Lexis Key Terms Flashcards
Lexis?
Vocabulary of the English Language
Noun?
A noun is a word that names something, such as a person, place, thing, or idea
Proper Noun?
A proper noun is a noun that serves as the name for a specific place, person, or thing
Abstract Noun?
A noun denoting an idea, quality, or state rather than a object
Concrete Noun?
A noun that refers to a physical thing, person, or place
Collective Noun?
A noun that refers to a group e.g. animals, people
Hypernym?
A word with a broad meaning of a category e.g. flowers, furniture etc
Hyponym?
Words that are the specific examples of a general word e.g. roses, chairs etc
Metonym?
A word that substitutes another word in which it is closely associated with
Verb?
A word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence
Dynamic Verb?
A verb that shows continued or progressive action
Stative Verb?
A verb that describes a state of being
Adjective?
A word that describes or defines a noun
Superlative Adjective?
Adjectives used to describe an object which is at the upper or lower limit of a quality e.g. tallest, smallest
Comparative Adjective?
An adjective used to compare differences between the two objects e.g. smaller, taller
Adverb?
A word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective or verb
Preposition?
A word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective and verb
Determiner?
A word that modifies, describes, or introduces a noun
Conjunction?
A conjunction is a part of speech that connects words, phrases, or clauses
Co-ordinating Conjunction?
A conjunction that connects words, phrases, and clauses that are coordinate
Subordinating Conjunction?
A word or phrase that links a dependent clause to an independent clause
Pronoun?
A pronoun is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun
First Person Pronoun?
Refer either to the person who said or wrote them e.g. ‘my’, ‘me’, ‘mine’, and ‘I’
Second Person Pronoun?
Refer to the listener or reader e.g. ‘you’, ‘your’ and ‘yours’
Third Person Pronoun?
Refer to the person being talked about e.g. ‘she’, ‘her’, ‘he’, ‘his’, ‘them’, ‘themselves’, ‘it’
Personal Pronoun?
A short word we use as a simple substitute for the proper name of a person e.g. ‘he’, ‘it’, ‘my’
Possessive Pronoun?
A short word indicating relationship of possession e.g. ‘his’, ‘hers’, ‘mine’
Relative Pronoun?
A pronoun that’s used to introduce a relative clause e.g. ‘which’, ‘that’, ‘whom’
Definite Article?
Used before a noun to indicate that the identity of the noun is known to the reader ‘the cat’
Indefinite Article?
An article that refers to a noun without specifying it e.g. ‘a cat’
Expletive Phrase?
A word or words that do not add meaning to a sentence and are often used as filler e.g. “there,” “here,” “it”
Taboo?
A social custom to avoid doing that activity or talking about that subject, because people find it embarrassing or offensive
Colloquial Language?
The linguistic style used for casual communication e.g. ‘y’all’ or ‘gonna’
Contraction?
A shortened form of a group of words ‘you’ve’ to ‘you have’
Jargon?
Special words or expressions used by a profession or group that are difficult for others to understand e.g. doctor
Anaphora?
The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a series of phrases or sentences
Deontic Modality?
A kind of modality which has to do with what is necessary
Epistemic Modality?
Possibility is something that may be true
