Unlike nouns which are large classes of words which are constantly evolving, pronouns are a small and static class of word. There are around 60 in everyday use in English. However, because there is a cultural dimension to pronoun use, usage does change to reflect political and cultural changes. There are six types of pronoun:
Like, prepositions, pronouns and determiners, conjunctions are a small and stable class of terms. There about 30 words used as conjunctions in English.
Conjunctions have the function of stringing together two or more grammatical elements together. Conjunctions are used to join multiple clauses into a single sentence and a string of adverbials in a single statement. They are also used in noun-terms, adjective-terms and adverb-terms to build a list of ideas.
Prepositions are another relatively small and stable class of words. There are around 50 in regular use in English. A preposition functions to identify relationships: of time and space, agency and instrumentality.
Adjectives and adverbs function to qualify other terms; adjectives qualify nouns and adverbs qualify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs and occasionally prepositions. Both classes are extendible. In each case there is a relatively small core general purpose lexicon which changes rarely and a larger domain specific lexicon which is constantly being revised and updated.
Interrogative and relative adjectives and adverbs are dealt with more fully in sections 12 below which deals with questions and relative clauses.
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