grammar Flashcards
ABBREVIATION
A shortened version of a written word or phrase used to replace the original (e.g., a.s.a.p., bldg., m.l.s., mr., mrs., chapt., a.c.). Abbreviations may be used wherever acceptable. The commonly used abbreviations vary by industry or field of study or endeavor
ACCENT
A symbol used to indicate emphasis, stress, or pitch on a particular letter or syllable, or another distinction in pronunciation. Accents include a French grave, acute, circumflex, or cedilla, or any similar mark.
ACTIVE VOICE
The form of the verb (voice of verbal inflection) in which the grammatical subject of the sentence is represented as performing the action expressed by the verb (e.g., the cow jumped over the moon. The stock market slumped. He arose shortly after sunrise.). The active voice is the opposite of the passive voice.
ADJECTIVE
A word that describes or modifies a noun (e.g., tall man). It is termed a modifier, because it adds something to (modifies) a noun. An adjective can precede a noun (black cat) or follow it (The prize made the winner rich. The meal was delicious). An adjective is sometimes used to modify groups of words, such as noun phrases (the astonishing turn of events) or noun clauses (it appeared obvious that the contestant was drunk.)
ADVERB
A word or clause that typically describes or modifies a verb (He ate noisily), but can also modify an adjective (She is extremely short) or another adverb (He sang exceptionally poorly). In fact, an adverb can be used to modify anything, except a noun. This includes phrases (almost out of sight), participles (a well-earned vacation) clauses, and pronouns (nearly everyone).
ALLITERATION
The repetition for effect of the same initial letter in successive words within a group of words. The letter is usually, but not necessarily, a consonant (e.g., Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers).
Anagram
A new word or phrase created by changing the sequence of the letters in another word or phrase (e.g., ten and net, God and dog). Also, the transposition of the letters to form the new word or phrase.
For example, the letters that make up “A decimal point” can be turned into the anagram “I’m a dot in place.”
ANALOGY
The comparison of two things, which are alike in some respects, in order to explain or clarify an idea or object by showing how similar it is to something familiar. Although a simile and analogy are somewhat similar, a simile normally is a more artistic likening done for effect and emphasis. In contrast, the analogy serves more to explain a thought process or reasoning, or the abstract, in terms of the tangible.
ANASTROPHE
The inversion of the normal word order for effect. A change in the usual order in which words appear in order to achieve an effect. The normal sequence of words in English is subject followed by verb, and then object.
“potatoes I like”
ANTECEDENT
The word, group of words, or clause to which a pronoun in a sentence refers. The antecedent may follow the pronoun, although it usually precedes it (e.g., William telephoned to say he would be late) (They encountered Tom and said hello to him.).
ANTONYM
A word that has the exact opposite meaning of another (e.g., parallel is an antonym of opposite, poor is an antonym of excellent).
Appositive
A noun, noun phrase, or noun clause that follows a noun or pronoun and identifies or explains it, or supplements its meaning. Commas sometimes set off the appositive (e.g., a biography of the genius, Benjamin Franklin) (Sales of his book, Profiles in Courage, sold widely following his tragic death.) (We teachers like to be right).
értelmező (értelmezői jelző)
APOSTROPHE
The sign (‘) used to create the possessive form of a noun. This is usually accomplished by adding an apostrophe to the noun followed by a letter s. The apostrophe is also used to denote the plural form of certain abbreviations and letters (e.g., several C.P.A.’s). Finally, the apostrophe is used in contractions to show where letters have been omitted (e.g., don’t), although this should be avoided in formal prose.
ARCHAISM
The use in literature of what is archaic, such as words, expressions, spelling, or construction. Thee, quoth, and methinks are examples of archaic words, terms that are no longer in general use.
ARTICLE
The three articles (a, an, the) are adjectives that indicate whether a noun refers to a specific thing or to merely one of many things (e.g., to a particular chair or to any chair). The definite article (the) is used with a specific thing. An indefinite article (a, an) is used with any one of many things. That is, the definite article indicates definiteness, whereas the indefinite article indicates indefiniteness.
AUXILIARY VERB
A verb that accompanies another verb in order to help to express the person, tense, mood, voice, or condition of the latter verb. The verbs to have, to be, to do, with, can, may, and shall are commonly used auxiliary verbs. An auxiliary verb is also termed a helping verb.
BRACKETS
Punctuation marks used in pairs to enclose a subsidiary thought. They are the left ([) or right (]) bracket characters on the standard computer keyboard. Brackets are used in writing and printing to enclose parenthetical writing, interpolations, quoted material or excerpts, etc. (e.g., “My age [67 years] is my only secret,” insisted William.)
CLAUSE
A group of words that contains both a subject and a verb, but represents only part of a compound sentence or complex sentence. The clause may express a thought completely on its own (e.g., I run every morning). In this case, it is termed an independent clause. Alternatively, it may not express an idea completely without the aid of an independent or main clause (e.g., when I am in town) In this last case, it is called a subordinate clause.
Adjective clauses, adverb clauses, and noun clauses are three types of subordinate clauses. An adjective clause modifies a noun or pronoun in the independent clause (e.g., The man, who was also a gambler, usually carried large amounts of cash). An adverb clause modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb in the independent clause (e.g., Shortly after the sun sets, twilight begins). Finally, a noun clause acts as a noun in an independent clause (e.g., whoever finishes first can take the rest of the day off).
CLICHÉ
A trite, overused and worn out expression or phrase conveying a popular thought or idea, which has become part of our language, but is no longer fresh or original. It has long lost its originality and impact due to overuse. (e.g., The early bird gets the worm.) A writer, who uses clichés, may be perceived to be coasting - putting insufficient effort into his craft. A figure of speech that is overworked becomes a cliché.
Collective noun
A noun that refers to individual persons or items as a group, such as number, total, audience, or clergy. A collective noun can be considered to be singular or plural (e.g., The number of rejects was extremely high. A number of attendees to the convention have already left).
Colloquialism
A colloquial expression. Colloquial language. A familiar expression found in ordinary speech and acceptable in everyday conversation, although not suitable for formal writing or speaking (e.g., a burger, coke, and double fries).
Colon
A punctuation mark used to mark a significant break in a sentence. It creates a stop within a sentence that is almost as abrupt as that caused by a period. The colon indicates that the text following is a summary, expansion, or implication, etc., of that, which it precedes. Alternatively, a colon is used to separate numbers in ratios (e.g., 2:1) or groups of numbers that refer to different things, such as hours from minutes (e.g., 7:15), or to mark the beginning of lists.
Coma
A punctuation mark (,) is the equivalent of a brief pause. It used to mark a division in a sentence, as may be caused by a word, phrase, or clause, particularly when accompanied by a pause. The comma also separate items in a list, designates thousands in numerals, and separates types of information in bibliographic and other data. Commas are used for clarity and to make sentences less unwieldy. Comma is derived from the Greek komma for segment or clause, which designated a portion of a sentence. It appeared as a full slash mark or solidus (/) in early manuscripts, but later shrank to today’s size.
Complex sentence
A sentence consisting of one independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses (e.g., The dog quickly discovered the cat, which had left the safety of its hiding place). In the preceding example, the independent clause has been underlined. The subordinate clause is written in italics.
Alárendelő mondat
Compounding
The act of joining two words to create a new word. Examples of words so formed include walk-out, blackout, and doghouse.
Compound predicate
A compound predicate consists of two or more predicates that share the same subject (e.g., Franklin Delano Roosevelt enacted a great deal of legislation to reform America’s institutions and get citizens back to work and subsequently led the country through the Second World War).
Compound sentence
A sentence that consists of two or more independent clauses and no subordinate clause. A comma and a conjunction separate the independent clauses. (e.g., I finished my work for the day, and now I am ready to go out.
mellérendelő mondat
Conjunction
A word (e.g., and, but, or) used to connect words, phrases, or clauses. Subordinating conjunctions (e.g., whether, unless) join subordinate clauses to main clauses. Correlative conjunctions (e.g., either…or, neither…nor) are used in pairs to join alternatives or equal elements. Coordinating conjunctions are normally used to join like with like, such as a noun with another noun, an adjective with another adjective, an adverb with another adverb, etc. (e.g., a fork and a knife, hot but dry, quickly but quietly, Jack and Jill). Common coordinating conjunctions include and, but, for, or, nor, either, yet, and so.
Consonant
a letter with a “hard” sound: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z. That is, any letter except a, e, I, o, or u.
Contraction
A term used to describe a word formed by combining two words into one and replacing the letter(s) omitted with an apostrophe (e.g., can’t, don’t, I’m). The three common constructions of contractions are:
- A verb plus not (e.g., can’t, don’t, didn’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t, wasn’t)
- A pronoun plus a verb (e.g., I’m, he’s, she’s, we’re, you’re, they’re)
- A noun plus a verb (Bill’s - formed from Bill+ is)
Dash
A short horizontal typographical mark (-) that indicates a break between thoughts, sets off a parenthetical clause, marks an omission, or substitutes for a colon. There are two main kinds of dashes, an em dash and an en dash. An em dash is longer than an en dash and much longer than a hyphen. The em dash is a full square of type in size. An en-dash is only one-half of a square of type in size and resembles a hyphen. An em dash is used mainly to denote a sudden change in tone, or to set off a clause or phrase, instead of using parentheses. The main use of an en dash is to represent missing, but implied, items of a series. For example, 2-4 denotes the numbers 2 through 4.
Dictionary
A reference book that contains a selection of the words of a language, usually arranged in alphabetical order and expressed in the same or another language. It provides the meaning of each entry, its abbreviation, and information about pronunciation and various spellings. In addition, the dictionary may give grammatical forms, etymologies, synonyms and antonyms, and illustrative quotations. The word, dictionary, comes from the Latin word dictionaries for a collection of words. In word processing, the term also applies to a list of words contained in the computer’s spell checking program.
Direct object
A word, phrase, or clause that tells what the action of the verb accomplished or sought to accomplish. It represents the result or objective of the action (e.g., He closed the door. She did whatever was asked. I’ll see you later,” he responded.)
Double negative
The construction produced by using two negatives in a clause or sentence. This results from combining the negative form of verb (e.g., can’t, won’t, dislike), or “not,” with a negative pronoun (e.g., nobody, nothing or nobody), a negative adverb (e.g., never, hardly, rarely), a negative conjunction (e.g., neither, nor), or “not.” Some obvious examples of double negatives are:
I didn’t see nobody She is not unattractive
It wasn’t uninteresting It’s not impossible.
The use of double negatives is generally associated with uneducated users. Consequently, their use is usually avoided in written and spoken language.
Ellipsis
A set of three dots, periods, or dashes in a row. They are used between two sentences or phrases to indicate that a word or phrase has been omitted. An ellipsis is also used when bits or quips of information have been taken from a long quotation or when wanting to signify a trailing off in thought or to leave it to the reader’s imagination to complete. When the ellipsis appears at the end of the sentence, a period precedes it. Consequently, there are four dots instead of three.
Emotive language
Words that have an emotional content. Most ideas can be expressed in a manner that is positive or negative, welcoming or threatening, depending on the word selected.
Euphemism
The use of a polite, agreeable, or inoffensive word or expression in place of one that is harsh, rude, or offensive. Also, to use pleasant or inoffensive language to soften or mask upsetting truths (e.g., to pass on instead of to die). Also, the word(s) so used.
Exclamation point
The mark used in writing after an exclamation. It is often used to indicate intensity of emotion or loudness, etc. The mark evolved from the Roman habit of saying “lo” as an exclamation. In order to save time in writing, scribes wrote the two letters together, with the “I” on top and the “o” beneath it. Eventually, the “o” was filled with ink and became a dot.
Figurative
Of the nature of, or involving, a figure of speech, particularly. a metaphor. Metaphorical, not literal. Figurative language uses words in uncommon or imaginative ways. It often exaggerates or overlooks reality in order to make a point (e.g., He has become as big as a horse, rather than He has gained a great deal of weight).
Figure of speech
An expression or use of language, such as a metaphor, simile, personification, antithesis, etc., in which words are used in other than their literal sense to create a picture or image, or for other special effect. An imaginative or figurative expression.
comma splice
two independent clauses are joined by a comma to make one sentence
gerund
the present participle of a verb that is used as a noun. The verb form that ends in “ing” when used as a noun. Although the gerund is used like a noun, it retains certain characteristics of a verb, such as the ability to take an object (e.g. Preparing lasagna is time-consuming or Golfing is his first love). The same word can be used as an adjective (I spied the running figure) or part of a verb (She was knitting).
glossary
a lists of terms used in a book or publication covering a technical or specific filed and their definitions. A glossary appears in the back matter of the book. Also, a feature of a word processing program that store frequently used words or text for future insertion in documents when needed.
grammar
the formal system for describing the structure of a language or the rules of its use. We combine words into larger units. Grammar covers the system of rules that specify such combinations. The rules that specify how others want us to use our language.
homonym
a word that is pronounced the same as another word, but that has different meaning. The two rods may be spelled differently. Hare and hair are examples of homonymes, as are bear and bare, and mat and matte.
hyperbole
obvious and extravagant overstatement of fact. Intentional exaggeration in order to sell a product or service, or for effect. Also termed hype.
hyphen
a punctuation mark (-) used to join two words together, to indicate where a word has been broken between syllables at the end of a line, or to separate parts of a compound word.
- normal hyphen,
The normal hyphen is used as part of the usual spelling of the word. It is also termed required hyphen or hard hyphen. - optional hyphen
An optional hyphen only appears if a word is split between syllables at the end of a line. It is also called a discretionary hyphen or soft hyphen. - nonbreaking hyphen
Nonbreaking hyphens do not permit a line break. That is, the word cannot be broken into parts at the end of a line. (hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys as you type the dash, this is the same as typing Ctrl and an underscore)
Both normal hyphens and nonbreaking hyphens are visible.
