Definition and Examples of a Grammatical Category

A grammatical category is a class of units (such as noun and verb) or features (such as number and case) that share a common set of characteristics. They are the building blocks of language, allowing us to communicate with one another. There are no hard and fast rules for what defines these shared traits, however, making it difficult for linguists to agree on precisely what is and is not a grammatical category. As the linguist and author R.L. Trask put it, the term category in linguistics is so varied that no general definition is possible; in practice, a category is simply any class of related grammatical objects which someone wants to consider. That said, there are some strategies you can use to group words into categories based on how they function in the English language (think of parts of speech). Identifying Grammar Groups One of the simplest ways to create grammatical categories is by grouping words together based on their class. Classes are word sets that display the same formal properties, such as inflection or verb tense. Put another way, grammatical categories can be defined as sets of words with similar meanings (called semantics). There are two families of classes, lexical and functional. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and adjectives fall into this class. Determiners, particles, prepositions, and other words denoting position or spatial relationships are part of the functional class. Using this definition, you can create grammatical categories like this:   Verbs denote actions (go, destroy, buy, eat,  etc.)Nouns denote entities (car, cat, hill, John,  etc.)Adjectives  denote states (ill, happy, rich,  etc.)Adverbs  denote manner (badly, slowly, painfully, cynically,  etc.)Prepositions  denote location (under, over, outside, in, on,  etc.) Grammar groups can be further divided, depending on a words defining properties. Nouns, for instance, can be further subdivided into  number,  gender,  case, and  countability. Verbs can be  subdivided  by tense,  aspect, or  voice. Grammar Tips Unless youre a linguist, you probably wont spend much time thinking about how words can be classified based on how they function in the English language. But just about anyone can identify basic parts of speech. Be careful, though. Some words have multiple functions, such watch, which can function as both a verb (Watch out over there!) and a noun (My watch is broken.). Other words, such as gerunds, may appear to be one part of speech (a verb) and yet function differently (as a noun). In these cases, youll need to pay close attention to the context in which such words are used in writing or speech. Sources David Crystal,  A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 4th ed. Blackwell, 1997Thomas E. Payne,  Describing Morphosyntax: A Guide for Field Linguists. Cambridge University Press, 1997R.L. Trask,  Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts, 2nd ed., ed. by Peter Stockwell. Routledge, 2007Laurel J. Brinton,  The Structure of Modern English: A Linguistic Introduction. John Benjamins, 2000Andrew Radford,  Minimalist Syntax: Exploring the Structure of English. Cambridge University Press, 2004

Sex Discrimination in the American Workplace Still Stands

Charles Darwin, a famous English naturalist and geologist, is responsible for a well-known theory as â€Å"survival of the fittest.† This simply means that the continuing existence of organisms that are â€Å"best adapted† to their environment, with the extinction of others, are the ones who ultimately survive. One can apply almost the same kind of concept to the American work place: a place where both men and women can gain the same education and work the same job, yet somehow the men always seem to prevail, leaving the women lagging behind. As Americans, we should all be very aware of the fact that women were not always considered to be â€Å"equal† with men. For countless decades, they were regarded as â€Å"less capable† and less significant in our society, and although there has been dramatic increase of gender equality since the Suffrage Movement back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, there still seems to be a sense of discrimination against women when it comes to the corporate world. Although women’s overall presence in the work force has seen a boost in numbers in America, men today still get paid more than their female counterparts. To begin with, differences in the pay of workers between both genders seems to be an ongoing issue ever since the time women joined men in the work place. For that reason, â€Å"America made a commitment to equal pay for equal work regardless of the worker’s sex† when they passed the Equal Pay Act in 1963 (Remus Kelley 149). Despite the fact this actShow MoreRelatedGender Discrimination In The Workplace Essay1239 Words   |  5 Pagessynthesis of different religions, cultures, and ethnicities. 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Multinational Enterprises Free Essays

Globalization is changing the way of doing business in the world today. It is the new era of business opportunity. For many major companies, going global is a matter of survival, and it means radically changing the way they work. We will write a custom essay sample on Multinational Enterprises or any similar topic only for you Order Now Economic globalization changes both spatial dimension of MNE†s (Multinational Enterprises) and creates a need for more flexible production of marketing systems and new forms of organization. Firms trying to position themselves as global players face problems such as the cost of building a simultaneous presence in several product areas and foreign markets. They must also be able to manage cultural difference and be able to carry out effective cross-cultural communication. Global skills must be an integral part of an enterprise; these skills must be integrated throughout all operations of the company. Managements handling of diversity will be the most significant factor affecting MNE†s success in the global marketplace. Whether a company is concerned about the supervisors of minority employees, world trade, joint ventures or global economic cooperation, culture will have a great impact on the relationships and the operations. Edward H. Schein states it perfectly: Consider any complex, potentially volatile issue-Arab relations, the problems between Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians, corporate decision-making, getting control of U. S. deficit or health care coasts, labor/management relations, and so on. At the root of the issue we are likely to find communication failures and cultural misunderstandings that prevent the parties from framing the problem in a common way, and thus make it impossible to deal with the problem constructively (Schein 40). Every company that becomes global should have global leadership. Culturally skilled leaders are essential for the effective management of emerging global corporations. They should have persons in management that are capable of operating effectively in a global environment and they must be respectful of cultural diversity. In China, the conflict in management has been addressed as a major problem for the global-player, such as US and Chinese joint ventures. Joint ventures are designed to improve and eliminate misunderstanding of global-culture differences in management. Some Chinese and American companies try to adapt to one another, but it is not easy. Both sides have found that cultural difference is difficult to control. For example, Babcock Wilcox joint-ventured with Grub and Lin. Workers evaluated Chinese managers by a simple standard: who ever quarreled with Americans the most aggressively would be considered comrade in arms, and whoever cooperated with the Americans would be nicknamed â€Å"Er Gui zi† (fake foreigners). The atmosphere became so tense that even the most trivial business dealings between the American and Chinese became bogged down in charges and counter charges (Tse 32). Differences in customs, behavior, and values result is problems that can be managed only through effective cross-cultural communication and interaction. All employees should learn about the about the influence of culture and be effective cross-cultural communicators if they are to work with minorities within their own society or with foreigners encountered home or abroad (Harris and Moran 59). Globalization involves doing business around the world in a new way giving companies an opportunity to explore the world market. The idea of a global-player involves low-cost and new customer. In Asia, Europe, and many other parts of the world, there are thousands of service and product markets waiting to be filled. The Chinese consumer market is one of the most attractive countries for the global-player. The Chinese economy has been growing rapidly in past decade under its â€Å"open-door† policy on foreign trade, investment and finance For example, China is one of the most discussed topics of a business opportunity for global-player around the world. This is because China has a huge and fresh consumer market waiting to be filled; â€Å"China is a major imperative for most big multinationals†. Indeed for some, such as Coca-Cola, Ericson and Procter Gamble, the country has become one of their largest markets in Asia or even the world† (Edward Tse, 11). China is the third largest country in the world and its population is about 20 percent of the world’s population. Since 1979, China has entered the new era of creating an open-door policy to carry out the construction of modernization. Opening the door to the outside world has developed a newly established special economic zone, which is on the coastal area and the area along the Changing River and much more. With the progressive improvement of the investment environment and the completion of laws and regulation concerning foreign affairs, more and more foreign investors have come to China† (Fumio ltoh, 5). As a result, import and export have increased from $20. 6 billion in 1978 to $195 billion US dollars in 1993. From the report of China Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MFTEC), â€Å"during the first seven months of 1997, there were 26 billion U. S. investment dollars flowing into China and it is 15. 5 % gain from last year† (â€Å"Chinoday. com†). China’s G. D. P. has been growing at about 9 to 10 percent a year for last 15 years. Since the opening of China, people have been adapting to new cultural values. Chinese consumers are willing to spend more money on purchasing goods and services. Many international products and services have been able to succeed in this revolution because most of the Chinese consumer’s decisions are influen ced by promotion, and advertising through television and magazines ads. There are increasing numbers of china’s population that own their own televisions. By 1995, official statistics said that more than 80% of Chinese have their own televisions. The advertising spending in China has been growing at around 60% a year since 1990. In a survey, more than half of the people who responded, said that â€Å"television ads influenced their firs-time purchase of the brand they used most often for a home or care products† (Tse, 13). There are a lot of companies have been presented into China, such as Procter Gamble, S. C. Johnson, Henkel, Unilever and Kao. I believe that companies going to China as a global-players need a powerful global vision to lead their organization into the future success. Arch McGill, the former president of ATT Advanced Information System said that â€Å"Change in business starts with a vision† (Daniels, 18). Company should have a right global vision address such an important issue, such as how will they serve customer, finding local business partner and geographic concern. How to cite Multinational Enterprises, Essay examples

Life On Land Compared To Life On The Mississippi Essay Example For Students

Life On Land Compared To Life On The Mississippi Essay In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck lives in two different settings. One of the settings is on land with the widow and with his father and the other is on the river with Jim. There are many differences of living on land as opposed to living on the Mississippi River. On land, Huck has more rules to live by and he has to watch himself so as not to upset the widow or his father. On the river, Huck didnt have to worry about anything except people finding Jim. He also had to worry about the king and the duke for a while. Even thought there are many differences of the two living styles, there are also some similarities. Life on land was filled with difficulties for Huck. There were many rules that Huck had to follow for both the widow and for his father. The widow didnt really have many rules. She just wanted to civilize him. The widow expected Huck to go to school, wear clean clothes, sleep in his bed, and go to church. She just wants him to be like a normal child of his age. Even though Huck bends the rules a bit, he eventually grows to like living with the widow. He proves this point when he says, Living in a house, and sleeping in a bed, pulled on me pretty tight, mostly, but before the cold weather I used to slide out and sleep in the woods, sometimes, and so that was a rest to me. I liked the old ways best, but I was getting so I liked the new ones, too, a little bit. (Clemens 1211) Then Hucks father kidnapped him and took Huck to live in a cabin with him. Huck thought that it was fun, but he started to get sick of being locked up for long periods of time. He began to get sick of his father ge tting drunk and beating him. He says, But by-and-by pap got too handy with his hickry, and I couldnt stand it. I was all over welts. He got to going away so much, too, and locking me in. (Clemens 1216)Life on the river was also good at first, but soon it became tiresome for Huck. He liked the sense of freedom that he had while he was on the river with Jim. He didnt have to go to school nor did he have any rules that he had to live by. He didnt have to worry about what his father was going to do to him. Jim and Huck could only travel at night because they were afraid of Jim being found and whenever they would stop for the day, they would have to cover up the raft with leaves and foliage. Huck did not like having to be the one that would have to go look for food and water for them and he didnt like having to use such precautions so that Jim would not be found. The main reason that Huck did not just turn Jim in is because Huck thought of Jim as a friend. These two living conditions were not very similar; there were a few similarities that can be found. The first similarity is how each living situation started out easy, but became hard and tiresome for Huck. Though living with the widow started out hard and became easy, the similarity is the change for the opposite difficulty than what the difficulty was to start with. Another similarity is that Huck is not happy with wherever he is. He was not happy at the widows because of all the rules nor was he happy at his fathers because of the beatings that he received. Though this could be said about any living situation, the problem is exaggerated in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350 , .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350 .postImageUrl , .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350 , .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350:hover , .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350:visited , .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350:active { border:0!important; } .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350:active , .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350 .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u9b958fbbf90907e95351300123b60350:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Treating Disease with Stem Cells EssayThough there are many difficulties in all of the living situations that Huck has experienced, the easiest one for him to deal with was the one with the widow. Even though he did not like abiding by her rules, at least he had a place to sleep and food to eat. Huck liked being his