Language level 2: Grammar Flashcards
What is morphology
- study of word formation
What is syntax
- study of how words form larger structures e.g. phrases, clauses and sentences
What is prescriptive
- an approach to language study that focuses on rules and notions of correctness
What is a root
- a morpheme that can stand on its own and can usually form a word in its own right
What is a suffix and what effect can it have
- a morpheme that comes after a root word to modify its meaning
- they can change the intensity e.g. turning it into a superlative and the tense of the word
What is a prefix and what effect can it have
- a morpheme that goes before a root word to modify it meaning
- has a relation with semantics
What is an affix and infix
- overall term for an addition to a root (a prefix or suffix) to modify its meaning or create a new word
- an affix inserted inside a root word to create a new word/ modify the meaning e.g. abso-blooming-lutely
What is an inflectional function
- way an affix shows a grammatical category e.g. verb tense or a plural noun e.g. -ed
What is a derivational function
- way that an affix helps form a new word by attaching itself to a root
What is a noun phrase
- a group of words built around a noun
What is a verb phrase
- group of words built around a head (main) verb
What is a head word
- the main noun in the phrase
What is qualifier
- an additional word or phrase that adds some further detail to the noun e.g. rather, a great deal etc
What is a post-modifier
- a word that comes after the head noun to add detail or clarify some aspect of it
What is a primary auxiliary verb
- an auxiliary verb that joins w/ a main verb to show tense e.g. be, have etc
What is a modal auxiliary verb
- an auxiliary verb that joins w/ a main verb to show the degree of commitment towards an event or person that a speaker holds e.g. should, will, might and must
what is the role of the ‘subject’ of the clause
- is usually a noun phrase
- acts as the key focus of the clause and is often the focus of a relational verb process or the agent of a material verb process
what is the role of the ‘object’ of the clause
- usually a noun phrase
- identifies the entity being acted on by the action of a verb process
what is the role of the ‘complement’ of the clause
- is the attribute of a subject in a relational verb process
- it completes the information about the given expression
what is the role of the ‘adverbial’ of the clause
- usually an adverb or prepositional phrase
- identifies the circumstance of a verb process in terms of time, place or manner
what is a clause
- groups of words centred around a verb phrase
what is coordination
- the joining of two clauses that give them equal weighting
what is subordination
- the joining of two clauses that gives the main clauses more weight that the other subordinating clause(s)
what is an adverbial clause
- a subordinate clause that functions as an adverbial
- it also adds meaning to a clause by telling us when, why, where something happened