Grammar as a phenomenon – a subsystem of language as a linguistic discipline

Functional words

1. 
   Incomplete nominative force
   
2. 
   Non-self-dependent mediatory functions: linking or specifying
   
3. 
   Obligatory combinability
   
4. 
   Cannot be substituted
   
5. 
   Closed classes (closed systems, including a limited number of members. As a rule, they cannot be extended by creating new items)
   

The main notional parts of speech are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Members of these four classes are often connected by derivational relations: strength — strengthen;- strong — strongly.

Functional parts of speech are prepositions, conjunctions, articles, particles.
Pronouns constitute a class of words which takes an intermediary position between notional and functional words. On the one hand, they can substitute for nouns and adjectives, on the other hand, pronouns are used as connectives and specifiers.
Groups of functional words (function words - Ch. Fries)

• 
  With a unilateral combinability – articles, auxiliaries, modals, particles
  
• 
  With a bilateral combinability – prepositions and conjunctions which connect 2 or more notional words or word- groups
  
• 
  Heterogeneous subclass uniting introductory it/there, interrogative words, interjections etc
  

There may be also groups of closed-system items(functional words) within an open class notional words)- e.g. notional, functional and auxiliary verbs.
A word in English is very often not marked morphologically and it is easy for words to pass from one class to another (round as a noun, adjective, verb, preposition). Such words arc treated either as lexico-grammatical homonyms or as words belonging to one class.
7.The noun. The category of number


Noun as a part of speech:

1. 
   Semantic – a part of speech which categorial meaning is thingness
   
2. 
   Formal – a) form-building – the category of number, the category of case, the category of gender, the category of article determination
   

b) derivational – typical word-building patterns: suffixation, compounding, convertion (to walk – a walk)
3) Functional – a) combinability: left-hand prepositional combinability with another N/V/Adj./Adv. [+ prep.Noun],casal combinability [N's+N]( .: the speech of the President — the President's speech), contact comb-ty [N+N]- stone-wall constructions, take an intermediary position between compound nouns and noun phrases (stone wall, car roof, speech sound), comb-ty with articles and other determiners [art./det. + N]
b) Syntactic functions – subject, object, other functions are less typical
Nouns fall into several subclasses which differ as to their semantic and grammatical properties: common — proper, concrete — abstract, countable — uncountable (count — non-count, count — mass), animate — inanimate, personal — non-personal (human — non-human).
Lexico- semantic variants of nouns may belong to different subclasses: paper — a paper, etc.