2.2 Word classes
Word classes are also called parts of speech. They are important because it is one possible way to analyse how words behave in larger chunks of language, in other words, words play different roles in a text. Thornbury (2002), as well as Crystal (1995), mention eight different word classes, but they differ in one of them.
Word classes
Thornbury
Crystal
Noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction
Determiner
Interjection
*Sometimes, auxiliaries are also considered as a different word class.
These word classes are divided into two categories: grammatical or function words, which help to provide the sentence with a structure and consist of a closed set; and content or lexical words, which carry the meaning and are an open set, that is to say, words can be added to each word class unlimitedly.
LAS Activity 202. Word classes
Instructions
- Download the following Word file ‘LAS Activity 202’, and using the previous information and your own knowledge, complete the chart there.
- Once you finish this activity, save it as PDF, name it LAS_202_Last
Name_FirstName , and upload it in Eminus in the corresponding section in ‘Actividades’.