1. Form Classes Ed McCorduck English 402—Grammar SUNY Cortland

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

3. slide 3: the plural ending for regular nouns
-(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)
English 402: Grammar

4. slide 4: the plural ending for irregular nouns
no one form (though a few similar ones) for irregular nouns
exx
mouse – mice louse – lice
foot – feet goose – geese
child – children man – men
fish – fish deer – deer
regular inflections – follow a predictable pattern
irregular inflections – don’t follow a pattern; unpredictable
English 402: Grammar

5. slide 5: the possessive ending
-’s added to singular nouns
-s’ added to plural nouns
-’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”
English 402: Grammar

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

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

8. slide 8: remaining three forms of verbs
past tense (a.k.a. –ed form)
-(e)d ending for regular verbs
past participle (a.k.a. –en form)
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.
present participle (a.k.a. –ing form)
-ing ending for all verbs
English 402: Grammar