Lexis and Semantics

Question 1

what is lexis?
what is semantics?

Answer 1

lexis - vocabulary of a language
semantics - meaning in language

Question 2

common noun

Answer 2

All nouns that
aren’t proper
nouns - not specific name

Question 3

proper noun

Answer 3

specific people
and places: Paris,
Andrew, Venus

Question 4

concrete noun

Answer 4

things that exist
physically:
computer, house,
dog

Question 5

abstract noun

Answer 5

things that do not
exist physically;
feelings, ideas and
qualities

Question 6

collective noun

Answer 6

groups of people,
animals or objects:
team, family, flock,
gaggle, litter, herd

Question 7

pre-modifying adjective (attributive adjective)

Answer 7

Come before a
noun to describe it

Question 8

post-modifying adjective (predicative adjective)

Answer 8

Come after the
noun to describe it

Question 9

comparative adjective

Answer 9

Compare one noun
to another e.g.
bigger, smaller

Question 10

superlative adjective

Answer 10

The adjective is the
least or the most
e.g. ‘biggest’,
‘strongest’

Question 11

noun phrases

Answer 11

Nouns modified by
adjectives that
could be replaced
by a pronoun e.g.
‘the beautiful
animal was kept in
a cage’

Question 12

dynamic verb

Answer 12

A verb you can
physically see e.g.
running, walking

Question 13

stative verb

Answer 13

A verb that is a
state not an action
e.g. thinking,
wondering

Question 14

transitive verb

Answer 14

A type of dynamic
verb that requires a
noun e.g. ‘she
kicked the ball’

Question 15

intransitive verb

Answer 15

Don’t require a
noun e.g she
sneezed, she
laughed

Question 16

infinitive verb

Answer 16

A verb you can’t tell
the tense from e.g.
to wake, to run, to
love

Question 17

finite verb

Answer 17

A verb you can tell
the tense of e.g.
she was waiting

Question 18

auxiliary verb

Answer 18

These help us
understand the
tense of another
verb. There are only
three – be, do,
have.

Question 19

modal auxiliary verb

Answer 19

These tell you the
necessity of
possibility attached
to a verb e.g.
should, could,
would, may, might

Question 20

adverbs

Answer 20

Modify verbs by
telling us the
manner, time,
place, frequency,
degree, quantity or
evaluation of a
verb

Question 21

pronoun

Answer 21

Replace the noun
in a sentence. Harry
went to school
becomes he went
to school, the
pronoun replaces
Harry.

Question 22

personal pronoun

Answer 22

Replaces the
subject or object in
a sentence e.g. I,
we, me, him

Question 23

reflexive pronoun

Answer 23

Indicate object of a
verb is the same as
the subject of the
sentence e.g. ‘-
self/-selves in
themselves’ like in
‘they were going to
do it themselves

Question 24

indefinite pronoun

Answer 24

Do not refer to any
specific person of
thing e.g.
‘someone’
‘anything’
‘everything

Question 25

demonstrative pronoun

Answer 25

They tend to point to something e.g. ‘that’, this’ (but if it comes before a noun it isn’t the pronoun)

Question 26

possessive pronoun

Answer 26

Show possession (hers, ours, mine) only when not placed before the noun.

Question 27

interrogative pronoun

Answer 27

Used when asking a question e.g. who, whose, which, what (in who did this, which is it)

Question 28

relative pronoun

Answer 28

Act as linking words in a sentence always placed immediately AFTER the noun they refer to e.g. whom, who, whose, which, that. (The man, who had decided to go home, was walking very quickly)

Question 29

personal

Answer 29

First person involves you personally (I, we, me, us, our, my) Second person is you, your, yours only Third person involves other people e.g. he, she, they, them, their

Question 30

articles

Answer 30

There are only types they are either definite (the) or indefinite (a or an)

Question 31

determiners

Answer 31

Often confused with pronouns, they are always before the noun, not after it e.g. this car is new. They tell us which ‘thing’ is being referred to.

Question 32

quantifiers

Answer 32

Are a type of determiner that show quantity e.g. he had ‘a few cows’, he ‘did not have enough milk’

Question 33

prepositions

Answer 33

A word that tells you where or when something is in relation to something else e.g. inside, outside, after, before

Question 34

coordinating conjunctions

Answer 34

they join like with like (i.e., they join a noun with another noun, an adjective with another adjective etc.). The most common ones are and, but, and or.

Question 35

subordinating conjunctions

Answer 35

they join subordinate clauses to main clauses. Common examples are although, because, if, since, unless, until, and while.

Question 36

correlative conjunctions

Answer 36

used in pairs to join alternatives or equal elements. The most common pairs are either/or, neither/nor, and not only/but also.