Week 11- Word and Sentence Structure

Free morphemes

Can stand alone as words

Morpheme

The smallest unit of meaning in a language

Inflectional morpheme

• Change the form of word

• Examples:

  • Tense change: run -> running

  • Pluralise: house -> houses

Derivational morpheme

• Change the class or meaning of the word

• Examples:

  • Verb to a noun: run-> runner

  • Noun to adjective: friend -> friendly

  • Meaning change: correct -> incorrect

Coordinating conjunctions acronym

Fanboys

For

And

Nor

But

Or

Yet

So

Prefix

Precede the root

anti+christ

Suffix

Follow the root

Want+ed

Phrase

A group of words that behaves like a single unit within a sentence.

‘Tests’ to tell whether it’s a phrase

• Transposition (Movement Test)

  • If a group of words can move together to another position in the sentence, it is likely a phrase.

  • e.g. 'the small dog chased the cat' can become, 'It was the small dog that chased the cat'

• Substitution (Replacement Test)

  • If a single word (or pro-form) can replace the entire group without changing the structure or meaning, that group is a phrase

  • e.g. 'the small dog chased the cat' can be' it chased the cat'

Clausal elements

• Subject

  • The noun phrase (or pronoun) that performs the action or is described

• Verb/Predicate

  • The main verb (and any auxiliaries) that expresses the action or state

• Object

  • The noun phrase that receives the action of a transitive verb

• Complement

  • Provides more information about the subject or object, often required to complete the meaning.

• Adverbial

  • Provides extra information about time, place, manner, reason, or frequency