Лекции по теоретической грамматике английского языка для студентов

The Principles of Classification as Used by Non-Structural Descriptive 
Grammarians 
Non-structural descriptive grammarians adopted the system of parts of 
speech worked out by prescriptivists and elaborated it further. 
Henry Sweet
(1892), similar to his predecessors, divided words into declinable and indeclinable. 
To declinables he attributed noun-words (noun, noun-pronoun, noun-numeral, 
infinitive, gerund), adjective-words (adjective, adjective-pronoun, adjective-
numeral, participle), verb (finite verb), verbals (infinitive, gerund, participle) and 
to indeclinables (particles), adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection. Henry 
Sweet speaks of three principles of classification: form, meaning, and function. 
However, the results of his classification reveal a considerable divergence between 
theory and practice: the division of the parts of speech into declinable and 
indeclinable is a division based on form. Only within the class can we see the 
operation of the principle of function.
Otto Jespersen
, another noted descriptivist, also speaks of three principles 
of classification: “In my opinion everything should be kept in view, form, function 
and meaning...” (O Jespersen, 1935:91). On the basis of the three criteria, the 
scholar distinguishes the following parts of speech: substantives, adjectives, 
pronouns, verbs, and particles (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections). 
Otto Jespersen’s system is a further elaboration of Henry Sweet’s system. Unlike 
Henry Sweet, Otto Jespersen separates nouns (which he calls substantives) from 
noun-words, a class of words distinguished on the basis of function – a noun word 
is a word that can function as a noun; he also distinguishes pronouns as a separate 
part of speech, thus isolating them from Henry Sweet’s noun-words and adjective-
words. Both scholars treat the verb alike: to Henry Sweet the verb includes 
primarily finite forms: he doubts as to the inclusion of non-finites in the verb. 
Although the scholar speaks of form, function and meaning, in practice he gives 
preference to form. 

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