Grammar Flashcards
Grammar
Word formation and order or structure of particular words and phrases
Morpheme
The smallest grammatical unit
Free morpheme
A morpheme that can stand on its own as a word
Affix (or bound morpheme)
A morpheme that cannot stand on its own as a word, but combines with others to create a new word
Phrase
A group of words centred around a head word
Head word
The central word in a phrase which gives the phrase its name (e.g noun phrase, adjective phrase) and may be modified by other words
Modification
The adding of additional words to provide more detail to a head word in a phrase either before it (pre-modification) or after it (post-modification)
Clause
A group of words centred around a verb, which may be either grammatically complete (main clause) or incomplete (subordinate clause)
Tense
How the time of an event is marked: past, present, future
Aspect
Another element of marking time of an event, by specifying whether they are progressive (ongoing) or perfective (completed)
Coordination
The joining of two or more independent clauses via co-ordinating conjunctions. Single words and longer phrases can slo be co-ordinated.
Subordination
The joining of two or more clauses where only one is independent (main clause) and the others dependant (subordinate clauses/clauses)
Sentence
A larger unit of meaning, which may be formed of a single clause (simple sentence) or several clauses (compound or complex sentences). Minor sentences are sentences without a verb.
Sentence function
The purpose a sentence fulfils in communication: as a statement, question, command or exclamation. These are also referred to as: declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives and exclamatives.
Word class
The grammatical category into which words can be placed, including nouns, adjective, verb, adverb, determiner, pronoun, proposition, conjunction.
