Word classes: Lexical words and grammatical words

​​In a nutshell

Words are divided into word classes. Word classes are types of words which indicate their grammatical function. In English grammar, there are eight word classes which are equally divided into lexical words (nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs) and grammatical words (determiners, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions). In this summary, the word classes will be explored in more detail.

Lexical words

Lexical words are the types of words that carry the main meaning in a sentence. They are also referred to as 'open' because new words can be added within them. Since language continuously evolves, the meaning of words and their function can change or evolve.

Example

The word, 'Uber' is a proper noun that has also become a verb in recent years.

"I've ubered to that restaurant many times."

Nouns

Simply put, nouns are the names of people, places, things, ideas and concepts. As simple as nouns seem to be, there are some subdivisions to take note of; some you already may know and others that might make you think.

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Adjectives

Adjectives describe or modify nouns or noun phrases and pronouns. They give more information about a noun or pronoun and can go in different positions in a sentence. They can even be used alongside other adjectives.

Example

The aromatic flowers.

OR

The flowers are aromatic.

OR

The purple, aromatic flowers.

Note: in the sentence, "The flowers are aromatic", the adjective appears after the 'to be' verb, 'are' and is still modifying the noun, 'flowers'. In this type of sentence, the verb is linking the noun to the adjective 'aromatic'. This type of verb is called a copular verb because it joins the subject of the verb (The flowers) with a complement (aromatic).

Adjectives can also be used to compare things with each other. This is called degrees of comparison and there are three degrees, namely base form, comparative and superlative. 

When an adjective, however, has three or more syllables, then we cannot add the suffix '-er' or '-est' to the end of it in the comparative or superlative form respectively. Instead, the words, 'more' and 'most' should be used. 

​This also applies to non-gradable adjectives, which are adjectives like amazing, awful, fantastic etc. because they already contain the idea of 'very'.

Adverbs can also modify adjectives, which consequently modify the noun. In the following example, the word 'very' is the adverb that modifies the adjective 'aromatic' and 'very aromatic' modifies the noun, 'flowers'.

Example

The very aromatic flowers.

Lastly, nouns can also modify nouns.

Example

Vacuum cleaner

Verbs

Verbs describe actions or states. For a sentence to be a sentence, it must contain a verb, so they are really important. Due to the complexity of verbs, they will be explored in more detail in another lesson.

Example

I ate a bowl of noodles yesterday.

I think we are lost.

Adverbs

An adverb is a word that modifies or describes a verb, an adjective, an adverb or even a whole sentence. They often end in the suffix '-ly', but some look the same as their adjective counterparts or completely different. Adverbs tell you how, where or when something happens. There are five types of adverbs to take note of.

You will also encounter sentence adverbs, also known as conjunctive adverbs, which often connect two main clauses or sentences. This type of adverb does not answer a question like the above adverbs.

Examples

Grammatical words

Grammatical words play a very important role in building sentences; they glue them together. They are also referred to as 'closed' because it is unlikely that new grammatical words would be added to the language. 

Determiners

Determiners are words that accompany nouns. They indicate the number and/or status of the noun. The number tells you whether a noun is singular or plural and the status of a noun tells you whether something belongs to someone. To determine the status of a noun, possessive determiners can be used.

Example

We sold our house recently.

Note: don't confuse possessive determiners with possessive pronouns. Possessive determiners usually come before a noun, whereas possessive pronouns replace a noun (mine, yours etc.).

There is also a subdivision of determiners called articles, more specifically, definite and indefinite articles. These are 'the' and 'a/an' respectively. Definite articles (the) are used before a noun to show that the identity of the noun is known to the reader and indefinite articles (a/an) are used before a noun that is general or when its identity is not known.

Note: indefinite articles can't be used with uncountable (non-countable) nouns (e.g. water, air, money etc.).

When you talk about all things or things in general, then no article is needed.

Example

The Fruit is very good for your health.

Pronouns

Pronouns are used to replace nouns or noun phrases in a sentence. This is done to avoid repetition. 

Example

Holly smiled so I smiled back at Holly. $$\to$$​ Holly smiled so I smiled back at her.​

There are personal pronouns that can be divided into subject pronouns and object pronouns; then we have possessive pronouns to indicate possession.

Examples

Samia baked a cake. $$\to$$ She baked it. ​

The cake belongs to Samia. $$\to$$ It is hers.​

Prepositions

Prepositions tell you where or when something is in relation to something else. There are many prepositions in English, but here are the most commonly used: 

Examples

We live in London.

We have dinner at the table.

They walked across the bridge.

Conjunctions

​Conjunctions are connecting words. They connect two or more words, clauses or sentences together. There are two types that will be discussed: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.