Word Classes in Detail

Word Classes in Detail

Word classes (also called parts of speech) are the fundamental categories into which words are grouped according to their grammatical function. At A-Level, you need a detailed and nuanced understanding of word classes that goes well beyond simple definitions. For AQA 7702, you must be able to identify word classes accurately, recognise sub-categories, and — most importantly — analyse the effects of word-class choices in authentic texts.

There are two broad categories of word class: open classes (which readily accept new members — nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) and closed classes (which have a fixed or near-fixed membership — determiners, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns).

Nouns

Nouns are words that denote entities — people, places, things, concepts, and qualities. They can function as the head of a noun phrase and can typically be preceded by a determiner. Nouns are sub-classified into several overlapping categories:

• Concrete nouns — refer to physical, tangible entities that can be perceived by the senses: table, rain, dog, mountain. These are further divided into count nouns (which can be pluralised: one chair, two chairs) and mass nouns (which cannot normally be counted: furniture, rice, information).
• Abstract nouns — refer to intangible concepts, qualities, states, or ideas: freedom, anger, democracy, beauty. Abstract nouns are particularly important in persuasive and political language, where they can be used to create emotionally charged but vague appeals.
• Proper nouns — name specific, unique entities and are conventionally capitalised: London, Shakespeare, Tuesday, the Thames. Proper nouns can be converted to common nouns through a process sometimes called de-proprialisation (e.g., a champagne lifestyle, she googled it).
• Common nouns — refer to general classes of entities rather than specific individuals: city, writer, day, river.
• Collective nouns — refer to groups of entities: team, flock, committee, audience. These raise interesting grammatical questions about agreement — should we say "the team is" or "the team are"? Both are acceptable in British English, but the choice reflects whether the speaker conceptualises the group as a single unit or as a collection of individuals.

Key Definition: Nominalisation — the process of converting verbs or adjectives into nouns (e.g., destroy → destruction; poor → poverty). Nominalisation is a key feature of formal, academic, and bureaucratic registers because it allows writers to present processes as things, often removing agency and creating an impersonal tone.

Verbs

Verbs are words that denote actions, processes, states, or events. They are the obligatory element of a clause — every grammatically complete clause must contain a verb. Verbs are sub-classified in several important ways:

• Lexical verbs (also called main verbs or full verbs) — carry the main semantic content of the verb phrase: run, think, destroy, believe.
• Auxiliary verbs — support the main verb to express grammatical distinctions such as tense, aspect, voice, and mood. The primary auxiliaries are be, have, and do. For example: "She is running" (progressive aspect); "They have finished" (perfect aspect); "He does not agree" (negation with do-support).
• Modal verbs — express modality (possibility, necessity, permission, obligation, prediction): can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must. Modal verbs are grammatically distinctive: they do not inflect for person or number (*he cans is ungrammatical), they are followed by the bare infinitive (she must go), and they cannot co-occur (*she will can go is ungrammatical in Standard English).
• Dynamic verbs — describe actions or events that have a clear beginning and end, or that involve change: run, eat, build, throw. Dynamic verbs can typically be used in the progressive aspect (she is running).
• Stative verbs — describe states, conditions, or relationships that are relatively stable and do not involve change: know, believe, own, resemble, contain. Stative verbs are not normally used in the progressive aspect (*I am knowing the answer is non-standard), although some stative verbs can be used dynamically with a shift in meaning (I am thinking about it — here think is used dynamically to mean "consider").

Key Definition: Transitivity — the system that describes the relationship between a verb and its complements. A transitive verb requires a direct object (she read the book); an intransitive verb does not take a direct object (he slept); a ditransitive verb takes both a direct and an indirect object (she gave him the book). Analysing transitivity reveals who does what to whom — it is a powerful tool for examining agency, power, and representation.

Adjectives

Adjectives modify nouns, providing additional information about the qualities, properties, or characteristics of the entities they describe. They can function attributively (before the noun: a tall building) or predicatively (after a linking verb: the building is tall).

• Gradable adjectives — can be modified by degree adverbs and have comparative and superlative forms: big, bigger, biggest; very happy, extremely important.
• Non-gradable adjectives — express absolute or classificatory qualities that do not normally admit degree: dead, unique, pregnant, nuclear (though in informal usage, modification of supposedly non-gradable adjectives is common: very unique).
• Evaluative adjectives — express the writer or speaker\'s judgement or attitude: wonderful, terrible, ridiculous, outrageous. These are particularly important in persuasive texts and opinion writing.

Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or entire clauses. They provide information about how, when, where, how often, and to what degree something happens.

• Manner adverbs — describe how an action is performed: quickly, carefully, silently.
• Time adverbs — indicate when: yesterday, now, soon, already.
• Place adverbs — indicate where: here, there, everywhere, outside.
• Degree adverbs — indicate extent or intensity: very, extremely, rather, quite, somewhat.
• Frequency adverbs — indicate how often: always, never, often, sometimes, rarely.
• Sentence adverbs (or disjuncts) — comment on the whole clause or the speaker\'s attitude: unfortunately, frankly, obviously, perhaps. These are analytically significant because they reveal the speaker\'s stance.

Determiners

Determiners precede nouns and specify which entity is being referred to or how much/many. They are a closed class.

• Articles — the definite article the (signalling that the referent is identifiable) and the indefinite article a/an (introducing a new or non-specific referent).
• Demonstratives — this, that, these, those (pointing to specific referents, creating deixis).
• Possessives — my, your, his, her, its, our, their.
• Quantifiers — some, any, many, few, several, all, every, each, no.

Prepositions

Prepositions express relationships of time (before, after, during), place (in, on, under, between), direction (to, from, towards), and other abstract relations (of, for, with, about). They head prepositional phrases and are followed by a noun phrase (the complement of the preposition).

Conjunctions

Conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses. There are three types:

• Coordinating conjunctions — and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so (the mnemonic FANBOYS). They join grammatically equivalent units.
• Subordinating conjunctions — because, although, if, when, while, unless, until, since, after. They introduce subordinate clauses that are grammatically dependent on the main clause.
• Correlative conjunctions — paired conjunctions that work together: both...and, either...or, neither...nor, not only...but also.

Pronouns

Pronouns substitute for or refer to nouns or noun phrases. Key types include:

• Personal pronouns — I, you, he, she, it, we, they (and their object and possessive forms). The use of personal pronouns is analytically significant: first-person pronouns create a sense of personal voice and involvement; second-person you directly addresses the reader; the inclusive we creates solidarity; the generic you universalises experience.
• Reflexive pronouns — myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves.
• Relative pronouns — who, whom, whose, which, that (introducing relative clauses).
• Demonstrative pronouns — this, that, these, those (when used without a following noun).
• Indefinite pronouns — someone, anyone, everyone, nobody, something, anything, nothing.
• Interrogative pronouns — who, what, which (used to form questions).

Conversion and Multi-Functionality

One of the most important points about word classes in English is that many words can belong to different word classes depending on their function in a sentence. This is called conversion (or zero derivation). For example:

• run — verb (I run every morning) or noun (I went for a run)
• light — noun (the light is on), verb (light the candle), or adjective (a light colour)
• that — determiner (that book), pronoun (I saw that), conjunction (I know that she left), or relative pronoun (the book that I read)

Exam Tip: Always classify words according to their function in the specific sentence, not in isolation. A word\'s class is determined by how it is used grammatically, not by what it looks like. When analysing texts, pay particular attention to unusual or creative word-class choices — for instance, when a writer uses a noun as a verb (she tabled the motion) or an adjective as a noun (the poor), this is often stylistically significant.