What Is a Grammatical Category?
Grammatical category means a collection of particular syntactic properties of words that can cause those words and/or other similar words to turn in form for grammatical reasons (assuring a balance between words). The different sorts of grammatical categories involve the following: number tense and features, case, person, gender, and mood, which will be explained in detail.
The traditional division of grammar categories into two sections is therefore retained: morphology and syntax.
For example, the word "girl" is a noun. Nouns have a grammatical category called "number". The values of numbers are singular (1) and plural (2 or more than that).
The girl is playing.
The girls are playing.
In sentence 1, "girl" is in its basic form, giving its "number" the value of singular. There is one girl, and the similar auxiliary verb "to be" is in the singular form (is).
In sentence 2, the form of "girl" has shifted to "girls", giving its "number" the importance of plural. There is more than one girl, and the similar "to be" is in the plural form (are).
In the preceding grammatical category example, the "number" of "girl" changes the form of a girl and also changes the form of a related word (be). "Number" is a "grammatical category".
English has about 20 grammatical categories.
Details of Grammatical Category List
A. Number
The numerable feature is simply indicated by the category NUMBER (singularity or plurality). The singular means one only, and plural: means two or more than that. It is a grammatical category that represents count differences via nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verb agreement like "one", "two", or "three or more"). These grammatical category examples can be:
If the word type is a noun like a "Girl" this is a singular noun, if it's "Girls" then it's a plural noun.
If the word type is a pronoun like an "I'' is a singular pronoun, if it's "We" then it's a plural noun.
B. Case
The case is a part of pronouns and nouns and shows their connection to the rest of the sentence. The case has three states (two of which do not refer to nouns):
Subjective (pronouns only): when the word is the subject
Objective (pronouns only): when the word is the object
Possessive (pronouns and nouns): when the word symbolizes possession (ownership)
C. Gender
Natural gender is a section of pronouns and distinguishes the sexes. Natural gender has three states:
Masculine: means male
Feminine: means female
Neuter: means everything else
D. Person
A person is a section of pronouns and differentiates participants in a discussion. A person has three states:
First-person: points to the speaker
Second person: points to the hearer
Third-person: relates to all other people or things
E. Tense
Tense is a section of verbs and most nearly match with a location in time. Tense has two states:
Past: shows before now
Present: shows now (and sometimes before and after now)
F. Aspect
Aspect is a section of verbs and represents our view of the time arrangement of an action or situation. Aspect has three states:
Simple: The time has no structure
Continuous: Shows continuous action
Perfect: Communicates completed action
G. Mood
The mood is a section of verbs and links to the speaker's feelings about the existence of what he/she is saying. The mood has three states:
Indicative: represents a simple statement of fact
Imperative: means command
Subjunctive: represents something wanted or thought (imagined)
H. Voice
Voice is a section of transitive verbs and shows the connection of the subject to the action. Voice has two states:
Active: the subject performs the action
Passive: the subject gets the action
I. Degree
The degree is a part of gradable adjectives, adverbs and shows the amount. The degree has three states:
Positive: shows a basic quality
Comparative: symbolizes the greatest quality
Superlative: symbolizes the highest quality
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Grammatical Category Examples and Tips:
Unless you're a linguist, you're unlikely to spend much time considering how words can be categorized according to how they function in the English language. Basic components of speech, on the other hand, are easily identifiable by almost anyone.
But proceed with caution. Some words serve several purposes, such as "watch," which can be used as both a verb and a noun ("Watch out over there!") ("My watch is broken.")
Other words, such as gerunds, appear to be one part of speech (a verb) but perform a different purpose as a noun. Example: "It's difficult to buy a property in the current economy." You'll need to pay particular attention to the context in which such terms are used in writing or speech in these circumstances.
FAQs on Grammatical Category
1. What is a simple way of grammatical category listing?
A grammatical category list can be performed by grouping words commonly based on their class. Classes are word sets that represent the same set properties, such as inflection or verb tense. Put a different way; grammatical categories can be described as sets of words with similar meanings (called semantics.)Two groups of classes are lexical and functional.
Further, the lexical class involves nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Also, the functional class includes determiners, articles, prepositions, modals, qualifiers, question words, conjunctions, and other words indicating the position. So, the concept seems to be complex but is easy to grasp if the above-mentioned division is clear.
2. What is the grammatical category part of speech?
In the English language, there are eight parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. The part-of-speech identifies how a word acts both grammatically and in terms of meaning inside a phrase. When employed in different contexts, a single word can serve as more than one element of speech. There is a great role of grammatical category information in spoken word retrieval. Using a blocking paradigm in the picture and written word naming tests, researchers explored the influence of lexical, syntactic information, including grammatical gender and category, in spoken word retrieval procedures. So, in part of speech, you must consider the eight grammatical categories correctly.
