⭐• Grammatical Terminology Flashcards
Why is it imperative that grammar & its rules stay the same?
Because grammar has static rules that allow for the correct and understandable production of language - without it langauge would struggle to be understandable by others that dont use that specific idolect themselves - grammar is the common ground throughout language
What is affixation?
The process of adding affixes to words to create a new word or different form of a word (e.g. tenses)
What is an affix?
A small group of letters that are added either to the begining or the end of a word to affixate it into a different tense /new word e.g. un-, -ing etc…
What are the 3 types of affixes?
- prefix
- suffix
- infix
Why is affixation important?
Affixation is used in grammar to make words singular or plural, change verb tenses or change the word class of a word (e.g. verb -> adjective)
Where are prefixes affixed to?
They are added to the beginning of a word
Where are suffixes affixed to?
They are added to the end of a word
Where are infixes affixed to?
They are added in the middle of the root word, splitting it apart
What is an example of a infixation?
absolutely -> abso-bloody-lutely
Is infixation common in the english language?
No, they are usually only used on neologisms/ colloquialisms
Label the 3 affixations on this word
What is a noun?
A word (other than a pronoun) used to identifty any class of people, places or things
What is an adjective?
A word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun, adding detail or making a description clearer
What is a verb?
A word that expresses an action, state of being, or occurrence in a sentence e.g.
* physical action = ‘drive’
* mental action = ‘think’
* state of being = ‘exist’
What is a preposition?
A word or group of words used before a noun or pronoun to show direction, time, place, location, spatial relationships, or to introduce an object
What is an adverb?
A word or phrase that typically modifies (describes) a verb (often end in -ly) - used in conneciton with a main verb e.g. ‘the lake is quite beautiful’ the adverb ‘quite’ modifies the adjective beautiful
What is a pronoun?
A word that replaces a noun in a sentence; they are used to refer to people, things, concepts, and place e.g. It, they, he, she, we etc…
What are the 4 types of noun?
- concrete noun
- abstract noun
- proper noun
- collective noun
What are the 7 types of adjectives?
- normal/ base adjective
- absolute adjective
- comparative adjective
- superlative adjective
- possessive adjective
- quantitative adjective
- demonstrative adjective
What are the 4 types of prepositions?
- place
- time
- direction
- manner
What are the 11 types of verb?
- dynamic verb
- stative verb
- auxillary verb
- modal verb
- regular verb
- irregular verb
- transitive verb
- intransitive verb
- mental verb
- material verb
- relational verb
What are the 4 types of adverb?
- manner
- degree
- time
- frequency
What are 3 types of pronouns?
- personal pronouns
- possessive prounouns
- demonstrative pronouns
- relative pronouns (diectic)
What is a concrete noun?
A noun that describes something that you can interact with using the 5 senses
What is an abstract noun?
A noun that describes something that is more of a concept such as emotions/ feelings/ expressions e.g. childhood, truth, beauty, sadness etc…
What is a proper noun?
A noun that describes a person, place or thing by its name e.g. Disneyland, Bob, Google etc…
What is an easy way to identify a proper noun?
If its capitalised then its probably a name of something/ someone/ somewhere, therefore its a proper noun
What is a collective noun?
A noun to describe a group of something/ people e.g. a murder of crows
What is a possessive adjective?
A word that modifies a noun to show ownership - possession
What are all 8 possessive adjectives?
- My
- Your
- His
- Her
- Its
- Our
- Their
- Whose
What is a comparative adjective?
A type of adjective that compares something to another by becoming modified to display a greater degree of quality than the other
What is a superlative adjective?
A type of adjective used to describe an object which is at the upper or lower limit of a quality (above comparitive, the most of that thing)
Modify the base adjective ‘old’ into its comparative and superlative form
- Base: old
- Comparative: older
- Superlative: oldest
Modify the base adjective ‘good’ into its comparative and superlative form
- Base: good
- Comparative: better
- Superlative: best
What is an absoulte adjective?
An adjective that describes a state that cannot be used in comparative or superlative form as it sounds too strange
What are some examples of a absolute adjective?
- dead - cant have superlative or comparative form - deader, deadest❌
- perfect - cant have superlative or comparative form - perfecter, perfectest❌
- unique - cant have superlative or comparative form - uniquer, uniquest❌
How could you quantify a absoulte adjective without changing the word?
By adding words before and after it e.g. quantitive lexis such as ‘almost’ ‘completely’ ‘absolutely’e.g.
‘absoultely perfect’✅
‘perfectest’❌
What is a demonstrative adjective?
An adjective used to identify or express the relative positon of a noun in time/ space e.g. this, that, these, those
What is a quantitative adjective?
An adjective thrat describes the amount of something, the quantity e.g. one, two, four, one hundred
What is modification?
Adding a word before/ after another to add to its meaning/ connotations as a scentence
What is pre-modification?
When the description/ modification comes before the object/ subect
What is post-modification?
When the description/ modification comes after the object/ subect
Pre-modify this scentence
The helpless victim
Modification came before the subject
Post-modify this scentence
The victim was helpless
Modification came after the subject
What is the syntactical effect of pre-modification?
Places the modification/ description/ adjective first, making that the primary focus so by the time you read the object you already have an understanding of their state
What is the syntactical effect of post-modification?
Places the modification/ description/ adjective after reading the object, this keeps the initial focus on the object with modification adding to the image of object afterwards
What are prepositions of place? (+ examples)
They indicate the location or position of an object e.g. in. under, over, below etc…
What are prepositions of manner? (+ examples)
They describe how an action is preformed e.g. with, without, etc…
What are prepositions of time? (+ examples)
They specify when an action takes place e.g. during, for, since, after etc…
What are prepositions direction? (+ examples)
They indicate the movement or direction of something e.g. across, through, along etc…
What are axuillary verbs
Minor verbs used along with a main verb to express tense or mood e.g. in the statement ‘it is raining’, ‘is’ functions as an auxiliary verb indicating that the action of the main verb (‘raining’) is ongoing
What is a dynamic verb?
Verbs that express a wide range of actions that fall into 3 main sections that are seen to have a measureable duration + are commonly used in the present continous form -ing
What are the 3 states that include dynamic verbs? (+ an exmaple each)
- physical (to run) e.g. running
- mental (to think) e.g. dreaming
- perceptual (to see) e.g. visualising
What is a stative verb?
A verb that purley expresses a state in which there is not obvious action and the state is unchanging + often sound strange in the present continuous form -ing e.g. please, include, dislike, desire, recognise etc…
What is a modal verb?
Verbs that show a level of agreement or commitment
What are some examples of modal verbs?
- must
- will
- shall
- should
- could
- would
- might
- can
- may
tic
What is past participle?
A past participle is a verb form that indicates an action that has been completed in the past (past tense refers direclty to a time this just states action was completed, no specifics)
What are regular verbs?
Verbs whose past participle are formed by adding the suffix ‘-ed’ e.g. walk -> walked therefore its a regular verb
What are irregular verbs?
Verbs whose past participle are formed by changing the whole word entirely e.g. swim -> swam therefore its a irregular verb
What is a transitive verb?
A transitive verb needs an object to complete its meaning.
- It answers the question “what?” or “whom?”
Example:
She kicked the ball.
(What did she kick? The ball — “the ball” is the object)
What is an Intransitive verb?
An intransitive verb does not need an object to complete its meaning.
- It makes sense on its own and doesn’t answer “what?” or “whom?”
Example:
He sleeps peacefully.
(There is no object — “sleeps” is complete by itself)
What is a material verb?
A material verb shows a physical action — something you can see someone doing.
- It’s about doing something in the real world.
Example:
She runs every morning.
They built a house.
What is a mental verb?
A mental verb shows an internal process — like thinking, knowing, or feeling.
- It’s about thinking or sensing things.
Example:
I believe you.
He knows the answer.
She loves music.
What is a relational verb?
A relational verb links the subject to more information — it shows what something is or what it has.
- It’s about being or having.
Example:
She is a doctor.
They have a car.
What are 4 of the types of adverbs?
- adverbs of manner
- adverbs of time
- adverbs of frequency
- adverbs of place
Give some examples of adverbs of time
now, then, yesterday, soon, later
Give some examples of adverbs of place
here, there, everywhere, inside, outside
Give some examples of adverbs of manner
quickly, slowly, happily, carefully, loudly
Give some examples of adverbs of frequency
always, often, sometimes, rarely, never
Give some examples of personal pronouns
Give some examples of possessive pronouns
Give some examples of demonstrative pronouns
What is syntax?
The arrangement of words and phrases in a sentence/ paragraph - syntax e.g. word placement can alter the interpretation of a sentence
What is synthetic personalisation?
The process of addressing mass audiences as though they were individuals through inclusive language or text through the use of posessive pronouns (not posessive adjectives as although same lexical items, posessive adjectives refer directly to a noun, still could be used, not as common)
What 2 main techniques are used in synthetic personalisation?
- personal prounouns
- direct adress
What is parallelism?
When a sentence structure is repeated but the words within it are different
What is anaphora/ anaphoric reference?
When a similar structure/ wording is repeated at the beginning of sentences
What is cataphora/ a cataphoric reference?
When a similar structure/ wording is repeated but the second half uses deixis to refer back to the subject - e.g. words that refer to and replace other words used later in a text
What is deixis/ a deictic expression?
A word or expression thats meaning is dependent on the context in which it is used (such as here, you, me, that one there)
What is Epistrophe?
When a similar structure/ wording is repeated at the end of sentences
What is antithesis?
When something is directly opposite something else (essentially juxtaposition)
