbs, however, we will identify some of their formal characteristics.

6.1. Formal Characteristics of Adverbs

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 From our examples above, you can see that many adverbs end in -ly. More precisely, they
are formed by adding -ly to an adjective:
Adjective slow quick soft sudden gradual
Adverb slowly quickly softly suddenly gradually

Because of their distinctive endings, these adverbs are known as -LY ADVERBS. However, by
no means all adverbs end in -ly. Note also that some adjectives also end in -ly, including costly,
deadly, friendly, kindly, likely, lively, manly, and timely. Like adjectives, many adverbs are
GRADABLE, that is, we can modify them using very or extremely:
softly very softly
suddenly very suddenly
slowly extremely slowly

The modifying words very and extremely are themselves adverbs. They are called DEGREE
ADVERBS because they specify the degree to which an adjective or another adverb applies. Degree
adverbs include almost, barely, entirely, highly, quite, slightly, totally, and utterly. Degree adverbs
are not gradable (*extremely very). Like adjectives, too, some adverbs can take COMPARATIVE and
SUPERLATIVE forms, with -er and -est: John works hard—Mary works harder—I work hardest
However, the majority of adverbs do not take these endings. Instead, they form the comparative
using more and the superlative using most:
Adverb Comparative Superlative
recently more recently most recently
effectively more effectively most effectively
frequently more frequently most frequently

In the formation of comparatives and superlatives, some adverbs are irregular:

Adverb Comparative Superlative
well better best
badly worse worst
little less least
much more most

6.2. Circumstantial Adverbs

Many adverbs convey information about the manner, time, or place of an event or action.

MANNER adverbs tell us how an action is or should be performed:

She sang loudly in the bath

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The sky quickly grew dark
They whispered softly
I had to run fast to catch the bus

TIME adverbs denote not only specific times but also frequency:
I’ll be checking out tomorrow
Give it back, now!
John rarely rings any more
I watch television sometimes

And finally, PLACE adverbs indicate where:

Put the box there, on the table
I’ve left my gloves somewhere

These three adverb types—manner, time, and place—are collectively known as

CIRCUMSTANTIAL ADVERBS. They express one of the circumstances relating to an event or action -
how it happened (manner), when it happened (time), or where it happened (place).

6.3. Wh- Adverbs

A special subclass of adverbs includes a set of words beginning with wh-. The most
common are when, where, and why, though the set also includes whence, whereby, wherein, and
whereupon. To this set we add the word how, and we refer to the whole set as WH- ADVERBS.
Some members of the set can introduce an interrogative sentence:

When are you going to New York?

Where did you leave the car?
Why did he resign?
How did you become interested in theatre?

They can also introduce various types of clause:

This is the town where Shakespeare was born
I’ve no idea how it works.

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 7. Conclusion:

In text above we have established what open class items means and what they are
consisted of. It is the class of words which is constantly expanding. In the late twentieth century,
for example, developments in computer technology have given rise to many new nouns: Internet,
website, URL, CD-ROM, email, newsgroup, bitmap, modem, multimedia, hashtag, selfie etc. New
verbs have also been introduced: download, upload, reboot, right-click, double-click, google. The
adjective and adverb classes can also be expanded by the addition of new words, though less
often.

8. Bibliography:

1. * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
2. * http://edufind.com/english
3. * http://fortunecity.com
4. * http://wtorrent.com
5. * http://northpark.edu

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 Content:
Page
1. Introduction 2
2. Open class items 3
3. Nouns 3
3.1. Characteristics of Nouns 3
3.2. Common and proper Nouns 5
3.3. Count and non-count Nouns 5
4. Verbs 6
4.1. The base form 6
4.2. Past and present forms 7
4.3. The infinitive form 8
4.4. More verbs forms : -ing and –ed 8
4.5. Finite and non-finite Verbs 9
4.6. Auxiliary Verbs 10
5. Adjectives 10
5.1. Characteristics of adjectives 11
5.2. Attributive and Predicative Adjectives 13
5.3. Nominal Adjectives 14
6. Adverbs 15
6.1. Formal characteristics of Adverbs 15
6.2. Circumstantial Adverbs 16
6.3. Wh – Adverbs 17
7. Conclusion 18
8. Bibliography 18

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