The structure and grammatical categories of verbs. Contents introduction chapter I. Theoretical background

Grammar Tips

Unless you are a linguist, you probably won't 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 as "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.) ("Buying a house is difficult in this economy.") In these cases, you'll need to pay close attention to the context in which such words are used in writing or speech.