language terminology

• Abstract noun


  non-physical things (eg-mood)
• Concrete noun


  physical things (eg-bed)
• Collective noun


  singular but denotes a group (eg-murder of crows)
• Dynamic verb


  physical action (eg-run)
• Stative verb


  mental states and senses (eg-think)
• Phrasal verb


  made out of more than one word (eg-take off)
• Comparative adjective


  offer comparison (eg-better)
• superlative adjective


  offer the most of something (eg-best)
• Evaluative adjective


  offer subjective opinions (eg-cool)
• Defining adjective


  offer factual detail (eg-yellow)
• Time adverbs


  tell us when (eg-yesterday)
• Adjective phrases


  groups of words doing the same job as adjectives (eg-sweet and sour)
• Manner adverbs


  tell us how (eg-carefully)
• Place adverbs


  tell us where (eg-there)
• Degree adverbs


  tell us how much (eg-pretty)
• Frequency adverbs


  tell us how often (eg-always)
• Adverbial phrases


  group of words doing the job of an adverb (eg-in the morning)
• Subjective pronouns


  when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence (eg-you)
• Objective pronouns


  when the pronoun is the object (eg-us)
• Possessive pronouns


  show possession (eg-mine)
• Reflexive pronouns


  refer to self (eg-myself)
• Prepositional phrases


  phrases that begin with a preposition (eg-under the table)
• High/low frequency lexis


  commonly used words or rarely used words (eg-drink vs beverage)
• Mono-, di-, polysyllabic lexis


  one, two or many syllabled words (eg-pram, buggy, perambulator)
• Subject-specific lexis


  words closely connected with subject (eg-compost)
• Jargon


  language special to a profession or group (eg-optics)
• Colloquial language


  everyday informal language (eg-how's it going)
• Slang


  language common to a group that excludes others (eg-swag)
• Dialect


  language common to a regional area (eg-butty)
• Taboo


  swear words (eg-f*ck)
• Address term


  formal or informal ways people are addressed (eg-mate, sir)
• Courtesy term


  polite words or expressions (eg-please)
• Archaism


  old words (eg-thou)
• Neologism


  new words (eg-sexploitation)
• contraction


  two words together with an apostrophe (eg-it's)
• collocation


  words commonly found together (eg-fish and chips)
• conjunction


  used to connect phrases (eg-and)
• determiner


  introduces a noun (eg-a)
• definite article


  introduces a definite noun phrase (eg-the)
• indefinite article


  introduces indefinite (eg-an)