lexicology Flashcards
common nouns
Common nouns refer to things generically (e.g. ‘beach’, ‘wisdom’, ‘apple’).
proper nouns
Proper nouns, on the other hand, are specific rather than generic, and are
always capitalised (e.g. ‘Saleh’, ‘Australia’).
subject pronoun
I submitted the
assignment. (I is the subject pronoun)
object pronoun
The teacher asked you(object) a
question.
Reflexive pronoun
Contains the suffix ‘-self’ or ‘-selves’;
used to refer to another noun or pronoun
in the same sentence.
Cecily blamed <herself> for
burning the cake.</herself>
Possessive pronoun
Indicates possession or ownership.
Unlike a possessive determiner (e.g. ‘his
dog” ‘my pencil’),
Interrogative pronoun
Used to introduce a question.
Interrogative pronouns include ‘what’,
‘which’, ‘who’, ‘whom’ and ‘whose’.
relative pronoun
Helps to introduce a relative clause
within a larger sentence by relating
that clause to the noun that it modifies.
Relative pronouns include the terms
‘which’, ‘what’, ‘who’, ‘whom’, ‘whose’ and
‘that’.
Demonstrative pronoun
Refers to a particular place, person or
thing. Replaces the entire noun or noun
phrase it represents.
eg. this, that
auxiliary (helping) verbs
Verbs that support (help) main verbs. Often enable tense.
- Primary auxiliary verbs:Had/has, is/was, etc.
- Modal verbs:
Indicate likelihood of verb happening.
determiners
a word placed before a noun to provide info. such as quantity ownership specificity
infinitive verb
The infinitive form of a verb allows the verb to be used as a noun, an adjective
or an adverb. Infinitives are generally formed by adding the word ‘to’ before the
base form of the verb.
adverb
Adverbs help to describe, modify or qualify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs and
whole phrases or sentences. They answer questions such as ‘When?’, ‘Where?’,
‘How?’, ‘How often?’, ‘How long?’ and ‘How much?
Conjunctions
Conjunctions link words, phrases, clauses and sentences together.(and)
preposition
A preposition expresses a relationship between a noun and another
word, phrase or element in a sentence
There are many prepositions in English. Here’s a list of some common ones.
of
by
with
at
between after
from
towards
into
under
for
out
during
before
on
in
Coordinators
The conjunction ‘and’ is an example of a coordinator. Coordinators help to
place two or more elements side by side in a way that demonstrates equality and
equivalence.
English has seven coordinators: ‘for’, ‘and’, ‘nor’, ‘but’, ‘or’, ‘yet’ and ‘so’. Many
people use the acronym FANBOYS to remember these.
Subordinate conjunction
The most common subordinator in English is ‘because’, which signals a cause-
and-effect relationship between the independent clause and the dependent
clause. Other subordinators that act in the same way include ‘since’, ‘as’, ‘though’, ‘due to’
and ‘unless’.
adjective
An adjective is a word that modifies or describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives can be used to describe the qualities of someone or something independently or in comparison to something else. Examples: Adjectives in a sentence I like old houses.
interjection
An interjection is a word or phrase used to express a feeling or to request or demand something.<Uh-oh>, this looks bad.</Uh-oh>
Verbs + tense + aspect
“Verb tense” refers to when the action occurred. The most common tenses are past, present, or future. “Verb aspect” refers to the flow of time. Aspect addresses whether or not the action takes place in a single block of time or if the action is continuous or repeated.
