Grammar Revision
uncountable noun
A noun that has no plural form, such as "water," "gold," or "furniture".
restrictive relative clause
A relative clause that cannot be removed from the sentence without destroying the meaning of the sentence. Not surrounded by commas. (that)
plural-only noun
A noun that has no singular form: shorts, trousers, slacks, scissors, clothes.
zero plural noun
A plural form identical with the singular, e.g. sheep, aircraft.
compound sentence
A sentence with two or more main clauses, often joined by one or more conjunctions.
transitive verb
An action verb that has a direct object
grammatical auxiliary
assist the main verb; be, do, have
some vs. any
some is used in affirmative sentences, any is used in questions and negatives
sentential relative clause
A relative clause that is analyzed as a disjunct adverbial; it says something about the whole preceding sentence, not about an individual noun phrase. It is seperated by a comma from the rest of the sentence. My parents kept refusing to send me more money, (which really annoyed me.)
non-restrictive relative clause
A relative clause that provides extra information. Surrounded by commas (who/which)
complex sentence
A sentence composed of at least one main clause and one subordinate clause
simple sentence
A sentence consisting of one independent clause and no dependent clause
intransitive verb
An action verb that does not have a direct object but can require an adverbial
indefinite pronouns
Anyone, anybody, someone, somebody, all, each
indicative subject-auxiliary inversion
If a negative or limiting adverbial is put at the beginng of a sentence: --Not in a million years will I go back to this hotel! (A auxV S MV A)
interrogative subject-auxiliary inversion
Movement of auxiliary verb to the front of the sentence; used when writing a question
reflexive pronoun
Refers to the subject and directs the action of the verb back to the subject.
subject-verbal inversion
The main verb moves in front of the subject. The subject is the most important new info, VP is simple and intransitive "Here is Johnny" (A V S) "Come here," said the children on the swing.
grammatical words
They have little semantic content of their own and chiefly indicate a grammatical relationship. They serve to bind a text together and they have a relatively fixed number of words that perform a similar function.
root modality
When the speaker predicts something about a future situation, can bring about/influence someone else to bring about a situation, or describe the capacity of someone or something in the present to do something; always non-factive
central deteminer
a determiner that cannot occur with an article (or an article)
pre-determiner
a determiner that comes before the central determiner: all, twice, fractions, such
progressive aspect
a form of the auxiliary verb "be" and the -ing form of the main verb; it indicates that an action is ongoing
simple noun phrase
a noun on its own or a noun preceded by a determiner
complex noun phrase
a noun that is modified
collective noun
a noun that is singular in form but refers to a group of people or things
countable noun
a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything (or anyone) that you can count
relative clause
a particular type of subordinate clause introduced by a relative pronoun: who, which, that, whose
reduced relative clause
a relative clause where the relative pronoun has been omitted
adjunct
a type of adverbial that answers questions such as why, how, when, where, describes cause, effect and conditions
disjunct
a type of adverbial that conveys attitudes and feelings
non-finite verb
a verb that does not express contrasts of tense, number, and person; they are always the same; ing-form, past participle, infinitive
modal
a verb that expresses a range of judgments about the likelihood of events
prepositional verb
a verb that is followed by a preposition that cannot be separated fromthe verb and placed after a following phrase
stative verb
a verb that refers to a state, experience, or conditon rather than to actions; usually not used in progressive form, usually occurs in simple form in all tenses
dynamic verb
a verb that refers to an action or to a changing situation; it has a beginning and an end; it can be progressive as well as simple
complex transitive verb
a verb that takes an object and an object predicative
monotransitive verb
a verb that takes one object and can also require an adverbial
ditransitive verb
a verb that takes two objects (one indirect and one direct)
demonstrative pronoun
a word that points the place of a specific person, place, or thing: this (is big), that (doesn't fit), these (are yours), those (are mine)
articles
a, an, the
voice
active or passive
types of pre-modification for nouns
adjectives, participles, nouns, 's genetives, adverbs
consecutive adjunct
an adverbial that establishes an effect of result. It rained so hard "that the streets flooded".
concession adjunct
an adverbial that establishes contrary circumstances. Lorna went out "although it was raining".
manner adjunct
an adverbial that establishes how the action happened or the state existed; He ran "with difficulty" (manner)
conditional adjunct
an adverbial that establishes the condition in which an action occurs or state holds. I would go to Paris, "if I had the money".
purpose adjunct
an adverbial that establishes the goal of an action (what one wants to accomplish). He works a lot "to earn money for school."
instrument adjunct
an adverbial that establishes the instrument used to accoplish an action. He wrote the letter "with a pencil".
degree adjunct
an adverbial that establishes the measure of the action, state, or quality that they modify. I am "completely" finished.
reason adjunct
an adverbial that establishes the why, or purpose of, an action or state
time adjunct
an adverbial that establishes when, how long, or how frequent the action or state happened or existed.
place adjunct
an adverbial that establishes where, to where, or from where a state or action happened or existed.
conjunct
an adverbial whose function is to join two sentences or other discourse units (e.g. however, anyway, in the first place ).
grammatical words (word classes)
auxiliary verbs prepositions pronouns interjections coordinating conjunctions the infinitive marker to dummy it subordinating conjunctions determiners existential there numerals the negator not
demonstrative determiner
can be singular or plural, close or distant: this (cat), that (house), these (dogs), those (birds)
past participle
combines with the grammatical auxiliary verb have to form the perfect aspect, can be used as an adjective
perfect aspect
constructed by using the auxiliary verb have and the past participle of the main verb. It normally indicates that an action is complete.
modal equivalent
contain combinations of grammatical auxiliaries (either BE or HAVE) with modal meaning : be able to, be allowed to, be supposed to, be going to, to have to
extension in time verbs
dynamic verbs like walk, dance sew, drive; in progressive it suggests that a situation is not permanent
sudden change verbs
dynamic verbs that refer to a sudden change in state: die, drown, stop, crack; progressive suggests the approach to the change rather than the change itself
process of change verbs
dynamic verbs that refer to change over time: become, get, change, grow; progressive suggests the focus is on the on-going process (not habitual or universal)
momentary verbs
dynamic verbs without significant extension in time, hit, kick, knock, meet; progressive suggests repeated actions going on for some time
reciprocal pronouns
each other, one another
indicative mood
expresses factual meaning
subjunctive mood
expresses wishes, conditions, and other non-factual or hypothetical situations
post-determiner
follows a central determiner: cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers, much, many few, little, several
past tense
form of the verb that is used to mark past time
auxiliary verb
helping verbs assist the main verb in the clause to express a range of grammatical contrasts; modal and grammatical
non-factive
hypothetical statement about the furture, uncertain of the facts; expressed by modal auxiliaries and the imperative or subjunctive moods
appositives
identify the noun by giving an attribute of the noun, giving an example of the noun, or rewording or defining the noun
proximity principle
in general, words of a clause element should stick together as a unit
factive
indicative sentences, things that can be true or are knowable (regardless of certainty)
mood
indicative, subjunctive, and imperative
non-finite clause
infinitive or participle clauses
possesive pronoun
is a form of personal pronoun that shows possesion or owernship
zero article
is used to build indefinite noun phrases with uncountable nouns and plural countable nouns: general references, abstract nouns, seasons, festivals, institutions; Ex. Christmas is coming. Love is good.
present participle
it combines with the grammatical auxiliary ver be to form the progressive aspect, can be used as an adjective
interrogative pronoun
it introduces a question
regular verbs
lexical verbs that are inflected by adding -ed in the past tense and the past participle forms
irregular verbs
lexical verbs that do not follow normal inflection rules in the past tense and past participle forms
copular verbs
link the subject to the subject predicative
lexical verb
main verbs that have a clear, stateable meaning; refer to actions, activities, states or relations
epistemic modality
modality that expresses a lack of certainty but is not completely non-factive; could be true or not but the speaker lacks the facts to assess this
postponement
moving a long and heavy clause element (or part of a clause element) to the end of a sentence; This made "unhappy" those who think juvenile delinquents tend to get off too easily.
possessive determiner
my, his, our
other determiners
no, either, either of, neither, neither of, enough, another; ex. no apples, neither tie, enough water, another time
types of phrases
noun, verb, adjective, adverb, prepositional, pronoun-headed noun phrases
time of verb
past, present, future
types of post-modification for nouns
prepositionial phrases, relative clauses, non-finte clauses, adjectives, adverbs, appositives
instantaneous present
punctual present - dynamic, coincides with moment of speech; like sports commentary or live broadcasting
referring present
quoting famous people; I hear you are going away. "Hear" implies greater confidence in the truth
aspect
refers to the how an action or event is viewed with respect to time, rather than to when it happened; ongoing or completed
personal pronoun
represents a specific person place or thing (we, you,it)
inversion
switching the verb and subject because of the principle of end weight
finite verb
the first verb in a complex verb phrase, it shows contrast in tense and case
-s form
the form of the verb that is used in the third person singular present tense
base form
the form of the verb with no endings, used in the infinitive
tense
the way the verb changes its endings to express time; present and past
phrasal verbs
two-word verbs where the second element is an adverbial participle: crop up, give in
historic present
using the present to refer to something in the past to make it vivid
present progressive
verb form: they are working, she is speaking
past perfect progressive
verb form: they had been working
past perfect
verb form: they had worked
present perfect progressive
verb form: they have been working
present perfect
verb form: they have worked
past progressive
verb form: they were working
future progressive
verb form: they will be working
future perfect progressive
verb form: they will have been working
future perfect
verb form: they will have worked
simple future
verb form: they will work
simple present
verb form: they work, she speaks
simple past
verb form: they worked, she spoke
infinitive
verb form: to work/ to speak
intransitive verbs
verbs that do not take objects but may require an adverbial
transitive verbs
verbs that require an object
catenatives
verbs which are used like auxiliaries, yet can also be main verbs; kept, began, stop; they cannot be used to make questions or negations on their own without "do" support
fronting
when something other than the subject is first in a sentence, most often an ADV
relative pronouns
who, whom, whose, which, that
foreign plurals
words of Latin or Greek origin form their plurals according to the rules of their original language
lexical words
words that carry explicit meanings and represent word groups that are open to addition and variation