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Page 1: English Glossary of Grammar Terms
Page 2: English Glossary of Grammar Terms

Absolute Modifiers Unique means "one of a kind." Therefore, comparatives, superlatives, and words like very, so, or extremely should not be used to modify it. If it is one of a kind, it cannot be compared! Incorrect: He is a very unique personality. Correct: He is a unique personality. This same logic applies to other words which reflect some kind of absolute: absolute, overwhelmed, straight, opposite, right, dead, entirely, eternal, fatal, final, identical, infinite, mortal, opposite, perfect, immortal, finite, or irrevocable. In most cases they cannot be modified by very and similar words, nor can they be used in comparisons. Many times there is a similar word which is not absolute. For example, instead of using the word unique in the above example use a similar word that is not absolute. Incorrect: He has a more unique personality than Marie. Correct: He has a more distinctive personality than Marie.

Ablative The case used to indicate some adverbial function for a noun, usually translated into English with a preposition by the window in the doghouse with a knife from Hell at home

Accented Syllables In all dialects of English, the pattern of pronunciation depends not only on the sounds of the vowels and consonants, but also on the stress each syllable receives when pronounced. A syllable that is stressed in pronunciation is called an accented syllable. The accent often changes the meaning of words which otherwise would be pronounced or even spelled alike. The word object when accented on the first syllable is a noun; when accented on the second syllable it is a verb. Here is another subtle example: A crow is a black bird. (Accent both black and bird.) A crow is not a blackbird. (That is, a species of bird called blackbird. Accent black.) All English dictionaries show the accented syllables in their pronunciation keys, usually with an acute accent mark (´).

Accusative The case used to indicate direct object, place to or toward which, or extent of space and time She threw the ball. They ate my lunch.

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Antecedent The antecedent of a pronoun is the word which the pronoun stands for. In the first sentence on this page the pronoun which is taking the place of word. Therefore, word is the antecedent.

Adjective (adj.) An adjective modifies a noun. It describes the quality, state or action that a noun refers to. ADJECTIVE RULES: 1) Adjectives can come before nouns: a new car 2) Adjectives can come after verbs such as be, become, seem, look, etc.: that car looks fast 3) They can be modified by adverbs: a very expensive car 4) They can be used as complements to a noun: the extras make the car expensive

Adjective Clause An adjective clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun or pronoun. The italicized clause in the first sentence is an adjective clause because it modifies the noun clause. Most of the time adjective clauses begin with the relative pronouns that, which, who, whom, or whose.

Adjectival Noun An Adjective can sometimes function as a Noun; the young, the rich, etc. These are Adjectival Nouns, meaning the people who are young, the people who are rich, etc. Adverb (adv.) Most adverbs in English are formed by adding -ly to an Adjective. An adverb is a word that modifies the meaning of a Verb; an Adjective; another adverb; a Noun or Noun Phrase; Determiner; a Numeral; a Pronoun; or a Prepositional Phrase and can sometimes be used as a Complement of a Preposition. ADVERB SPELLING NOTES i) Adjectives ending -l still take -ly; careful-carefully. ii) Adjectives ending -y change to -ily; lucky-luckily iii) Adjectives ending -ble change to -bly; responsible-responsibly ADVERB OF MANNER Adverbs of manner modify a verb to describe the way the action is done. EG: She did the work carefully. ('Carefully' modifies the verb to describe the way the work was done, as opposed to quickly, carelessly, etc..) ADVERB OF PLACE or LOCATION Adverbs of place show where the action is done. EG: They live locally. ADVERB OF TIME Adverbs of time show when an action is done, or the duration or frequency. EG: He did it yesterday. (When)

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They are permanently busy. (Duration) She never does it. (Frequency) ADVERB OF DEGREE Adverbs of degree increase or decrease the effect of the verb. EG: I completely agree with you. (This increases the effect of the verb, whereas 'partially' would decrease it.) ADVERBS MODIFYING ADJECTIVES An adjective can be modified by an adverb, which precedes the adjective, except 'enough' which comes after. EG: That's really good. It was a terribly difficult time for all of us. It wasn't good enough. ('Enough' comes after the adjective.) ADVERBS MODIFYING ADVERBS An adverb can modify another. As with adjectives, the adverb precedes the one it is modifying with 'enough' being the exception again. EG: She did it really well. He didn't come last night, funnily enough. ADVERBS MODIFYING NOUNS Adverbs can modify nouns to indicate time or place. EG: The concert tomorrow EG: The room upstairs ADVERBS MODIFYING NOUN PHRASES Some adverbs of degree can modify noun phrases. EG: We had quite a good time. They're such good friends. Quite; rather; such; what (What a day!) can be used in this way. ADVERBS MODIFYING DETERMINERS, NUMERALS & PRONOUNS Adverbs such as almost; nearly; hardly; about, etc., can be used: EG: Almost everybody came in the end.

Adverb Clause An adverb clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb. It answers one of four questions: how, when, where, and why. An adverb clause always begins with a subordinating conjunction.

Adverbials An adverbial is a group of words that functions in the same way as an Adverb: e.g.: Before the play, we met up in a pub near the theatre. 'Before the play' functions in the same way as an adverb of time such as Yesterday, etc. Abbreviations Many long words, especially those that we use a lot, are shortened; a word that has been shortened is an abbreviation. Eg: Ad Advert = Advertisement Eg: Flu = Influenza

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Abstract Nouns An abstract noun refers to states, events, concepts, feelings, qualities, etc., that have no physical existence. eg: Freedom; happiness; idea; music are all abstract nouns that have no physical existence. An abstract noun can be either a countable noun or uncountable noun. Abstract nouns that refer to events are almost usually countable: a noise; a meeting.

Accent i) A person's accent is the way he or she speaks, with differences in the sounds that can show the place a person comes from, or their social class. ii) Some languages use accents to change the sound of a letter, represented in writing by a symbol over the letter. English has no accents, except in some foreign words. iii) The accent on a word is the greater stress put onto a syllable. 'Photographer' has the stress on the second Syllable, whereas 'photographic' has the stress on the third Syllable.

Acronyms An acronym is a kind of abbreviation. It is a word formed by taking letters from a phrase that is too long to use comfortably. e.g.: Laser is an acronym of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation If the letters do not make a word, but are pronounced individually, as in the CIA or the BBC, it can be called an initialism.

Acrostics An acrostic is a poem where the first letter of each line form a word or phrase when read together.

Action Verbs Action verbs are verbs that describe actions and things taking place rather than states. Unlike most stative verbs, an action verb can usually be used in the progressive aspect, which is used for actions that are in progress. ACTION VERB EXAMPLES: EG: She bought some books. They laughed.

Active English verbs can be in either the Active or the Passive Voice. Voice shows the relationship between the verb and the noun phrases. In a sentence in the active, the person or thing that performed the action is the Subject of the Verb. e.g.: I wrote the letter. In a sentence in the Passive the Object of the active sentence is used as the subject of the verb. e.g.: The letter was sent yesterday.

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Adjuncts An adjunct is part of a Sentence and modifies the Verb to show time, manner, place, frequency and degree. E.g.: It is nearly done. ('Nearly' describes the degree to which the action has been done.) E.g.: I go there twice a week. ('Twice a week' describes the frequency with which the action is done.) Affixes An Affix is a Morpheme added to a word to change its function or meaning. There are three basic ways to do this: Prefix - by adding a morpheme to the beginning of a word: Possible can be made negative in meaning by adding im-: impossible Suffix - by adding -ly to the end of many adjectives, the adverb can be formed: cheerful- cheerfully Infix - some languages add morphemes to the middle of the word, but this system is rarely used in English, except in expressions such as 'Fan-bloody-tastic', known as tmesis. Agents The Agent is the person or entity that performs the action described by a Verb. It is most commonly used in the Passive when the agent is used with 'by': E.g.: The politician's career was ruined by the scandal. The scandal performed the act of ruining the politician's career. It is the agent. Agreement When words have a grammatical relationship which affects the form of one or more of the elements then they agree. THREE GIRLS shows agreement because the Noun has the Plural Inflection, which is required by the Number. It is another way of saying Concord. Allegories An allegory is a narrative where similarities between the narrative are used symbolically to suggest something else; a journey could be used allegorically to suggest a person's journey through life, etc. Alliteration Alliteration is the use of words beginning with the same letter to achieve a poetical effect. Shakespeare (Macbeth) 'Good things of day begin to droop and drowse. Allomorphs An allomorph is a different form of a Morpheme. The regular Simple Past ending is -ed. In the verb 'advised' the ending is pronounced /d/, but in 'walked' it is pronounced /t/ and in 'wanted' it is pronounced /i:d/. A verb ending in -e, like 'hire'

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only takes -d. These are different forms of the same thing; they are allomorphs of the simple past tense ending.

Allophones An allophone is a different form of the same sound or Phoneme.

Allusion An allusion is an indirect reference to a person, place, or event from history, literature, religion, mythology, politics, sport, science, pop culture, etc. For example: The George M. Cohan song "The Yankee Doodle Boy" alludes to the eighteenth century tune "Yankee Doodle".

Alphabet The letters used to write a language are its alphabet. The English alphabet consists of 26 letters: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Upper Case a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Lower Case

Alphabet Soup Alphabet soup is a term used to describe language with an excessive number of acronyms and abbreviations, often making things hard to understand.

Ambiguous When something is ambiguous it has more than one possible meaning. Writing should strive to be clear. Avoid ambiguity if you want your reader to be sure of what you are saying.

Ambigram An ambigram is a word that can be read from different angles, like or MOW or NOON that can be turned through 180 degrees and still be read as the same words.

Ambitransitive Verbs An ambitransitive verb can be both transitive and intransitive without changing the verb:

1. I read my newspaper. 2. I always read in bed.

In the first sentence, read is used transitively, with the direct object newspaper, while in the second there's no object, so it is being used intransitively. Anadiplosis Anadiplosis is a rhetorical device where a word or phrase at the end of a sentence or phrase is repeated at the beginning of the next sentence or phrase. Here, we don't accept failure. Failure is not an option.

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Anaphora Words or phrases like pronouns are anaphora when they point backwards to something earlier in the text: Helen needed the book and asked me to hurry up with it. Here, it is anaphoric because it refers back to the noun book. The term is also used for the repetition of words or phrases for rhetorical effect: We shall not give in; we shall not falter; we shall not surrender. Here, the repetition of we shall not is anaphoric. Animate Nouns A noun which refers to people, animals and living beings is an animate noun. Inanimate nouns refer to things that are not alive. Antagonyms A word that can mean the opposite of itself is an antagonym. Examples: bound (bound for Chicago, moving) bound (tied up, unable to move) cleave (to cut apart) cleave (to seal together) buckle (buckle your pants -- to hold together) buckle (knees buckled -- to collapse, fall aprt) citation (award for good behavior) citation (penalty for bad behavior) clip (attach to) clip (cut off from) cut (get into a line) cut (get out of a class) dust (remove dust) dust (apply dust -- fingerprints) fast (moving rapidly) fast (fixed in position) left (remaining) left (having gone) literally (literally) literally (figuratively) moot (arguable) moot (not worthy of argument) oversight (watchful control) oversight (something not noticed) They are also known as contranyms or autoantonyms Anti-Language Anti-languages, a term created by the linguist MAK Halliday, are a way of communicating within a language that excludes outsiders. An anti-language uses the same grammar and words as the main speech community, but uses them in a different way so that they can only be understood by insiders. Cockney rhyming slang is an example, where words that are familiar to all of the speech community are only understood by 'those in the know', the people who understand their true meaning within the minority speech community. Antilanguages are often used by

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criminals and people on the fringes of society, who do not want to be understood by everybody. Antimetabole Antimetabole is a rhetorical device where a word or a phrase in one clause or phrase is repeated in the opposite order in the next clause or phrase: The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. Antonyms An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another. eg: 'fat' is an antonym of 'thin' More examples of antonyms: Antonyms made by adding the prefix un- Likely / unlikely able / unable fortunate / unfortunate Antonyms made by adding the prefix non- Entity / nonentity conformist / nonconformist Antonyms made by adding the prefix in- Tolerant / intolerant discreet / indiscreet decent / indecent Aphorism An aphorism is a remark or sentence, often a definition, that conveys the truth about something in a concise and witty way. Apodosis Apodosis is a term for the main clause in a conditional sentence: If you tried it, you'd probably love it. The apodosis is you'd probably love it and if you tried it is the protasis (if clause). Apposition Apposition is when a noun or noun phrase is placed next to another that explains it: RS Thomas, the poet, died a few years ago. Here, RS Thomas and the poet are in apposition, the second phrase explaining the first. Appositive An appositive is a noun or noun phrase is placed next to another that gives some information, explanation or renames it: The dog, a West Highland White, started barking.

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a West Highland White, is the appositive, giving the dog's breed. Archaic Language Words and phrases that were used regularly in a language, but are now less common are archaic. Such words and phrases are often used deliberately to refer to earlier times. For instance, the pronoun 'thou', which is very rarely used nowadays is an archaism, which is sometimes used to suggest biblical language or a dialect. Articles A, AN, and THE are called articles. THE is the Definite Article A and AN are both used for the Indefinite Article "The boy" refers to a definite, particular boy, but "A boy" refers to no particular boy; it could be any boy. When no article is used, it is sometimes referred to as the Zero Article. Articles belong to a group of words which are known as Determiners; they restrict or specify a noun in some way. Articulation Articulation refers to the production of the different sounds of speech through the use of the speech organs: the larynx, lungs, tongue, lips, jaw, soft and hard palate. Aspect Aspect in a verb shows whether the action or state is complete or not: She's doing a crossword puzzle. (incomplete- progressive aspect) They've washed up. (complete- perfect aspect) The progressive aspect is often called 'continuous'. Assimilation When sounds change because of the sound that comes after them, it is assimilation. For instance, the ten in ten pounds can sound like tem because the final consonant ,/m/, is pronounced with the same lip position as /p/. This is often done in connected speech, where the words are run together rather than being pronounced individually. Attributive Adjectives An attributive adjective comes before a noun and not after a copula verb, like BE, SEEM, etc. Autoantonym A word that can mean the opposite of itself is an autoantonym. Examples:

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bound (bound for Chicago, moving) bound (tied up, unable to move) cleave (to cut apart) cleave (to seal together) buckle (buckle your pants -- to hold together) buckle (knees buckled -- to collapse, fall aprt) citation (award for good behavior) citation (penalty for bad behavior) clip (attach to) clip (cut off from) cut (get into a line) cut (get out of a class) dust (remove dust) dust (apply dust -- fingerprints) fast (moving rapidly) fast (fixed in position) left (remaining) left (having gone) literally (literally) literally (figuratively) moot (arguable) moot (not worthy of argument) oversight (watchful control) oversight (something not noticed) They are also known as antagonyms and contranyms

Auxiliary Verbs 'DO', 'BE' and 'HAVE' are the English auxiliary verbs used in a negative structure, a question or to show tense. DESCRIPTIONS OF ENGLISH AUXILIARY VERBS: 1/ 'DO', 'DON'T', 'DOES' and 'DOESN'T' are used for questions and negatives in the Present Simple Tense, and 'DID' and 'DIDN'T' are used in the Past Simple Tense. 2/ 'BE' is used with the Present Participle in Continuous (Progressive) Verbs. It is also used with the Past Participle in the Passive 3/ 'HAVE' is used with the Past Participle to form the Perfect Aspect.

Back-Channelling Back-channelling is a way of showing a speaker that you are following what they are saying and understand, often through interjections like I see, yes, OK and uhu. Spelling note: Backchannelling and back channelling are also used, and in American English back-channeling, backchanneling and back channeling are used.

Basic Tenses The basic or simple tenses are the three tenses which are the simplest in the English language--past, present, future, without any other condition or character. The basic present tense uses the same verb as the verb part of the infinitive. In the third person singular an -s or -es is added. There are a number of irregular verbs, but they all have an s or z sound at the end of the third person singular.

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The basic past tense is a single word. Usually a -d or -ed is added to the root verb to put it in the past. However, there are many irregular verbs. All persons, singular and plural are the same except for the verb to be in which all persons are were but first and third person singular are was. The future tense is formed by adding the present form to the auxiliary verb will or shall. All persons, singular and plural, are the same.

Backchaining Backchaining is a technique to help students pronounce words. Instead of starting at the beginning of the word, the teacher will say the word as a model and get the student to say the last syllable, or morpheme, then work backwards to the whole word, which makes natural stress easier. The same technique can also be used with whole sentences.

Base Form The Base Form of a verb is the same as the infinitive form, without 'to'; for example 'Come', 'See' etc

Bilingual Dictionaries A bilingual dictionary gives words in two languages. Each language is grouped alphabetically in separate halves of the book, with translations into the other language.

Blended Learning Where multiple approaches towards learning are combined, the result is blended learning. The term is most commonly used where standard teaching exists alongside e-learning, so a course could combine classroom lessons with online activities.

Bottom-Up Language Learning Language learning that starts with basic language units like words, and then moves on to more complex structures is bottom-up. This includes methods that concentrate on grammatical and sentence structures rather than looking at meaning of texts as a whole.

Compound subject A subject joined together with a conjunction. "Or" or "and" can join together the nouns or clauses. The preceding sentence has a compound subject. Or I suppose a "compound subject" could be one of the king's men living in a walled-in enclosure. Complex and Compound-Complex Sentences A complex sentence is a sentence made up of one main clause and at least one subordinate clause.

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A compound-complex sentence is a sentence made up of more than one main clause and at least one subordinate clause. It is the combining of a compound sentence with a complex sentence.

Compound Constructions The term compound is used to describe the combining of similar grammatical units in a number of circumstances. A compound sentence is a sentence made up of two or more independent clauses. The clauses are joined by conjunctions and/or distinctive punctuation marks. A compound subject is a subject made up of two or more different subjects acting on the same predicate. A compound verb is a simple predicate with two or more different verbs showing different actions or conditions. Both compound subjects and compound verbs are joined by conjunctions, sometimes with additional punctuation. A compound modifier is two or more adjectives or adverbs modifying a single word or phrase. They are normally joined by conjunctions or punctuation marks. A compound word is a single word made up of two or more distinct words combined into that single word. The word blackbird is a compound word made up of the words black and bird.

Compound Sentence A compound sentence is a sentence made up of two or more independent clauses but no subordinate clauses. The clauses in a compound sentence are usually joined by conjunctions and/or some kind of punctuation.

Conjunctive Adverbs Conjunctive adverbs are adverbs that act as a transition between complete ideas. They normally show comparison, contrast, cause-effect, sequence, or other relationships. They usually occur between independent clauses or sentences. The following words are common conjunctive adverbs: accordingly, again, also, besides consequently, finally, furthermore, however, indeed, moreover, nevertheless, otherwise, then, therefore, and thus. See Commas with Interrupting Expressions and Semicolons with Clauses for information on punctuating and using conjunctive adverbs.

Contraction A contraction is a word shortened by leaving out some letters. The missing letters are indicated by an apostrophe. Examples: don't for do not o'clock for of the clock

Coordinate Adjectives If two adjectives modify a noun in the same way, place a comma between the two adjectives. These are called coordinate adjectives.

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There is a two-part test for coordinate adjectives: (1) Can you replace the comma with the word and? (2) Can you reverse the order of the adjectives and keep the same meaning? If you can do both, then you have coordinate adjectives. Correct: Did you read about Macomber's short, happy life? Test for Correctness: Did you read about Macomber's short and happy life? Did you read about Macomber's happy, short life? All three sentences say the same thing, so the adjectives are coordinate adjectives and separated by commas in the original.

Cumulative Adjectives If the paired adjectives fail the two-part test, then no comma is used. This shows that they must remain in a certain order to make sense. These are called cumulative adjectives. Incorrect: The former, overweight woman told us how she lost fifty-five pounds. Test for Correctness: The former and overweight woman... (Makes no sense) The overweight, former woman... (A former woman? At best the meaning is changed.) Clearly, no comma is needed for these cumulative adjectives. Correct: The former overweight woman told us how she lost fifty-five pounds. A device to help remember this punctuation rule is to keep in mind a common expression like Christmas tree or fire truck. We say, "green Christmas tree," but not "Christmas green tree." We say, "red fire truck," but not "fire red truck." Such cumulative expressions take no comma. In some cases, it may be possible to change the first adjective to an adverb if it still makes sense by modifying just the second adjective. This will not work if the adjective must modify both the adjective and noun that follows it. Correct: The formerly overweight woman told us how she lost fifty-five pounds. However, that would not work for a sentence like the following: Correct: The former secret agent had to change her identity. In a case like this last one, the first adjective is clearly modifying the whole phrase secret agent.

Conjugate To give in prescribed order the various inflectional forms of something. It is used especially of a verb, in which case it means to give the forms for every person, number, mood, and tense. A preposition can also be conjugated in Welsh.

Conjugation A system of verb forms. A given verb belongs to one of the four conjugations. The conjugation can be recognized from the infinitive: -are (long a) = 1st conjugation; -ere (long e) = 2nd; -ere = 3rd; and -ire (long i) = 4th.

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Capital Letters In writing, letters can be written two ways; T or t, for instance. T is a capital letter, or upper case, and t is lower case. Capital letters are used at the beginning of a Sentence and for a Proper Noun. Cardinal Numbers One, two, three are cardinal numbers and can be written as words or using numerical symbols (1, 2, 3, etc.). Ordinal numbers are first, second, third, etc. Case Case is used in some languages to show the function of a Noun or Noun Phrase in a sentence by Inflection. English nouns have two cases: The dog (General case) The dog's (Genitive case- indicating possession) Personal Pronouns have three cases:

• he (Subject case) • him (Object case) • his (Genitive case)

Other languages can have more or fewer cases and many have none. Cataphora Words or phrases like pronouns are cataphora when they point forwards to something later on in the text: As he was unaccustomed to it, Jake found the pressure very hard to deal with. Here, it is cataphoric because it refers forwards to the noun pressure. Causative Verbs We use the causative when we do not carry out an action ourselves, but are responsible for the action being performed. Eg: She had her car serviced last week - (She didn't service the car herself, but the car was serviced because of her; she took it to a garage and asked them to do it.) Formation:

• Have or get + Noun Phrase + Past Participle Chiasmus Chiasmus is a figure of speech in which two clauses are related to each other through a reversal of structures to make a larger point, though the reversal does not have to feature the same words as in antimetabole, which could be considered to be a type of chiasmus. One example often quoted come from Shakespeare's Othello: Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves. (Act 3, Scene iii) Dotes/loves doubts/suspects are the parallel elements in the sentence , following an ABBA pattern, which is common is simple chiasmus- dotes (A- positive) doubt (B- negative) suspect (B- negative) loves (A- positive).

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Clauses A Clause is a part of a sentence that usually contains a Subject and a Verb. It is usually connected to the other part of the Sentence by a Conjunction. It is not a complete sentence on its own. Cleft Sentences A cleft sentence is one where the original clause is divided into two clauses: John took the money. It was John who took the money. It was the money that John took. The original sentence has a single clause, but in the two cleft sentences, there are two clauses and this can have the effect of changing the emphasis to focus on John in the first and the money in the second. Cliche A Cliché is a Phrase that is used excessively and has become a bit meaningless and even irritating. SAMPLE CLICHES:

• Always look on the bright sight of life • To be or not to be • Live and learn • Live and let live • C'est la vie • Que sera, sera • What goes around comes around • Don't worry, be happy!

Close Pairs Two words with sounds that are very similar are called a CLOSE PAIR, like SHIP and SHEEP, etc. Also called minimal pairs Cockney Rhyming Slang Cockney Rhyming Slang is a specialised form of slang used in the East of London. It is a kind of antilanguage where words are replaced by phrases that rhyme (sound the same): North and south = mouth Adam and Eve = believe Sometimes, the last word is dropped, which can make it very difficult to understand unless you are used to it. Cockney Rhyming Slang is a dialect used in parts of London, where words are replaced by phrases that rhyme . In our Members' Area, we have a Slang and Idioms reference, with a glossary of Cockney Rhyming Slang, which classifies the terms as follows:

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First word used This is where only the first word is normally used: Porkies- derived from porkie pies, it means lies, but the second word is rarely used. Both or all words used Tin bath- meaning laugh, it is normally used as a complete phrase. However, with many phrases where both words are used, they can be shortened on occasions. First or second word used Nelson Mandela- meaning Stella Artois, a Belgian lager known simply as Stella, people usually say either Nelson or Mandela, but don't use both word together very often.

Coleman-Liau Index The Coleman-Liau Index is a readability test that tries to look at how difficult a text is to understand and to express that as the grade level a student in the USA would need to be able to read it. While some readability tests use the number of syllables, the Coleman-Liau Index uses the number of characters in words, which is more easily calculated, but some say is less accurate. To calculate it, the following steps are taken:

1. Divide the number of characters by the number of words, and multiply by 5.89. Call this A.

2. Take the number of sentences in a fragment of 100 words, and multiply by 0.3. Call this B.

3. Subtract B from A and subtract 15.8 Coleman-Liau Index = (5.89 * characters/words) − (0.3 * sentences /(100 * words)) − 15.8

Collective Nouns A collective noun refers to a group of people, animals or objects as a group; family, company, etc. When a collective noun is used in the singular, the verb can be either Singular or Plural. The company has decided to open ten new outlets. The company have decided to open ten new outlets. NB The police are here. ('police' has no singular form) If a singular verb is used then the noun is seen as a single entity. If a plural verb is used, then the noun is seen as consisting of a group of individuals.

Colligation Colligation is a type of collocation, but where a lexical item is linked to a grammatical one. Surprising, amazing and astonishing are nearly synonymous. We can say it is astonishing/surprising/amazing, but we tend to say it is not surprising and not the others- surprising colligates with the negative.

Collocations When words are used together regularly, rules are formed about their use not for grammatical reasons, but because of the association. 'Black and white' appear in that order because of collocation; they are always in that order and to put them the other way around seems wrong. For the same reason we 'make a mistake' when we 'do a

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test'. The reason for using these verbs with these is that we always do; this is collocation. Colloquial Colloquial language is informal language that is not rude, but would not be used in formal situations. It is less unacceptable than Slang & Swear Words. A colloquialism is an informal expression, that is, an expression not used in formal speech or writing. Common Adjective A common adjective is an adjective that is not written with a capital letter. Most adjectives are common- ones that are written with a capital letter are proper adjectives . Comparatives The Comparative is the form of an adjective or adverb used to compare two things. To create a comparative, remember that with short adjectives add -er to the end, and longer ones use more before the adjective: EG: The Nile is longer than the Amazon. - Long >> Longer EG: Many students find writing more difficult than reading. - Difficult >> More Difficult Complement A complement is the part of a Sentence that comes after the Verb and is needed to make the sentence complete. The following are the most important types of complement used in English: SUBJECT COMPLEMENT Eg: He's a surveyor. (The Subject is completed by the complement to the verb. This is a Copula Verb. OBJECT COMPLEMENT Eg: She sent him the fax. (The sentence is completed by telling us what she sent to him.) ADJECTIVAL COMPLEMENT Eg: They'll be happy. (The sentence is completed by the Adjective; this could be extended further, they'll be happy to see us, etc..) PREPOSITIONAL COMPLEMENT Eg: They talked about what needed doing. (The sentence is completed by the Phrase linked to the verb by the Preposition.)

Complex Prepositions A complex preposition is a group of words that functions as a single preposition: E.G.: IN FRONT OF

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Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) CALL is an acronym for Computer Assisted Language Learning. CALL is a growing field in ILT (Information and Learning Technology) with a wide selection of applications; reference works, study and research tools available as well as plenty of applications targeted at specific English language exams.

Concord When words have a grammatical relationship which affects the form of one or more of the elements then they are showing concord. 'They are' shows concord because the plural subject takes the verb form associated with the plural.

Concordancers A concordancer is a kind of search engine designed for language study. If you enter a word, it looks through a large body of texts, called a corpus, a lists every single example of the word. This lets you look at a word in context, see how common it is, see the style associated with it. Such a tool is a computer-specific tool that you may not be familiar with from learning English by more traditional ways, but it is worth spending some time experimenting with it and getting to know how to use it and harnessing its potential. In addition to showing you a clear and objective picture of language use, it can help you with words that you are unsure of, which is of great use or grammatical words and, probably to a lesser extent with vocabulary. You can use it to compare you usage with that of native speakers or other learners and, once you get to know it quite well, you can use it to explore attitudes, the thought processes that lie behind the words.

Concrete Nouns A concrete noun refers to objects and substances, including people and animals, that exist physically. They can be either an uncountable noun or a countable noun. e.g.: Clocks and watches exist physically and are Concrete Nouns. Time is a concept that has no physical existence; it is not a Concrete Noun but an Abstract Noun.

Conditional Perfect It is used in the 3rd Conditional to talk about imaginary situations in the past: eg: If she'd seen the advert, she would have applied for the job. NOTE: 'If she'd seen = If she had seen Formation:

• 'WOULD HAVE' + Past Participle

Conditionals The conditionals are used to talk about possible or imaginary situations. Follow the links below for further information: 1) 1st Conditional 2) 2nd Conditional 3) 3rd Conditional

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4) Zero Conditional 5) Mixed Conditionals 6) Other Conditionals

Conjunctions A conjunction is a word like AND, BUT, WHEN, OR, etc., which connects words, phrases or clauses.

Conjuncts A conjunct relates what is said in a sentence to another sentence. As such, it is not part of the structure of the sentence in which it is used. EG: However, things turned out much worse than expected. ('However' relates what is said to contrast it with previous information about the speaker's expectations.) All told, we did very well. ('All told' connects information that has already been given to produce a final conclusion that connects everything. In both examples it is possible to remove the conjunct without making the sentence ungrammatical.) Consonants B;C;D;F;G;H;J;K;L;M;N;P;Q;R;S;T;V;W;X;Z are the English consonants. A consonant is a sound formed by stopping the air flowing through the mouth. Continuous Verbs 1) Present Continuous 2) Past Continuous 3) Present Perfect Continuous 4) Past Perfect Continuous 5) Future Continuous 6) Future Perfect Continuous Contranyms A word that can mean the opposite of itself is a contranym. Examples: bound (bound for Chicago, moving) bound (tied up, unable to move) cleave (to cut apart) cleave (to seal together) buckle (buckle your pants -- to hold together) buckle (knees buckled -- to collapse, fall aprt) citation (award for good behavior) citation (penalty for bad behavior) clip (attach to) clip (cut off from) cut (get into a line) cut (get out of a class)

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dust (remove dust) dust (apply dust -- fingerprints) fast (moving rapidly) fast (fixed in position) left (remaining) left (having gone) literally (literally) literally (figuratively) moot (arguable) moot (not worthy of argument) oversight (watchful control) oversight (something not noticed) They are also known as antagonyms or autoantonyms Coordinating Conjunctions Coordinating conjunctions join two items of equal importance. For, and, nor, but, or, yet and so are the coordinating conjunctions in English, forming the mnemonic FANBOYS. They contrast with subordinating conjunctions, like if and whether, that introduce a dependent clause. Copula Verbs A copula (also spelled copular) verb is a verb that connects the subject to the complement. They are sometimes called linking verbs. EG: That food smells nice. ('Smells' connects the subject to the adjective that describes it.) The following are the principal Copula Verbs in English that can be used to connect the subject to an adjective: Be; Look; Feel; Taste; Smell; Sound; Seem; Appear; Get; Become; Grow; Stay; Keep; Turn; Prove; Go; Remain; Resemble; Run; Lie Count Nouns A Count Noun is a noun that has both a singular and a plural form. Plurals of Count Nouns are normally made by the addition of '-s'. e.g.: A horse - Two horses Nouns that do not have plural forms are called uncountable nouns or mass nouns. Countable Nouns A Countable Noun is a noun that has both a singular and a plural form. The plural is normally made by the addition of '-s'. e.g.: A horse two horses Nouns that do not have plural forms are called uncountable nouns or mass nouns. Creoles A creole is a pidgin that has developed into a native language for a group of speakers. While a pidgin has a restricted vocabulary and grammar, a creole usually develops more complex structures and has a greater vocabulary.

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Crossword Dictionaries A crossword dictionary has words grouped together by the number of letters in the word to help people find words of a certain length to complete their crossword puzzles. Dative The case used to indicate indirect object; reference; after certain compound and other verbs She threw the ball to me. They ate themselves a good lunch (colloq.).

Dangling Modifiers Dangling modifiers, or misplaced modifiers, are words, phrases or clauses where it is unclear which element of the sentence they are modifying, because they could either be modifying the subject or object. Having trouble sleeping, the TV helps me get through the night. Having trouble sleeping is a dangling modifier as it appears to modify the subject, TV, though clearly the person means that they have trouble sleeping. This could easily be improved by using as I have trouble sleeping. Declarative Mood The declarative mood is the normal form of a verb, in contrast with the imperative and the subjunctive. Defining Relative Clauses A defining relative clause gives essential information about the noun or noun phrase it modifies, without which the sentence wouldn't make sense as the listener or reader would not be able to identify the noun in the sentence: The hotel that we stayed in wasn't bad. ('That we stayed in' tells the listener which hotel we are talking about; it defines the hotel) 'Who', 'whose' and 'that' can be used for people. 'Which' 'whose' and 'that' can be used for things. Definite Article 'The' is the definite article is English. It is used to restrict the meaning of a noun to make it refer to something that is known by both the speaker or writer and the listener or reader: He's gone to the shops. (Here the listener knows which shops I mean) It can also be used to refer back to something that has already been mentioned: There's a word for that. Now, what is the word? It can be used to refer forwards to something that is coming: The key to the front door is under the mat. It can be used to refer to a group: The car has changed our way of living.

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Deixis Words or phrases that can only be understood from the context of the text or utterance where they are found are deictic: Tom's interview was about to start and he was feeling nervous about it. Here, from the context, we know that he refers to Tom and it refers to the interview; these are examples of deixis. Demonstrative Adjectives Demonstrative adjectives (this, that, these, those) show whether the noun they refer to is singular or plural and whether it is located near to or far from the speaker or writer. Demonstrative Pronouns This; that; these; those; none and neither are Demonstrative Pronouns that substitute nouns when the nouns they replace can be understood from the context. They also indicate whether they are replacing singular or plural words and give the location of the object: EXAMPLES OF DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS: This: singular and near the speaker That: singular and at a distance from the speaker These: plural and near the speaker Those: plural and at a distance from the speaker E.g. 1: You take these bags and I'll take those. - ("Those" refers to bags that are at a distance from the speaker.) E.g. 2: We bought this last year - ("This" refers to something that is sing., near the speaker and readily understood in the context of the conversation.) Demonstratives A demonstrative indicates whether something is near or far from the speaker or writer and also shows singular or plural: This book (singular, near) That book (singular, distant) These books (plural, near) Those books (plural, distant) A demonstrative can be used as a determiner or a pronoun: EG 1: Could you pass me those leaflets? (determiner) EG 2: Give me that. (Pronoun) Deontic Modality When a modal verb is used to affect a situation, by giving permission, etc, this is deontic modality: You can go when you've finished. Here, the speaker is giving permission, so there is deontic modality used to control the situation.

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Descriptive Grammar A descriptive grammar looks at the way a language is actually used by its speakers and then attempts to analyse it and formulate rules about the structure. Descriptive grammar does not deal with what is good or bad language use; forms and structures that might not be used by speakers of Standard English would be regarded as valid and included. It is a grammar based on the way a language actually is and not how some think it should be. Determiners A determiner is used with a noun and restricts the meaning by limiting the reference of the noun. The following types can be used: 1 Article a boy the girls 2 Numeral two cars the first day 3 Possessive Adjective my job their friends 4 Quantifier some coffee few tickets 5 Demonstrative Adjective this tape those books Diachronic Diachronic language studies look at the development of a language over a period of time.

Digraph a series of two letters that constitute a single sound not predicted by combining the two letters. The phinal two letters of "digraph" phorm a digraph.

Diphthong A gliding monosyllabic speech item that starts at or near the articulatory position for one vowel and moves to or toward the position for another (as the vowel combination that forms the last part of toy).

Diachronic Diachronic language studies look at the development of a language over a period of time. Diacritic A diacritic is a mark added to a letter to change the pronunciation, and it can appear above or below the letter. Modern English does not use diacritics, though è is used in old poetry to show that -ed is to be pronounced as a syllable . Diacritics used in English today come from other languages, so some people write café, which keeps the original French accent, while others write cafe. Sometimes a diacritic is often maintained even though the pronunciation change is not; many still write Citroën, where the diaeresis indicates that the two vowels should be pronounced separately, though most English speakers pronounce the two vowels as one sound.

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Dialects A dialect is a variety of a language that is spoken by a group in a particular area or of a social group or class. It can have a different accent and pronunciation, vocabulary and use different grammatical structures.

Dictionaries A dictionary is an alphabetical list of words giving their definitions, examples and grammatical classification, together with information about the pronunciation. It can also be an alphabetical list with definitions of the key words from a particular area or field, like a dictionary of law or computing.

Dictionaries of Contemporary English If a dictionary, in any language, claims to be contemporary, it means that it tries to include the latest and most up-to-the-minute vocabulary and uses, normally including slang, jargon and other colloquial language. Dictionary Types

• Bilingual Dictionary • Monolingual Dictionary • Etymological Dictionary • Crossword Dictionary • Rhyming Dictionary • Mini-Dictionary • Pocket Dictionary • Thesaurus • Glossary

Diglossia A diglossia is a language that has two forms, where one is regarded as prestigious and associated with the language of law and government, etc, and the other form is a colloquial vernacular form that is widely used but less prestigious. Diminutive A diminutive is an affix added to a word to mean little, small, young, etc: Piglet (pig + let = young pig) Starlet (star + let = young star- movies, music, etc) Duckling (duck + ling = young duck) Direct Object The direct object of a verb is created, affected or altered by the action of a verb, or appreciated or sensed by the subject of the verb. EG: She closed the door. ('door' is directly affected by her action.)

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Direct Speech Direct speech is used to give the exact words used by another speaker. The words are given between quotation marks (" ") in writing: EG: "I'm coming now," he said. Discourse Analysis Discourse Analysis is the area of linguistics that is concerned with how we build up meaning in the larger communicative rather than grammatical units; meaning in a text, paragraph, conversation, etc, rather than in a single sentence. Discourse Marker A discourse marker is a word or phrase used in a conversation to signal the speaker's intention to mark a boundary: "Anyway, I'll have to be going now." The function of anyway is to signal a change in the direction of the conversation, in this case to finish it, so anyway is a discourse marker here. They can be used to focus, clarify, contrast, change the subject, show agreement or disagreement, etc. Disjuncts A disjunct expresses the speaker or writer's attitude to what is being described in the sentence. EG: Fortunately, we managed to get there on time. ('Fortunately' shows us that the speaker was pleased about the result of the action.) Disyllabic A disyllabic word has two syllables. EG: cannot; over; under; forwards; therefore; neither; doctor Ditransitive Verbs A Ditransitive Verb is one that takes both a direct object and an indirect object. EG: He gave her the letter. ('The letter' is the direct object, what he gave, and 'her' is the indirect object, the person he gave it to. This sentence can also be written 'He gave the letter to her'.) Don't-levelling Don't-levelling (or Don't-leveling) is a feature of some variants or dialects of English in which the auxiliary verb form doesn't that would be used in Standard English is replaced by don't (he don't like it). Although it is found in many dialects, it is widely regarded as incorrect and would be marked as such in examinations.

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Dyad Two people speaking is a dyad; the smallest unit of communication. Relationships between people; employer employee, etc., are dyads as well. Dynamic Modality Dynamic modality does not express the speaker's opinion, nor does the speaker affect the situation: He can speak perfect French. Here, the speaker is describing a factual situation about the subject of the sentence.

Dynamic Verbs A dynamic verb is one that can be used in the progressive (continuous) aspect, indicating an unfinished action. EG: She's lying on the bed. (An incomplete action in progress) EAP EAP is an acronym for English for Academic Purposes. EFL EFL is an acronym for English as a Foreign Language. Eggcorn Eggcorns are words or phrases that are used by mistake, usually because they are homophones or sound similar to the original words. People often write 'wet your appetite', while the original expression is 'whet your appetite', but the two words sound the same. Ellipsis Ellipsis is the omission of one or more words that are understood in the context, but which are required to make the sentence or utterance grammatically correct. Ellipsis is also the name of the three dots (...) used as punctuation to show that some written text is incomplete. Embedded Questions An embedded question is a part of a sentence that would be a question if it were on its own, but is not a question in the context of the sentence: I don't know where she has gone. Could you tell me where the bank is.

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Emphatic Forms Emphatic forms, sometimes called the emphatic tenses or emphatic mood, are made with the auxiliary verb do in the present or past tense + the base form of the verb: "He doesn't work very hard." "I don't agree with you- he does work very hard." In the second sentence, the speaker uses the emphatic form does work as a way of contradicting the first speaker.

Emphatic Tenses The two emphatic tenses receive their name because they are used for emphasis. More commonly, however, they are used with the negative not and with questions when the normal order is inverted and part of the verb comes before the subject. The present emphatic tense is formed by adding the basic present form of the verb to the present tense of the verb to do (do or does). The past emphatic tense is formed by adding the basic present form of the verb to the past tense of the verb to do (did). Present emphatic: Does he run fast? He does run fast. He does not run slowly. Past emphatic: He did come to work today. Didn't he stay home? He did not stay home today.

Endophora Words or phrases like pronouns are endophora when they point backwards or forwards to something in the text: As he was late, Harry wanted to phone his boss and tell her what had happened. Here, he is endophoric because it refers forwards to the proper noun Harry and her refers back to the noun boss. Epanadiplosis Epanadiplosis is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning and end of a phrase, clause or sentence:

Laugh with those that laugh, and weep with those that weep. Epanalepsis Epanalepsis is the repetition of a word or phrase, but in no particular position as long as there are words between the repetitions.

'[They said,] "In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken." Some chicken; some neck.' (Winston Churchill)

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Epistemic Modality When a modal verb is used to express the speaker's opinion about a statement, then this is epistemic modality: It might be true. Here, the speaker is expressing their attitude about whether it is true or not, accepting that there is a possibility, but not being certain. Epistrophe Epistrophe is the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of different phrases, clauses or sentences: When I was a child, I spoke as a child; I understood as a child, I thought as a child. (1 Corinthians 13:11) Epizeuxis Epizeuxis is the repetition of words or phrases next to each other: EG: A rose is a rose is a rose (Gertrude Stein) Ergative Verbs Ergative verbs are found in sentences where the verb affects the subject: The sun melted the butter. Here, we have a sentence with a standard subject, a transitive verb and a direct object. The butter melted. Here, the subject was the object of the original sentence. The butter didn't melt itself- it required the heat of the sun. This is an ergative verb use, where the subject of the intransitive form of the verb would be the object of the transitive form of the verb. ESL ESL is an acronym for English as a Second Language. ESOL ESOL is an acronym for English for Speakers of Other Languages or English as a Second or Other Language. Estuary English Estuary English is a name given to the form(s) of English widely spoken in South East England and the East of England; especially along the River Thames and its estuary This definition is one of the few generalizations everyone agrees with. Different descriptions give the variety different features, and some restrict themselves to listing features that they don't regard as characteristic of Estuary English (although they have been said to be elsewhere). One review, from UCL (http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/przed.pdf), refers to it as 'an allegedly new

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accent variety' (and it's not clear whether the writer means the allegation is about the newness or about the belief that it's a variety at all). The expression derives from a TES article, published in October 1984 (http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/rosew.htm), in which the author, David Rosewarne writes "Estuary English" is a variety of modified regional speech. It is a mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern English pronunciation and intonation. If one imagines a continuum with RP and London speech at either end, "Estuary English" speakers are to be found grouped in the middle ground." The BBC's Voices survey, as reported in Talking for Britain (2004) says 'It all gets rather complex-sounding to describe, but if you're in any doubt, just think EastEnders' [a popular TV series - a 'soap opera' - set in east London]. The accents produced in this series (sometimes a caricature of Cockney) have had a widespread influence (especially on the young and the would-be young; some of features of Tony Blair's speech - Prime Minister until mid-2007, educated at Fettes and Oxford - are 'Estuarial') . It's a social as much as a regional phenomenon. Etymological Dictionaries An etymological dictionary traces a word's development over time, giving historical examples to show changes. Etymology An etymologist studies the origins of words, how their meaning changes and develops over time and how they fall into disuse, etc. This study is etymology. Euphemisms A Euphemism is when you substitute language that is less direct and vague for another that is considered to be harsh, blunt, or offensive. When talking or writing about subjects that we find embarrassing or unpleasant, we often use euphemisms; rather than say that somebody has died, we might say that they 'have passed away'. Some hospitals have 'Special Clinics', where sexually transmitted infections are treated. Exophoric Exophoric language points to something outside the language of the text, which is understood in the context: Take a look at this. Here, this refers to something that the speaker and listener can see and understand, but which has no meaning outside the context- we don't know what this is- exophora. Figure of Speech A Figure of Speech is where a word or words are used to create an effect, often where they do not have their original or literal meaning.

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If someone says that they are 'starving', they do not mean that they are in fact dying of hunger, but that they are very hungry. This is a simple example of a figure of speech, where the word is used to heighten or increase the state that they are describing. A metaphor or a simile are two of the most common forms used. Finite Verbs The finite forms of a verb are the forms where the verb shows tense, person or singular plural. Non-finite verb forms have no person, tense or number. I go, she goes, he went - These verb forms are finite. To go, going - These verb forms are non-finite. First Conditional (1st Conditional) The first conditional (or 1st Conditional) is for future actions dependent on the result of another future action or event, where there is a reasonable possibility of the conditions for the action being satisfied. eg: If he gets here soon, I'll speak to him about it. (The speaker believes that there is a reasonable or good chance of seeing him.) Formation:

• If + Present Simple, + Will Flesch-Kincaid Index This is a readability test designed to show how easy or difficult a text is to read. The Flesch-Kincaid Index uses the following formula: 0.39 x Average No. of words in sentences + 11.8 x Average No. of syllables per word - 15.59

Fog Index The Fog Index is a readability test designed to show how easy or difficult a text is to read. It uses the following formula: Reading Level (Grade) = (Average No. of words in sentences + Percentage of words of three or more syllables) x 0.4 The resulting number is your Gunning Fog Index. The Gunning Fog Index gives the number of years of education that your reader hypothetically needs to understand the paragraph or text. The Gunning Fog Index formula implies that short sentences written in plain English achieve a better score than long sentences written in complicated language. For reference, the New York Times has an average Fog Index of 11-12, Time magazine about 11. Typically, technical documentation has a Fog Index between 10 and 15, and professional prose almost never exceeds 18.

Formal Language Formal language or style is what is used in most writing and business situations. It does not presume there is a personal or intimate relationship. For example, while there is nothing grammatically incorrect about most verb contractions, they should be avoided in formal writing unless a personal statement is

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being directly quoted. They would be a sign of either a more casual attitude towards the reader or a close personal relationship with the reader. One simple guideline that helps many times--if you ought to type it, it's formal. Future Perfect 1/ For actions to be completed before a specific future time, but the exact time is unimportant. eg: She'll have finished it by next week. 2/ When making assumptions about actions that are finished now. eg: It's OK to phone because he'll have got home by now. Formation:

• WILL HAVE + Past Participle Future Perfect Progressive (Future Perfect Continuous) The future perfect progressive is used used for actions that will be unfinished, but have reached a certain stage: This time next month, I'll have been living here for three years. Some books use the term Future Perfect Progressive, and others use Future Perfect Continous. Formation:

• WILL + HAVE + BEEN + Present Participle Future Progressive (Future Continuous) The Future Progressive is used for actions that will be unfinished at a certain time in the future, or for things that will happen in the normal course of events, rather than being part of your plans and intentions. Some books use the term Future Progressive, and others use Future Continuous. Formation:

• WILL + BE + -ING

Fragments and Fragmentary Responses A sentence fragment is a group of words which sounds like a sentence but does not express a complete thought. Sometimes it has a subject or verb missing. Sometimes it is a phrase or subordinate clause instead of a complete sentence. Sentence fragments are normally not only grammatically incorrect but also difficult to understand. The one type of fragment which may be acceptable at least in conversation is a fragmentary response. This is a sentence fragment which answers a question or otherwise responds to a situation in such a way that its meaning is understood even though it is not a complete sentence. Fragmentary responses should be avoided except in dialogue or very casual writing. Example: "Who was that woman with you last night?" "Sandy."

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(The response is not a complete sentence, but it is understood because it is responding to a specific question.)

Genitive The case used to indicate possession; partitive; objective; subjective. It is most often translated with the English preposition of. the dog of my uncle a few of my students love of country

Gender A grammatical category found in many languages in which a noun, pronoun, article and adjective is masculine, feminine or neuter, although some languages only distinguish between masculine and feminine. This distinction does not occur in English. The only times that gender is shown in English is when the noun refers to a male or female animal, person, etc.: lion (male) lioness (female) waiter (male) waitress (female) Many of these distinctions are being ignored by many speakers nowadays, who use 'actor' for both men and women, rather than using 'actress' for women. Gerunds A Gerund is a verb when it acts as a noun; gerunds can act as the subject or object of a main verb. EG: Studying is good for you. Gerunds are used after prepositions, but not usually after 'to'. The gerund looks identical to the present participle, which is used after the auxiliary verb 'to be', but are not the same as they do not function as main verbs. Gerunds are used after certain words and expressions, as is the infinitive, so it is useful to try to learn which form an adjective, etc., takes. Formation:

• Base Form + ING If a verb ends with -e, it loses the last letter before adding the -ing suffix.

Gist When you try to get the general meaning from a text, without concentrating on the individual words, you are reading or listening for gist. Glossary A glossary is a list of words or phrases used in a particular field with their definitions. Glossaries are often found at the back of a specialist or academic book as an appendix to the text.

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Grammar A grammar is a description of the rules of the structure of a language; the way words combine, the order they come in, the way they change according to their relationship to other words, how they build up into units like a sentence etc. A point to note: The word Grammar is often misspell as Grammar. Try not to confuse the spelling of the word "Grammar" for "Grammar" as "Grammar" is incorrect. Heteronyms Heteronyms are words that are spelled the same but are pronounced differently. HETERONYM EXAMPLES:

• 'bow' and 'row' Homograph Homographs are words that are written the same way but have different meanings and often different pronunciations: 'Wind' can mean the movement of air when talking about the weather. It can also mean to follow a course or way that is not straight; the road winds through the mountains. These are different words with different pronunciations although they are written the same way.

Homonyms A Homonym is a word that is written and pronounced the same way as another, but which has a different meaning. AN EXAMPLE OF A HOMONYM: 'Lie' can be a verb meaning to tell something that is not true or to be in a horizontal position. They look and sound the same, but are different verbs as can be seen from their forms: Lie-lied-lied (to say something untrue) Lie-lay-lain (to be in a horizontal position)

Homophones Homophones are words that are spelled differently but sound the same. HOMOPHONE EXAMPLES:

• 'Rain', 'rein' and 'reign' • 'To', 'Two', and 'Too'

Hyperbole Hyperbole is overstatement or exaggerated language that distorts facts by making them much bigger than they are if looked at objectively. The media use it a lot to make stories seem more important or interesting than they really are (an apparently unfair boxing decision was described as the 'crime of the century' by one newspaper which seems excessive when compared to murder). It may be used to entertain or more seriously.

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Hyponyms A hyponym is a word that represents different categories covered by a superordinate: Superordinate: Animal Hyponym: Cat, horse, etc

Hypothetical questions A hypothetical question is one asked out of interest, as the answer will have no effect on the situation.

Idiolects A person's idiolect is their own personal language, the words they choose and any other features that characterise their speech and writing. Some people have distinctive features in their language; these would be part of their idiolect, their individual linguistic choices and idiosyncrasies.

Idioms A phrase which has a meaning that is commonly understood by speakers of the language, but whose meaning is often different from the normal meaning of the words is called an idiom. Illustrated Dictionaries An illustrated dictionary uses pictures, visuals, graphics and diagrams to group words together into logical groups and allow any student to understand exactly what the word means. CD-ROM and some of the on-line dictionaries also have animations, sound and video files to make life easier. Imperatives Imperatives are verbs used to give orders, commands and instructions. The form used is usually the same as the base form. It is one of the three moods of an English verb. Imperatives should be used carefully in English; to give firm orders or commands, but not as much when trying to be polite or show respect to the other person. EG: Give me that tape, please.

Intensive A word used to intensify a noun or pronun, translated into English with the suffix -self. Myself herself themselves

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Indicative A set of verb forms that represents the denoted act or state as an objective fact. Most of our speech is in the indicative mood, like this sentence.

Inanimate Nouns An inanimate noun refers to things that are not alive. An animate noun refers to living things such as people and animals.

Inchoative Verbs An inchoative verb is a verb that describes a change of state. EG: The apples ripened. (The apples became ripe.) EG: He has aged a lot. (He has become old.) Indefinite Articles There are two indefinite articles in English: 'a' and 'an'. They are used before a singular noun that has a plural form. 'A' is used before a consonant sound and 'an' is used before a vowel sound. The sound is more important than the spelling; we say 'an umbrella' and 'a union' because the sounds of the first letter are different. Indirect Objects The indirect object of a verb is not directly affected by the action, but can either receive the direct object or have the action done for them. EG: She sent James the letter. ('letter' is the direct object as it is directly affected by the action and 'James' is the indirect object as he receives the letter.) EG: They made him dinner. ('Dinner' is the direct object as it is created by the action and 'him' is the indirect object as the dinner is made for him.) These sentences can also be written as follows: EG: She sent the letter to James. EG: They made dinner for him. Indirect Speech Indirect Speech (also called Reported Speech) is used to communicate what someone else said, but without using the exact words. The tenses of the verbs are often changed. EG: He said that he was going to come. (The person's exact words were "I'm going to come.") Inductive Antonomasia When a specific term like aspirin becomes used generically, this process is called inductive antonomasia. Aspirin is often used generically for a pain killer, just as hoover is used for any machine that cleans carpets. It is a form of metonymy .

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Infinitives The infinitive usually occurs with 'To' (for example To go, To come, To wear etc.), except after an auxiliary or modal verb. It is a verb form that shows no person, tense or aspect. EXAMPLES OF THE INFINITIVE: I had to go I must go I want to sing To err is human You don't know her You may come The following verb forms are derived from the Infinitive: i/ Imperative (same as Infinitive but without 'To') ii/ Present Simple (same as Infinitive without 'To' but the third person singular takes 's') iii/ Present Participle or Gerund (add 'ing') Inflection Inflection , also spelled 'inflexion', is a system in which words' forms are altered by an affix. Nouns in English can be changed to show plurality, the 3rd person singular of most verbs is inflected by the addition of -s, etc. Interjections An interjection is a word or short phrase used in speech to gain attention, to exclaim, protest or command. Interjections can be used to show emotion such as surprise or shock. Interjections are often found at the beginning of a sentence, especially in speech, and are commonly followed by an exclamation mark or a comma. Interrogative Pronouns A Wh- question word, when it acts as a pronoun substituting the person or thing being asked about, is an interrogative pronoun: EG: What is her phone number? EG: Who is in charge?

Intransitive Verbs An intransitive verb is one that does not take an object. EG: They arrived. (The verb does not require an object to complete it.) They do not have a passive form.

Informal Language Informal language or style is what is used in casual conversation. It is used in writing only when there is a personal or intimate relationship. Virtually all business writing is formal, not informal. Informal writing still must be grammatically correct.

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One simple guideline that helps many times--if you ought to type it, it's not informal.

Interrogative Sentence An interrogative sentence is a sentence that asks a direct question. It is punctuated with a question mark at the end. In English an interrogative sentence normally changes the word order so that the verb or part of the verb comes before the subject. Example: Do you like this?

Irony Irony is common in English, especially in humour. When the speaker or writer says one thing but wants you to understand something different, they are being ironic. Sometimes the implied meaning is the opposite of the words being used, or the person could be trying to be rude, even though the words used are seemingly polite etc. Example of irony: Your friend turns up in ripped jeans. With a smirk, you say, "I see you have put on your best clothes!" Irregular Plurals There are many different types of irregular nouns in English that do not add a final '-s' to make the plural. Some do not change (SHEEP), while others change internal letters (WOMAN- WOMEN), or add letters (CHILD- CHILDREN, OX- OXEN). Irregular Verbs An irregular verb is one that does not take the -ed ending for the Past Simple and Past Participle forms. Some irregular verbs do not change; put put put, while others change completely; buy bought bought, etc. Irregular verbs fall into 5 categories:

1. Base Form 2. Past Simple 3. Past Participle 4. 3rd Person Singular 5. Present Participle / Gerund

Jargon Jargon is the language used by people who work in a particular area or who have a common interest: lawyers, computer programmers, criminals, etc. All have specialised terms and expressions that they use, many of which may not be comprehensible to the outsider. They may also use familiar words with different meanings as well as abbreviations, acronyms etc.

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Leading Questions A leading question is one that suggests an answer, that implies that there is a proper answer. The term comes from law, where the courts insist that questions that suggest answers are not asked because they restrict the right of witnesses to speak freely. Letters There are 26 letters in the English alphabet; the letters are the individual characters that are used to represent sounds in a written form, either individually or in combination with other letters. Letters can be either lower or upper case. The latter are the larger versions of the letters that occur at the start of a sentence or the beginning of a proper noun and the term capital letter is also widely used for them. Lower case letters are used for the other transcriptions of the word or the sentence. Lexical Density Test The Lexical Density Test is a Readability Test designed to show how easy or difficult a text is to read. The Lexical Density Test uses the following formula: Lexical Density = (Number of different words / Total number of words) x 100 The lexical density of a text tries to measure the proportion of the content (lexical) words over the total words. Texts with a lower density are more easily understood. As a guide, lexically dense text has a lexical density of around 60-70% and those which are not dense have a lower lexical density measure of around 40-50%. Limericks A limerick is a short, humorous poem. It is generally about five lines long, with a strong rhyme and often using sexual innuendo as its source of humour. Linking Verb A linking verb is a verb that connects the subject to the complement. They are sometimes called copula or copular verbs. EG: That food smells good. ('Smells' connects the subject to the adjective that describes it.) The following are the principal linking verbs in English that can be used to connect the subject to an adjective: Be; Look; Feel; Taste; Smell; Sound; Seem; Appear; Get; Become; Grow; Stay; Keep; Turn; Prove; Go; Remain; Resemble; Run; Lie Litotes Litotes is a kind of understatement, where the speaker or writer uses a negative of a word ironically, to mean the opposite. Litotes is to be found in English literature right back to Anglo-Saxon times. EG: She's not the friendliest person I know. (= she's an unfriendly person)

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Loanwords A loan word is a word taken from a different language. 'menu' is a loan from French, 'marmalade' is from Portuguese, etc. It can also be written loan-word or loan word. Lower Case A lower case letter is the small version; a,b,c,d,e,f,g are lower case, but A,B, C, D, E, F, G, are capital or upper case letters. Main Verbs The main verb is the most important verb in a sentence; without it, the sentence would not be complete. Major Sentences A major sentence is a term used for a full sentence, containing a Main Verb and a Subject that is either present or readily identifiable. Malapropisms Mrs Malaprop was a character in a play by the British writer Sheridan who confused words and used incorrect words that sounded similar to the word she meant to say. If someone does this it is a Malapropism. EXAMPLE OF A MALAPROPISM: A politician is alleged to have said that he would support a colleague to the best of his "mobility", instead of "ability". Mass Nouns A mass noun has no plural form, often referring to a substance. EG: butter; smoke; money - These nouns have no plurals. Mass nouns are also called uncountable. Meiosis Meiosis is another term for understatement, where someone represents something as less than it is for a rhetorical effect, often used ironically. Metaphors A metaphor is a word or phrase that describes one thing being used to describe another; on a simple level a phrase such as 'the heart of the matter' is a metaphor as matters do not actually have hearts. Metaphorical phrases are widely used in English.

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Metaplasm Metaplasm is the alteration of a word by adding, omitting or transposing sounds or syllables, or the letters that represent them. Metonymy Metonymy is a word or phrase that is used to represent something it is closely associated with: Wall Street represents the American financial world, much of which is located in Wall Street. Middle Verbs A middle verb is one that is grammatically active, though the meaning is closer to the passive. In some languages, this is recognised as a voice. Porcelain breaks easily. Porcelain doesn't break anything, though the sentence is active, but porcelain can be broken easily. This is an example of a middle verb, where it shows features of both the active and the passive. Minced Oath A minced oath is a euphemism where a swear word is replaced by something less offensive, like a word that has a similar sound- so darn can be used instead of damn, or freaking instead of f*cking. Mini-Dictionaries A mini-dictionary is a little dictionary, also called a pocket dictionary. Minimal Pairs A minimal pair consists of two words that have just one small difference in sound with different meanings. 'Ship' and 'Sheep' are a minimal pair. Also called close pairs

Minor Sentence A Minor Sentence is one that does not necessarily have a main verb in it, but which can be understood as a complete unit of meaning. Example: 'What time are you leaving?' 'Three.' Here, three is a minor sentence; it has no verb, but the listener will understand that the person means I am leaving at three o'clock. Sentence fragment is another term with the same meaning.

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Misplaced Modifiers This is a common problem in American speech. Writing has to be more precise than speaking, or it will be misunderstood. A misplaced modifier is simply a word or phrase describing something but not placed near enough the word it is supposed to modify. The modifying word or phrase is not dangling; no extra words are needed; the modifier is just in the wrong place. Incorrect: I had to take down the shutters painting the house yesterday. It sounds like the shutters painted the house! Place the modifying phrase painting the house near or next to the word it is meant to modify. Correct: Painting the house yesterday, I had to take down the shutters. Mixed Conditionals i) Third Second Mixed Conditionals If + Past Perfect, + Would + Base Form 1/ For imaginary present actions or situations that are not possible because the necessary conditions were not met in the past. eg: If you had taken the course, you would know about it. (The conditions were not met because the person did not do the course and as a result does not know about it now.)

ii) Second Third Mixed Conditionals If + Past Simple, + Would have + Past Participle 1/ To avoid the illogicality of saying 'If I had been you', which means that I was not you on that occasion, but could be in the future, which is, of course, impossible. eg:If I were you, I wouldn't have done that. 2/ Where the first part is still true: eg:If I could speak Spanish, I wouldn't have needed to get the letter translated. This means that I couldn't speak Spanish then when I needed the translator and still can't. Mnemonics A mnemonic is something used to help remember something. Verses and lists are commonly used. To remember the difference between stationary (stopped) and stationery (paper, pens and other office consumables), children are taught that the office supplies word has e for envelope. Once heard, this makes it easy to remember the difference between the spellings. This is a mnemonic. 'Richard of York gave battle in vain' is used as an acrostic to help remember the colours of the rainbow- red (Richard), orange (of), yellow (York), green (gave), blue (battle), indigo (in), violet (vain).

Modal Verbs Modal verbs are used to express ideas such as possibility, intention, obligation and necessity. CAN, COULD, WILL, WOULD, SHALL, SHOULD, OUGHT TO, DARE and NEED are some examples. e.g.: I would have told you, if you had wanted me to. e.g.: Yes, I can do that.

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Modifier Modifiers describe a word or make the meaning of the word more specific. They are said to modify the word. In English there are two parts of speech which are modifiers--adjectives and adverbs. Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Monolingual Dictionaries A monolingual dictionary uses the same language for the words and their definitions Monosyllabic A monosyllabic word only has one syllable. MONOSYLLABIC WORD EXAMPLES:

• bar • her • its • why • just • not • both • since • health

Mood Mood shows the attitude of the speaker or the writer to the action or state described by the verb. 1) The Indicative is the verb used in ordinary statements and questions: She went home. Has she called yet? 2) The Imperative is used to give orders and instructions: Go home. Come and see me. 3) The Subjunctive is used to express doubts, wishes, etc. It is not used much in English any more and exists in a few phrases: If I were you, I'd speak to her about it straightaway. Be that as it may Morphemes A Morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning. A word can contain more than one morpheme: 'Unable' can be divided into two morphemes- the prefix 'un' and 'able', whereas the word 'mahogany' cannot be divided into anything smaller.

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Nominative The case used to indicate the subject of a finite verb I did it. Are you coming? "He's a few beans short of a burrito," she said. We can't be sure. They never knew what hit them.

Negative Pronouns A negative pronoun refers to a negative noun phrase; no-one, nobody, neither, none and nothing are the negative pronouns used in English.

Negatives A negative structure can show the absence of a noun or any other substantive, the non-performance of the action described by a verb, or the non-existence in the case of a stative verb. An adverb or adjective can equally be negated so that it expresses the absence of the quality or characteristic described. Negation can be used to break the linking function of a preposition so that the items governed by it are shown to be separate. Unless it is tied to something quantifiable, the number zero or nought simply implies an absence of anything numerically quantifiable. In contrast, negation in language functions in a contradictory way; it invokes a connection, action, modification, etc., only to then deny it. However, a negative nearly always creates a ghostly presence of the very thing it is saying is absent. Something may well not be green, but in learning that our image and understanding of whatever it is coloured by the green whose absence is a characteristic. This ingenious mechanism common to all languages is one of the driving forces of creativity and generators of meaning. Through it we have access to one of the primary and most fundamental of all tools for creating shades of meaning.

Neologisms A neologism is a new word that comes into use. Technology is an area particularly rich in them; CD, Internet, information superhighway, etc.

Non-defining Relative Clauses A non-defining relative clause gives extra information about a noun or noun phrase and has commas at both ends: My sister, who lives in France, is coming to stay with me next week. ('who lives in France' is not essential, which means that I only have one sister and she does not need to be defined by the relative clause) 'Who' and 'whose' are used for people. 'Which' and 'whose' are used for things. 'That' cannot be used in a non-defining relative clause.

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Non-Finite Verbs The non-finite forms of a verb have no tense, person or singular plural. The infinitive and present and past participles are the non-finite parts of a verb; To do; doing; done

Non-Rhotic Non-Rhotic speakers do not pronounce the letter r after vowels in words like world. They do pronounce it before a vowel.

Noun as Adjective We can use a noun as an adjective when it precedes a noun that it modifies; a mountain bike is a bike designed for riding up mountains. 'Mountain' functions as an adjective modifying the noun 'bike'. The second noun takes the plural form, while the first behaves like an adjective and consequently does not, unless the word is normally used in the plural (sports hall) or refers to people (women footballers). We use these for well-known things, some can be hyphenated and some are written as one word.

Noun Phrases A noun phrase is either a single noun or pronoun or a group of words containing a noun or a pronoun that function together as a noun or pronoun, as the subject or object of a verb. EXAMPLES OF NOUN PHRASES: EG: John was late. ('John' is the noun phrase functioning as the subject of the verb.) EG: The people that I saw coming in the building at nine o'clock have just left. ('The people ... nine o'clock' is a lengthy noun phrase, but it functions as the subject of the main verb 'have just left'.)

Nouns A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events and feelings. Nouns can be a subject or an object of a verb, can be modified by an adjective and can take an article or determiner. Nouns may be divided into two basic groups: Countable Nouns have plural forms and Uncountable Nouns do not.

Number In grammar, number is whether a word is singular or plural, especially nouns and demonstratives.

Numerals A numeral is a word or phrase used for numbers; 'one' and 'first', etc.

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Objects The object of a verb is created, affected or altered by the action of a verb, or appreciated or sensed by the subject of the verb. EG: He wrote the book. ('book' is the object, created by the action of writing) EG: I saw the film. ('film' is the object, sensed by the subject seeing it)

Objective Case The objective case is the form of a noun or pronoun used in the direct object, indirect object, object of preposition, object complement, and subject of an infinitive. In English this is significant only with personal pronouns and the forms of who. Personal pronouns in the objective case in modern English are me, you, him, her, it, us, and them. The word whom is also in the objective case.

Onomatopoeia An onomatopoeia is a word which imitates the sound it represents. EXAMPLES OF ONOMATOPOEIA: 'splash' sounds similar to the noise of something falling into water. 'thud' sounds like a falling object hitting the ground. 'buzz' is the sound an insect makes when flying.

Ordinal Numbers First, second, third, etc., are ordinal numbers, usually coming before a noun. They can be written as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.

Orthoepy Orthoepy is the study of pronunciation or correct pronunciation.

Other Conditionals 1) Will Will If + Will, + Will When trying to convince someone that you will do something in return for their doing something. EG: If you'll walk the dog, I'll do the dinner.

2) Would Would Would + If + Would

To be very polite, especially in writing: EG: I would be very grateful if you would be so kind as to send me the forms as soon as possible.

Oxymorons An oxymoron combines two terms that are normally contradictory: real nightmare; living death; educated guess; plastic flowers

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Palindromes A palindrome is a word or phrase that is spelled the same way forwards or backwards. 'Madam' is an example of a palindromic word and 'Madam, I'm Adam' is a palindromic phrase.

Paragraphs A paragraph is an organisational feature of written English, and many other languages as well. It is a group of sentences, or possibly a single sentence, separated from the rest of the text by a space above and below it or by indenting the first line (leaving a space between the margin and the first word). A paragraph usually contains sentences that deal with one topic, and a new paragraph signals a change of topic.

Parenthetical Expression A parenthetical expression is an expression which is inserted into the flow of thought. It may be in the middle of a sentence or between sentences, but it does not deal directly with the topic at hand. Some short parenthetical expressions like of course are set off by commas, but parenthetical expressions may also be set off by parentheses and dashes.

Part of Speech There are eight categories which form the parts of speech. Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but how the word is used. THE PARTS OF SPEECH:

• Verbs • Nouns • Pronouns • Adjectives • Adverbs • Prepositions • Conjunctions • Interjections

Participles There are two participles in English: the present participle and the past participle. They can both be used as adjectives The present participle is formed by adding -ing to the base form of a verb. It is used in: i) Continuous or Progressive verb forms - I'm leaving in five minutes. ii) As an adjective: A dying man The past participle is formed by adding -ed to the base form, unless it is an irregular verb. It is used: i) As an adjective - A tired group ii) With the auxiliary verb 'have' to form the perfect aspect - They've just arrived. iii) With the verb 'be' to form the passive - He was robbed a couple of days ago.

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Particles A particle is a word that does not fit into the conventional grammatical categories the word 'to' can act as a preposition describing direction; she's gone to Antwerp. When 'to' is used with a verb in the infinitive, 'to abide' 'to do' etc., it is a particle, satisfying a grammatical function, but without an easily defined meaning. The term is also often employed for the words that make up a phrasal verb. This is because words that are familiar as prepositions, which link words, are functioning in a different manner: The plane took off an hour late. ('off' changes the meaning of the verb but is not linking words or expressing direction, location, time or possession, which it would if it were acting as a preposition. Hence many people prefer to call words like this particles in phrasal verbs.)

Passive Index This is a readability test designed to show how easy or difficult a text is to read. The Passive Index gives the percentage of sentences that contain passive verb forms.

Passive Voice The Passive occurs in most aspects and tenses and changes the emphasis: EG: My roof was damaged by the storm. - (The storm caused the damage, but the cause is less important to me than the damage to my roof, because I will have to repair it.) It is also called the Passive Voice. Formation:

• 'TO BE' + Past Participle

Past Participles A) The Past Participle is used for all perfect forms of the verb: 1 Present Perfect eg: I have taken 2 Past Perfect eg: I had taken 3 Future Perfect eg: I will have taken 4 Conditional Perfect or the 3rd Conditional eg: I would have taken B) The Past Participle is used in the Passive with the verb 'To Be' in most aspects and tenses. NOTE: The Past Participle may also be used as an adjective.

Past Perfect For actions that happened before related past events or times. eg: When she arrived, all the tickets had gone. eg: I'd never heard of it until last week. This used to be the pluperfect, but the term is not used nowadays.

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Formation: • 'HAD' + Past Participle

Past Perfect Progressive (Past Perfect Continuous) The Past Perfect Progressive is used for actions that were unfinished when another action, etc, took place: I had been living there for years before I got married. Some books use the term Past Perfect Progressive, and others use Past Perfect Continuous. Formation:

• HAD + BEEN + ING

Past Progressive (Past Continuous) It is used for actions and states that were unfinished at a certain time in the past or to stress the duration of something. You will see both past progressive and past continuous being used in different books. Formation:

• Past Simple of TO BE + ING

Past Simple (Simple Past) The Past Simple tense, also called the Simple Past, is used for past actions that happened either at a specific time, which can either be given by a time phrase (yesterday, last year, etc.) or understood from the context. Regular Verbs add -ed to the base form, or -d if the verbs ends with -e. Irregular verbs can change in many different ways. The verb form is the same for all persons: eg: I liked, you liked, she/he/it liked, we liked, they liked. NOTE: After the auxiliary verb, Did/Didn't, it returns to the base form: eg: Did you take it? eg: She didn't like it.

Past Simple Tense The Past Simple tense, also called the Simple Past, is used for past actions that happened either at a specific time, which can either be given by a time phrase (yesterday, last year, etc.) or understood from the context. Regular Verbs add -ed to the base form, or -d if the verbs ends with -e. Irregular verbs can change in many different ways. The verb form is the same for all persons: EXAMPLES OF THE PAST SIMPLE TENSE: eg: I liked, you liked, she/he/it liked, we liked, they liked. NOTE: After the auxiliary verb, Did/Didn't, it returns to the base form: eg: Did you take it? eg: She didn't like it.

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Perfect Aspect The perfect aspect is formed with the auxiliary verb 'to have' + the past participle. It is used for finished actions that are relevant to the time referred to or ones that continue up to the time referred to: She's worked here for donkey's years. (this continues up to now) I've lost my keys. (a past action that is relevant now as I can't open the door)

Perfect Tenses The three perfect tenses in English are the three verb tenses which show action already completed. (The word perfect literally means "made complete" or "completely done.") They are formed by the appropriate tense of the verb to have plus the past participle of the verb. Present Perfect: I have seen it. (Present tense of to have plus participle. Action is completed with respect to the present.) Past Perfect: I had seen it. (Past tense of to have plus participle. Action is completed with respect to the past.) Future Perfect: I will have seen it. (Future tense of to have plus participle. Action is completed with respect to the future.) Some authorities consider the passive voice of certain verbs that are always intransitive to be the perfect tense also. Example: They are gone. Example: He is risen.

Performative Verb A performative verb is a verb where saying it or writing it performs the action itself. If you say 'I resign', then saying it performs the act of resignation. In ceremonies like baptism, naming ships, etc, performative verbs are used.

Person Person is a way of organising the pronouns used as the subject of a verb and each person can be either singular or plural: First Person: I We This pronoun is used when the subject is the speaker or the group with them. Second Person: You This is used when the speaking is talking about the person or people they are speaking to. In English, there is no difference between singular and plural and we use the same form whatever our relationship with the other person or people. Third Person: He She It They This is used when the speaker to referring to an individual or thing that is outside the conversation or communication. In the singular, we distinguish between male, female and objects, but not in the plural.

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Personal Pronouns I, you, he, she, it, we and they are the subject personal pronouns used in English. They are used to substitute the names of the people or things that perform actions. In English, we make no distinction between singular and plural forms of "you". EG. She took the bus last night. (She substitutes the name of the person who took the bus.) Me, you, him, her, it, us and them are the object personal pronouns used in English. They are used to substitute the names of the people or things that are affected by an action. E.G. John took it. (It substitutes the name of the thing that John took.)

Phatic Speech Phatic speech or phatic communication consists of words or phrases that have a social function and are not meant literally. When people are thanked, they often say You're welcome in reply, and this is meant to show politeness and not to be interpreted as literally welcoming them.

Philology A philologist studies language scientifically through tracing developments over time or by comparing languages or varieties of a language, etc.

Phonemes A phoneme is the smallest sound in a language. The English phonemes are represented in the Phonetic Alphabet.

Phonetic Alphabet The Phonetic Alphabet is a system of letters and symbols that are used to represent the individual sounds of a language.

Phonetics Phonetics is the study of the sounds of spoken language.

Phrasal Verbs A phrasal verb consists of a verb and a preposition or adverb that modifies or changes the meaning; 'give up' is a phrasal verb that means 'stop doing' something, which is very different from 'give'. The word or words that modify a verb in this manner can also go under the name particle. Phrasal verbs can be divided into groups: Intransitive verbs These don't take an object They had an argument, but they've made up now. Inseparable verbs The object must come after the particle. They are looking after their grandchildren.

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Separable verbs With some separable verbs, the object must come between the verb and the particle: The quality of their work sets them apart from their rivals. In our phrasal verb dictionary, we classify these as Separable [obligatory] With some separable verbs, the object can before or after the particle, though when a pronoun is used it comes before the particle: Turn the TV off. Turn off the TV. Turn it off.

Phrases A phrase is a group of words that go together, but do not make a complete sentence.

Pidgin A pidgin is a language that develops when groups speaking different languages have regular contact and need to communicate with one another. It usually has a restricted vocabulary and a simplified grammar.

Plagiarism The use of quotes, words or ideas taken from a source without crediting them is plagiarism, which is regarded as a form of cheating in universities.

Pleonasm Pleonasm is the use of an excessive number of words to say something, including unnecessary repetition, especially when this is done through ignorance rather than for effect: Could you repeat that again? (Again is unnecessary)

Plurals The plural is the form of a verb, pronoun, noun, etc., used when talking or writing about something of which there as more than one: She arrived yesterday. (She = one person - singular) They are leaving soon. (They = more than one person - plural) Count Nouns have singular and plural forms. The regular plural form is made by the addition of an -s inflection to the end of the word. one day; two days Nouns ending -ch, -sh, -s, -ge, -x take -es in the plural. A church; two churches A smash; two smashes A bus; two buses Nouns ending -consonant + y and change the -y to -ie in the plural. A ferry; two ferries A lady; two ladies Nouns ending -vowel + y do not change the -y, forming plurals the normal way. A way; two ways A play; two plays

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Exceptions: i) Proper Nouns- the Kennedys ii) Compounds ending with the preposition 'by'; layby laybys. Nouns ending -o Most can have either -os or -oes. Cargoes cargos A noun ending vowel +o or an abbreviation take only -os. Radios studios kilos photos The following nouns take only -oes: echoes; embargoes; goes; heroes; noes; potatoes; tomatoes; torpedoes; vetoes

Pocket Dictionaries A pocket dictionary is a small portable dictionary designed to be carried around. Consequently, they often have tough covers to withstand the perils of travelling.

Poetry Poetry is language where rhythm is an essential part of the communicative act, where words are used in a way similar to music to create an effect on the reader or listener. Language which does not use rhythm and other effects in this way is called prose.

Polyptoton Polyptoton is when words are repeated that are not identical but are derived from the same root: Our fear-mongering press keeps us fearful.

Polysemy Polysemy refers to a word that has two or more similar meanings: The house is at the foot of the mountains One of his shoes felt too tight for his foot 'Foot' here refers to the bottom part of the mountains in the first sentence and the bottom part of the leg in the second.

Polysyllabic A polysyllabic word has three or more syllables- exciting; wonderful; fantastic; irregular; unnecessarily; wickedly

Portmanteau Word A portmanteau word is formed out of parts of other words. Oxbridge is made up from parts of the names of Oxford and Cambridge and refers to either of the two universities. 'Swatch' is a portmanteau word formed from Swiss watch, 'brunch' is formed from Breakfast and lunch. A 'chocoholic' has a problem with chocolate that is like the addiction of an alcoholic. Portmanteau words offer a quick way of forming new words that are easily understood by virtually everybody.

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Possessive A grammatical case that denotes ownership or a relation analogous to ownership. For example, in "owner's manual", the owner is possessive.

Possessive Adjective My, your, his, her, its, our, and their are the English possessive adjectives, used with nouns to show possession or ownership. EG. That's my folder. (My is an adjective which shows that I am the owner of the folder.) My; your; his; her; its; our; & their are the possessive adjectives in English. They are used before a noun to show possession.

Possessive Pronoun Mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs are the possessive pronouns used to substitute a noun and to show possession or ownership. EG. This is your disk and that's mine. (Mine substitutes the word disk and shows that it belongs to me.)

Positive Degree The positive degree of a modifier simply means that there is no comparison being made.

Possessive Case The possessive case of a noun or pronoun shows ownership or association. Nearly all nouns and indefinite pronouns show possession by ending with the s sound. This is spelled with and apostrophe plus an s. For the rules on this see the "Apostrophes" heading in the Punctuation Contents. Examples: Francine's sweater (The sweater owned by Francine.) George's grandfather (The grandfather associated with George.) Possessives normally modify nouns as in the examples above, but sometimes they stand by themselves as a noun rather than as a modifier. Example: That sweater is Francine's. The possessive case of personal pronouns is irregular. Some possessive pronouns like my and your modify nouns. Others, like mine and yours stand alone and do not act as modifiers.

Postmodifier A postmodifier is placed after the word that it modifies: He was the man chosen for the job. (Here 'chosen' modifies the word man by telling us which man it was and comes after the word it is modifying.

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Pragmatics Pragmatics looks at aspects of meaning that are not found directly in the words and structures used, so it looks beyond semantics at how we encode social conventions and interactions, and implied meanings into our language.

Predicate A simple sentence can be divided into two parts; the subject and the predicate, which is the verb and any complement of the verb, which can include the object, adverbial,etc.. Subject Predicate: EG. She laughed. She wrote a book.

Predicative Adjectives A predicative adjective comes after a copula verb (linking verb) and not before a noun. An adjective that follows a linking verb (e.g. is, seems), and which agrees with the subject in number, gender, and case.

Predicate (pro) noun A noun or pronoun which follows a linking verb and which is the same as the subject Quintus is a farmer.

Prefixes Prefixes are groups of letters that can be placed before a word to modify its meaning. EG: impossible (the prefix im- modifies the meaning to produce a negative sense)

Premodifiers A premodifier is a word that is placed before the word it modifies: It's a fat cat. (Here 'fat' modifies the word 'cat' that comes after it.)

Prepositional Phrases A prepositional phrase is the combination of a preposition and its complement: She left early in order to get TO THE BANK

Prepositions A preposition is a word that links a noun, pronoun or gerund to other words. They can have a variety of meanings: Direction- He's going TO the shops Location- It's IN the box Time- He left AFTER the lesson had finished Possession- The Government OF Italy

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Some prepositional phrases can function like single word prepositions; next to, in front of, etc., called complex prepositions.

Prescriptive Grammars A prescriptive grammar lays out rules about the structure of a language. Unlike a descriptive grammar it deals with what the grammarian believes to be right and wrong, good or bad language use; not following the rules will generate incorrect language. Both types of grammar have their supporters and their detractors, which in all probability suggests that both have their strengths and weaknesses.

Present Participle A Present Participle is used with the verb 'To Be' to indicate an action that is incomplete: Eg: I am reading / I was reading Present Participles can also be used as an adjective; an interesting story, a fascinating woman, etc.

Present Perfect 1) For unfinished past actions. e.g.: I've worked here for four years. 2) For past actions when the time is not specified. e.g.: Have you ever been to Rome? 3) When a past action is relevant now. e.g.: I've missed my flight. e.g.: She's broken her leg and cannot go on holiday next week. Formation: 'HAVE' + Past Participle

Present Perfect Progressive (Present Perfect Continuous) The Present Perfect Progressive is used to emphasise the duration of a recent past activity. It can also be used for actions that began in the past and are still going on now. Some books use the term Present Perfect Progressive, and others use Present Perfect Continuous. Formation:

• HAVE + BEEN + Present Participle

Present Progressive (Present Continuous) The Present Progressive is used for actions that have begun but not finished. It can also be used to talk about future arrangements. Some books use the term Present Progressive, and others use Present Continous. Formation: Simple Present of 'to be' + -ING

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Present Simple Tense i/ Actions that are repeated or habitual ii/ States iii/ Statements that are always true Examples: a) I get up at 9.00 am. b) I like coffee. c) The sun sets in the west. The form of the verb is usually the same as the base form, but the third person singular adds -s. Some verbs change, like 'to be', which uses 'am', 'are' and 'is', and 'to have', where the third person is 'has'. The auxiliary verb 'to do' is used in a negative structure or a question: Do you like tea? Does she live nearby? I don't like them. She doesn't go to the theatre very often. The third person returns to the base form when 'does' or 'doesn't' are used.

Progressive Aspect The progressive, or continuous, aspect is formed with the auxiliary verb 'to be' + - ing, the present participle. It shows that an action or state, past, present, or future, was, is or will be unfinished at the time referred to: I'm reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography. (action unfinished now) She was having a shower when the phone rang. (action unfinished at the time the phone rang)

Progressive Tenses The progressive tenses are the six tenses in English which show continuous or repeated actions. Sometimes the past progressive is called the imperfect. The six progressive tenses correspond to the three basic and three perfect tenses. They are formed by the appropriate basic or perfect tense of the verb to be followed by the present participle. Present Progressive: I am coming. Past Progressive: I was coming. Future Progressive: I will be coming. Present Perfect Progressive: I have been coming. Past Perfect Progressive: I had been coming. Future Perfect Progressive: I will have been coming.

Pronouns A pronoun is a word that substitutes a noun or noun phrase. There are a number of different kinds of pronouns in English. TYPES OF PRONOUN: 1 Demonstrative Pronoun - this, that, these, those 2 Personal Pronoun - I, you, he, she, etc.. 3 Possessive Pronoun - mine, yours, his, etc.. 4 Reflexive Pronoun - myself, yourself, etc.. 5 Interrogative Pronoun - who, what, where, etc..

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6 Negative Pronoun - nothing, no, nobody, etc.. 7 Reciprocal pronoun - each other, etc.. 8 Relative Clause - who, whose, which, that, etc.. 9 Quantifier - some, any, something, much, many, little, etc.

Proper Adjective A proper adjective is an adjective that is written with a capital letter. They are often derived from proper nouns: A Japanese camera- Japanese is derived from the proper noun Japan. This is not always the case: Native Americans- Native is not derived from a proper noun, but is capitalised as the words together form the name of the group of people. Ordinary adjectives that are not written with a capital letter are common adjectives.

Proper Nouns Proper nouns are the names of individual people, places, titles, calendar times, etc.. e.g.: Janet; Simon; London; The President; Tuesday. Proper nouns are always written with a capital letter. Nouns which are not written with a capital letter do not refer to the name of an individual person or thing and are called common nouns.

Prose Prose and poetry are the two basic categories which Language can be divided into. Poetry is characterised by its use of rhythm, and prose by not using a regular rhythm, which is the case for the vast majority of spoken and written language.

Prosody Prosody is the study of the various rhythms used in poetry.

Protasis Protasis is a term for the if clause in a conditional sentence: If you go there, you'll enjoy it. If you go there is the protasis and you'll enjoy it is the apodosis.

Punctuation Punctuation - the symbols used in written language to indicate the end of a sentence or a clause, or to indicate that it is a question, etc.. . , ; : ? ! ' - " " ( ) are the punctuation symbols most commonly used in English.

Quantifiers A quantifier, as its name implies, expresses quantity. Quantifiers can be a single word or a phrase and are used with nouns. They can be used with both a countable or an uncountable noun to express amount or quantity. Some, much, many, few, little, a lot, half, three, etc., are common quantifiers.

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Question A question is a sentence, a phrase or even just a gesture that shows that the speaker or writer wants the reader or listener to supply them with some information, to perform a task or in some other way satisfy the request.

Question Tags A question tag can be made by making a statement and putting an auxiliary verb and a pronoun at the end: QUESTION TAG EXAMPLES:

• She's coming, isn't she? • She wasn't there, was she?

Question types There are a number of different types of question used in English, including the following Academic question Embedded question Hypothetical question Leading question Question tag Rhetorical question Tail question Yes/No Question

Quotations Marks in Direct Quotations When a person or work is quoted directly and word for word, the quotation is placed in quotation marks. An indirect quotation in which the substance but not exact wording is used does not take quotations marks. Correct: Macbeth said, "All our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death." (A direct quotation) Incorrect: Macbeth said that, "Their past actions lead fools to death." (Contains the substance, but not exact words. Quotation marks are not used.) Correct: Macbeth said that their past actions lead fools to death.

Run-On Sentences A run-on sentence consists of two or more main clauses that are run together without proper punctuation. Sometimes even sentences which are technically correct are easier to read if they are made into shorter sentences. We often speak in run-on sentences, but we make pauses and change our tone so people can understand us. But when we write, no one can hear us, so sometimes we must break our sentences into shorter units so that they do not sound run-on. Incorrect: The boy showed us his tickets someone gave them to him. Correct: The boy showed us his tickets. Someone gave them to him. Incorrect: We often speak in run-on sentences, but we make pauses and change our tone so people can understand us, but when we write, no one can hear us, so

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sometimes we must break our sentences into shorter units so that they do not sound run-on. (Technically punctuated OK, but too long to be easily understood. See better sentence structure above.)

Redundant Redundant means "needlessly repetitive." Redundancy is the noun form of the word.

Reflexive adjective An adjective that refers to the subject of the sentence The groundhog saw his own shadow.

Readability Test Readability Tests are designed to give a statistical analysis of the difficulty of a text. While any attempt to reduce language use, which is inherently creative, to statistics can be criticised, readability tests can be used to give an approximate indication.

Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation, or RP, is English spoken without a regional accent. It is the spoken form of standard English and many consider it to be the best spoken English, although others disagree. NB: Pronounciation is a common spelling mistake, even among native speakers.

Reciprocal Pronouns Phrases like 'each other' or 'one another' are reciprocal pronouns. They show that an action is two-way: Jane and Helen greeted each other. (this means that Jane greeted Helen and Helen greeted Jane)

Redundancy Redundancy is the use of unnecessary words or phrases that express something already said in the utterance or sentence.

Reed-Kellogg Diagrams A Reed-Kellogg diagram is a way of diagramming sentences. It is used to analyse a sentence and portray its structure with a consistent visual scheme. Of all the methods to diagram a sentence, the most popular is that developed by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg.

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Reflexive Pronouns Myself; yourself; himself; herself; itself; ourselves; yourselves; themselves are the reflexive pronouns. Reflexive pronouns are used when the complement of the verb is the same as the subject. E.G. He shot himself. The reflexive pronoun can also be used to give more emphasis to the subject or object. E.G. I did it myself. (I want to emphasise the fact that I did it.) E.G. They spoke to the Director herself. (Emphasising the importance of the Director)

Regular Verbs A regular verb is one that follows the pattern of taking -ed for the past simple and past participle (or -d if the verb ends in -e; smoke smoked). EG: walk walked walked

Relative Clause A clause that modifies a noun in a sentence, or a noun phrase, is a relative clause The woman that has just left the shop didn't buy anything. ('that has just left the shop' modifies the noun 'woman' by telling us which woman the speaker is referring to)

Relative Pronoun Relative pronouns, such as That, Who, Which, Whose and Whom can be used to introduce clauses in sentences: The woman who interviewed me was very friendly. I can't stand dogs that bark loudly.

Reported Speech Reported Speech (also called Indirect Speech) is used to communicate what someone else said, but without using the exact words. A few changes are necessary; often a pronoun has to be changed and the verb is usually moved back a tense, where possible. EG: He said that he was going to come. (The person's exact words were "I'm going to come.")

Resultative Adjective A resultative adjective is an adjective that is placed postpositively (after the noun it modifies) and reflects a change that occurs by action of the verb on the noun. Hence result +ative. He cooked the meat rare. She painted the fence white. She rinsed the glass clean.

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Retained Object A retained object is an object in a passive sentence that would also be the object in an active sentence: She was given the job by the previous manager. The previous manager gave her the job. The job is the retained object. It was the direct object in the active sentence of the ditransitive verb gave and is still an object in the passive voice as the indirect object has become the subject of the sentence.

Rhetorical Question A rhetorical question is one that requires no answer because the answer is obvious and doesn't need to be stated . The speaker (of the rhetorical question) is not looking for an answer but is making some kind of a point, as in an argument.

Rhotic Rhotic speakers pronounce the letter r after vowels in in all positions, including after a vowel in words like world.

Rhyme When words at the end of lines of poetry have the same sound so that they work together to produce an effect, the poem has a rhyme.

Rhyming Dictionary A Rhyming Dictionary is one where words are grouped together by their end sounds. When two words end with the same sound, they rhyme, used more frequently in poetry than prose as an effect.

Substantive adjective An adjective that modifies an implied, but not expressed, noun. When translating such an adjective into English, you must supply the missing noun.

Sarcasm Sarcasm is a form of irony that is widely used in English especially when people are being humorous. Generally the sarcastic speaker or writer means the exact opposite of the word they use, often intending to be rude or to laugh at the person the words are addressed to.

Satire Satire is a form of humour where the writer or speaker tries to make the reader or listener have a negative opinion about someone, by laughing at them, making them seem ridiculous or foolish etc. If someone is being satirical, their aim is not just to amuse, but to affect the person that they dislike; to hurt them, ruin them, etc.

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Scanning Scanning a text is a reading technique where the reader looks for specific information rather than trying to absorb all the information. If you're reading a timetable, say, you want specific information usually and so look for something that is convenient for your journey plans- when you do this, you are scanning.

Second Conditional (2nd Conditional) 1) For future actions dependent on the result of another future action or event, where there is only a small possibility of the conditions for the action being satisfied. e.g.: If I won the lottery, I would stop working. 2) For imaginary present actions, where the conditions for the action are NOT satisfied. e.g.: If you phoned home more often, they wouldn't worry about you. (The conditions are not satisfied because the person does not phone home, so they do worry.) TO BE: In Standard English this verb can take the 'were' form for all persons in the If clause. e.g.: If I were you, I'd tell her. CONTRACTIONS: 'Would' and 'had' are contracted to 'd; the way to distinguish them is simple because 'would' is always followed by a Base Form and 'had', as an Auxiliary Verb, is followed by a Past Participle. e.g.: I'd tell her. 'Tell' is the Base Form so it means 'I would tell her' I'd done it. 'Done' is the Past Participle so it means 'I had done it' Formation:

• If + Past Simple, + Would + Base Form

Semantics Semantics is the study of how meaning is generated in language.

Sentence A sentence is a group of words beginning with a capital letter and ending with a full-stop, exclamation or question mark in written language, containing a main verb.

Sentence Fragment A Sentence fragment does not necessarily have a main verb in it, but can be understood as a complete unit of meaning. Example: 'Who did you see?' 'Tom.' Here, Tom is a minor sentence; it has no verb, but the listener will understand that the person means I saw Tom. Minor sentence is another term with the same meaning.

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Simile A simile is a comparison between two different things, designed to create an unusual, interesting, emotional or other effect often using words such as 'like' or 'as ... as'. Common comparisons are with the qualities associated with animals (as sly as a fox, as brave as a lion, etc.).

Simple Sentences A simple sentence contains one subject and one main verb; it contains one independent clause.

• I like coffee This is a simple sentence with one subject and one verb forming an independent clause. A simple sentence can, of course, include other things:

• I like a couple of cups of coffee first thing in the morning.

Singular This is the form of a noun, pronoun, verb,etc. that is employed when speaking or writing about something of which there was only one: A girl (1 girl- singular) Two girls (plural)

Skimming Skimming is reading a text to get the gist, the basic overall idea, rather than concentrating on absorbing all the details. For instance, many people skim read a newspaper article just to get a quick overview, or a text could be skimmed to see whether it's worth reading in detail.

Slang Slang is language at its most informal, using expressions that many would consider to be grammatically imperfect and sometimes rude. Slang often used within small social groups where it can help draw and keep the group together. It changes very quickly in English.

Spoonerism The term Spoonerisms originates from the Reverend Spooner, who is well known in England because of a speech problem he is supposed to have had; it is said that he used to mix up the first couple of letters of words, sometimes creating strange sentences. One of the most famous spoonerisms attributed to him is when he told a student off because he had 'hissed the mystery lectures' when he meant to say 'missed the history lectures'.

Standard English Standard English is the variety of English that is held by many to be 'correct' in the sense that it shows none of the regional or other variations that are considered by

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some to be ungrammatical, or non-standard English. Received Pronunciation, often called RP, is the way Standard English is spoken; without regional variations. Standard English and RP are widely used in the media and by public figures, so it has prestige status and is regarded by many as the most desirable form of the language. Standard English, also known as Standard Written English or SWE, is the form of English most widely accepted as being clear and proper. Publishers, writers, educators, and others have over the years developed a consensus of what Standard English consists of. It includes word choice, word order, punctuation, and spelling. Standard English is especially helpful when writing because it maintains a fairly uniform standard of communication which can be understood by all speakers and users of English regardless of differences in dialect, pronunciation, and usage. This is why it is sometimes called Standard Written English. There are a few minor differences between standard usage in England and the United States, but these differences do not significantly affect communication in the English language. Please note that most dictionaries merely report on words that are used, not on their grammar or usage. Merely because a word appears in a dictionary does not mean that it is standard.

Stilted A stilted writing or speaking style uses long, overblown words when simpler words would be clearer and more direct. Example: A teacher who says, "Procure for yourselves an implement of ecriture," instead of, "Take out a pen or pencil."

Stanza When a poem is divided into groups of lines, often with a regular pattern, these groups are known as stanzas or verses.

Stative Verbs Stative verbs are verbs that describe a state and consequently the stative verb is not usually used in the progressive aspect, which is used for incomplete actions in progress. STATIVE VERB EXAMPLE: EG: They own a cottage in Somerset. (The possession is a state and not an action. We cannot write this sentence in the progressive aspect)

Subject The subject or of a sentence is the noun, pronoun or noun phrase that precedes and governs the main verb. E.G. He is a really nice guy. ('He' is the subject of the sentence, controlling the verb and the complement. My dog attacked the burglar. ('My dog' is the subject, controlling the verb and the rest of the sentence.)

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Subject of an Infinitive While the word subject in grammar normally applies to a sentence, it is possible for an infinitive to have a subject. When an infinitive or an infinitive phrase follows certain verbs, the action of the infinitive may be done by a different person or thing than the subject of the sentence. This doer of the infinitive's action follows the verb and comes before the infinitive. This is known as the subject of the infinitive. Keep in mind that when an infinitive follows a verb, sometimes the word to is dropped from the infinitive. A personal pronoun is in the objective case when it is a subject of the infinitive. Examples: We wanted Bill to go to the airport. Simon helped me to record the data. No one saw the prisoner escape. Simon helped me record the data. (In the last two examples, the word to has been dropped.)

Subjunctive The subjunctive is the mood of a verb used to show hopes doubts wishes etc.. It is not used very much in modern British English, surviving in a few expressions such as 'If I were you' in the 2nd Conditional and expressions like 'God save the Queen' and 'so be it'. In American English, the present subjunctive is more common, so people say 'I recommend he be promoted'.

Subordinating Conjunction A subordinating conjunction joins a subordinate clause to a main clause. The following is a list of the most common subordinating conjunctions.

after how till ( or 'til)although if unless

as inasmuch until as if in order that when

as long as lest wheneveras much as now that where as soon as provided (that) whereveras though since while because so that before than even if that

even though though An adverb clause is always introduced by a subordinating conjunction. A noun clause and adjective clause sometimes are. Adverb clause: Before you go, sign the log book. Noun clause: He asked if he could leave early. Adjective clause: That is the place where he was last seen.

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A subordinating conjunction is always followed by a clause. Many subordinating conjunctions can be other parts of speech. Adverb:Jill came tumbling after. Preposition: Jill came tumbling after Jack. Subordinating Conjunction: Jill came tumbling after Jack had fallen.

Subordinate Clause A subordinate clause is usually introduced by a subordinating element such as a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun. It depends on the rest of the sentence for its meaning. It does not express a complete thought, so it does not stand alone. It must always be attached to a main clause that completes the meaning. Subordinate clauses normally act as single part of speech. They can be either noun clauses, adjective clauses, or adverb clauses. They are sometimes called dependent clauses because they "depend" on a main clause to give them meaning. The italicized clauses above are subordinate clauses. The first one is an adjective clause because it describes a noun (the word clause). The second one is an adverb clause which describes a verb (the word called).

Subordinating Conjunction A subordinating conjunction introduces a dependent clause, which depends on the rest of the sentence for its meaning and cannot stand alone: Unless we leave now, we'll be late. (Unless is the subordinating conjunction) Subordinating conjunctions include: although, as, because, before, if, once, since, than, that, till, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever.

Substantive A Substantive is a term covering all words that can function like a noun. Substantives include nouns, gerunds, adjectival nouns and pronouns.

Suffix Suffixes are groups of letters placed after a word to modify its meaning or change it into a different word group, from an adjective to an adverb, etc. EG: gladly (the suffix -ly changes the word from an adjective to an adverb) approached (the suffix -ed changes the verb from the present to the past)

Superlative The Superlative is the form of an adjective or adverb that shows which thing has that quality above or below the level of the others. There must be three or more to use the superlative. It takes the definite article and short adjectives add -est and longer ones take 'most': SUPERLATIVE EXAMPLES: Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. It is the most expensive restaurant I've ever been to.

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Superordinate A superordinate is a general term that includes various different words representing narrower categories, called Hyponyms: SUPERORDINATE EXAMPLE: Superordinate: Animal Hyponym: Cat, horse, etc.

Swear Words The unacceptable and rude words of a language are known as the swear words , or bad language. They include the strongest and most offensive words; stronger than slang and colloquial language.

Syllable A word can be divided into syllables. Each syllable is a sound that can be said without interruption and are usually a vowel which can have consonants before and/or after it. SYLLABLE EXAMPLE: E.G.: Elevate has three syllables; el-ev-ate

Syllable Division TYPES: Monosyllabic Disyllabic Polysyllabic Syllable

Synchronic A synchronic approach looks at language at a particular point in time, rather than over time.

Synecdoche A Synecdoche is a word that refers to a part of something to mean the whole. EXAMPLE OF SYNECDOCHE: 'All hands on deck' is an example in which 'hands' is used to mean 'people'.

Synonyms A synonym is a word that means the same as another word, or more or less the same. If a word is slightly different, it is a near-synonym. EG: 'Movie' is a synonym of 'film'. In this example the former is more common in American English and the latter in British English.

Syntax Syntax is the study of the rules governing sentence structure, the way words work together to make up a sentence.

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Tag Question A tag question (also known as a tail question) can be made by making a statement and putting an auxiliary verb and a pronoun at the end: She's coming, isn't she? She wasn't there, was she?

Tautology Tautology is where two near-synonyms are placed consecutively or very close together for effect. TAUTOLOGY EXAMPLES:

• free gift • in this day and age • new innovation • lonely isolation

TEFL TEFL is an acronym for Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Tense Tense is used to show the relation between the action or state described by the verb and the time, which is reflected in the form of the verb. There are two basic tenses in English; the present tense and the past tense. The present is like the base form, although the third person singular adds -s. Regular verbs add -ed or -d to show the past tense, while irregular verbs change in many different ways, or not at all in some cases.

TESL TESL is an acronym for Teaching English as a Second Language.

TESOL TESOL is an acronym for Teaching English as a Second Language or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

Text A text is a body of language; it could consist of a single word like 'Ladies' or 'Gentlemen' on a toilet door right up to a complete book and can be either written or spoken.

Thesaurus A thesaurus is a book that organises words by categories and concepts, so synonyms and near-synonyms will be grouped together.

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Third Conditional (3rd Conditional) For imaginary past actions, where the conditions for the action WERE NOT satisfied. e.g.: If you'd been there, you would've seen it. (The conditions were not met because the person was not there and as a result did not see it.) Formation:

• If + Past Perfect, + Would have + Past Participle

The Verb To Be The verb to be is the most irregular verb in the English language. It is normally a linking verb showing existence or the condition of the subject. It can also be used as an auxiliary verb when forming the passive voice. The forms of the verb to be in English are as follows: Infinitive to be Present am, is, are Past was, were Present Participle being Past Participle been Present Subjunctive be Past Subjunctive were Imperative be

Tmesis When a word is split into two and another word is added in the middle to give extra emphasis, this is tmesis: Abso-bloody-lutely Fan-freaking-tastic

Top-Down Language Learning Top-down language learning involves looking at language as a whole and concentrating on the meaning or gist rather than the grammatical structures or individual words.

Topic Sentences The topic sentence is a sentence that sets out the main idea or topic of a paragraph. It is often the first sentence especially when arguing a point where it may well be followed by further information, examples etc. If the writing is exploring a point, it frequently comes as the last sentence, drawing a conclusion from the argument.

Transition A transition is a word or phrase that helps the flow, unity, or clarity of from one word, phrase, clause, sentence or paragraph to another.

Transitive Verb A Transitive Verb is one that takes an object.

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E.G.: He opened the door. ('Door' is the object of the action; it is affected by the operation.)

Uncountable Noun An Uncountable Noun has no plural. e.g.: milk; water; wood and air these nouns usually have no plural forms. Uncountable Nouns are sometimes called mass nouns.

Understatement The opposite of hyperbole, understatement is used to make something appear smaller or less important than it really is. It can be used to entertain or to reduce the importance of the truth.

Unvoiced Sounds English sounds are organised into unvoiced and voiced sounds. With unvoiced sounds, the vocal chords are not vibrated, so there is no vibration in the throat. Some consonants are unvoiced, but all vowels are voiced. Unvoiced consonants include: /p/ /t/ /k/ /s/ /h/

Upper Case In writing, letters can be written two ways; T or t. T is a capital letter, or upper case, and t is lower case. Capital letters are used at the beginning of a sentence and for a proper noun.

Utterance An utterance is a complete unit of speech (what one speaker says before the next starts), ranging from a single word to the longest uninterrupted speech possible.

Verbals A verbal is the form of a verb that is used as a different part of speech. In English there are three verbals--participles, gerunds, and infinitives. Participles can either be past participles or present participles and they act as an adjective. Gerunds always act as a noun. Infinitives in a sentence may act as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. A verbal phrase is a phrase consisting of a verbal plus any complements or the verbal plus any modifiers to the verbal or the complement.

Vocative The case used to indicate direct address. You're a good man, Charlie Brown.

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Verb Group A verb group consists of a verb and an auxiliary verb or a modal verb: EXAMPLES OF VERB GROUPS:

• She shouldn't do that. (Modal + verb) • I haven't seen her. (Auxiliary + verb)

Verb Phrase The verb phrase is the main verb plus the complement, object, and/or adverbial: She sent me a lovely birthday card. (Everything except the subject, 'she', is the verb phrase)

Verbs Verbs are one of the major grammatical groups, and all sentences must contain one. Verbs refer to an action (do, break, walk, etc.) or a state (be, like, own). The verb tense shows the time of the action or state. Aspect shows whether the action or state is completed or not. Voice is used to show relationships between the action and the people affected by it. Mood shows the attitude of the speaker about the verb, whether it is a declaration or an order. Verbs can be affected by person and number to show agreement with the subject.

Voice Voice shows the relationship between the verb and the noun phrases connected to it. There are two voices in English; the passive and the active.

Voiced Sounds English sounds are organised into voiced and unvoiced sounds. With voiced sounds, the vocal chords are vibrated, which can be felt in the throat. All vowels are voiced, and some consonants. Voiced consonants include: /b/ /d/ /g/ /v/ /ð/ /members/ /n/ /l/ /w/ /j/

Vowels A; E; I; O; U; & Y are the English vowels, although Y can also behave as a consonant when it is at the beginning of a word. A vowel is a sound where air coming from the lungs is not blocked by the mouth or throat. All normal English words contain at least one vowel. Wordiness Wordiness or being wordy simply means using too many words to say something. Usually there is a simpler way of saying the same thing. Example: Work was canceled today due to the fact that it snowed. (Wordy) Work was canceled today because it snowed. (Clearer and more direct)

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Word A word is the smallest unit of a language that can exist on its own in either written or spoken language. A morpheme such as -ly, used to create an adverb cannot exist without the adjective it modifies; it is not a word, although the adjective it modifies can exist alone and, therefore, is a word: The woman was robbed. (4 words- an article a noun an auxiliary verb and a past participle. 'Robbed' consists of the verb 'rob' and the -ed morpheme to show that it is a past participle so the sentence has 5 morphemes.)

Yes/No Questions A Yes/No Question is a question that can be answered with yes or no. They normally begin with an auxiliary verb or a modal verb: Do you want to come? Have you seen her? Can you come? Will they be interested? They can also begin with main verbs like be and have: Is she in?

Zero Article The Zero Article is when a noun is used without the, a or an: E.G.: Time is money.

Zero Conditional The Zero Conditional is used for actions that are always true when the conditions are satisfied. EG: If you put sugar in coffee, it tastes sweet. Formation:

• If + Present Simple, + Present Simple

Zeugma Where a word is used to link two words or phrases, this is zeugma.The term is also used where the link between the words is unusual or mixed, also know as syllepsis. He arrived in a taxi and a hurry. Ja

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