grammatical structures Flashcards
what is grammar?
the study of how various parts of a sentence are put together (the placement of individual words and phrases)
what is syntax?
word order
what is declarative sentence mood?
statements such as “the cat is brown”
what is imparitive sentence mood?
commands such as “don’t say that”
what is interrogative sentence mood?
questions such as “what time is it?”
what is exclamatory sentence mood?
emotional outburst “how very interesting!”
what is a minor sentence?
short incomplete sentences such as “victory!”
what is a simple sentence?
one main clause as there’s only one main verb such as “he gave me a hug”
what is a compound sentence?
a sentence with two main clauses connected with a conjunction “i went into town and i bought some bread”
what is a complex sentence?
a sentence with an independent clause and a subordinate clause such as “ the tourist, who came from russia, spoke good english”
what is a pre-modified noun phrase?
words that edit the noun before the noun “the suspicious individual”
what is a postmodified noun phrase?
words describing the noun go after the noun “the individual wearing dark glasses”
what is a complex noun phrase?
when the noun is both pre-modified and postmodified “the suspicious individual wearing dark glasses”
what is a definite noun phrase?
using the defininate article to describe it “the red car”
what is the indefinite noun phrase?
using the indefinite article to describe the noun “a red car”
what is an evaluative noun phrase?
using words to give an opinion about the noun “the dodgy bloke”
what is a defining noun phrase?
using actual facts to describe the noun “the tall bloke”
what is the active voice?
the subject does the verb “someone will televise the game”
what is the passive voice
the verb is done to the subject ”the game will be televised”
what is ellipsis?
when words are missing from a sentence “seen jamie?”
what is triadic/ quadratic structure?
patterns of 3/4 in sentences “thick, dark, red blood spilled from the wound”
what is parenthetical structure?
when areas of the sentence are bracketed off with punctuation ” the snow, slowly and gently, began to fall on the ground”
what is fronting/end focus?
parts of the sentence that are placed at the start or the end for effect” jobs, that’s what we want”
what is quoted speech?
when a speakers speech is quoted in quotation marks “the team said ‘it was a hard game’”
what is an anaphoric reference?
a reference to a noun previously stated “the man lay down, he was tired”
what is a cataphoric reference?
references to the noun before it has been introduced “he lay down, the man was tired”
what is parallel syntax?
parallel patterns in word order “live by the sword, die by the sword”
what is unusual/ archaic syntax?
old or strange word order “thou shalt not pass”
what is a conditional sentence?
a sentence starting with if and then presenting a condition(if he starts singing, im leaving)
what is an existential sentence?
states the existence of something
can
ability, possibility, permission
could
ability(past), possibility, polite permission
may
permission, possibility
might
polite permission, possibility
will
certainty, willingness
would
conditionality, willingness
shall
certainty, obligation
should
advice, weak obligation, logical conclusion
must
strong obligation, logical conclusion
what are prepositions
used to show relationships between nouns and pronouns
what is a prepositional phrase
preposition +noun phrase “opposite the libuary”
