Grammar Flashcards
What is Grammar?
The study of how we make sentences.
What is a attitude to grammar?
Standard grammar- prestige, expected, correct, highly educated, high/middle class, more intelligent and sophisticated, older.
Non- standard- wrong, uneducated, lower class, less intelligent, younger.
What are the open word classes?
Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs Pronouns
What are the closed word classes?
Pronouns Auxiliaries and Modal Auxiliaries Prepositions Connections Determiners
What are nouns?
Words that name.
Common Nouns
Common words for items/things that do not have a capital letter. E.g. River
Proper Nouns
Nouns that name official things like places and names of people and businesses. E.g. Evie
Concrete Nouns
Things that are in the real world and can stimulate the 5 senses. E.g. Chair or Hair Spray
Abstract Nouns
Things/concepts that are not in the real word and do not stimulate the 5 senses, you cannot touch them. E.g. Feelings like love, happiness and purity. (Derived from adjectives and verbs).
Countable Nouns
You can have multiple of the thing and the noun can be made plural E.g. How many…? One tree, five trees.
Uncountable Nouns
You cannot have multiple of them and the noun cannot be made plural. E.g. How much…? You can’t say ‘three furniatures or peoples’
Collective Nouns
Groups of people, animals or things e.g. government, team, flock, pack.
Open Compound Nouns
A modifying adjective is used with its noun to create a new noun, or two nouns. Two words apart which carry a meaning together e.g. full moon or dinner table
Closed Compound Nouns
Two nouns or a modifying adjective and a noun are put together to create a ‘real word’. Usually made up of 2 words e.g. notebook or waistcoat. These words a one point were not used together.
Singular and Plural Nouns
Nouns that are plural like ladies, trees, dwarves (irregular plural) like feet. Or some that do not change like deer, sheep. (Pragmatics heavy). Context bound,
Nouns that are singular like lady, tree, dwarf, foot, sheep, deer.
What are adjectives?
They describe nouns.
What does pre-modification mean?
When adjectives come before the noun they pre-modify them e.g. Amazing curry.
Typical in adverts to make impact and emphasis and to save time. Quick and memorable.
SUPERLATIVE-SHOCK-NEWS BULLITIN
What does post-modification mean?
When adjectives occur immediately after the verb not the noun e.g. Children are happy.
Simpler and when describing.
‘Normal’ Adjective
Yellow, old, happy
Comparative Adjective
Yellower, older, happier
Superlative Adjective
Yellowest, oldest, happiest. Some are intensified by adding more or most to strengthen the description in advertisements and newspaper articles to persuade which links to Maxim of Quality.
What are verbs?
They are doing words that link to physical actions like jump or mental actions or states like think, felt, anticipate, seem.
Main Verbs
The doing word that expresses the main meaning, if you take it out you loose the meaning e.g. I must have been DRIVING too fast.
REGULAR: Jumped, Jump, Jumping
IRREGULAR: Slept, Sleep, Sleeping
Auxiliary Verbs
Are placed in front of main verbs to help clarify the action and tense. I MUST HAVE BEEN driving too fast.
Stative Main Verbs
They describe a static (stuck) condition, state or being e.g. feelings like dislike want, prefer, impress thoughts/opinions like know, think , remember, forget
senses like feel, smell, touch, look
possession like belong, own, have
measure/cost/others like cost, measure, appear, consist, contain, fit.
Primary Auxiliary Verbs
Are verbs that go before a verb and alone do not have much meaning but do help to convey (verbal) meaning. They have inflectional forms. THEY MAKE SENTENCES MAKE SENSE.
BE- help to form passive and progressive (continuing action or state) verb phrases. To tell us the tense and if something is still happening.
DO- help to form interrogative clauses- helps to create questions. They make us aware that the clause is a question not statement. They also help to emphasize meaning (e.g. I do love you).
HAVE- used for the formation of the perfect tense-used to show an action that is completed and finished or perfected. Help us understand the tense that it is happening in.
Modal Auxiliary Verbs
These give additional information to understand main verbs- they can be only used with main verbs. They alter the tone of meaning of an utterance.
Indicate possibility, capability, necessity or willingness. Probability or permission.
There are 10- can, may, could, will, might, would, shall, must, should, ought. They NEVER change forms.
Used as a politeness feature.
What are adverbs?
They are used to modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. To describe how a verb is performed.
Adverbs of Manner
Tells us how something happens.
Adverbs of Place
Tells us where something happens.
Adverbs of Time
Tells us when something happened.
Adverbs of Frequency
Tells us how often something occurs.
What are Pronouns?
They take the place of nouns and stop repetition.
First person
SINGULAR: I
PLURAL: We, Us, They
Political
2nd Person
SINGULAR: You
PLURAL: You
3rd Person
SINGULAR: He, She, It
PLURAL: They, Them
Possessive
SINGULAR: Mine, Yours, His, Hers
PLURAL: Ours, Yours, Theirs
Demonstrative
SINGULAR: This, That, Those, These
PLURAL:
Interrogative
SINGULAR: Who, What, Why, Where, When
PLURAL:
Indefinite
SINGULAR: Anything, Anybody, Anyone, Something. Somebody, None, Someone, Nothing, Nobody,
No-one
PLURAL: Everyone
Political
Reflexive
SINGULAR: Myself, Yourself, Himself, Itself, Oneself
PLURAL:
Political
Reciprocal
SINGULAR: Each other, One another
PLURAL:
Political
What are Prepositions?
They show how the subject of a sentence is related to the object. Give extra detail.
Can be single words- about, onto, around, within, without, under, up, among.
Complex Prepositions (2 or 3 words usually in complex sentences)- ahead of, in addition to, in accordance to, in terms of, because of, as far as.
What are Conjunctions?
They join phrases and clauses.
Coordinating Conjunctions- join two parts of a sentence which are of equal importance e.g. and, but, or, so .
Subordinating Conjunctions- Join parts of a sentence which are subordinate than the main clause e.g. although, because, if, since, while, when, where as.
What do Conjunctions do?
Show condition, contrast, cause, time, place, degree- extra detail.
What are determiners?
Nouns are often preceded by the, a or an. They give extra detail and precision (quality).
Definite Determiner
The- can be used before a noun that is plural or singular.
Indefinite Determiners
A/An- only be used before a singular noun.
Numerical Determiners
Ordinal Determiners: Position e.g. first, second.
Cardinal Determiners: Amount e.g. six, 7oz, £6.50
Possessive Determiners
Used to suggest ownership of a noun e.g. my, yours, his book.
Demonstrative Determiners
Express a contrast, establishing a close or more distant relationship e.g. THIS coat is lovely compared to THAT coat is lovely.
Indefinite Determiners
Suggest a quantity but are more vague than numbers e.g. several books, each book
Syntax
Sentences
Declarative Sentences
Statements and are most common type- Today it rained.
Interrogative Sentences
Questions (?)
Imperative Sentences
Give orders and may end in a (.) or (!)- Do your homework now!
Exclamatory Sentences
Convey emotion and will end in (!)- Shut up!
Minor Sentences
Short sentence that is elliptical and can be understood in context (context bound)- Jam?
Simple Sentences
Contains a subject, verb and object- Joel is reading a book.
CHILDREN
Compound Sentences
Have SVO structure and are simple sentences joined by a connective/conjunction- I like cake and chocolate. Have more than one detail-extra detail. (AND, BUT, OR) Simple for children.
Complex Sentences
All other subordinating conjunctions are used in complex sentences- AS, WHERE AS, BECUAUSE, HOWEVER, THEREFORE, ALTHOUGH- Because my coffee was cold, I threw it in the bin.
MAIN CLAUSE
SUBORDINATE CLAUSE
ADULTS
