Functional English Unit 1/4

Language

A human, non-instinctive system of vocal symbols used to communicate ideas, emotions, and desires.

Philology

The historical and comparative study of languages and their development.

Functional English

The practical use of English for effective communication in academic and professional contexts.

Indo-European Language Family

A large group of related languages spoken across Europe and parts of Asia, including English, Hindi, Greek, and many others.

Indo-Germanic

An older term for the Indo-European family, highlighting its spread in Europe and northern India.

Germanic Group

The branch of Indo-European that includes English, German, Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages.

Lexicon

The complete set of words in a language or a subject; a vocabulary.

Accidence

The part of grammar that deals with inflections of words, such as tense or case endings.

Old English

The earliest stage of English (c. 450–1100 AD), also called Anglo-Saxon.

Middle English

The stage of English used from c. 1100–1500, influenced heavily by Norman French.

Modern English

English from c. 1500 to the present, divided into Early and Late periods.

Early Modern English

English used c. 1500–1800, marked by the Great Vowel Shift and the rise of printing.

Late Modern English

English from c. 1800 onward, distinguished by rapid vocabulary growth from science, technology, and global contact.

Great Vowel Shift

A major 15th- to 16th-century change in English vowel pronunciation that shaped Modern English sounds.

Bow-wow Theory

Origin theory proposing that language began as imitation of natural sounds (onomatopoeia).

Ding-dong Theory

Max Müller’s idea that language arose from humans’ innate sense of universal rhythm and harmony.

Pooh-pooh Theory

Theory suggesting language originated from instinctive emotional interjections like ‘ah!’ or ‘oh!’.

Gesture Theory

Sir Richard Paget’s view that language evolved from hand gestures accompanied by vocal sounds.

Yo-He-Ho Theory

Noire’s proposal that communal work chants and rhythmic grunts led to speech.

Musical Theory

Otto Jespersen’s claim that language grew out of melodic courting songs and animal cries.

Contact Theory

G. Revesz’s idea that the need for social contact drove the evolution from cries to words.

Tower of Babel Theory

Biblically inspired view that all languages descend from one ancestral tongue split by divine intervention.

Proto-World Theory

Hypothesis that several independent proto-languages arose in different regions, later influencing one another.

Evolutionary Theory (of language)

The concept that language developed gradually over millennia through adaptive changes.

Pedigree (Family Tree) Theory

August Schleicher’s model showing languages diverging through successive splits like branches of a tree.

Wave Theory

Johannes Schmidt’s model explaining language change as overlapping waves of dialectal innovation.

Universal Grammar

Noam Chomsky’s theory that humans are born with innate knowledge of linguistic principles.

Grimm’s Law

Rule describing the systematic consonant shifts that distinguish Germanic languages from other Indo-European tongues.

Weak Verb

A Germanic verb that forms its past tense with a dental suffix (-d/-t), e.g., ‘love → loved’.

Centum Languages

Western Indo-European languages (e.g., Latin, Greek) where the proto-sound *k̂ became a ‘k’ sound.

Satem Languages

Eastern Indo-European languages (e.g., Sanskrit, Persian) where the proto-sound *k̂ became an ‘s’ sound.

West Saxon Dialect

The Old English dialect promoted by King Alfred; basis of most surviving Anglo-Saxon literature.

Anglo-Saxon

Another name for Old English; also refers to the Germanic settlers (Angles & Saxons) of early Britain.

Beowulf

Epic Old English poem about a hero who slays monsters; key work of West Saxon literature.

Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Middle English masterpiece, a framed collection of pilgrims’ stories.

Romance Languages

Languages that evolved from Latin, such as French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian.

Vulgar Latin

The colloquial, spoken form of Latin from which the Romance languages developed.

Teutonic

Another term for the Germanic branch of Indo-European languages or its cultural traits.

Celtic

An Indo-European branch once widespread in Europe; today mainly Irish, Welsh, and Breton languages.

Hellenic Branch

Indo-European branch comprising Greek and its dialects.

Balto-Slavic

Indo-European branch that includes Baltic languages (e.g., Lithuanian) and Slavic languages (e.g., Russian, Polish).

Italic Branch

Indo-European languages descended from Latin, including the Romance group.

Sanskrit

Classical language of ancient India; key member of the Indo-European family.

Prakrit

Group of Middle Indo-Aryan vernaculars derived from Sanskrit; source of many modern Indian languages.

Attic Dialect

Prestigious ancient Greek dialect of Athens, basis of Classical Greek literature.

Vedas

Ancient sacred Sanskrit texts dating to c. 1500 BCE, among the earliest Indo-European writings.

Latin

Classical language of ancient Rome; foundation of the Romance languages and much scientific vocabulary.

Normans

French-speaking conquerors of England in 1066 whose language reshaped English vocabulary and grammar.

Onomatopoeic Word

A word that imitates the natural sound it denotes, e.g., ‘buzz’, ‘splash’.

Proto-language

A hypothetical reconstructed ancestral language from which a language family descends.

Sentence

A group of words with a complete idea, containing a finite verb and an explicit or implied subject.

Subject

The noun or pronoun a sentence is about; answers the question “who or what?”

Predicate

The part of the sentence that tells what the subject does or is; contains the verb.

Object

The receiver of the action performed by the subject’s verb.

Direct Object

Answers “what?” or “whom?” after the verb; directly receives the action.

Indirect Object

Answers “to/for whom?” or “to/for what?” after the verb; benefits from the action and usually appears before the direct object.

Complement

A word or word group that completes the meaning of the predicate.

Subject Complement

A noun, pronoun, or adjective that renames or describes the subject after a linking verb.

Object Complement

A word that follows and renames or describes a direct object.

Declarative Sentence

Makes a statement or expresses an opinion (e.g., “Tony goes to school every day.”).

Interrogative Sentence

Asks a question and ends with a question mark (e.g., “Who won the match?”).

Imperative Sentence

Gives a command, request, or advice; subject ‘you’ is usually implied (e.g., “Please pass the salt.”).

Exclamatory Sentence

Expresses strong emotion and ends with an exclamation mark (e.g., “What a beautiful sunset!”).

Simple Sentence

Contains one independent clause with a single subject-predicate pair.

Compound Sentence

Joins two or more independent clauses using a coordinating conjunction, conjunctive adverb, or semicolon.

Complex Sentence

Combines one independent clause with one or more dependent clauses introduced by a subordinating conjunction.

Parts of Speech

The eight word classes that show a word’s grammatical role: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection.

Noun

Names a person, place, thing, or idea (e.g., “city,” “teacher”).

Pronoun

Replaces a noun in a sentence (e.g., “he,” “they,” “it”).

Verb

Expresses an action or a state of being (e.g., “run,” “is”).

Adjective

Describes or qualifies a noun or pronoun (e.g., “beautiful,” “tall”).

Adverb

Modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb; tells how, when, where, or how often (e.g., “sweetly,” “very”).

Preposition

Shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word (e.g., “in,” “on,” “under”).

Conjunction

Joins words, phrases, or clauses (e.g., “and,” “but,” “because”).

Interjection

A word that expresses sudden emotion (e.g., “Wow!” “Oh!”).

Active Voice

The subject performs the action of the verb (e.g., “The lion killed the deer.”).

Passive Voice

The subject receives the action of the verb (e.g., “The deer was killed by the lion.”).

Coordinating Conjunction

Connects words, phrases, or independent clauses of equal rank (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

Subordinating Conjunction

Introduces a dependent clause and links it to an independent clause (e.g., “because,” “although,” “while”).

Auxiliary Verb

A helping verb (be, do, have, etc.) used with a main verb to express tense, mood, or voice.

Conjunctive Adverb

A transition word that joins independent clauses and shows relationship (e.g., “however,” “therefore”).

Object of a Preposition

The noun or pronoun that follows a preposition and completes its meaning.

Direct Speech

Quoting a speaker’s exact words inside quotation marks, e.g., Jim said, “I will be at the office by 10 a.m.”

Indirect Speech (Reported Speech)

Conveying what someone said without quoting word-for-word; pronouns, tenses, time/place words, and punctuation change, e.g., Jim said that he would be at the office by 10 a.m.

Reporting Verb

The verb that introduces the reported words (e.g., said, told, asked, exclaimed, suggested).

Quotation Marks

Punctuation marks (“ ”) used only in Direct Speech to enclose the speaker’s exact words; omitted in Indirect Speech.

Link Word “that”

Conjunction used to connect reporting and reported clauses in statements when changing to Indirect Speech.

Link Words “if / whether”

Conjunctions used to introduce yes/no questions in Indirect Speech.

Pronoun Shift

Changing 1st- and 2nd-person pronouns to 3rd-person forms when reporting, e.g., I → he, you → they.

Tense Shift

Back-shifting verb tenses when the reporting verb is past (e.g., Simple Present → Simple Past).

Time Expressions (Near → Distant)

Words like now, today, tomorrow change to then, that day, the next day in Indirect Speech.

Place Expressions

Words of nearness (here, this) usually change to there, that in Indirect Speech when context is clear.

Simple Present → Simple Past

Rule for tense shift: “I want” becomes “she wanted” in Indirect Speech when the reporting verb is past.

Present Continuous → Past Continuous

Rule for tense shift: “I am working” becomes “he was working” in Indirect Speech.

Present Perfect → Past Perfect

Rule for tense shift: “I have finished” becomes “she had finished” in Indirect Speech.

Simple Past → Past Perfect

Rule for tense shift: “I bought” becomes “he had bought” in Indirect Speech.

Assertive Sentence

A statement (positive, negative, true, or false); linked with “that” when reported.

Interrogative Sentence

A question; reporting verb changes to asked / enquired; no question mark in Indirect form.

Imperative Sentence

An order, request, advice, or warning; reported with verbs like ordered, requested, advised plus an infinitive.

Exclamatory Sentence

A sentence expressing strong feeling; reported with exclaimed (with joy, sorrow, surprise, etc.) and changed into a statement.