Grammar Flashcards
Indefinite articles
‘a’ and ‘an’
Definite articles
‘the’
the infinitive
the most basic form of the verb
the particle ‘to’ followed by the basic verb
copula verb
linking verbs eg ‘is’ in ‘Jane is hungry’
double negatives
2 or more negative particles in a sentence
genitive pronoun
show possession
imperative sentence
instructive sentences
Indefinite pronouns
pronouns that do not specify and are vague e.g ‘somebody’, ‘something’, ‘anyone’
reflexive pronoun
pronouns that end in ‘self’ or ‘selves’
minor sentence
an incomplete sentence
what is a minor sentence also known as?
elliptical sentence
exclamatives
a sentence that denotes exclamation
declarative
a statement in the form of a declaration
interrogative
a construction with the force of a question
simple sentence
only has once clause with a single subject and predicate
compound sentence
a sentence with by 2 independent clauses usually connected with a conjunction
complex sentence
a sentence made up of a main clause and a subordinating clause
mitigated imperitive
a syntactically disguised imperitive
overt prestige
formal language
covert prestige
informal language
interrogative pronouns
pronouns that form questions e’g what, how, when, where
demonstratives
words like ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘those’
antecedent noun
the noun the pronoun refers to
parentheticals
verb phrases like ‘i think’, ‘i know’, ‘i guess’
what do parentheticals do?
adjust the strength of a sentence
what is syntactic parallelism
a type of repetition where multiple words are repeated in successive sentences or clauses e.g we want to win. we want to succeed, we want to achieve
second person address
the pronouns ‘your’, ‘you’, ‘yourself’
creates direct address
first person plural pronoun
‘we’ ‘ours’ ‘us’
adds to inclusive language
inclusive language
language that involves the audience
e.g ‘all of us….’
abstract nouns
nouns which we can’t identity with our senses
they often add emotive content in persuasive texts
e.g loyalty, freedom, justice
often ‘has’ comes before
absolute adjectives
the most basic form of an adjective
e.g fit, clever, beautiful
comparative adjectives
used to compare differences between two objects they modify
e.g ‘fitter’ ‘cleverer’ ‘more beautiful’
superlative adjectives
used to describe an object that is the upper or lower limit
e.g ‘fittest’ ‘cleverest’ ‘most beautiful’ ‘worst’
modal verbs
verbs which assist the main verb of a sentence
conjugation
how we form verbs
primary auxiliary verbs
be, do, have
be conjugations
be, am, is, was, were, been, being
do conjugations
do, does, did
have conjugations
have, has, had, having
what are be, do and have conjugations
primary auxiliary verbs
dynamic auxiliary verbs
concerning the different degrees of ability or tendency
e.g i could swim when i was five
it can rain a lot
deontic auxiliary verbs
concerning different degrees of obligation and permission
e.g you must not do that
you can leave now
epistemic auxiliary verbs
the different levels of probability/possibility
e.g it may snow today
he must be about to drive
boulomaic auxiliary verbs
the different degrees of volition (free will), desire and wish
e.g she would rather stay at home
he will not accept the truth
polysyndeton
listing with lots of conjunctions
asyndeton/ asyndetic listing
listing without conjunctions
compound noun
a noun made of two or more existing words
e.g playgroup scrapyard
affixation
using prefixes and suffixes to formulate words
e.g happiness un is a prefix ness is the suffix
wh-imperatives
imperatives masked as interrogatives to soften the force of them
empty adjectives
adjectives that express feelings e.g pretty, amazing
hypercorrect grammar
using standard english
directives
sentences that take on an imperative tone thus all imperatives are directives, sometimes declaratives and interrogatives act as them too
e.g why dont u close the door?
the door should be closed
negative interrogatives
often provide implicatures to suggest what should do/know
e.g ‘should you not check first?’
Pronoun subsititutions
Where some dialects neologised pronouns
E.g ‘tha’ for ‘you’
