Category Identification Difficulty - (Revised Edition)

Author: Xing Fuyi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: When writing Word Class Debates, the author had a clear conception and design. This is as follows:
(1) Scope: Words that are difficult to classify. In teaching, analyzing word classes and distinguishing word types through discourse analysis must not only deal with "obedient" words that can be easily picked up but also with "troublesome" words that are hard to handle. For example, saying "man" is a noun is straightforward. But what about "men" and "individual"? That becomes a bit "tricky." Since it's debates on difficulties, it's necessary to select the "difficult" part of the words as the object of the debate.
(2) Basis: Grammatical features. Word class is the grammatical category of a word. When classifying words, it's essential to closely adhere to the grammatical features of the word. This is the fundamental point of departure and the basic starting point. Considering the of difficult classification, the book also emphasizes the need to distinguish between general rules and special phenomena when classifying words based on grammatical features, as well as to clarify whether the characteristics used as evidence are sufficient or necessary conditions for a certain class of words.
(3) Method: Logical proof. Since it's debating difficulties, it means conducting arguments and employing logical reasoning methods. This should be a key focus of the book. Therefore, the author proposes methods such as direct determination, exclusion, and analogy, which are consistently applied throughout the book. In the book, you can often see explanations like: "To distinguish nouns, one must first grasp several key features, such as being modifiable by quantifier structures, being combinable with prepositions, and serving as subjects or objects, etc. However, since these features are not universally applicable internally or externally, one must pay attention to distinguishing the nature of the conditions when classifying specific words, skillfully seize all favorable conditions for the argument, and flexibly apply methods such as direct determination, exclusion, and analogy."