Language terms

• Phonetics - physical production and reception of sound within speech.
• Phonology - sounds of speech within a particular language.
• Grammar - structural aspects of language that tie items together e.g. syntax (word order) and tenses (-ed inflection)
• Pragmatics - assumptions made about what is meant or the inferences from what is said or written.
• Semantics - meaning of words, phrases, sentences etc
• Morphology - aspects of grammar that refer to grammatical markings e.g ‘s’ ending = plural
• Graphology - visual aspects of textual design e.g colour, typeface, layout, images + logos
• Lexis - words
• Discourse - structural layout of text e.g organisation of ideas
• Discourse markers - words, phrases or clauses that help organise what we say or write e.g ok, so, as I was saying.
• Sentence functions:

  Declarative - Statement

  Interrogative - Question

  Exclamatory - Statement with added emotion/opinion

  Imperative - used for command/ urgency
• Sentence types:

  Minor - they have no verb.

  Simple - they have a single clause.

  Compound - usually have two subordinate clauses.

  Complex - usually have a main + subordinate clause.
• Auxiliary verb - used along with a main verb to indicate tense, mood + voice e.g have, do and be
• Dynamic verb - expresses an action e.g run or walk
• Stative verb - expresses a state of being e.g think, promise, believe
• Indicative verb - making a statement e.g 'I am writing'
• Imperative verb - giving an order e.g 'Write this..'
• Infinitive verb - any verb followed by 'to' e.g to love, to eat
• Active verb - subject performs the action
• Passive verb - subject receives the action
• Personal pronoun - refers to a specific person/thing e.g I, you, she/he, it, we, they + me, you, him, her, it, us, them
• Possessive pronoun - show ownership e.g my/mine, your/yours, his, her/hers, its, our/ours, their/theirs
• Reflexive pronoun - used to show that the subject is receiving the action of the verb e.g myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves
• Interrogative pronouns - used only in reference to a question e.g who, what, which, whom, whose
• Common noun - any person, place, thing, or idea e.g book
• Proper noun - a SPECIFIC person, place, thing, or idea e.g London
• Concrete noun - something that can be touched or seen e.g coffee, table
• Abstract noun - an idea or feeling that cannot be seen or touched e.g love, happiness, passion
• Collective noun - noun that refers to a group of people or things e.g family, bouquet
• Possessive noun - shows who owns or has something
• Premodifying noun phrase - a noun phrase that is modified by a premodifying phrase

  • big pillow
  • improved growth
  • pencil case
• Comparative adjectives - used to compare two or more things, usually in a series e.g smaller, taller
• Superlative adjectives - smallest, tallest, biggest, oldest, fastest
• Adverbs of manner - describe how something is done or how something is felt

  • happily
  • loudly
  • carefully
  • kindly
• Adverbs of degree - expresses the degree to which a verb of adjective applies

  • quite
  • slightly
  • almost
  • entirely
  • really
  • too
  • very
• Postmodifying verb phrase - info added after the main verb in a sentence to modify or provide further detail about the action expressed by the verb

  • original - she ate dinner
  • postmodified verb phrase - she ate dinner with her family
• 1st person pronouns - I, me, my, mine, myself
• 2nd person pronouns - you, your, yours, yourself
• 3rd person pronouns - he/she, him/her, his/her, his/hers, himself/herself
• 3rd person pronouns - it, its, itself