Grammar II - Words, Phrases, and Sentences Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards defining fundamental grammatical concepts, word classes, phrase structures, verb classifications, and sentence types from the Grammar II course.

Grammar

A conventional system of rules for making and putting together expressions (eg. phrases and sentences) that belong to the language.

Morpheme

The smallest unit of meaning in grammar, which may be a whole word, an inflection, or a word formation affix.

Morphology

The branch of grammar that deals with the internal form and structure of words.

Syntax

The branch of grammar that deals with the structural frame of sentences and the way in which words are combined to form sentences.

Lexical Words

Open class content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) that carry semantic meaning and are the main carriers of information in a text.

Function Words

Closed class structure words (prepositions, pronouns, determiners, modal/auxiliary verbs, conjunctions) that express grammatical relationships.

Constituency

The structural relationship between one grammatical unit and another unit of which the first is a part.

Head

The obligatory element of a headed phrase construction after which the phrase is named.

Phrase

A structural unit built from words consisting of a head plus optional modifiers that does not contain both a subject and a predicate.

Finite Verbs

Verbs that show a distinction of tense (present or past) and operate with a subject.

Non-Finite Verbs

Verbs that do not show tense, including bare infinitives, to-infinitives, present participles, and past participles.

Transitive Verbs

Verbs having a subject that must take an object or a phrase acting like an object.

Intransitive Verbs

Verbs having a subject but taking no object.

Monotransitive Verbs

Transitive verbs that occur with a single direct object.

Ditransitive Verbs

Transitive verbs that occur with two objects: an indirect object and a direct object.

Complex Transitive Verbs

Transitive verbs that occur with a direct object followed by an object complement or an obligatory adverbial.

Middle Verbs

Transitive verbs (such as have, lack, or fit) that normally occur in the active voice and cannot be turned into the passive voice.

Linking Verbs

Copular intransitive verbs that connect the subject of a sentence to a subject complement to describe or identify the subject.

Prepositional Phrase

A structural unit consisting of a preposition, its object, and any modifiers of that object.

Simple Sentence

A complete unit of meaning consisting of only one clause that contains a subject and a finite verb.

Compound Sentence

A sentence consisting of two or more clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction.

Complex Sentence

A sentence consisting of a main clause and a subordinate or dependent clause.