Form Classes Ed McCorduck English 402—Grammar SUNY Cortland

nouns o definition: any word that takes the characteristic endings of nouns slide 2: nouns English 402: Grammar

 the plural ending  -(e)s for regular nouns exx dog – dogs cake – cakes box – boxes (this ending may be pronounced [s] or [z] or as an additional syllable depending on the final sound of the noun it is added to) slide 3: the plural ending for regular nouns English 402: Grammar

 no one form (though a few similar ones) for irregular nouns exx mouse – micelouse – lice foot – feetgoose – geese child – childrenman – men fish – fishdeer – deer slide 4: the plural ending for irregular nouns English 402: Grammar regular inflections – follow a predictable pattern irregular inflections – don’t follow a pattern; unpredictable

 the possessive ending  -’s added to singular nouns  -s’ added to plural nouns slide 5: the possessive ending English 402: Grammar -’s and -s’ are identical in pronunciation to regular plural ending, leading to “errors” (in the traditional grammar sense) in written language such as “the cars wheels” (= ‘the wheels of the car’ or ‘the wheels of the cars’) and to the contraction –’s of is, leading to errors such as “the mans at the apartment now”

verbs o definition: any word that takes the characteristic endings of verbs slide 6: verbs English 402: Grammar

five forms for all verbs o base form (a.k.a. present tense):  no ending for all verbs o third person singular  -(e)s ending for all verbs except be slide 7: first two forms of verbs English 402: Grammar

o past tense (a.k.a. –ed form)  -(e)d ending for regular verbs o past participle (a.k.a. –en form)  -(e)d ending for regular verbs slide 8: remaining three forms of verbs English 402: Grammar Why “-en form”? To distinguish it from the past tense form using the fact that the past participles of many irregular verbs end in –n, e.g. know-known, speak-spoken, go-gone. o present participle (a.k.a. –ing form)  -ing ending for all verbs