Technical Terminology Flashcards
To review technical terminology useful for the exam.
Morphemes.
These are the building blocks of all words, some only make sense when added to other words, these are bound morphemes, others exist independently, these are free morphemes… They can all be combined. So care-ful-ly; boost-er.
Proper nouns
(capital letters) Sometimes common nouns are made into proper nouns for comic, or other, effect.
Common nouns 1) concrete nouns
(things you can touch )
abstract nouns
(ideas and feelings)
collective nouns
(to collectively name individuals: an equivocation of English teachers)
Nouns can be pre or post-modified to create noun phrases.
pre-modifiers are usually adjectives and post-modifiers are usually prepositions…
The massive fat black spider beneath your foot.
hyponyms
They operate on a hierarchical system though: if the hypernym is colour then a hyponym is green; if the hypernym is green then a hyponym is olive; if the hypernym is olive then a hyponym might be dark olive etc etc….
Pronouns
replace nouns – ‘you’ ‘we’ ‘I’ ‘they’ etc. Usually used for a specific effect so look at them carefully, e.g. inclusive pronouns used in charity letters.
Adjectives
come in three forms: base, comparative, superlative (hot, hotter, hottest) They describe nouns. You can refer to them as pre-modifiers because they modify the way that you see a noun: tomato, rotten tomato, ripe tomato etc.
modal auxiliary verbs
Modals express the likelihood of something happening and are useful to comment on / use in persuasive writing.
Adverbs
describe verbs (in the same way that adjectives describe nouns), they often, but not always, finish with ‘ly’. He finished reading hurriedly.
Prepositions
talk about where something is, either in space or time: under the table, behind the book, after the lesson.
Declarative
(statement) Probably the most common form, Often used because they suggest that the reader knows what they are talking about.
Imperative
(order) These start with the base form of a verb. Often found in persuasive writing.
Interrogative
(question) Most commonly form mentioned in analysis would be the Rhetorical Question: these are asked for effect only: either the answer is unimportant, already known or, we assume, will be answered by the author.
exclamative
(an exclamation) Note that any of the above can also be an exclamative.
minor sentence
is a sentence without a verb, they are labelled as ‘fragment’ on the Word 97 spellcheck. They are usually descriptive. Politicians use them too to make statements with no possibility of action: ‘A better future.’
simple sentence
A sentence that has just one clause, with one thing happening
compound sentence
If conjunctions are used then it is a compound sentence: The dog bit the man
complex sentence
If there are embedded clauses then it is a complex sentence: The dog, a member of the vicious Chihuahua breed, bit the man on the leg and then ran away.
fronting
as made famous by Yoda; it’s when the most important part of the sentence is moved to the front of the sentence to ensure that readers understand its importance:
The best subject, English is.
instantaneous present
The instantaneous present is used when the action is going on at the same time the description is being made, it is used a lot to give excitement to live commentaries: He passes the ball; he runs to the end of the field, he shoots; it’s a goal!
historic present
The historic present can be used to describe the past as though it were happening now: I hear that you are not very well. I realise that the cake is burned. This is often used in literature (and texts for analysis!) to give a sense of dramatic immediacy (i.e. using the historical present for dramatic immediacy): We look out of the door and we see an old man.
Progressive aspect
Progressive aspect: indicated by a form of the auxiliary ‘to be’ (be, am, is, are – don’t forget past forms too) and the present participle of the lexical verb (the ‘ing’ form). It can occur in the present or past:
I am running, I have been reading, We are cooking etc.
