Terminology Flashcards
proper noun
refer to names of people, places or important days and begin with a capital letter
e.g. Easter, Abbie, London
abstract noun
refers to states, feelings and concepts that do not have a physical existence
concrete noun
refers to objects that have a physical existence
what are the two types of concrete noun
countable - can be pluralised e.g. cup turns to cups
non-countable - do not take a plural form e.g. furniture does not become furnitures
what are the six types of verb
- dynamic/material
- stative/relational
- mental
- verbal
- auxiliary
- modal auxiliary
dynamic/material verb
shows actions, events or realisations
e.g. hit, jump, wash, build
stative/relational verb
identify properties or show states of being, there is no change just a state that is eternal
e.g. be, seem, appear, become, like (I like cats)
mental verb
show internal thought processes such as thinking and can also fall under the same label as dynamic/material verbs
e.g. I think or believe
verbal verb
show external processes of communicating through speech
e.g. say, scream, shout or whisper
primary (auxiliary verbs)
an extra ‘helping’ verb which is used in addition to a main verb usually to show a tense
e.g. we were trying, I had gone
modal auxiliary verbs
an auxiliary verb which shows degrees of possibility, probability or obligation or certainty of an action. Cannot function as a verb independently.
e.g. could, can, would, will, should, shall, may, might, must
base adjectives
the basic form of an adjective, modifying a noun
what are the two types of base adjective
premodifiers: before the noun e.g. ‘the red car’
post modifiers: after the noun with a verb e.g. ‘ the car is red’ or ‘the squirrel seems sad’
comparative adjectives
a form used to compare two instances, either adding ‘er’ or using ‘more’
modifies a noun in comparison to something else like bigger or happier
e.g. ‘the parcel was bigger’ or ‘he was more careful’
superlative adjective
a form used to compare more than two instances, identifying a most extreme example, modifies a noun in comparison to others
e.g. ‘biggest, best, worst’
what are the six types of adverb
- manner
- time
- place
- frequency
- degree
- sentence
adverbs of manner
tells us how something happened, generally ‘ly’ adverbs
e.g. ‘the dog barked loudly or the cat hissed disdainfully’
adverbs of time
tells us when something happened
e.g. ‘I want to/will go to the shops, today, later, yesterday, after, tonight’
adverbs of place
tells us where something happened
e.g. ‘he ran upstairs or I will wait here, downstairs, inside, away’
adverbs of frequency
tells us how often something happened
e.g. ‘frequently, seldom, rarely, often he bought carrots sometimes he bought peppers’
adverbs of degree
tells us how strongly a description applies, to what extent is something true
e. g. ‘I am…. hungry’ - ‘really, slightly, so, quite’
e. g. ‘she was very nervous’
adverbs of sentence
provides an attitude to a whole sentence, what is the general attitude to what happened
e. g. ‘sadly, he was unsuccessful’
e. g. ‘fortunately he liked peas’
e. g. ‘…… it is forecast to rain today’ - ‘however, inevitably, honestly, sadly’
personal pronouns
refer to people, and are differentiate in terms of person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), number (singular or plural) and gender (male or female).
1st person singular - me and I 1st person plural - we and us 2nd person - you 3rd person singular - he and she and it 3rd person plural - they and them
demonstrative pronouns
orientate the reader or listener towards a person, object or idea, either nearby or far away and completely replace the noun
e. g. this, that, these, those
e. g. this is mine’
indefinite pronouns
refer to a person, object or idea that is non-specific
e.g. ‘someone, anybody, everything’
possessive pronouns
show the ownership of the noun they replace, it can still have a noun as long as it replaces one
e.g. ‘the cat is mine’ instead of ‘the cat is my cat’
what do pronouns do
replace nouns
what do determiners do
go before a noun but the noun is still there
article determiners
show that something is definite or indefinite
a/an = indefinite
the = definite
possessive determiners
show ownership
e. g. my, your, hers, ours, theirs, his
e. g. ‘their mugs’
demonstrative determiners
attached to a noun
e. g. this, that, these and those
e. g. ‘this cat is lovely’ and ‘this is mine’
quantifiers determiners
show either specific or non-specific quantities of a noun
one/two = specific
some, any, a few = non-specific
prepositions
show the relationship of two things in terms of time or space
premodifier
an adverb or adjective which is placed before the thing it is modifying
e.g. the happy mouse
postmodifier
an adverb or adjective which is placed after the thing it is modifying, sometimes linked with a verb
e. g. the cat is ginger
e. g the mouse seemed happy
e. g. we waled slowly
noun phrase
made up of a head (main) noun plus determiners, adjectives and possibly adverbs
e. g. Clifford the big red dog
e. g. Ivor the very naughty dragon
verb phrases
contain a head verb plus extra information in terms of tense and likelihood
e. g. would like to know…
e. g. will be wondering….
adverbial phrases
contain information about where or how. These are different from adverbial clauses because they do not contain a verb.
e. g. on the stairs
e. g. before tea
clause
a group of words centred around a verb phrase. Phrases are put together to form clauses. In order to make a clause, you have to have certain key elements.
can stand on their own to form simple sentences where there is only one verb process, but can be joined together to create more complicated sentences
phrase
a group of words that work together to express a single idea
subject
the person or thing causing the verb process
e.g. the dustman
verb element
the action or change taking place or the process being described
direct object
not all verb elements need an object
an object directly affected by the verb process
e.g. the bucket, an ice cream
main clause
can function independently as simple sentence or as part of a compound, complex or compound-complex sentence
e. g. I like cats
e. .g ice cream is great
subordinate clause
cannot function independently, must be joined to a main clause, often with a subordinating conjunction
e. g. because I like cats
e. g. although ice cream is great…
relative subordinate clause
starts with who, which or that and gives more information about a noun phrase
e.g the noun phrase is the very big sink
then the relative subordinate clause is, which is being fitted
the pretty old woman who likes ice cream
adverbial subordinate clause
provides more information about telling us circumstances of the verb process in terms of place, time, frequency, degree or manner
e. g. after I walked downstairs
e. g. almost every day
e. g. as quickly as possible
co-ordination
is the joining of two clauses with a co-ordinating conjunction that gives them equal weighting
subordination
is the joining of two clauses that gives one clause (the main clause) more weighting than another clause, or clauses (the subordinate clause[s])
subordinate clauses can be:
- fronted: while the new kitchen is being fitted, we are eating out
- embedded: the new kitchen, which is being fitted, will be lovely
- backloaded: the new kitchen will be lovely, when it is finished
minor sentences
a sentence which is missing either (or both) of the key elements of a main verb or a subject
e. g. eyes the colour of rotting squash
e. g. mashed-in nose
e. g. half of one ear missing
simple sentence
a sentence with a single verb process
e.g. the is the day of reaping
compound sentence
a sentence where two-clauses are joined, often with a co-ordinating conjunction
e.g. the Dursleys knew that the Potters has a small son, too, but they had never even seen him
complex sentences
a sentence which features one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses often joined with a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun
e.g. Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called grunnings, which made drills
compound-complex sentence
a sentence which features two independent main clauses and at least one subordinate clause
e.g. Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and has nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours
syndetic lists
items are divided by a mixture of commas and conjunctions
e.g. we were warm, sheltered and protected
asyndetic lists
items are divided by commas with no conjunctions
e.g. one his return he received, medals, honors, treasures, titles, fame
polysyndetic lists
all items are divided by conjunctions
e.g. men and girls came and went like moths among the whispering and the champagne and the stars
Declaration
An utterance where the speakers use of language makes a legal or social change in a situation
e.g I now pronounce you man and wife
Imperative
Grammatical structure that gives an order to another person - there is no subject and the verb action is fronted
E.g shut the door
Directive
Any utterance which attempts to get the listener to perform a particular action - not limited to a specifically grammatical structure so e.g shut the door and where you born in a barn
Interrogative
Grammatical structure that asks a question of another person. Has a question mark at the end, and is structured with the verb or part of a verb phrase before the subject.
Commissive
An utterance which commits the speaker to a particular action
Assertive
An utterance where the speaker assets facts or gives information
Expressive
An utterance which conveys the speakers feelings about something
Deixis
Elements of spoken language which rely on the shared context of the conversation to be understood
e.g. here, there, we, now
Dispreferred responses
Responses which are not what the speaker is hoping will happen in response to their speech
Positive face
The image of themselves which an individual projects; how they want to be seen
Negative face
An individuals ability to act as they wish to
Face threatening act
Any act which threatens someone else’s face for example questioning their truthfulness, insulting them, ordering them to do something they don’t want to, or refusing an invitation
felicity conditions
conditions which must be met in order for the preferred perlocutionary act to occur
Grice’s Maxims
“rules” we tend to follow to keep conversation flowing
Grice’s Maxims quantity
taking the appropriate amount - not saying too much or too little
Grice’s Maxims quality
being truthful and sincere or as sincere as the rest of the conversation
Grice’s Maxims manner
being clear and comprehensible
Grice’s Maxims relevance
keeping your contributions relevant to the discussion at hand
negative politeness
disguising a face threatening act by appealing to an individual’s negative face - making the threat seem smaller by minimising inconvenience, adding the appearance of choice e.g. I’m so sorry to bother you but is there any chance you could…
positive politeness
disguising a face-threatening act by appealing to an individual’s positive face making them feel good about themselves e.g. you’re good at this
preferred response
the way in which a speaker wants the listener to respond to their speech
adjacency pairs
pairs of utterances which follow a predictable pattern e.g. thanks/you’re welcome what time is it? Ten past three
back-channelling
minimal responses made by a listener to show that they are listening for example ‘mmmm’ or ‘yeah’
colloquialism
an everyday informal word
contraction
shortening of words or phrases expressed with an apostrophe such as can’t or won’t
