Grammar: Word classes

Overview

What are word classes?

The words of a language can be classified into different word classes. The most familiar word classes include nouns, verbs, adjectives. For example, the word junk is a noun, the word old is an adjective and the word drift is a verb.

By grouping words together in word classes, we are saying that they share common characteristics. Words which belong to the same word class should be similar in their form (what forms they can take), their function (how they can be used), and their meaning (what types of meanings they express).

Let us look at the common characteristics of nouns in terms of:

	form
	function
	meaning

Form

Nouns can be singular or plural (junk/junks, mouse/mice); they can take the possessive form by adding -'s (junk's, mouse's); and they can take the in front (the junk, the mouse).

Function

Nouns can function as the Head of a noun group:

Nouns and noun groups can function as the Subject of a clause:

Meaning

Nouns name a person, animal, thing or place. As mouse is the name of a type of animal, in terms of meaning, the word mouse is clearly a member of the word class noun.

So words are put into different word classes on the basis of their form, function and meaning.

The word classes noun, verb, adjective, etc are used in dictionaries to classify words. Each word in the dictionary is assigned to a particular word class, for example:

mouse

noun (plural mice ) any of many kinds of small grey or brown rodents found worldwide