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Linguistics:
Basic Grammatical
Terminology Review
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Educ 4683
Dr. David Piper
 Dr. David Piper & Krista Yetman
Select for Review
• Definitions of terms
• Word classes
• Nouns, pronouns &
determiners
• Adjectives, verbs &
adverbs
Home
• Prepositions,
conjunctions &
exclamations
• Subject, predicate &
object
• Transitivity
• Other rules &
definitions
Definitions of Terms:
Spoken English may be
thought
of in terms of 4 levels
Levels of Language
Sounds
Word forms
Word combinations
Meaning
Every language
has its own
inventory of
vowels & consonants
Words in most
languages change
depending on factors
such as plurality
Word order has a
marked effect on
meaning. This is
syntax.
Many words in
English have
several meanings.
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Word Classes
Classes
Definitions
Nouns
A person, place or thing
Pronouns
The name that replaces a noun
Determiners
Class of words which precede nouns &
adjectives
Descriptive words that qualify & describe
nouns
Words that express action, processes or
states
Adverbs modify verbs or adjectives
Adjectives
Verbs
Adverbs
Prepositions
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Conjunctions
Function words; describe relationships
betw een things
Joining words
Examples
Nouns, determiners &
pronouns
Click button of choice:
• Nouns
• Determiners
• Pronouns
• Skip to Adjectives
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Nouns (in English)
• Nouns can be singular or plural (‘s’) i.e: ant + s =
ants, city + s = cities, glass + s = glasses, mouse + s = mice,
life + s = lives, deer + s = deer
• Nouns are either masculine (man, bull, boxer),
feminine (woman, mare, actress), or neuter (table,
flower, book)
• Nouns can be possessive i.e.: boy’s, boys’, Charles’s
• Nouns are common (book, fly, tree) or proper (Erica,
Acadia University, Nigerian, French)
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Return to Noun
Determiners: 5 Types
Articles
Demonstratives
Possessives
Numbers
Indefinite
determiners
the, a, and
this, that,
these, those
my, your,
his, her
its, our, their
Determiners
when followed
by nouns,i.e.:
five fingers
i.e.: some, any,
less, more,
much, either,
each, every, etc.
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Return to Noun
8 types of Pronouns:
Select below
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Return to Noun
Personal
Possessive
Reflexive
Demonstrative
Interrogative
Relative
Distributive
Indefinite
Skip pronouns
Personal pronouns:
these reflect number and case, and are
divided into first, second & third
person
Persons
First:
speaker or speakers
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Number
Second:
person(s) spoken to
Third:
person(s) or
thing(s) being
discussed
Singular:
1, me, you, you
he, him, she, her
it, it
Pronoun Menu
Plural:
we, us,
you, you
they, them
Possessive pronouns:
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mine (singular)
yours (singular)
his (singular, masculine)
hers (singular, feminine)
its (singular, neuter)
ours (plural)
yours (plural)
theirs (plural)
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Pronoun Menu
Reflexive
pronouns
Singular
Plural
myself
ourselves
yourself
yourselves
himself (m asc)
herself (fem )
themselves
itself (neut)
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Pronoun Menu
Demonstrative pronouns:
used to indicate closeness
or remoteness from speaker
This is a book.
That is a book.
SPEAKER
Those are books.
These are books.
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Pronoun Menu
Interrogative pronouns:
Questions words
Who
Which
Whom
What
Whose
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Pronoun Menu
Relative
pronouns:
these introduce
clauses
• that
I’ve just sat on the hat that I bought.
• which
The letter which he sent has not arrived.
• who
John was the man who ate the pie.
• whom
The people on whom we rely are kind.
• whose
The boy whose father died has runaway.
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Pronoun Menu
Distributive pronouns
(often these pronouns are followed
by ‘of you’ or ‘of them’)
All
Both
Each
Either
Neither
Some
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Pronoun Menu
Indefinite pronouns
- I don’t want any jelly beans.
- Take some.
- I don’t think so.
- Has anyone eaten the beans?
- Someone was eating them.
- Such is way of the world!
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Pronoun Menu
Adjectives, verbs &
adverbs:
Select below
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Adjectives
• Verbs
The brown dog
runs quickly.
• Adverbs
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Adjectives:
Words that describe
nouns
Superlative
Comparative
Positive
biggest
fastest
laziest
worst
bigger
faster
lazier
worse
big
fast
lazy
bad
Irregular
good,
better,
best
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Spelling
vowel + consonant
= doubled
consonant;
i.e.: bigger, fattest
double vowel =
single consonant
i.e.: cleaner,
neatest
Word Order
two consonants =
single consonant
i.e.: bolder,
fastest
Return to adj., verb & adv.
(descriptive) +
(size) + (age)
+ (colour)
+ (noun)
Verbs! Verbs! Verbs!
(select from menu below)
Past tense
Present tense
General
Info
Auxiliary
verbs
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Future tense
Return to adj., verb & adv.
Adverbs
These words can modify verbs:
She sang loudly.
These words can also be:
comparative (earlier)
i.e.: She arrived earlier than Joe.
Sentences:
Certainly, we shall win.
superlative (most often)
about time (soon)
Adjectives:
She was exceptionally pretty.
And other adverbs:
She sang very loudly.
about place (near)
about reason (since)
about manner (well)
about condition (if)
question words (when)
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Return to adj., verb & adv.
Verb: General Info.
• There are regular &
irregular verbs.
Label
• Regular verbs can take
the endings: ‘s’, ‘ing’ and
‘ed’.
Base form
Look, sing
Past tense
Looked, sang
Non-past tense
Look/looks,
sing/sings
To look, to sing
• Irregular verbs can take
the ‘ing’ endings.
(regular, irregular)
Infinitive
Present
Participle
Past Participle
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Examples
Return to adj., verb & adv.
Looking, singing
Looked, sung
Verbs:
Present (non-past) tense
To express truths,
proverbial wisdom,
realities i.e.: Wax
makes crayons.
Main
Usage
Chosen for formulaic
utterances i.e.: I declare...
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Return to adj., verb & adv.
To describe
habitual
occurrences i.e.:
He advises...
Occurs in
spontaneous
commentaries i.e.:
sport commentaries
Verbs: Past tense
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Past tense is formed by adding ‘ed’ or ‘d’ to
the base form.
Past tense does not change according to
person or number.
Refers to actions, states or events which took
place before.
Is used in dependent clauses to refer to
possibility.
Is used in indirect speech i.e.: He said that he
sang.
Return to adj., verb & adv.
Verbs: Future ‘tense’
There really is no future tense in English but
reference to the future may be made in the
following or many other ways:
a) will/shall + base form of verb
I shall go to London next week.
b) going to + base form of verb
I’m going to drive to Halifax tomorrow.
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Return to adj., verb & adv.
Auxiliary verbs:
These are also known as
‘helping verbs’
These are verbs which help
make information more
precise...
• Gives specific info about
the (head)verb:
I am painting.
• Painting is the headverb,
while am is the auxiliary
verb.
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• Auxiliary verbs are also
used in questions:
Do you like art?
(do is auxiliary, like is
headverb)
• In negatives:
Don’t eat it!
(don’t is auxiliary, eat is
headverb)
• For emphasis:
You will paint.
Return to adj., verb & adv.
Prepositions,
conjunctions &
exclamations: Select below
• Prepositions
• Conjunctions
• Exclamations
• Skip to subject &
predicate
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Prepositions:
There is a reason the word
‘position’ is in preposition…
A preposition is a word
that describes the
relationship between
things (other words).
• The man is beside the boy.
• The radio is on the table.
• The girl is in front of the woman.
• The boy’s feet are in his shoes under
the table.
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Conjunctions: Joining
words
Co-ordinating:
joins units of
equal value
(finite set)
and, but, or,
then, yet,
either... or,
neither... nor
noun + noun
verb + verb
adjective + adjective
phrase + phrase
John and Mary...
... sang and danced
... kind and gentle
... on the chair or in my bag
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Subordinating:
provides info
when an event occurs
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Examples:
after, although, until,
as, before, however,
because, that, though
I shall go in case they arrive.
Don't sleep while you drive.
I want to eat even if I'm full.
She has more work than me.
Exclamations!
These are often referred to as
‘involuntary interjections’:
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Wow! Hey! Ouch! Oh!
Occasionally words &
phrases are exclamations:
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Home
You fool!
That silly dog!
What a mess!
How you’ve grown!
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Subject, predicate &
object
• Subject
• Predicate
• Object
• Skip to Transivity
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Subject
Subject:
a noun-like unit
which:
precedes predicate
in declarative sentences
occurs within predicate
in interrogative sentences
exceptions:
with 'be' & 'have'
when used as headverbs
Children like sweets.
Do children like sweets?
Children have good eyes.
Seeing is believing.
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It is snowing.
Are children naughty?
Return to Subj., Pred. & Obj.
Predicate:
The verbal unit of a
sentence
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Subject
Predicate
This young man
minds the sheep.
The girl
sang a song.
The balloons
float.
The girl
hasn't any money.
Return to Subj., Pred. & Obj.
Object:
A noun-like unit which usually comes
last in the predicate, following the
main (transitive) verb.
Predicate
Subject
Transitive
verb
The young man minds
Object
The girl
sang
a song.
The girl
hasn't
any money.
the sheep.
*Please note: there are also indirect & direct objects
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Transitivity
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Nominals
Intransitive verbs
Transitive verbs
Active voice
Passive voice
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Nominals
The term nominal is used to
comprehend nouns,
pronouns, proper names &
noun phrases.
Verbs may be classified by
the number of nominals
they require.
For example: ‘arrive’ requires
only one nominal, so is
called a ‘one-place verb’.
The elephant arrived.
Subject
(nominal)
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One-place verb:
only needs one
nominal
Intransitive verbs
John died.
Subject
(nominal)
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Intransitive
verb
Return to
One-place verbs are
intransitive because
they do not take an
object (they only need
one nominal).
For example:
John died. (This is all
you need to explain
what happened to
John).
Transitive Verbs
Two-place and three-place
verbs are transitive
because they take a
subject and an object (they
require at least two
nominals).
For example:
The blue car hit the yellow car.
Subject
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Transitive
verb
Object
Return to
The verb ‘hit’ requires
two nominals (we need
to know what is hit) ,
therefore is a transitive
verb.
Active voice:
We say that a sentence is
active when the subject is the
agent of the action.
Amy baked the pie. (active)
The pie was baked by Amy (passive)
Notice that the object of the active sentence
(the pie) becomes the subject of the passive
sentence.
*An active sentence must have at least two nominals.
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Passive voice:
We say that a sentence is
passive when the subject
receives the action.
The violin was played by Rupert. (passive)
In the passive sentence, the violin is the subject which
receives the action.
Rupert played the violin. (active)
*A passive sentence may only have one nominal
i.e.: The violin was played.
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Additional
Information:
The information in this
PowerPoint has been very
basic. It has been
designed to provide you
with basic definitions only.
Many of these definitions
will be covered in more
detail, and elaborated,
within the course itself.
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Meanwhile, if you have any
remaining questions about
basic grammatical terms,
please note them down
and bring them to class for
discussion. Hope all this
was useful…Try to enjoy
the course!
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