Grammar - Word Glossary Flashcards
Explain an active voice?
an active verb has a usual pattern of Subject, verb, and Object.
What is an adverbial ?
Word or phrase that is used to modify a verb or clause
What is an antonym?
2 words are antonyms if their meanings are opposite.
Give an example of a antonym
hot - cold
What is an article?
the articles the (definite) and a or an (indefinite) are the most common types of determiners.
Words that define a noun as specific or unspecific.
What is an auxiliary verb?
they are: be, have, do, and the modal verbs. Used to make questions and negative statements, in the progressive + passive, in the perfect.
Gives examples of auxiliary verbs
To be: am, is, are, was, were, being, been, will be
To have: has, have, had, having, will have
To do: does, do, did, will do
What is a clause?
Special type of phrase whose head is a verb
Can be subordinate or main.
What is a cohesion?
a text has one if it is clear how the meaning of its parts fit together. Cohesive devices can help with this.
What is a cohesive device?
Words used to show how the different parts of a text fit together
Give an example of a cohesive device?
Moreover, For example, In conclusion, However
What is a complement?
when a verbs subject adds more information about the subject and its object component does the same for its object
What is a compound?
contains at least two root words in its morphology
Give an example of a compound
whiteboard, superman, bookshop, daydream, outgrown
What is a co-ordinate or co-ordination?
Words or phrases are co-ordinated if they are linked as an equal pair by a co-ordinating conjunction.
What is an etymology?
a word’s history: it’s origin in earlier forms of English or other languages, and how its form and meaning have changed
What is a finite verb?
A verb in a sentence which is typically a past or present verb.
They cannot be participles or infinitives, cannot stand on their own: they are linked to another verb in the sentence.
What is fronting, fronted?
A word or phrase that normally comes after the verb may be moved before a verb.
They are followed by a comma
What is a homonym?
Two words that look the exact same when written, and sound the same when pronounced.
Give an example of a homonym
Book -> to make a reservation or something we read
Bark -> on trees or the noise a dog makes
Bat -> hit a ball with + an animal
What is a homophone?
2 different words that sound exactly the same when pronounced
Give an example of a homophone
tail + tale, flew + flu, eye + I, Ad + add, mail + male, plain + plane.
What is an infinitive?
basic form, of a verb, used as the head word in a dictionary. They are used:
- after to - after modal verbs
What is an inflection?
when we add -ed or change a word, die-> dice, this change of morphology produces an inflection of the basic word which has special grammar. In addition, adding -er to some words, produces a totally different word.
Give an example of an inflection
mouse -> mice, walk -> walker, finish -> finished, dog -> dogs
What is an intransitive verb?
one that does not need an object in a sentence to complete its meaning
What is a modal verb?
used to change the meaning of other verbs. They can express meanings such as certainty, ability, or obligation.
Give examples of modal verbs
The main ones are will, would, can, could, may, shall, should, must, and ought.
What is a modify, modifier?
One word or phrase modifies another by making its meaning more specific. Because the 2 words make a phrase, the ‘modifier’ is normally close to the modified word.
Give an example of a modifier
vegetarian burger (vegetarian is the modifier), female CEO (female is the modifier)
What is a morphology?
a words internal make-up in terms of root words and suffixes or prefixes, as well as other changes. A word with 2+ root words is a compound.
What is an object?
a noun, pronoun or noun phrase that comes straight after the verb, and shows that the verb is acting upon.
Can be turned into the subject of a passive verb and cannot be adjectives.
What is a participle?
verbs in English have two participles, called ‘present participle’ and ‘past participle’.
How do participles confuse learners?
They don’t necessarily have anything to do with the past and present
They are used as perfects and passives
What is a passive =?
Recognisable from:
- the past participle form
- the normal object turned into the subject
- the normal subject turned into an optional preposition phrase with by as its head
- contrast to active verb
What is a prefix?
added at the beginning of a word in order to turn it into another word. Contrast suffix.
What is a progressive?
this form of a verb generally describes events in progress. It is formed by combining the verb’s present participle with a form of a verb. Also be combined with the perfect.
What is the relative clause?
special type of subordinate clause that modifies a noun. It often does this by using a relative pronoun such as who or that to refer back to that noun, through the relative pronoun that is often omitted. May be attached to a clause.
What is schwa?
Name of a vowel sound that is found only in unstressed positions in English. Most common vowel sound in English.
What is a subject?
Normally the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that names the ‘do-er’ or ‘be-er’
The position:
- just before the verb in a statement
- just after the auxiliary verb, in a question
What is a subjunctive?
the inflections of a verb include a large range of special forms which are used typically in subordinate clauses
What is a subordinate or subordination?
tells us more about the meaning of the word it is subordinate to.
Subordination can be thought of as an unequal relationship between a subordinate word and a main word.
What is the subordinate clause?
A clause which is subordinate to some other part of the same sentence
What is a suffix?
‘ending’ put onto a word to turn it into another word.
Cannot stand alone as a word.
What is a synonym?
2 words that have the same or similar meanings
Give an example of a synonym
angry -> furious, irate, livid
difficult -> tough, hard, challenging, problematic
What is a transitive verb?
takes at least one object in a sentence to complete its meaning
What is an adverb?
modify a verb, adjective or a clause. Describes a manner of time.
Give examples of an adverb
yesterday sometimes quietly loudly soon
What is a noun?
‘naming words’ because they name people, places, and ‘things’
Used after determiners
Give examples of a noun
common, non-countable nouns: money, chocolates, imagination.
common, countable nouns: London, Wednesday, Elizabeth
School
What is a determiner?
specifies a noun as known or unknown, and it goes before an modifiers
Give examples of a determiner
demonstratives e.g. this, those
articles e.g. the, a, or an
possessives e.g. my, your
quantifiers e.g. some, every
What is an adjective?
‘describing word’ as they pick out single characteristics.
used:
-before a noun
- after a verb
Give an example of an adjective
big, beautiful, lazy, last, helpless
What is a conjunction?
links 2 words or phrases together.
- co-ordinating -> links 2 words or phrases as an equal pair
- subordinating -> introduces a subordinate clause
Give an example of a conjunction
when, and, but, because
What is a preposition?
Links a following noun, pronoun or noun phrase to some other word in the sentence. Describe locations, directions and relations of time
Give examples of prepositions
since, during, from, until, beneath
What is a pronoun?
more grammatically specialised than a noun.
Harder to modify
Give examples of pronouns
your, he, yours, his, theirs, mean, she, I , him, we her, you
What is a verb?
‘doing word’ as many describe an action that is being carried out. Name states or feelings too
used:
- have a tense, either present or past
Give examples of verbs
lives, wrote, suggest, solve, likes, wake, walking, think, knew, tell
What are co-ordinating conjunctions?
Joining words that link together parts of a sentence.
They can be used to join together 2 clauses in a sentence. However, the clauses must make sense on their own.
Give examples of co-ordinating conjunctions
‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘or’
