Word Classes

Word Classes

1. Forming Words

   • Derivational morphology
   • Affixation
     • Prefix/Suffix
     • Element added to a word which changes its meaning.
   • Compounding
     • Multi-word units
     • Phrasal Verbs
       • A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and one or two particles. The particle is either an adverb or a preposition.
       • Informal
         • One word formal substitute
       • The phrasal verb multi-word unit takes on a meaning beyond the dictionary definitions of its parts and therefore is inseparable.
     • Joining of two or more words written as one word or hyphenated.
   • Inflections
     • Indicate difference in number, time and aspect and comparison.
   • Grammar of words - a system used to help to understand a language almost like a map. The study of grammar is revolved around the principles and application of its rules in terms of morphological and syntactical use.

2. Parts of Speech

   • Knowing what sort of words they are and what function they perform: their formal characteristics.
   • A group of words that, from a grammatical point of view behave in the same way
   • Verbs, adjectives, nouns, pronouns, prepositions, determiners, adverbs and conjunctions.
   • Prepositions - show a relationship between two parts of a sentence, such as how they're related in time and space.

3. Criteria for Word Classes

   • The meaning of the word which can be determined by using it in context.
   • The form or the word which can be determined by studying its morphological structure
   • The position of the word in a sentence determined by studying its syntactical rules.

4. Lexical Difficulty

   • Prior Learning - can the new word be associated with a lower level word already learnt?
   • Frequency - how often does the learner see or hear the new word?
   • Context clues, no/confusing cognate from L1, Pronounceability.

5. Register and Learner Errors

   • Variety in the way the language is used depending on the purpose, context and audience. Also used to refer to whether the language is used formally or informally.
   • Phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical.