English Linguistics

• Nouns can be proper and common
• common nouns can be abstract, concrete and collective
• To be is a verb in all its forms
• example of to be verbs include: is, was, were, are
• Nouns


  Words that name things, people, places, ideas
• Adjectives

  Words that describe nouns
• Pronouns


  Words that replace nouns
• Conjunctions

  Words that join clauses or sentences
• Determiners


  Words that precede and specify nouns
• Phrases


  • One or more words functioning as a unit in a sentence
  • Head word: main word in a phrase
  • Modifiers: describe head word/give more info
• Clauses


  • Contains a single main verb + other clause elements
  • Subordinate clauses: cannot stand on their own, often introduced by subordinate conjunctions
• Sentence types

  • Simple: contains only one clause
  • Compound: two or more simple sentences joined by coordinating conjunctions
  • Complex: one or more subordinate clauses
• Morphemes

  • The smallest unit of language that expresses meaning
  • Free morphemes: can stand alone as words
  • Bound morphemes: cannot stand alone, include inflectional and derivational
• Denotation


  The straightforward, objective meaning of a word
• Connotation


  The associations and emotions a word evokes
• Hypernyms


  More general words that encompass more specific hyponyms
• Synonyms

  Words similar in meaning
• Antonyms

  Words with opposite meanings
• Lexical fields

  Groups of words with associated meanings
• Cohesion


  • Grammatical: reference, ellipsis, conjunction
  • Lexical: repetition, collocation
• Primary auxilary verbs include be, have, do
• modal auxilary verbs include: can/could, shall/should, will/would
• There are 7 different types of pronouns
• Personal pronouns (I,You,he,she)
• Demonstrative Pronouns include: this/that/these (pointing)
• Interrogative Pronouns (Who/whose/which/that)
• reflexive pronouns: -self/-selves
• possessive pronouns mine/yours/ours/hers
• indefinite pronouns -one/-thing/-body
• relative pronouns who/whom/whose/which/that
• conjunctions can be coordinate and subordinate
• different types of clauses include: Subject, Verb, Object, Complement, adverbial
• adverbial clauses can be of time, place and manner
• a simple sentence contains only one clause
• a compound sentence includes 2 or more simple sentences joined together using coordinating conjunctions
• complex sentences are  made up of a main clause and then one or more dependent subordinate clauses
• examples of free morphemes include: table, apple, book
• a derivational suffix changes the word class of a word they are added to
• bound morphemes can be inflectional or derivational
• bound inflectional morphemes include: Plural, possessive, present tense, past tense, comparative / superlative