Form Class (Noun)
Meaning
One of the traditional categories of words intended to reflect their functions in a grammatical context.
Classification
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents.
Examples
- The term open-class form-class often refers to major categories like noun, verb, and adjective which are capable of expanding their membership.
- Major form-class categories are also known as open-class categories as opposed to closed-class or unproductive categories which include prepositions and conjunctions.
- Determining the grammatical form-class of a word can generally provide evidence of potential uses in varying grammatical contexts.
- This categorization typically assumes a correlation between the linguistic form and the function of words and how terms like a noun or verb fit into predefined form-class categories.
- Traditional part-of-speech form-class categories assist in evaluating word behavior, such as whether or not some term is noun, verb, or adjective in a phrase or sentence.