Grammatical Termonology Flashcards
(98 cards)
0
Q
punctuation
A
in written English, non phonetic symbols that assist readers by indicating relations among morphemes and larger units of sense
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Q
grammar
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study of the rules of a language: syntax is usually considered part of grammar
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Q
Syntax
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How words are related to each other to create meaning
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Q
Morpheme
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Unit of meaning
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Q
Free Morpheme
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can stand on their own (as words): they have meaning by themselves. Exs: book; why; red; quick
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Q
Bound Morphemes
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Cannot stand on their own; have to be combined with free morphemes. Generally affixes: prefixes or suffixes. Exs: -ly, ‘s, -ed, -est; pre-
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Q
Reflex
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A phoneme, morpheme, etc. derived from another word; the term is always used to relate two or more units to each other. Thus “dizzy” is a reflex of Old English “dysig”; “-ly” is a reflex of of OE “-lic”
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Q
Parts of Speech
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the traditional eight parts of speech include Noun, Adjective, Verb, Conjunctions, Adverb, Interjection, Preposition, and Pronoun
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Q
Noun
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person, place, thing, or idea (sometimes numbers, esp. in math)
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Q
Proper Noun
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applies to specific person, place, etc (personal names, place names). Capitalized and cannot generally be played in Scrabble.
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Q
Substantive
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A noun or a word acting as a noun. Ex: “Which scarf do you want?” “I want the red.” “Red” is normally as adjective and not a noun, but here it stands in for the noun.
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Adjective
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modifies a noun
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articles
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may mark nouns and substantives
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Definite Article
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the
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Indefinite Article
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a, an
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Q
Demonstratives
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this/these, that/those when preceding a nound
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Q
Verb
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Expresses action or state of being
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Q
Auxiliary verbs or Modal Auxiliaries
Helping verbs
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verbs that work with other, usually lexical, verbs. “Modal” means they tell you something about the mood/mode: attitude or manner towards the action.
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Q
Lexicon verbs
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verbs that convey action
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Copula
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Linking verb: “to be,” verbs of perceiving in a linking sentence.
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Transitive Verb
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takes a direct object
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Q
Intransitive Verb
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Cannot take a direct object
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Paradigm
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List of inflections or endings that tell you how the word is working: -ed (-d, -t), -s (or the lack of it: walk vs walks)
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Q
Weak verbs
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form past with -(e)d or -t
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Strong Verbs
Form the past with a stem vowel change, not an ending: sing, sang, sung
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Agreement
When subject and verb have the same number
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Phrasal Verb
a verb that consists of a vern plus a function word that does not mean the same thing outside of the expression
Ex: "I agreed to look after her cat" -- "after" is a preposition and takes "cat" as it's noun head, but it doesn't have the usual sense of "behind" or "later"; instead, it functions as part of the phasal verb "look after"
Ex: "You can look it up in the index." -- "Up" doesn't have its usual spatial meaning here; it's part if the separable phrasal verb "look up."
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Irregular Verb
verbs that are neither strong nore weak but have forms not predictable from other paradigms. Exs: to be (am, are, is; was, were); have/had
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Finite or Conjugated
A verb that has a tense and agrees in number with a subject (as opposed to infinitive)
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Infinitive
A verb that does not agree with the subject, does not by itself have a tense, and may be used with a modal auxiliary. It may include "to" preceding the verb.
Exs: "I want to leave", where "want" is the finite or conjunctive verb, and "to leave" is the infinitive
"She didn't buy the book", where "did" is the finite or conjugated verb and "buy" is the infinite.
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Gerund
A verb ending in -ing that us used as a noun.
"I enjoy flying", where enjoy is the verb and "flying" is made from a verb but acts as a noun, the direct object of "enjoy"
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Participle
A verb with a participial ending that acts as an adjective.
Ex: "I saw the running man earlier." where "running" is the participle
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Present Participle
A verb in -ing acting as an adjective
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Past Participle
A vern ending in -ed, -en, -t, -d, or that otherwise shows past tense but acts as an adjective rather than a past tense verb
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Conjunction
joins things (clauses, words, phrases)
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Coordinating Conjunction
Joins two units that are grammatically equally. English has a limited list that you can easily remember with the mnemonic FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
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Correlative Conjunction
```
Joins grammatically equal units but must do so with exactly two items, with one word of the conjunction preceding each item:
either ... or
neither ... nor
not only ... but also
both ... and
```
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Subordinating Conjunction
Joins an independent clause to a dependent clause. ((There are many of these))
temporal ("while")
casual ("because")
concessive ("although")
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Adverb
modifies verb or an adjective or an adverb
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Conjunctive Adverb
Functions as an adverb grammatically but can also relate to two independent clauses.
Ex: "Some book rentals are nearly as expensive as buying the books; however, many students do not compare rental and purchase prices." The "however" is the conjunctive adverb
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Interjection
A word that conveys emotion without truly being a part of a sentence (so not any other part of speech). They often start or end a clause.
Ex: "Crud, this is a long handout!" Where "crud" is the interjection.
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Preposition
Shows relationships: location, time, etc. They begin prepositional phrases in ModE: prep+any modifiers+noun.
Exs: after, at, in, on
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Compound Prepositions
Still being created: "according to," "as of," "because of"
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Pronoun
takes place of a noun
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Demonstrative Pronoun
Can be used as pronouns when they appear without following nouns; when they are used before nouns, they act as adjectives and are usually simply called demonstratives.
Ex: "These books are new. I love this one." The word "these" is a demonstrative, anadjective modifying "books"; "this" is a pronoun standing in for "books"
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Relative Pronoun
Pronouns that connect clauses.
Exs: that, which, who, whom
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Interrogative Pronoun
Used to ask a question: who, whom, what
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Antecedent or Referent
The noun that a specific pronoun replaces: "woman" is the antecedent or referent of "who" in the example that illustrates relative pronoun
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Sentence
A complete grammatical utterance that in English must contain a subject (usually implied for imperatives) and a verb. Both subject and verb must be in an independent clause for a sentence to be a complete grammatical sentence.
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Subject
The doer of an action (with an active verb), the one acted upon (with a passive verb), or the one being modified (with a copula)
This term can be used for a simple subject -- the noun only -- or for the whole part of the sentence that is the subject, including any modifiers to the simple subject
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Predicate/Predicator
the action part of the clause: what happens. Includes verb, objects, object complements, and any prepositional phrases that modify a word or phrase in the predicate
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Modifier
A word or phrase that describes or limits another. --> Adjectives modify nouns. Adverbs modify adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs
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Object
the object of an action (with an active verb)
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direct object
the one acted upon
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Indirect Object
the recipient of an action
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Complements
Words that go with another word, either by being in apposition--juxtaposed without a conjunction (but not a simple adjective in front of a noun) or by being linked by a copula
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subject compliment
word or phrase that modifies the subject of a clause
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object complement
words or phrases that modify an object in a clause
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Phrase
one or more words that perform certain functions. A phrase does not contain a subject and a finite verb, though it may contain a non-finite verb. They can be describes by their function
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noun phrase
takes the place of a noun--contains a noun
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adjective phrase
acts as an adjective by describing something; modifies noun; can contain adverbs
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verb phrase
the words that make up a verb, including any adverbs of negation or parts of a compound verb.
exs: "I wanted to go to the concert," the verb phrase id "wanted to go"; in "You will not get away with this!" the verb phrase is "will not get away with."
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prepositional phrase
has to have at least two words: preposition+noun/pronoun
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Adverb Phrase
acts as an adverb
| Ex: very slowly
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adverbials
adverb phrases & prepositional phrases; noun phrases can be adverbial
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Genitive Phrase
A phrase of possession or similar relationship.
| Exs: John's cat, the book index, certificate of completion
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Subordinate Phrase
A phrase nested within another phrase
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Clause
A grammatical structure with its own subject and verb. The subject may be implied, in the case of Modern English commands or Old English or Latin sentences where the subject is not stated
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Main or Independent Clause
can stand on its own as a sentence; conveys a complete idea
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Subordinate or Dependent Clause
Cannot stand on its own but relies on a main clause for a complete idea.
Ex: "Juan was late because he missed the bus." "Juan was late" can stand on its own as a sentence; "because he missed the bus" cannot stand alone because the "because" requires something further to make sense of the clause.
Subordinate clauses can often be identified because they begin with a relative pronoun "who" or a subordinate conjunction "because"
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Noun Cause
Fill a noun slot; subject, direct or indirect object, object of a preposition
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Adverb Clauses
Fill adverb slots by modifying verbs, adverbs, or adjectives
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Relative Clauses
Adverb or adjective clauses introduced by a relative pronoun
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Comparative Clause
expresses comparison, usually with words such as "than," "like," "as," or "as if"
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Case
Is a synthetic (inflectional) language, an inflection that signals the function of a noun, pronoun, or adjective
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nominative
subject and subject complement (OM and ME). ModE: I, you, he, she, they
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Genitive or Posessive
Primarily shows possession (OE and ME). ModE: my or mine, you or yours, etc.
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Dative
Indirect object or object of certain preposition (OE)
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Accusative
Direct object or object of certain preposition (OE)
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Object or Objective Case
Replaces dative and accusative in ME. ModE: me, you, him, her, them
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Number
In Modern English, singular or plural (Old English had dual as well, for exactly two in first and second person)
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Person
The perspective from which an utterance is made
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First Person
Oneself; Singular I; Plural we
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Third Person
Neither oneself nor someone directly addressed: sg: he, she, it; pl: they
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Second Person
Person one addressed directly: you. There is no formal plural in ModE, but there are many colloquial plurals: y'all, you guys, youse, you'uns
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Gender
In Modern English, third-person proper pronouns agree with the gender of their antecedents
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Masculine
he, him, his
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Feminine
she, her, hers
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Neuter
it, its
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Gender-neutral Alternatives
Have been proposed for singular, but none has won out yet: 'e, se, hu, etc. "they" has a long history of use as a gender-neutral singular third-person pronoun although it is not accepted by many grammar textbooks.
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Plural All
They, Theirs: One cannot tell in English without context whether "they" are masculine, feminine, or a mix
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Tense
the time of a verb; in Modern English. Past (also known as preterite), present, future
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Aspect
the status of an action: completed or not?
Perfect: completed
Imperfect or Progressive: Not completed
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Mood
attitude towards action
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Indicative
Speaker believes statement to relate a fact
| Ex: "The cat is fat."
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Imperative
Speaker gives a command to listener.
| Ex: "Don't listen to music while studying" (Telling you what to do.)
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Subjunctive
Speaker wishes for or doubts.
| Ex. "If I were chair of the department. . . ."
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Voice
with regard to verbs, Modern English has
Active: the subject is doing the action "You are reading"
Passive: The subject is receiving the action: "The floor was waxed" ('The floor' hasn't done anything; it was the object of the waxing action)
