| Major Word Classes (8) | Nouns
Adjectives
Verbs
Adverbs
Pronouns
Determiners
Conjunctions
Prepositions |
| Types of Nouns (2) | Proper
Common |
| Common Nouns (3) | Concrete
Abstract
Collective |
| Count vs
Noncount Nouns (2) | eg. trees, apples
eg. courage, rugby, sand |
| Types of Adjectives (2) | Comparatives eg. hotter, bigger, more expensive
Superlatives eg. hottest, biggest, most expensive |
| Verb Qualities (2) | Dynamic
Stative |
| Types of Verbs (3) | Main
Auxiliary (helping verbs)
(Infinitive) |
| Auxiliary Verbs (2) | Primary eg. be, have, do
Modal eg. should, shall, could, can, will, would, must, may, might |
| Functions of Auxiliaries (4) | 1. Add emphasis
2. Construct questions
3. Construct negatives
4. Indicate tense
Note: Future is not a tense, it is constructed by adding modals will/shall to the infinitive form of a verb |
| Transitive vs
Intransitive Verbs | Verb + Object
Verb (no object) |
| Active vs
Passive Verbs | Emphasis is on the subject
Emphasis is on the object (agent responsible for the action can be left out eg. An apology has been issued) |
| Types of Pronouns (Words that replace nouns, 7) | 1. Personal (eg. I, me, we, us, you, he, she)
2. Possessive (eg. ours, mine, theirs)
3. Reflexive (eg. myself, himself, herself)
4. Demonstrative (eg. this, that, these, those)
5. Interrogative (eg. who, what, which, whose)
6. Indefinite (eg. someone, anything, no one, everything)
7. Relative (linking words that refer to nouns - do not replace them but are always placed after) |
| Types of Conjunctions (2) | Coordinating (join sentences of equal value eg. And, but, or)
Subordinating (join the subordinate clause to the main clause eg. Because, although, unless) |
| Prepositions (Indicate how one thing is related to another, 3) | Positions eg. at, an, opposite
Direction eg. into, past, to
Time eg. before, during, after |
| Determiners (come before the noun, directly refer to them, 4) | Indefinite article eg. a, an
Definite article eg. the
Demonstrative eg. this, that, these, those
Possessive eg. my, our, your, his
Note: A quantifier is just a number, a determiner comes before the noun eg. fifteen students
In this case, the determiner refers to quantity (one, two, three) and (some, few, many). |
| Clause Structure (5) | 1. Subject
2. Verb
3. Object
4. Complement
5. Adverbial (optional)
Note: Clauses usually contain both a verb phrase and other types of phrase. |
| Types of Adverbials (3) | Time
Place
Manner |
| Types of Sentences (3) | Simple
Compound (simple sentences joined by coordinating conjunctions)
Complex (comprised of a main clause and less important subordinate clause joined by subordinating conjunctor)
eg. I thought that the journey was slow ('that the journey was slow' cannot stand on its own) |
| Different purposes of Sentences (4) | Declarative
Interrogative
Imperative (usually begin with Verbs and omit Subjects)
Exclamatory |
| Types of Subordinate Clauses (4) | 1. Introduced by 'that'
2. Introduced by 'wh-' word
3. Adverbial
eg. She left before I arrived/She left because it was late
4. Relative (includes relative pronouns who, whose, which, that)
eg. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. |
| Study of Word Structure | Morphology |
| Morpheme Definition | Smallest unit of language |
| Function of Morphemes | Expresses meaning or serves a grammatical function |
| Word structure (2) | Root word/Base form
Affixes (Prefixes/Suffixes) |
| Types of Morphemes (2) | Free (can stand alone)
Bound (eg. affixes; un-, -s, -ful, -ness, -er) |
| Functions of Inflectional Affixes (5) | 1. Plurality
2. Possessiveness
3. Third person singular
4. Past tense
5. Comparative/Superlative |
| Types of Affixes (2) | Inflectional (indicate grammatical features, always suffixes)
Derivational (create new words by changing the word class)
Note: Derivational prefixes often don't change the word class but they can show opposite meaning (eg. unfair) |
| Phrase Definition | One or more words functioning as a unit |
| Phrase Structure (2) | Head Word
Modifiers
Note: Noun phrases have a noun or pronouns as their head word. There can only be one noun in a noun phrase.
A verb phrase contains a verb as the head word. |
| Types of Modifiers (2) | Pre-modifiers
Post-modifiers |
| Study of Meanings | Semantics |
| Levels of Meaning (2) | Denotation
Connotation
Tip: If asked for connotations, focus on the negative/positive |
| Grouping of Words (3) | Lexical/Semantic fields
Hyponyms (specific branches) and Hypernyms (general branches)
Synonyms and Antonyms
Note: A word that has more than one meaning is polysemic (ambiguous).
The deliberate contrasting of words in text is antithesis. |
| Idiom Meaning | Expression whose meaning cannot be deciphered from the individual words.
eg. face the music
put a sock in it
The words bear no apparent relation with the meaning of when they are grouped together. |
| Collocation Meaning | Groups (usually pairs) of words that are commonly found alongside each other (can have a wide or narrow range). |
| Types of Cohesion (2) | Grammatical
Lexical |
| Grammatical Cohesions (4) | 1. Reference (third person pronouns or demonstrative pronouns)
Note: When a word is referring back it is anaphoric, references forward are cataphoric
2. Identification (determiners)
3. Ellipsis
4. Conjunctions/Connectives |
| Lexical Cohesions (2) | 1. Repetition (synonyms can also be used)
2. Collocation (tendency of words to be grouped together) |
