Lexis & Semantics Flashcards
noun
a word that names a thing or concept
proper noun
refers to names of people or places
abstract noun
refer to states, feelings and concepts that do not have a physical existence
concrete noun
refer to objects that have a physical existence
verb
a word that shows a state of being, action or concept
material verb
show actions or events
relational verb
identify properties or show states of being
mental verb
show internal processes such as thinking
verbal verb
show external processes of communicating through speech
Main Verb
the verb that shows the action or state of being of the subject
Auxiliary Verb
also called a helping verb, is a verb that is used with another verb (or two other verbs) in a verb phrase
adjective
a word that modifies a noun
adverb
a word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb
base adjective
the basic form of an adjective or adverb, modifying another word
comparitive adjective
a form used to compare two instances either adding ‘-er’ or using ‘more’
superlative
a form used to compare more than two instances, identifying a best example
pronouns
a word that substitutes for a noun
personal pronoun
a word we use as the substitute for a persons name without having to say it over and over again e.g I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us,
demonstrative pronoun
A demonstrative pronoun is a word used to stand in for a noun. They are used to point to something or someone specific (e.g., “this is my sister”)
indefinite pronoun
a pronoun that does not refer to any person, amount, or thing in particular, e.g. anything, something, anyone, everyone.
determiner
Determiners help clarify what a noun is referring to and are typically placed before descriptive adjectives
For example, in the sentence Would you like to buy this new book?, the word this is a determiner.
Article
Articles are words that define a noun as specific or unspecific
After the long day, the cup of tea tasted particularly good. By using the article the, we’ve shown that it was one specific day that was long and one specific cup of tea that tasted good.
possessives
Possessives are forms that we use to talk about possessions and relationships between things and people
quantifiers
A quantifier is a word that usually goes before a noun to express the quantity of the object; for example, a little milk.
preposition
A preposition is a word or group of words used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, time, place, or location
Some examples of prepositions are words like “in,” “at,” “on,” “of,” and “to.”
conjunction
a word used to connect words, phrases and clauses
co-ordinating conjunction
join two main clauses, “and” “but” and “or”
sub-ordinating conjunction
A subordinating conjunction is a word or phrase that links a main clause to a subordinate clause
lexis
the total stock of words in a language.
semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It can be applied to entire texts or to single words.
For example, “destination” and “last stop” technically mean the same thing, but students of semantics analyze their subtle shades of meaning
lexical field
The term lexical field refers to vocabulary that is related by topic.
For example the words rain, windy, fog, cold, clouds, umbrella, rain, sunshine, storm and stormy can be grouped in the lexical field the weather.
semantic field
They are a collection of words which are related to one another
For example, if a writer is writing a poem or a novel about a ship, they will surely use words such as ocean, waves, sea, tide, blue, storm, wind, sails, etc…
collocates
collocation refers to a natural combination of words that are closely affiliated with each other.
Some examples are “pay attention”, “fast food”, “make an effort”, and “powerful engine”.
fixed expression
groups of specific words that are always used together to convey a specific meaning
Examples include:
My brother is a couch potato. …
I can’t believe she let the cat out of the bag. …
Sarah’s new boyfriend really rubs me the wrong way
synonym
A synonym is a word that has the same meaning as another word (or nearly the same meaning).
For example, beautiful and attractive are synonyms of each other because they both refer to someone or something that looks good
euphemism
A euphemism is a word or phrase that softens an uncomfortable topic. It uses figurative language to refer to a situation without having to confront it.
For example, if someone was recently fired, they might say they are between jobs, a common euphemism for being unemployed.
dysphemism
Conversely, dysphemisms refer to sensitive topics in a harsh or rude way.
For example, “passed away” and “departed” are euphemisms for death, while “croaked” and “six feet under” are dysphemisms for death
antonyms
Antonyms are words with opposite meanings. For example, good and bad. Synonyms are words with similar meanings.
For example, tiny & small.
hyponym
a relation to a more generic word. A hyponym can be part of a group of words on a similar level that can all be replaced by the same hypernym.
For example, pigeon, crow, eagle and seagull are all hyponyms (co-hyponyms) of bird (their hypernym). In turn, bird is a hyponym of animal.
metaphor
a figure of speech that describes an object or action in a way that isn’t literally true, but helps explain an idea or make a comparison
Metonymy
words which are closely associated with each other that you can interchange
Eg, suits = businessmen, heart = emotion / love, Washington = the US government.
