Parts of speech

Question

Every word in a sentence can be distinguished according to the kind of idea it denotes and the function performes. In English there are nine parts of speech - nine classes of words.

Questions:
1: I think 'speech' is used in sense of 'language' - parts of language. Am I correct?
2: How to differentiate between 'idea' and 'function'? If a word is a noun, then it denotes the idea that it's something which can be an object, quality, person, etc. What does function have to do here?
3: Is this sentence correct? "How to differentiate between 'idea' and 'function'?"

Kooyeen · Accepted Answer

Jackson66121: I think 'speech' is used in sense of 'language' - parts of language. Am I correct?
2: How to differentiate between 'idea' and 'function'? If a word is a noun, then it denotes the idea that it's something which can be an object, quality, person, etc. What does function have to do here?
3: Is this sentence correct? "How to differentiate between 'idea' and 'function'?"

1) I think so.
2) I think they meant to say that there is some kind of "semantic" classification, and some kind of "syntactic" classification. For example, words like cat, house, banana can be distinguished from words like love, sleep, birth control, and the "idea" could be that the words in the first group are "concrete", while the ones in the second group are "abstract". As for the function, the verb "to win" has a different function from the adjective "happy", for example (the are used in different ways in different structures). This is what I think they were saying there, out of context.
3) Yes, I was told it is ok to ask questions with infinitives, although I prefer to avoid them and use more common structures. Example: How do you differentiate between idea and function? or: How is it possible to differentiate between idea and function?

Jackson6612 · Answer

Kooyeen, thank you for the reply.

KooyeenFor example, words like cat, house, banana can be distinguished from words like love, sleep, birth control, and the "idea" could be that the words in the first group are "concrete", while the ones in the second group are "abstract".

They are still all nouns. Of course, nouns can be categorized further. Here, I think, one should be talking about the primary categories - which're only nine in number. I agree with the 'function' part. A word is what function/role it plays in a sentence. That 'idea' part is all trouble. Help!

Best wishes
Jack

Avangi · Answer

In the US, "the parts of speech" is the first analytical concept we're taught in "grammar school." It's strictly a functional concept. Semantics has nothing to do with it. Of course, that was sixty-five years ago.

"Parts of speech" is such an old collocation, it makes no sense at all to try to analyze the "meanings" of the individual words which make it up.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

I take function to mean grammatical function.

eg The man bought a chair.

man idea = human being, function = subject

bought idea = past action of 'buy', function = verb in Simple Past

chair idea = a thing to sit on, function = object

Clive

Avangi · Answer

Jackson6612Every word in a sentence can be distinguished according to the kind of idea it denotes and the function performes. In English there are nine parts of speech - nine classes of words.

Hi, Jackson.
I don't know if these are your sentences, but I think they're misleading. They may be taken as suggesting that "idea" and "function" play equal roles in the "parts of speech" concept.

Perhaps if you were to embolden "kind," the sense would be more accurate.

I agree it's fair to ask, "What is the idea of a preposition?" "What is the idea of a conjunction?"

You could say that these words denote the idea of their functions, as well as the semantic ideas of their meanings (up vs. around / and vs. but), but it seems risky and misleading to go down that path.

Jackson6612 · Answer

AvangiI don't know if these are your sentences

Hi, Avangi

Taken from M-W Col. Dic.

Kooyeen · Answer

Jackson6612
KooyeenFor example, words like cat, house, banana can be distinguished from words like love, sleep, birth control, and the "idea" could be that the words in the first group are "concrete", while the ones in the second group are "abstract".
They are still all nouns. Of course, nouns can be categorized further. Here, I think, one should be talking about the primary categories - which're only nine in number. I agree with the 'function' part. A word is what function/role it plays in a sentence. That 'idea' part is all trouble. Help!

I just ate an apple.

I just ate an anniversary.X

There's a cat in the box.
There's a cat in the table. X ( --> on the table)

They're all nouns, yet for some reason those sentences sound weird, unusual, or wrong, even though only the noun is replaced. Why? It seems clear that there's something more than just "syntax", and saying that something is a "noun" might not be enough. In the first pair, a concrete noun (apple) was replaced with an abstract noun (anniversary). In the second pair, a concrete noun with a hollow shape

was replaced with a concrete noun with a flat shape.
That's why the "idea" is also important, not just the "function".

Avangi · Answer

KooyeenThat's why the "idea" is also important, not just the "function".

I don't think anyone ever tried to teach that "the parts of speech" gave you everything you ever needed to know in order to understand a sentence, or that the ideaof a word was not important. (Well, there are some strange teachers.

)
Even in most programming languages, it's possible to separate the syntax from the specific meaning of an instruction.

Parts of speech

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