Grammar Flashcards
Morphology
Word formation
Syntax
Order and structure within the larger units of phrases, clauses, and sentences
Morpheme
The smallest grammatical unit
Free morpheme
A morpheme which 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 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)
Active voice
A clause where the agent (doer) of an action is the subject
Passive voice
A clause where the patient (the entity affected by an action) is in the subject position, and the agent either follows or is left out
Tense
How the time of an event is marker (usually through verb inflection): past, present or future
Aspect
Another element of marking the 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 also be co-ordinated.
Subordination
The joining of two or more clauses where only one is independent (the main clause) and the others dependent (subordinate)
Sentence
A larger unit of meaning, which may be formed of a single clause (simple sentence) or several clauses (compound or complex sentence). 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 in many grammar books as (respectively): declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives and exclamatives.
Word class
The grammatical category into which words can be placed, including noun, adjective, verb, adverb, determiner, pronoun, preposition, conjunction
Determiner
A modifying word that determines the kind of reference a noun or noun group has (e.g. a, the, every)
Preposition
A word governing, and usually preceding a noun of pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause, as in ‘the man on the platform’/’what did you do it for?’
Conjunction
A word used to connect clauses or sentences (e.g. and, but, if)
Inflectional function
How free morphemes combine with affixes to show tense or number
Derivational function
How free morphemes combines with affixes to form new words
