linguistics

• there are 8 major word classes
• adjectives - are descriptive words which describe nouns
• comparatives - mostly by adding '-er' to the word. e.g happier
• superlatives - adding '-est' to the word e.g. hottest
• nouns are the names we give to people, places and things
• proper noun s- begin with a capital letter and usually given to names and places e.g. Jack
• common nouns - less specfic and refer to types of people, feelings and places
• abstract - thing which we can feel but not touch e.g friendship
• concrete nouns - things which we can touch e.g touch
• collective - refer to groups e.g team
• verbs refer to physical action
• main verbs - the main verb is a clause or sentence is a single verb that expresses the main meaning
• auxillary verbs - those verbs that are placed in front of main verbs
• primary auxilary verbs - be, have, do
• passive verbs - the emphasis shifts to the object of the verb, avoiding the draws of attention to the person responsible for an action.
• active verbs - the action is emphasised as the subject of the verb
• adverbs - these usually give more information about the verb itself. Many adverbs are formed by adding '-ly' to the ends of adjective.
• pronouns - these are words which take place of nouns. There are 7 types
• demonstrative - sense of pointing at something (this or that)
• relative - linking words in a sentence (whose, that)
• interrogative - used when asking questions (who, what)
• indefinite - general terms (someone, anything)
• personal pronouns - first second and third person
• reflexive - object of a verb (ourselves)
• possesive - show possession (his, hers)
• conjunctions - these are joining words
• subordinating conjunction - joins one part to another (because, if)
• coordinating conjunction - join two equal parts together (and, but, or)
• preposition - shows the relationship between nouns/pronouns and other words in a sentence
• phrases - one or more words functioning as a unit in a sentence containing a head word and a modifier
• head word is the main action or subject in the phrase
• modifiers - words describing the head word and gives us more information about it
• post modifier - comes after the head word
• pre modifier - comes before the head word
• noun phrase - this is usually a phrase where an noun is its head word
• verb phrase - a sentence containing a main verb and any auxiliary verb
• clauses - usually contain both a verb phrase and any other type of phrase
• subject - main perosn or thing of the clause
• verb - the action and object which can be direct or indirect - direst cannot take a preposition and indirect can
• complement describes the subject