Morphology and Grammar of English Review

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering morphology (word formation) and syntax (sentence structure, valency, and verb phrases) based on the lecture notes.

In __________ (or abbreviations), part of a word—usually the final part—is omitted.

clippings

Two words mixed together, typically using the initial part of the first and the final part of the second, are known as __________.

blends

The initialisms "laser" and "radar" are classified as __________, because they are pronounced like single words.

acronyms

Initialisms that are pronounced letter by letter, such as "TV" or "CD," are called __________.

alphabetisms

Small letters in acronyms usually indicate that the term has reached a higher degree of __________.

institutionalization

A __________ results from taking away a real or putative derivational suffix to create a root that did not exist before.

back-formation

The word-formation process by which a proper name or brand becomes a lexeme is called __________.

coinage

Shortening processes like clippings and blends are often motivated by __________ __________.

language economy

A __________ approach to grammar records how the language is actually spoken rather than laying down arbitrary rules.

descriptive

English is characterized as a (near-)__________ language because it has lost most of its inflectional morphemes.

isolating

The __________ genitive occurs when a suffix is attached to a whole phrase, such as in "the Museum of Modern Art’s new director."

group

In __________ languages, such as Turkish or Finnish, there is a $1:1$ relationship between form and grammatical meaning.

agglutinating

Phrases that have the same distribution as their heads are called __________, while those that do not, like prepositional phrases, are called __________.

endocentric; exocentric

A __________ predicate is inflected and marked for agreement with the subject, whereas a __________ predicate (like an infinitive) is not.

finite; non-finite

In English syntax, the __________ always consists of the verbal nucleus of the sentence.

predicate

The seven basic sentence patterns in English are determined by the __________ of the main verb.

valency

The dummy element __________ is used in English weather sentences like "__________ rains."

it; It

The semantic role of the entity that carries out an action is the __________, while the entity affected by the action is the __________.

agent; patient

The English verb phrase allows a maximum of __________ verb forms.

five

In the order of auxiliaries, the category of __________ always precedes the perfect, which precedes the progressive, which precedes the passive.

modality

A verb that has zero valency, like "rain," is called an __________ verb.

avalent

__________ verbs like "look up" or "take off" consist of a verb and a particle that can often precede or follow a noun phrase.

Phrasal

Tenses like present, past, and future are __________ categories because they locate a situation on a timeline relative to the moment of utterance.

deictic

The __________ aspect highlights the internal temporal make-up of a situation, often focusing on a "temporal frame."

progressive

Verbs with an inbuilt endpoint, such as "drown" or "write a letter," are known as __________ verbs.

telic