subject terminology

• Proper Nouns 


  Refer to a specific person, place, time, or occasion.

  They usually begin with a capital letter.

  EG - Fred, Scotland, Christmas, Monday, etc
• Common Nouns 


  Refer to a whole class of things rather than one particular thing.

  EG - Ants, butter, time, etc
• Count nouns 


  Refer to individual units you can count

  EG - books, eggs, horses, etc
• Noncount Nouns


  Refer to things or concepts which cannot be thought of as a collection of separate units.

  EG - Butter, music, advice, etc
• Concrete Nouns 


  Refer to things whose dimensions can be plotted and measured.

  Things that you can touch.

  EG - book, referee, dog, etc
• Abstract Nouns 


  Refer to general ideas or qualities.

  EG - kindness, difficulty, condition, etc
• Collective Nouns


  Denote a group of individuals

  EG - Family, crew, assembly, etc
• Descriptive Adjectives 


  Used to express the size, colour, or shape of the noun.

  EG - big, red, circular, etc
• Evaluative Adjectives 


  Used to evaluate (i.e. show an opinion of) the noun.

  EG - fantastic, awful, etc
• Comparative Adjective 


  Used to compare differences between two nouns.

  EG - bigger than, more beautiful than, etc
• Superlative Adjectives 


  Used to take comparison of three or more nouns to the highest degree.
• Superlative Adjectives 


  Used to take comparison of three or more nouns to the highest degree.

  EG - biggest, most beautiful, etc
• Attributive Adjectives


  Sit in front of nouns.

  EG - the big box, the red bus, etc
• Predicative Adjectives 


  Sit after the noun (and a linking verb).

  EG - the box is big, the bus is red, etc
• Compound adjectives


  Placing two words together with a hyphen

  EG - multi-storey, multi-tier
• What is a noun phrase?


  A string of words which all depend on the noun in some way.

  They include, as a minimum, nouns and adjectives.

  • can add words before and after it
  • a longer noun phrase will always have a head noun
• Determiners 


  Noun phrases always include determiners.

  Determiners determine how definite or specific a noun is, whether it is singular or plural, or how many instances of the noun there are.

  It always goes in front of the noun.

  EG - a, the, my, that, each, those
• Types of determiners


  -definite, specific - a, every, the

  -indefinite, vague - any, some, either, neither

  -demonstrative - those, that, these, this

  -possessive - my, his, hers, our, your, their
• Pronoun


  Takes the place of nouns.

  There are 7 main types.
• Personal Pronouns


  - First-person, Singular - I, Me

  • First-person, plural - We, us
  • Second person, singular - you
  • Third person, singular - he, she, it, him, her
  • Third person, plural - they, them
• Possessive pronouns


  Show possession

  • First-person, singular - mine
  • First-person, plural - ours
  • Second-person, singular - yours
  • Third-person, singular - his, hers
  • Third-person, plural - theirs
• Reflexive Pronouns


  Show the object of a verb is the same as its subject.

  They end in -self or -selves.

  • subject = the person doing the action
  • object = what or who it is being done to

  EG - I gave myself a present

  (subject) (reflexive (object)

  pronoun)
• Demonstrative pronouns 


  Pronouns that have a sense of 'pointing' at something or someone.

  They are - this, that, these, those

  EG - (That) gives you the answer

  (only pronouns if replace noun - ie not i hate this job = determiner)
• Indefinite Pronouns


  Pronouns that do not refer to specific persons or things.

  Are - someone, anything, no-one, everything
• Relative pronouns


  These act as linking words in a sentence.

  They are always placed immediately after the noun they refer to.

  Are - who, whom, whose, which, that

  EG - A city (that) has many tourist attractions.
• Interrogative pronouns


  Used at the start of questions.

  Are - who, what, when, where, why, which, how, etc

  
  

  (BUT - analyse interrogatives as a whole rather than the pronoun)
• Subjective pronouns


  Sit in the place of the subject of the sentence - the person doing the action.

  EG - I, he, she, we, they, etc

  Usually at the start of sentence
• Objective Pronouns 


  Sit in the place of the object of the sentence - the entity that is being acted on by the subject

  EG - me, him, her, us, them, etc

  (Usually at the end of sentence)
• Prepositions


  A preposition shows how 2 parts of a clause are related in meaning.

  There are 2 types of prepositions:

  • single-word - at, during, from, on, towards, with (eg, the bus left <with> the car
  • two-word - ahead of, because of, instead of, near to (eg, the bus left <ahead of> the car)
  • three-word - by means of, in front of, in spite of, in addition to (eg. the bus left <in addition to> the car)
• Uses of prepositions

  Prepositions usually show:

  • a relation of space (eg. I can see a tree <in> the garden) WHERE
  • a relationship of time (eg. I have an event <on> Tuesday) WHEN
  • cause (eg. he was fined <for> the event) WHY
  • means (eg. she wrote <with> a pen) HOW
  • possession (eg. that's a pianist <of> talent)
  • concession (eg. they drove <despite> the weather)
• Where are prepositions found?

  In 2 locations:

  • in noun phrases where they come after the noun (eg. I saw a car <with> a red roof)
  • in clauses, where they are adverbial elements (eg. <In> the morning, we went home)
• Verbs

  • Dynamic verbs - express a physical action - doing words - eg. run, jump, swim
  • Stative verbs - refer to 'mental actions' - eg. think, anticipate, wonder
• Structured verbs


  
  

  • Infinitive = the base form of a verb - it normally follows 'to' -eg. to be, to laugh, to think
  • Main verb = the verb that expresses the main meaning - it is usually the action of the sentence -eg. she <sings> like a hyena, he <gave> me his show
• Auxiliary verbs


  Give extra information about the main verb and can affect the meaning of the sentence. They often sit in front of the main verb.
• Types of auxiliary verbs

  • Primary Auxiliary verbs
  • Model auxiliary verbs
• Primary Auxiliary verbs


  to be, to have, to do (eg. I do like you, I am leaving tomorrow). They can also act as main verbs (eg. I have a surprise for you)
• Model auxiliary verbs


  can, could, would, will, should, shall, must, might, may (eg. I <might> walk home, I <could> do my homework). They can only occur with reference to a main verb - they can't act alone. They also significantly alter the tone or meaning of something that is said or written (eg. can make a request more polite)
• Tense and Verbs

  One of the most important functions of verbs is to indicate the time at which an action takes place. When the verb changes its ending to express this meaning it is verb tenses.

  Includes:

  • past tense - things that already happened
  • present tense - things that are happening right now
• Aspect


  The function of verbs is to help us to see the time of an action from different points of view
• Progressive aspect

  • Used if an action is continuing over a period of time
  • Made up of the primary auxiliary verb 'to be' and the -ing form of the main verb
  • Can be written in both past or present tense (eg. She is eating. She was eating.)