Chapter 2: categories

Today: lexical categories

August 2014

EvG

Categories

• Lexical: N, V, P, Adj, and Adv

• Grammatical: D, C, and AUX

• In the middle: Pronouns

Semantic, Morphological, and Syntactic Criteria

(1) The actions by the government came too late.

(2) The hurricane caused the destruction of the villages.

(3) Jenny's neighbor always knows the answer.

(4) That writer has modernized modernism.

Verbs

(5) The government acted too late.

(6) The hurricane destroyed the villages.

(7) The book is red and blue.

(8) The book seemed nice (to me).

Lexical ambiguity

(1) Police police police outings regularly in the meadows of Malacandra.

(2) Did Peter Piper pickle pickled pickles?

(3) The fast girl recovered fast after her fast.

Look at p. 14

Table 2.1: Some differences between N(oun) and V(erb)

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves

And the mome raths outgrabe.

Label the categories in bold

MUnicycling is the act of riding a one-wheel bike off road. It is also known as Rough Terrain or All Terrain Unicycling and, in the past decade, has become the hottest trend around in the unicycling community. Off road terrain is, of course, uneven and mountains have gradients, rocks and other obstacles to get in the way of the intrepid unicyclist.

Adjective - Adverb

(1) That expensive book sold out quickly.

(2) The Adjective-Adverb Rule

- An adjective modifies a noun;

- an adverb modifies a verb and (a degree adverb) modifies an adjective or adverb.

Adverb or Adjective?

(1) The book is nice.(2) A nice book is on the table. (3) This Hopi bowl is very precious.(4) He drove very quickly.(5) That fast car must be a police car.(6) That car drove fast until it hit the photo radar.

See Table 2.2 (p. 18)

Some challenges

• First(ly) – secondly

• Friendly, lovely, lively …

• Fast, hard

Ok Adjectives:

(1) She waited impassive while they made it in safe.

(2) I list them separate.

(3) He tested positive.

(4) In an article on nails: Color them unusual!

(5) Headline: 911 system stretched thin.

Not prescriptively ok:

(1) In formal speech:

You did that real good.

(2) `because if she doesn't do good in school, then ...' (Judge in Texas, quoted in a newspaper)

(3) It looks beautifully.

(4) Does the clutch feel any differently? (The Tappet Brothers on `Car Talk')

Dylan Thomas’ Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,Old age should burn and rave at close of day;Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,Because their words had forked no lightning theyDo not go gentle into that good night

Good men, the last wave by, crying how brightTheir frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,Do not go gentle into that good night.

A gentle autumn

Categories?

Whilst jumping over rocks provides the fun element, cycling uphill on a unicycle demands incredible strength and lung capacity. Additional balancing skills, including the ability to back-pedal, are also needed to safely negotiate a downhill section on a unicycle. As a result, above average fitness levels are required.

Compounds

(1) So the principal says to the [chemistry teacher], “You'll have to teach physics this year.”

(2) Relaxing in the living room of his unpretentious red [stone house], …

Stacking Adjectives

(1) The beautiful, large, fast, young, spotted leopard jumped out of nowhere.

There is a carthography to this, but no need to memorize:

(2) opinion size appearance speed age shapecolor originmaterial

(3) pretty/ugly large soft sweet fast old roundpink American golden

(Could be a good honors’ project)

Prepositions

about, above, across, after, against, along, amidst, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside(s), between, beyond, by, concerning, despite, down, during, except, for, from, in, into, inside, like, near, of, off, on, onto, opposite, outside, over, past, since, through, to, toward(s), under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, within, without

Preposition - Adverb(1) With their books about linguistics, they

went to school.

(2) He went in; they ran out; and he jumped down.

(3) The Preposition-Adverb Rule

A Preposition introduces a noun (e.g. about the book); and

an Adverb is on its own (e.g. She went out; and Unfortunately, she left).

Prepositions in:'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Longtime the manxome foe he sought -

So rested he by the Tumtum tree

And stood a while in thought. (...)

Find Adj, Adv, and P in:

The Fry Bread House

We found this place accidentally and have been returning almost weekly. We just love it. It is so simple and yet so wonderful and the staff is great. They are always smiling and just so nice. There is almost always a line. A must!

Fun?

• A fun experience …

Funner

Most one-syllable adjectives have -er/-est as comparative/superlative, but `fun' was originally a noun (and still listed that way in the OED). So, `a fun project' was a compound of a noun and a noun. That's why `funner' didn't occur. It is changing, seehttp://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fun1.htm and therefore following the rule for comparatives.