Parts of Speech in English: Positional Classes
Parts of Speech in English: Positional Classes
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Positional classes are based on the positions occupied by the form-classes, which we have studied in the chapter entitled "Parts of Speech: Form-Classes" in the book An Introductory English Morphology.
The members of these classes may be words or word groups. The positional classes are four in number, namely nominals, verbals, adjectivals, and adverbials. Following is a discussion of each.
A. Nominals
There are certain sentence positions that are characteristic places for nouns. These positions are the ones occupied by words / word groups that have these functions: subject of verb (SV), subjective complement (SC), direct object of verb (DO), indirect object of verb (IO), objective complement (OC), object of preposition (OP), and retained object (RO).
However, the fact that certain words occupy these positions does not always identify nouns because words belonging to other form-classes can occur in these positions too. Following are some examples that involve the SV position:
1. The poor live in slums.
In this sentence the SV slot is occupied by an adjective (poor), which is identified as such because it can be inflected with -er and -est, thus
The poorer live in slums.
The poorest live in slums.
2. Seriously is the best way to study.
In this sentence, we have an adverb (seriously), which is formed of the adjective serious plus the adverbial derivational suffix –ly. This adverb occurs in the SV slot.
3. Reading activates the brain.
The word reading is a verb in form. It consists of the stem read plus the –ing suffix. This verb occupies the SV position.
4. The pathos of the story convinced her.
Pathos is an uninflected word occurring in the SV slot. It is not a noun because it cannot take the noun plural or the noun possessive suffix, and it contains no noun-forming derivational suffix.
In all four sentences we have seen an adjective (poor), an adverb (seriously), a verb (reading), and an uninflected word (pathos) each occupying a noun position, namely that of the SV. Grammarians set up a positional class called the nominal class. Any word, regardless of its form-class, is labeled a nominal if it occupies any one of the seven noun positions mentioned above. Here are a few examples:
5. We enjoyed the party.
Party is a noun by form, since it can be pluralized. It is also a nominal because it occupies the DO slot.
6. What can you expect from the old?
Old is an adjective by form because it may be inflected by –er and –est, i.e. the older and the oldest. It is not a noun since it cannot be pluralized (*the youngs). It is a nominal by position because it occurs in the OP position.
7. Here is the best place.
Here is an uninflected word by form, and a nominal by position, since it occupies the SV position.
We have already mentioned, in passing, that word groups as well as individual words may occupy the positions for nouns, and hence are nominals, e.g.
8. About a dozen is my limit.
Here we have a prepositional phrase that occurs in the SV position, and hence is a nominal since the SV is one of the positions for nouns. Let us consider another sentence:
9. Grass emerged from under the tree.
The prepositional phrase, this time, is the object of the preposition from. And because this prepositional phrase occurs in the OP position, it is a nominal by position.
The question may sometimes arise as to whether a certain word group is a nominal or not. We have a test of substitution to settle the matter: a word group is a nominal if it can be replaced by any one of the following: a. a noun, b. a noun phrase, and c. any word from the following list: this, that, these, those, he / him, she / her, it, and they / them. Here are some examples:
10. To pass the exam is her greatest ambition.
11. Can you hear from where you stand?
12. The did not give finding her lost watch a
second thought.
13. He became what he had always hoped.
14. They found what they wanted.
15. They gave him what he had always wanted to
possess.
In these example sentences, we can make the following substitutions for the italicized nominals:
10 a. That is her greatest ambition.
11 a. Can you hear from your position?
12 a. She did not give finding it a second thought.
13 a. He became a teacher / player/ doctor, etc.
14 a. They found it.
15 a. They gave him that.
B. Verbals
1. The Main Verbal Position
Verbals, as we have already mentioned, are those words / word groups that occupy verb positions. The principal verbal position is that of the main verb. This position comes after the initial noun slot. We should bear in mind that a verb by form is a verbal by position. For example, consider the italicized words in the following sentences:
16. The football team will play tomorrow.
17. They have been roaming near the bank.
18. The thief must have been shot from the back.
In the sentences above, the words play, roaming, and shot are verbs by form (stem, present participle, and past participle, respectively), and verbals by position.
2. The Other Verbal Positions
We have already known that the principal verbal position is that of the main verb. When a verb can be inflected for person, number, and tense, it is called a finite verb, and by position is a finite verbal.
On the other hand, there is another type of verb forms. This type is not inflected for person, number, or tense, and is called the nonfinite verb form. By position, a nonfinite verb form is a nonfinite verbal.
There are three nonfinite verb forms: a. the present participle, b. the past participle, and c. the infinitive to plus a verb stem. Examples of these three types are:
a. The Present Participle
19. Nodding his head
20. Being hungry
21. The flowers bending in the wind
22. Remaining joyful
b. The Past Participle
23. Having defeated the enemy
24. Having been uncomfortable
25. The team having won
26. Having remained quiet
c. The Infinitive to plus a Verb Stem
27 To stop this habit
28. To be reasonable
39. His nephew to come
30. To become wealthy
All of the verb forms 19-30 are nonfinite, and we call them nonfinite verbals.
3. Complements of the Verbal
As we have already learned in Chapter 4 "Basic Sentence Patterns," the main verb can be complemented by complements. These complements may function as subjective complement, objective complement, direct object, or indirect object. The same kinds of complements can follow other verbals in the sentence, as well as the main verb of course. Following are a few examples to illustrate the point:
31. Aya's hobby was collecting stamps.
In this sentence the main verb was has the nominal collecting stamps as its subjective complement (SC). Within this nominal stamps is the direct object (DO) of the verbal collecting.
32. Ayman enjoys playing billiards.
In this example the main verb enjoys has the nominal playing billiards as its DO. Within this nominal the verbal playing has billiards as its DO.
33. They wanted to teach her a lesson.
In this case, the main verb wanted has the nominal to teach her a lesson as its DO. Within this nominal the verbal to teach has her as its IO and has a lesson as its DO.
34. Islam asked Aya to drive the car.
Here we can say that the main verb asked has the DO Aya to drive the car, and that within this nominal, Aya is the subject of the verbal to drive, and the car is its DO.
C. Adjectivals
Like nominals and verbals, adjectivals occupy certain sentence positions, There are six such positions. They are discussed one by one as follows:
1. Between the Determiner and the Noun
The first and most common position is that between the determiner and the noun. Determiners are words like a, the, this, that, these, those, his, her, our, their, and Ahmed's. Here are some examples:
35. the beautiful rose
In this noun phrase beautiful is an adjective by form. It consists of the noun beauty plus the adjective- forming derivational suffix –ful. Beautiful, which occurs between the determiner the and the noun rose, is an adjectival by position.
This position may also be occupied by three other form classes, namely nouns, verbs, and uninflected words, for example:
} (v.)
36. The garden rose (n.)
37. The bending rose
} (UW words)
38. the bought rose
39. an inside room
40. her inmost feelings
Note also that a series of adjectivals may occur in the position between the determiner and the noun, e.g.
41. The several serious college juniors
where there are three successive adjectivals in a fixed order. This means that the order of the adjectivals is unchangeable. In other words, they are not interchangeable or mutually substitutable.
2. The Third Slot in Pattern 1
The second adjectival position is the third slot in Pattern 1 sentences, e.g.
N be Aj
42. These girls are young.
3. The Third Slot in Pattern 4
The third adjectival position is the third slot in Pattern 4 sentences, as in:
N LV Aj
43. The ship remained new.
44. The man seemed aware.
45. The woman appeared in the money (= rich)
4. The Position after the Noun
This is the fourth adjectival position. This position accepts adjectives, adverbs, verbs (in the participle forms), uninflected words, and word groups. Here are a few examples:
46. The player, old and weary, could not finish the match. (2 or more adj's)
47. The brunettes especially wore red. (adv.)
48. That boy jumping is my brother. (v.)
49. The apartment below is vacant. (UW)
It is to be noted, as we have seen in sentence 46 above, when there is an adjective in this postnominal position, it usually occurs with another adjectival or with other adjectivals. It can also occur with a modifier, as in:
50. The carpenter, rather angry, threw down his
saw.
However, there are some instances in which the adjectival appears alone following the noun, e.g.
51. money necessary
52. resources available
53. court martial
54. God / Allah Almighty
55. time immemorial
56. consul / secretary general
57. sum due
Note also that in this postnominal position we can use word-group adjectivals of several structures, as in following examples:
58. It is time to leave. (infinitive)
59. Islam watched his cat, which was running
after a ball. (relative clause)
60. Islam watched his cat, running after
a ball. (reduced relative clause)
We may also use relative clauses or reduced relative clauses with who and that, as well as relative clauses with where, prepositional phrases, or modified adjectives, as in:
61. At-Ta'if is the place where we spent a nice time.
(relative clause with where)
62. The first part of the book dealt with
Morphology. (prepositional phrase)
63. This medicine is good for influenza.
(modified adjective)
5. A Position Occurring in Written English
This is the fifth of the six adjectival positions. It is the slot at the beginning of a sentence before the subject, e.g.
64. Angry and upset, the child left the playground.
6. "Something" Adjectivals
The sixth and last adjectival position is the one that follows words composed of any-, every-, no-, or some- plus -body, -one, -place, or -thing, e.g.
65. Nothing fresh was on the table.
D. Adverbials
English has three adverbial classes of time, place, and manner. Adverbials of time, in turn, are divided into three subclasses. These are:
1. adverbials of time, which answer the question "when?" These include: yesterday, last week, at three o'clock, tomorrow, early, late, soon, then, and now.
2. adverbials of frequency, which answer the question "how often?" These include: always, never, seldom, rarely, frequently, often, sometimes, and generally.
3. adverbials of duration, which answer the question "how long?" These include: hours, for hours, a week, the whole night, until dawn, and since yesterday.
There are five common adverbial positions in English. Following is a discussion of each:
1. Before the Pattern, with or without Juncture
For example,
66. Really, you should study better.
67. Now it's time to depart.
2. After the Subject and before the Auxiliary or
Verb
68. Ayman often would forget his keys. (before aux.)
69. He actually plans to marry her. (before v.)
3. After the Auxiliary or the First Auxiliary
70. Islam would seldom watch television.
(after aux.)
71. He could easily have secured another goal.
(after first aux.)
4. After the Verb in Pattern 6 and after be in Patterns 1, 2, and 3
72. He drove carelessly. (Pattern 6)
73. She is rarely late. (Pattern 1)
74. He is outside. (Pattern 2)
75. My son is always a gentleman. (Pattern 3)
5. After the Complement of the Verb
76. Islam will be goalkeeper tomorrow. (after SC)
77. Islam will play football tomorrow. (after DO)
78. The team may choose Islam captain tomorrow.
(after OC)
Since adverbials are a positional class, we must remember that any form-class can be an adverbial, e.g.
79. He will arrive Friday. (N.)
80. They sat eating. (V.)
81. Answer quick. (Adj.)
82. Answer quickly. (Adv.)
83. He went inside. (UW)
Note also that there are many uninflected words that are often used in adverbial positions. These UW's include:
1. Uninflected Words Used as Adverbials and
Prepositions
Examples include: above, about, after, around, before, behind, below, down, in, inside, on, out, outside, since, under, and up.
2. "-ward" Words, with an Optional –s
Examples: afterward, backward, downward, forward, inward, outward, and upward.
3."Here" Words
For example: here, herein, hereby, heretofore, and hereafter.
4. "There" Words
These include: there, therein, thereby, therefore, and thereafter.
5. "-where" Words
These include: anywhere, everywhere, somewhere, and nowhere.
6. "-way(s) Words
For example: crossways, sideways, and anyway.
7. "-time(s) Words
For instance: meantime, sometime, sometimes, and anytime.
8. Miscellaneous
These include a rather long list, e.g. today, tonight, tomorrow, yesterday (which has a noun homophone), now, then, seldom, still, yet, already, meanwhile, also, too, never, forth, thus, sidelong, headlong, maybe, perhaps, instead, indeed, henceforth, piecemeal, nevertheless, downstairs, indoors, outdoors, offhand, overseas, unawares, besides, furthermore, and always.
In addition to single words, word groups can occupy adverbial positions and hence are classified as adverbials. Following are illustrative sentences of word groups in the five adverbial positions discussed above:
1. Before the Pattern, with or without Juncture
Examples:
84. With a sharp knife you can cut meat easily.
85. By using a little green here, you can make your
colors balanced.
86. Unless you follow the recipe, you will spoil your
cooking.
2. After the Subject and before the Auxiliary or Verb
87. Aya in her own way is a darling.
3. After the Auxiliary or First Auxiliary
88. You may in this way be of great help.
4. After the Verb in Pattern 6 and after be in Patterns 1, 2, and 3
89. He drove with recklessness. (Pattern 6)
90. She is in any case happy. (Pattern 1)
91. The cat is at the door outside. (Pattern 2)
92. He is without doubt a good translator. (Pattern 3)
5. After the Complement of the Verb
93. My sister was a teacher for thirty years. (after
SC)
94. Islam put his slipper where he could find them
easily. (after DO)
95. The psychiatrist believed the man insane after
examining him. (after OC)
E. Verb-Adverbial Composites ([1])
A verb-adverbial composite consists of two words. The first one is a verb, and the second is an adverbial like up, down, in, out, and over. There are two kinds of verb-adverbial composites, namely intransitive and transitive. We will deal with each of them as follows:
1. Intransitive Verb-Adverbial Composites (VAC)
An example of this kind is:
96. The witness turned up on time.
Intransitive verb-adverbial composites have three characteristics that tend to be common to this type and that can be used as tests for intransitive VAC's.
a. The First Characteristic / Test : Meaning
The meaning of the composite as a unit is different from that of the individual meanings of its two parts added to each other. Thus, in example 96, turned up means appeared, which is not the total of the meaning of turned alone added to the meaning of up alone. Other examples are:
97. We took off for Cairo. (= departed / left)
98. Violence has let up recently. (= lessened /became
less)
b. The Second Characteristic / Test: Immovability
The second characteristic / test of intransitive VAC’s is that the adverbial element is not movable; thus it is not appropriate to say / write:
99. *Up the witness turned on time.
100. * Off we took for Cairo.
101. * Up violence has let recently.
c. The Third Characteristic / Test: Inseparability
The third characteristic / test of an intransitive VAC is that its two parts are inseparable, e.g.
102. * The witness turned suddenly up on time.
103. * We took immediately off for Cairo.
104. * Violence has let recently up.
In sentences 102-104 the modifiers separating the two elements (suddenly, immediately, and recently) result in strange or non-English sentences.
Note that all three of these characteristics / tests are not necessarily traits of every intransitive VAC, and that the meaning test may be indecisive sometimes. Therefore, if a certain expression shows ONE of the three characteristics, we can label it an intransitive VAC.
Note also that in contrast to the intransitive VAC there is the simple verb plus adverbial, as in:
105. The monkey climbed up.
Applying the three tests for the intransitive VAC, we find:
a. The meaning is that of climbed plus that of up. It we ask “Where did the monkey climb? “The answer is “up.”
b. The word up can be moved, so it is possible to say:
106. Up the monkey climbed (with great agility).
c. The two parts can be separated by a modifier, resulting in:
107. The monkey climbed quickly up the tree.
2. Transitive Verb-Adverbial Composites
(VAC+O)
As is clear from its designation, the transitive VAC has an object, and hence its symbol VAC + O. An example is:
108. He turned down (= rejected) the suggestion.
It is important to make a distinction between the VAC + O and the verb plus prepositional phrase, symbolized as V + PP. An example of the latter is:
109. He turned down the road.
We have three tests that enable us to make this distinction. Similar to the intransitive VAC, we shall label a certain expression a VAC + O if it passes at least ONE of these tests.
a. The First Test: Adverbial Postpositioning
In a sentence containing a VAC + O the adverbial can be placed after the object of the verb. Thus, it is possible to say:
110. He turned the suggestion down.
This postpositioning is not possible in the case of a preposition, and thus the following sentence is ungrammatical:
111. * He turned the street down.
In addition to postpositioning, when the object of a VAC + O is a personal pronoun, the adverbial MUST be placed after the pronoun, e.g.
112. He turned it down.
Wherein in the sentence:
113. He turned down it
the italicized words would be a preposition and its object.
b. The Second Test: Inseparability
The verb and adverbial in a VAC + O cannot be separated by a modifier, whereas this is possible in the case of a V + PP, e.g.
114. VAC + O: He turned up (= discovered) an old
monument.
115. V + PP: He turned quickly up the road.
c. The Third Test: Relative Transformation
A sentence containing a V + PP can be transformed into a relative structure where the preposition is followed by the pronoun which or whom, e.g.
116. V + PP: They ran down the street
can be transformed into the structure:
117. The street down which they ran …
where the preposition down is separated from the verb ran.
However, in a VAC + O sentence, such transformation is not possible, e.g.
118. VAC + O : The student ran down (=
criticized) his roommate
cannot be transformed into
119. *His roommate down whom the student ran …
Instead of this, the two parts of the VAC + O must remain together as one unit, thus:
120. His roommate whom the student ran down ...
([1]) The structure discussed in this section has various names: “verb-adverb combination” (A. G. Kennedy), “phrasal verb” (Dwight Bolinger), “verb-particle combination” (Bruce Fraser), “two-word verb” (G.A. Meyer), and the name used here “verb-adverbial composite” (A. Maverick).
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