8. Parts of speech
8.6. Common pitfalls
In this section, we will consider some common mistakes students make when classifying words according to part of speech.
Overlapping distribution
| (1) | a. | the | happy | woman |
| D | Adj | N | ||
| b. | the | woman | ||
| D | N |
This test is not actually ambiguous; you just have to remember that adjectives appear in between a determiner and a noun, while nouns will not typically be followed by another noun.
Ambiguous affixes
Some affixes are ambiguous. When an affix is ambiguous, we have to use additionally criteria to conclusively determine the part of speech of a word.
For example, -ly can form both adjectives and adverbs. In (2a), -ly attaches to the noun friend to form the adjective friendly. In (2b), on the other hand, -ly attaches to the adjective quick to form the adverb quickly.
| (2) | a. | The friendly cat purred at me. |
| b. | The cat ran quickly. |
There are also two prefixes un– that can get mixed up. One un– is called the negative un- and it takes adjectives and turns them into negative adjectives, such as unhappy, unable, or unease. The other un– is called the reversive un– which means to undo an action, such as in unlock, unbend, and unclog. It’s important not to get these two homophonous morphemes mixed up because negative un- turns adjectives into adjectives and reversive un– turns verbs into verbs.
The present participle, which is formed by attaching -ing to a verb stem, can be used as a progressive verb, as a noun, or as an adjective. In some contexts, it is even ambiguous. We can tell that annoying in (3a) is a verb because it takes an object, me. We can tell that annoying in (3b) is an adjective because it appears in between a determiner and a noun. However, (3c) is ambiguous. The word annoying could be an adjective in a copular construction or a progressive verb.
| (3) | a. | This rash has been annoying me. | progressive verb |
| b. | This annoying rash won’t go away. | adjective | |
| c. | This rash is annoying. | ambiguous |
| (4) | a. | His winning of the race surprised me. | noun |
| b. | Him winning the race surprised me. | non-finite verb | |
| c. | Winning surprised me. | ambiguous |
| (5) | a. | The diamond was stolen by the thief. | passive voice verb |
| b. | The thief had stolen the diamond. | perfect aspect verb | |
| c. | The stolen diamond was recovered. | adjective | |
| d. | The diamond was stolen. | ambiguous |
Homonyms
Some words have homonyms of a different category. For example, the word bear meaning the kind of animal is a noun in most contexts while the word bear meaning to carry is a verb in most contexts. For lexical words like bear and bear, it is fairly easy to keep them straight, but it is more difficult when one or more of the two words belongs to a functional category.
For example, there are two words to with different functions, and they belong to different parts of speech: it can be a preposition or it can be a non-finite tense marker. In (5a), we can tell that to is a preposition, because it is followed by a noun phrase. In (5b), we can tell that to is a non-finite marker because it is followed by a verb.
| (5) | a. | I went to the store. | noun |
| b. | I want to go home. | verb |
Nouns that look like prepositions
There are some nouns that can indicate location or origin, which some students mistake for prepositions. These nouns may even have equivalent prepositions with the same meaning. For example, back in (1a) and top in (2a) are both nouns. We can tell that they are nouns because they cannot introduce the following noun phrase directly; instead, they need the preposition of.
| (1) | a. | to the back of the door | noun |
| b. | behind the door | preposition | |
| (2) | a. | on top of the image | noun |
| b. | above the image | preposition |
Key takeaways
- Some criteria for determining part of speech can be ambiguous. Be aware of these ambiguities and use two or more criteria to be sure.
- The present and past participle forms can be used either as verbs, as nouns, or as adjectives. Some instances are ambiguous.
- Some words have homonyms in different categories. Be aware of these, especially the difference between preposition and non-finite to.
Check yourself!
An inflectional form of verbs used in the progressive aspect, formed by suffixing -ing to a verb stem.
The progressive is an aspectual category that indicates an incomplete or ongoing action with respect to a particular event at a time. In English, progressive aspect is expressed using a form of the verb BE and the present participle form of the verb, e.g., 'John is eating sushi.'
A word used to introduce non-verbal predicates, including adjectival (I am happy), nominal (I am a teacher), and prepositional (I am down the street) predicates. It has roughly the meaning of an equal sign. In English, the verb BE is used to form copular constructions.
A form of the English verb used in the perfect (e.g., have sung or have eaten) or in the passive (e.g., was sung or was eaten).
The past participle is often marked with -en or shares the same form as the past tense, but there are also many verbs with an irregular past participle.
A grammatical structure in which the subject of a clause is deleted or included in an optional 'by'-phrase, and the object of the clause is promoted to subject position.
The perfect aspect is used to indicate an event which is completed by the indicated tense. Thus, in the "present perfect," the event of the verb has been completed by the present moment. In the "past perfect," the event of the verb has been completed at some past moment. In English, perfect is expressed using a form of the auxiliary verb HAVE and the past participle form of the following verb, e.g., "John has eaten sushi."
synonym: infinitive
Not marked for tense.
