lexis and semantics

Question 1

what is lexis?

Answer 1

a term used to refer to vocabulary

Question 2

what are word classes?

Answer 2

group words together based on their particular roles and functions in the text e.g. adjectives, nouns, verbs, adverbs

Question 3

what is an adjective?

Answer 3

a word naming an attribute of a noun

Question 4

what is a noun?

Answer 4

a word used to identify any of a class of people place or thing (common noun) or a particular one of these groups (proper noun)

Question 5

what is a verb?

Answer 5

describes an action, state or occurrence

Question 6

what is an adverb?

Answer 6

modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb or adverb to express a relation of place, time, manner etc

Question 7

what is a grammatical word class?

Answer 7

tend to provide connections and cohesion between other words e.g. pronouns, determiners, prepositions, conjunctions

Question 8

what is a pronoun?

Answer 8

functions in place of a noun e.g. i, you, he, she, it

Question 9

what is a determiner?

Answer 9

modifying word that determines the kind of reference a noun has e.g. a, the, every

Question 10

what is a preposition?

Answer 10

governing a noun or pronoun expressing a relation to another element of the clause e.g. on, after, for

Question 11

what is a conjunction?

Answer 11

used to connect clauses or sentences to coordinate words in the same clause

Question 12

what is meant by semantics?

Answer 12

the study of meaning in language

Question 13

what is a homonym?

Answer 13

a word that has more than one meaning

Question 14

what is a semantic field?

Answer 14

a group of words that fulfil the same kind of role and function in speech and writing e.g. the semantic field for war might include guns, explosions, death, fighting

Question 15

what is meant by collocates?

Answer 15

words that typically appear together e.g. the words cosmetic and surgery in cosmetic surgery and fish and chips rather than chips and fish

Question 16

what are fixed expressions?

Answer 16

a well used group of words that becomes accepted and part of a larger structure e.g. at the end of the day, see you later

Question 17

what are synonyms?

Answer 17

words that have equivalent meanings to others e.g. pretty, beautiful

Question 18

what are antonyms?

Answer 18

words that have opposite meanings e.g. loud, quiet

Question 19

what is meant by hyponymy?

Answer 19

the way of viewing the relationship between more general and specific words e.g. electronics is a more general way of referring to items such as laptop, iphone, playstation

Question 20

what is meant by euphemism?

Answer 20

a more socially acceptable way of saying something e.g. powder my nose instead of going to the loo

Question 21

what is meant by dysphemism?

Answer 21

using a blunt or direct word instead of a more polite or indirect alternative, close to taboo e.g. a doctor telling a family that their relative has “kicked the bucket”

Question 22

what is a clause?

Answer 22

a group of words centred around a verb phrase

Question 23

what is the subject of a clause?

Answer 23

usually a noun phrase, acts as the key focus of the clause and is often the focus of a process

Question 24

what is the object of a clause?

Answer 24

usually a noun phrase, identifies the entity being acted on by the action of a verb process

Question 25

what is the complement of a clause?

Answer 25

usually a noun phrase, it is the attribute of a subject in a relational verb process

Question 26

what is the adverbial of a clause?

Answer 26

usually an adverb or prepositional phrase, identifies the circumstance of a verb process in terms of time, place or manner