Grassroots - terminology Flashcards
Nouns
Nouns describe people, places or things
Abstract noun
Abstract nouns are ideas that do not exist physically, like ideas or emotions e.g My anger overwhelmed me
Collective noun
Collective nouns refer to groups e.g. flock of sheep or chorus of singers. Don’t confuse collective nouns with plural nouns (students is plural, class is collective).
Concrete noun
Concrete nouns are things that exist physically e.g. My legs shook.
Proper noun
Proper nouns begin with a capital letter and are the names of places, people, organisations etc. They are used as titles e.g. Georgia loves to visit Paris.
Adjectives
Adjectives provide us with extra information about nouns.
Comparative Adjective
Comparative adjectives usually end in -er or have more in front of them. Unsurprisingly, comparative adjectives make comparisons e.g.
You are more successful if you work hard.
Descriptive Adjectives
Descriptive adjectives convey a verifiable fact e.g. Her hair was blonde.
Evaluative Adjectives
Evaluative adjectives do exactly what you’d expect - they offer a júdgement on the noun being described e.g. The student’s work was incredible.
Emotive Adjectives
Emotive adjectives convey and evoke strong opinions e.g Maths despicable; I cannot believe I’m being forced to learn such rubbish.
Superlative Adjectives
Superlative adjectives express the highest degree of a quality, and usually end in –est or have most in front of them e.g. Miss Williams is the smartest woman alive.
Verbs
Verbs tell you what something is doing or being. All sentences have a verb.
Auxiliary verbs
An auxiliary verb (meaning to help) is used with a main verb to help express meaning. The main auxiliary verbs are to be, to have and to do.
Dynamic verbs
Describes physical actions e.g. You punched him.
Stative verbs
Describes states or feelings e.g. I am irritated. I want some chocolate. I love him with all my heart.
Modal verbs
A type of auxiliary verb, they express necessity or possibility e.g. would, could, may, might, must, should. It is important to note that although they can perform the same function as an imperative, they are not.
Adverbs
An adverb tells you more about the verb (it ‘adds’ to the verb). It nearly always answers the questions: How? When? Where? or Why?
Adverb of manner
These communicate how something happened e.g. gracefully, elegantly, clumsily.
Adverb of place
These communicate where something happened e.g. there, anywhere, here.
Adverb of time
These communicate when something happened e.g. now, yesterday, afterwards.
Adverb of frequency
These communicate how often something happens e.g. never, always, sometimes.
Adverb of degree
These communicate the degree or intensity to which something happened e.g. hardly, enough, entirely.
Conjunctions
Conjunctions connect words or clauses together.
Coordinating conjunctions
Connect together words or clauses that have equal status e.g. I like Spice Girls and I like Backstreet Boys. These are FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
Subordinating conjunctions
Connect together clauses that have unequal status e.g. I like children although I couldn’t eat a whole one.
Conditional conjunctions
Often used to describe hypothetical situations, they are used to explain why something has, or will, happen e.g. if, unless, since.
Phrases
A phrase is a group of words which does not make complete sense on its own and does not contain a verb, therefore it is not a complete sentence: e.g. up the mountain.
Adjectival phrases
An adjectival phrase is a group of words that, together, function as an adjective in a sentence. If your phrase is adjectival, its ‘head word’ – the word the phrase cannot live without – will be an adjective: You really are incredibly smart.
Adverbial phrases
An adverbial phrase is a group of words that, together, function as an adverb in a sentence. If your phrase is adverbial, its ‘head word’ – the word the phrase cannot live without – will be an adverb: He left the meeting very quickly.
Noun phrases
A noun phrase is a group of words that, together, function as a noun in a sentence. If your phrase is a noun phrase, its ‘head word’ – the word the phrase cannot live without – will be a noun: I jumped aboard the bright red bus.
Verb phrases
A verb phrase is a group of words that, together, function as a verb in a sentence. If your phrase is a verb phrase, its ‘head word’ – the word the phrase cannot live without – will be a verb: He ran quickly down the stairs.
Collocation
A set of words that have become strongly associated with each other. For example: health and safety, fish and chips.
Hyperbole/meiosis
Hyperbole is exaggeration for effect: I cried my eyes out. Meiosis is the opposite – deliberate understatement: Oh? The £100,000 watch I bought you? Just a small token of my appreciation.
Triadic structure/tricolon
A triad or tricolon is a pattern of three words of phrases. For example: We came, we saw, we conquered.
Pronouns
Pronouns are used to replace nouns in any form.
Personal pronouns
These refer to an individual and can replaces someone’s name. They include first person singular, second person singular, third person singular, first person plural, second person plural, third person plural: I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they.
Possessive pronouns
These show possession, and like personal pronouns, there are first person singular, plural etc. Possessive pronouns are mine, yours, his/hers/its, ours, yours, theirs.
Reflexive pronouns
A reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject of the sentence or clause: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
Demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are used to ‘point’ to the relationship between the speaker and the object. This and these point to something close to the speaker. That and those point to something distant from the speaker.
Reciprocal pronouns
We use reciprocal pronouns when each of two or more subjects is acting in the same way towards the other. For example, Miss W and Mrs K are talking to each other.
Indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns, as the name would suggest, do not refer to any one thing in particular: something, anything, anyone, everyone.
Determiners
Words can be both pronouns and determiners, but the difference is a determiner is used before a noun, whereas a pronoun is used to replace a noun.
Articles
Articles can be definite (the) or indefinite (a).
Possessive
Possessive determiners are used to suggest ownership of a noun: my, your, his, hers, its, our, their.
Demonstrative
Remember, pronouns replace nouns, so if any of the demonstrative words are placed in front of a noun, it becomes a determiner. For example, I like these BECOMES I like these apples.
Indefinite
Indefinite determiners convey a range of meanings: all some, any, no, every, each, neither, little, fewer, less, least etc.
Numbers
Numbers, if preceding nouns, function as determiners. These can be ordinal (which refers to order) such as first, second, third, or they can be cardinal (which are counting numbers) such as one, two, three.
Semantic fields
A group of words that are associated by meaning. They can also be referred to as lexical fields.
Prepositions
Prepositions sit before a noun to show the noun’s relationship to another word in the sentence e.g. Miss W was hiding under the table; During the meeting, Miss W ate too much chocolate; Mrs K sat opposite Miss W.
Clauses
Clauses serve as parts that make up a whole sentence.
Main clauses
A main clause can form a complete sentence on its own. It must contain a verb, subject (something doing the verb) and make complete sense on its own.
Coordinate clauses
A coordinate clause is a main clause in a compound or compound-complex sentence e.g. I like eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts and you enjoy them too. Where a coordinate clause forms a sentence on its own, you can call it a stranded coordinate clause: And I loved it!
Subordinate clauses
A subordinate clause is a clause that does not make sense on its own, and needs to be paired with one or more main clauses to form a complete sentence. They are introduced by subordinating conjunctions. As with other clause types, it must contain a verb. As a general rule, you can move subordinate clauses around in a sentence without changing the meaning.
Relative clause
A relative clause is a subordinate clause which adds additional information and begins with a relative pronoun such as that, which, whose, whom, where, when. For example: That book, which you gave me, was really boring.
Sentence types
Every sentence, exactly the same as a main clause, must contain a capital letter, verb, subject (thing doing the verb), ending punctuation and make sense on its own.
Simple sentence
As above (the same as a main clause).
Compound sentence
Two main clauses joined with a coordinating conjunction.
Complex sentence
A main clause with an added subordinate clause which has been joined with a subordinating conjunction.
Compound-complex sentence
A compound sentence with an added subordinate clause which has been joined with a subordinate conjunction.
Minor/grammatically incomplete sentence
Otherwise known as an elliptical sentence or sentence fragment, this functions as a sentence because it makes sense on its own but may not contain a verb or a subject.
Sentence functions
Every sentence also includes a mood function.
Declarative function
These are statements. They are often linked to the creation of an assertive tone, which could demonstrate self-confidence. They’re often matter-of-fact, stating facts: The butter is in the fridge.
Imperative function
These are commands or orders. Depending on the context, imperatives can create an authoritarian tone or a frantic atmosphere, particularly if imperatives are in abundance or not followed by a response. Imperatives can be linked to hierarchy: a powerful character will use imperatives, a subordinate character will listen to imperatives.
Exclamatory function
Just like an exclamation mark, the exclamatory sentence mood describes a strong emotion – “It’s not fair!
Interrogative function
These are sentences which ask for an answer. They can be used for persuasive purposes as they undermine peers by putting them on the spot, or they can show uncertainty or lack of confidence: Where is the butter?
Active/passive voice
In the active voice, the subject of a sentence (who comes first) is the do-er of an action: Sarah kicked Stewart in the face. In the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is the done-to: Stewart was kicked in the face by Sarah.
Synecdoche/metonymy
Synecdoche (pronounced sin-eck-duh-key) is when a part of something stands in for a whole or the whole stands in for a part e.g. We need all hands on deck! (Hands refers to workers.) Metonymy is when one thing stands in for something else that it represents e.g. The White House stopped the law passing. (Here, The White House represents the US government or the President.)
Synthetic personalisation
As theorised by Norman Fairclough, this is when a writer or speaker makes use of the second person to ‘synthesise’ a relationship with the reader and address a mass audience as though they were individuals.
Adverb of degree
