[Grammar] I'm confused about the definitions of parts of speech

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amyhanton

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How would you classify the different parts of speech in this sentence?
I get a real buss from doing live work.
I'm right if I say:
subject pronoun, verb, article, adjective, noun, preposition, verb, adjective, noun
Are articles considered parts of speech, what about the gerund 'doing'?
Thanks
Amy
 

TheParser

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How would you classify the different parts of speech in this sentence?
I get a real buss from doing live work.
I'm right if I say:
subject pronoun, verb, article, adjective, noun, preposition, verb, adjective, noun
Are articles considered parts of speech, what about the gerund 'doing'?
Thanks
Amy
***NOT A TEACHER***

amy, good morning.

I love to parse (analyze) sentences.

May I give you my take?

I= pronoun; get= verb; a = adjective; real = adjective; buzz = noun; from = preposition; doing = gerund; live = adjective; work = noun.

I used regular high school terms. The traditional 8 parts of speech.

Nowdays, some teachers use more "modern" terms. E.g., they would probably not call "a" an "adjective."

Thank you.

P.S. I really don't understand what you meant by "live work."
 

amyhanton

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Thanks, I've just noticed my terrible spelling and grammar! Not too good for an English teacher! Nevermind, it is Saturday.

Thank you so much for replying. Why do more modern teachers call 'a' and adjective?

Also, I don't suppose you're knowledgeable on the linguistics of that sentence (ie. what's a noun phrase, complement or prepositional phrase etc.)

Cheers

Amy
 

TheParser

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Thanks, I've just noticed my terrible spelling and grammar! Not too good for an English teacher! Nevermind, it is Saturday.

Thank you so much for replying. Why do more modern teachers call 'a' and adjective?

Also, I don't suppose you're knowledgeable on the linguistics of that sentence (ie. what's a noun phrase, complement or prepositional phrase etc.)

Cheers

Amy



***NOT A TEACHER***

Thank you for your note.

(1) I'm sure you are an excellent teacher.

(2) I just checked my books. It seems that many teachers nowadays refer to words such as "a," "an," and "the" as so-called DETERMINERs.

(3) The prepositional phrase in your sentence is "from doing live work."
(a) a prepositional phrase = preposition + all of the words that follow it.
(b) I think (think!) your prepositional phrase modifies the verb "get."
(i) Where do you get a buzz?
(a) from live work. (P.S. What is "live work"?)

(4)A noun phrase = a noun along with all the "extra" words in front and/or behind the noun.

(a) I think your sentence has two noun phrases: (real) BUZZ/ (live)WORK.

(5) I don't understand "complement" well enough to try explaining it. Maybe one of the great teachers at this site will answer. If not, why don't you post again with a question about complements.

Thank you.
 

Raymott

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How would you classify the different parts of speech in this sentence?
I get a real buss from doing live work.
I'm right if I say:
subject pronoun, verb, article, adjective, noun, preposition, verb, adjective, noun
Are articles considered parts of speech, what about the gerund 'doing'?
Thanks
Amy
I think you mean 'buzz'.
"Doing' is a gerund. Gerunds are nouns. Therefore, 'doing' is a noun.
Doing live work [noun phrase / subject] gives [verb] me [indirect object] a real buzz [direct object].
If you need convincing that 'doing' is a noun, consider:
The doing of live work gives me a buzz.
I get a real buzz from the doing of live work.
'The' doesn't come before verbs.

Being a teacher, you need to buy a good grammar book.
 

mmasny

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Being a teacher, you need to buy a good grammar book.
I don't think it's this easy. There's a lot of approaches to grammar and the traditional division of the vocabulary into 8 parts of speech becomes less and less popular.
When I went to school they taught me that there are to different things: inflexion and word formation. An inflexion of a word didn't create a new word. All inflected forms were one word. So they were all the same part of speech (this reasoning is as good as any).
Word formation, on the other hand, could change the word to another part of speech.
And some people told me that making the gerund (it is not called a gerund in Polish, but has the same function) is inflexion, and some that it's word formation. If it was inflexion a gerund would have to be a verb as an inflected form of a verb.
People like to feel important and they do when they come up with some rules and definitions. The problem appears when these rules contradict each other. :)
 
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Raymott

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I don't think it's this easy. There's a lot of approaches to grammar and the traditional division of the vocabulary into 8 parts of speech becomes less and less popular.
When I went to school they taught me that there are to different things: inflexion and word formation. An inflexion of a word didn't create a new word. All inflected forms were one word. So they were all the same part of speech (this reasoning is as good as any).
Word formation, on the other hand, could change the word to another part of speech.
And some people told me that making the gerund (it is not called a gerund in Polish, but has the same function) is inflexion, and some that it's word formation. If it was inflexion a gerund would have to be a verb as an inflected form of a verb.
People like to feel important and they do when they come up with some rules and definitions. The problem appears when these rules contradict each other. :)
You're right. It's not easy. It's probably also missing the boat to advise an English Teacher to buy a basic English grammar book.
The poster should, however, ask around to get an idea of what type of grammar other Spanish students are using. The grammar book could be supplemented by the very good grammar resources on Wikipedia and, for those tricky questions, here.
 
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