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Defining grammatical terms and concepts: Noun

by Rafi Ahmad Masoodi
Posted on 26 February, 2011

Almost all the Traditional grammars use definitions to describe grammatical concepts. There is no harm in defining things and concepts as long as such definitions are logically appropriate and correct. The definitions should clarify concepts for easy and quick understanding. What if such definitions create confusions and subsequently difficulties.
For example, the traditional definition of a noun as "the name of a person place or a thing". It is an inappropriate and misleading definition.
If noun is the name of a person place or a thing ,then, the word "red" is a noun because it names a colour and so are the words 'up' and 'down' which name directions.
The fact is that the word "red" is an adjective and the words "up" and "down" are adverbs. Isn't it proper as responsible teachers to avoid such definitions. Well, if this is an inappropriate definition ,is there any appropriate definition?
Then ,again ,what about words like 'run', 'pen',' score'? Don't they name things? They do. Should they be labeled as 'nouns' as such? No. Each of them can be a verb as well.
Let's discuss and decide.

Tags: Noun,definition

by Ron Kotay posted on 03 March, 2011
It depends on the context in which the word is used that will identify the specific part of speech the word will represent. "Red" is almost always an adjective, even when naming the color. Maybe always--but I don't like to languish in absolutes. What color is it? It is red. "red" identifies the subjective pronoun "It," making "red" an adjective. While "down" and "up" do tell us "where," the words are prepositions, and the prepositional phrases that begin with "down" and "up" are adverb phrases, such as ...down the lane, or ...up the tree. I ran down the lane. The squirrel ran up the tree.
by Ron Kotay posted on 03 March, 2011
One of the problems with English texts is that the writers may use different words to describe the same concepts--Nominative pronouns and Subjective pronouns, for example, are the same; it depends upon the book that you use. It does make the language difficult to understand, even for some native English speakers.
by George Machlan posted on 26 February, 2011
person, place, thing or "state of being" is the last definition I have heard. So I am crazy is covered adequately.
by Rafi Ahmad Masoodi posted on 27 February, 2011
@George
Thank you for adding "state of being" and redrafting the definition as: person, place, thing or "state of being".it would help to hear from you about the words like "red', 'up', "left" etc.
by virtue of this definition they belong to verbs where they virtually don't belong.The definition as such is misleading and inappropriate.Why to define at all?And even if we define why such confusing definitions?
by Marcus posted on 27 February, 2011
Noun adjunct is one label. However, let's keep things practical. If I said "read", you might think "book". If I said "book", it could either mean "read" or "write" a book.

If we are together and we see the same reality, then we see the book (not a magazine or newspaper). However, we can't see "read" or "write". This makes the verb very important to convey meaning. If you say "read" and only have a book in front of us, I can infer you mean "read the book" with just hearing the word "read". Same could be said of a parent telling their baby to "drink" while holding a baby bottle of milk to their lips. The baby doesn't have to know there is milk inside.

The adjective gives us a second layer to distinguish things. For verbs, we call them adverbs. "ad" in both cases means "in addition to".

With "up", it can be used with verbs or by itself. To "walk up" gives a logical image of someone walking in a straight line (instead of "come" or "go" which could be used instead of run, fly, or ride). To "give up" is harder to imagine, and it's used more to emphasize quitting something because of frustration. If we only used "stop", it wouldn't convey a negative thought.

Is this still confusing for you? That's "up" to you to decide. It's "your call".
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