Glossary of Terms

Absolute (Adjective)
When talking about comparatives and superlatives, one sometimes hears the basic, ungraded form of the adjective referred to as its absolute form.
Absolute Phrase
In some traditional grammars, this term is used to describe sentence adverbials consisting of a noun followed by a particple phrase or an adjective phrase. These can be turned into independent clauses by adding a tense be verb in front of the modifier. When the participle phrase includes being or having, they can be removed--in the case of being, at least, they almost always should be.
Accusative Case
Same as objective case. The term comes from the grammar of Latin and other languages in which it used to denote the case of direct objects of transitive verbs and, in some languages, objects of prepositions. In English this case is used for indirect objects and may be used for subjects of gerund phrases.
Active
The default voice of transitive verbs--in English, any transitive verb not part of a passive construction.
Adjectival
A sentence function (modifying nouns) normally served by adjectives--a word or phrase serving such a function in a given sentence
Adjective
A word whose usual function is to modify a noun
Adjective Phrases (AdjP)
A phrase headed by an adjective. It may include degree words as specifiers and clauses or prepositional phrases as complements.
Adjuncts
An optional constituent of a sentence, though still part of the sentence. The most common adverbials are generally used as adjuncts.
Adverb
Term used in traditional grammar for a wide range of words, including conjunctive adverbs, degree words, and various kinds of adjuncts. Some linguists prefer to narrow its use by making some of these categories separate parts of speech.
Adverb of Frequency
Adverbs like often and seldom are most at home at the beginning of verb phrases, where they serve as the specifier of a VP.
Adverbial
A word or phrase occupying a position serving one of the various functions regarded as characterizing adverbs.
Adverbial Relative Clause
A sentential relative clause.
Agent
The thematic role of the initiator of an action. Sometimes restricted to animate beings.
Agreement
When two words or phrases share a common feature. Subjects and verbs are expected to agree in number and person.
AgrP
Agreement Phrase. Alternative label of Inflection Phrase (IP).
Anaphoric
Applies to reference back to an antecedent. Opposite of cataphoric.
Antecedent
A previous expression being referred to. Most used for nominals being represented by later pronouns.
Anticipatory It
The dummy pronoun it introduced by extraposition has no antecedent but can be regarded as referring to the extraposed clause. Also known as the impersonal it or preparatory it.
Articles
A part of speech which can only occupy the determiner slot. There are only three articles in English : a, an, the
Aspect
Term for a verb form or stucture which shows how the action of the verb is viewed. English has two constructions to show aspect, perfect and progressive, both of which are often dealt with instead as kinds of tense.
Auxiliary Verb
A verb used to help express aspect, voice, or modality for the main verb of its clause. Also known as a helping verb. English has both modal and primary auxiliaries.
Base Form of Verb
The form of a verb used in infinitive phrases, following modal auxiliaries, and in forming a present participle (by attaching -ing to it. In most verbs, this form is also used for the present plural and in forming the past tense and past participle.
Beneficiary
Alternative term for recipient.
Capitalization
Standard English begins proper nouns with a capital letter and also capitalizes the first word in a sentence. All letters in an acronym may be capitalized. Some writers capitalize abstractions or words being used in some unusual way.
Cardinal Number
The numbers we count with: one, two, three, etc.
Case
A language's way of indicating relationships between nominals and other nominals or verbs. Some languages inflect nouns to show a variety of cases. English has only the possessive case for nouns, though it has retained a nominative vs. objective distinction for some pronouns. Other traditional case relationships are indicated in English by sentence position and the use of prepositional phrases.
Cataphoric
Applies to reference forward to a later expression. Less common in English than anaphoric reference.
Catenative Verbs
Verbs which can be followed by other verbs (as infinitives or gerunds).
Central Determiner
Articles, demonstratives, and possessive pronouns are always central determiners in Standard English. They are generally mutually exclusive but may be preceded by predeterminers and followed by postdeterminers.
Cleft Sentence
A sentence which has been reordered for emphasis by adding a new subject and some form of be.
Closed Class of Words
Any of those categories of words which rarely add new members--for example, articles or prepositions.
Collective Noun
A noun which refers to a group (like army, group) of things or people as a collective entity. Collective nouns often take singular verb forms.
Common Noun
A noun which is not a proper noun.
Comparative
Many basic English adjectives and adverbs can be inflected for the comparative by adding the -est ending, indicating that the property referred to is relatively high. Better and worse are comparatives created by suppletion, the use of a form from an originally unrelated word. Most new adjectives use a phrasal comparative with more instead of the inflection.
Complement
An over-used word in grammar, along with its counterpart, object. In the kind of linguistic analysis followed here, it most precise use is as an element in a phrase which provides information about the head required in a particular use. English complements follow their heads. The usual complement in a PP, for example, is an NP. Traditional grammar sometimes speaks of subject complements, defined here as the complements of linking verbs, or object complements.
Complementizer (C)
The pre-subject position in clauses, heading a complementizer phrase (CP) and taking an IP as its complement. Also used for words which originate in that position as introductory elements in clauses--e.g., the that in a that- clause.
Complementizer Phrase (CP)
A phrase or clause with a C as its head and an IP as its complement.
Complete Subject
The complete nominal subject. If it is an NP, this includes all determiners, premodifiers, postmodifiers, and complements of the head noun, which is known as the simple subject.
Complex Sentence
A sentence including a subordinate clause or, in technical use, a clausal nominal.
Complete Thought
Some would say that a sentence is a "complete thought," but this definition has not been thought through.
Complex Transitive
A kind of predicate in which a verb is followed by both a direct object and an object complement or a verb which may be used in such a predicate.
Compound Noun
Words made by combining existing words can be thought of as compound words, particularly when the combination is perceived as a single unit, whether spelled as such (ballpark) or not (dog house). Some believe in treated all structures with noun modifiers as compound nouns.
Compound Sentence
A sentence in which two or more independent clauses are linked by a coordinating conjunction.
Compound Subject
Two nominals (usually NPs) joined by a coordinating conjunction and functioning as the subject of a clause.
Conditional Complementizer
The words if and whether when used to introduce a conditional clause acting as a nominal.
Conjunct
Briefer name for a conjunctive adverb..
Conjunction
Word class including coordinating conjunctions and, in traditional use, subordinators.
Conjunctive Adverbs
Sentence adverbials which normally link their sentences or clause to a preceding one (e.g., however, therefore). Also called conjuncts, a term which has the advantage of including prepositional phrases which serve the same function (e.g., even so). Easily confused with conjunctions but punctuated differently in formal written Standard English.
Coodinating Conjunction
Word category used to join two words or phrases of the same kind and equal status. The most important are and, but, and or.
Coordination Test for Phrases
Phrases (and other sentence constituents) can be joined with a like group of words by a coordinating conjunction.
Coordinator
Same as coordinating conjunction. Its use implies that these are to be treated as a separate word class.
Copula
The verb be. Sometimes also used to refer to other linking verbs.
Correlative
Name for expressions reinforcing coordinating conjunctions (e.g. both....and) and subordinating conjunctions.
Count Noun
A noun which can be counted and thus has both a singular and plural form.
Dangling Modifier
A modifying element whose implied subject does not match the noun it seems attached to.
Declarative Sentence
An independent clause that makes a statement. Unless there has been obvious inversion or extraposition, an English declarative sentence has a subject and predicate in that order. Most English sentences are declaratives.
Definite Article
The word the
Degree Word
The specifier position in AdjP, AdvP, and PP, and words which characteristically occupy that position, like "very." Many manner adverbials can also serve this function. Sometimes called intensifiers or intensifying adverbs.
Deixis
Reference depending on contextual clues--e.g.,here, now, them. The context may be within the text or discourse, as with pronouns in anaphoric or cataphoric reference.
Demonstrative
The words this and that and their plurals, these and those are the demonstrative pronouns. When used in the determiner position, they are sometimes called demonstrative determiners instead.
Dependent Clause
All clauses which are included within the main clause of a sentence, including nominal clauses, relative clauses, and subordinate clauses.
Descriptive Grammar
An attempt to account for the ways in which a given language puts together words in sentences whose meaning can be at least partly shared by the speaker and his listeners
Determiners
As a phrase structure position, the specifier of an NP or the head of a DP, depending on whether one accepts the DP-Hypothesis. Regarded as a part of speech, it includes articles, demonstratives, possessive personal pronouns, and quantifiers (including numbers).
Direct Object
The main nominal complement of a transitive verb, traditionally thought of as the object of its action.
Disjuncts
Sentence adverbials which comment on the desirability, probability, or style of the clause to which they are attached.
Distribution
When we classify words into one word category or another by the kinds of functions they can serve in sentences, we are defining those categories by "distribution"--that is, by syntactic clues.
Ditransitive Verbs
Verbs like give which can optionally take an indirect object as well as a direct object.
DO-INSERTION (DO-SUPPORT)
A rule that inserts do into the I slot when it is needed to realize the tense, as in INVERSION.
Double Genitive
An of genitive rendered redundant by using a possessive NP as the complement.
Double Modals
Standard English treats the modal auxiliaries as mutually exclusive, but some non-standard dialects permit combinations like might could
DP-Hypothesis
Would replace the usual NP-analysis by assuming that such structures are Determiner Phrases, headed by a determiner. One can also treat the determiner/pronouns as instances of a "determinative" class, in which case DP would refer to phrases like nearly all.
Dummy Subjects
A subject (often the anticipatory or impersonal it which adds no semantic information to a sentence and exists only because English requires that the subject position be filled.
Dynamic
A category of verbs (and adjectives) which can be used with the progressive.
Ejaculation
An older term for interjection, now seldom used as such for obvious reasons.
Emphatic DO
Inserted as a tense-bearing operator to bear stress in cases where there is no other auxiliary verb.
Exclamatory Sentence
Also called exclamative. An unusual sentence type with an intensifying What or How introducing a sentence (e.g., "What a mess this is") or partial sentence ("How messy").
Existential There Sentences
Called "existential" because the there which begins it functions less as a locative than as an assertion that a condition exists. The notional subject is postponed till after there is or there are though continuing to govern, at least in Standard English, the number of the verb.
Experiencer
Term sometimes applied to the thematic role of the one who perceives or experiences a state.
Expletive
In everyday usage, this refers to obscene and profane words, particular when used as interjections, but it can be used for words which occupy syntactic positions but do not add semantic meaning, as in the anticipatory it or the existential there.
Extraposed Relative Clauses
A postmodifying relative clause which has been moved to the end of the main clause or sentence.
Extraposition
Post-position to the end of a clause or sentence. Used particularly to move longer nominals from the front of a clause, where they can create confusion about what the verb is, to the end, leaving a dummy subject it behind.
Free Relative
Another name for nominal relative clause.
Future
English does not inflect its verbs to express future time, forming what is called the "future tense" with the modal auxiliary will. Future time can be expressed in many other ways in English as well.
Gender
English has special forms for gender only in the thid-person singular pronouns, which distinguish between masculine (he/him), feminine (she/her) and neuter (it). When referred to by pronouns, proper nouns in English generally carry their real-life gender. When treated figuratively as animate beings, some objects (e.g., winds, ships) can be treated as having masculine or feminine gender.
Genitives
A more general (and thus less misleading) term for possessives
Gerund
A present participle used in a nominal position.
Gerund Phrase
A gerund with its complement and/or specifying subject.
Get-Passive
An informal passive construction using a form of the verb get as the auxiliary, in place of be.
Gradable
Gradable concepts (generally adjectives or adverbs) can be placed along a scale and so allow for intensification (following degree words like too) or comparison (more or less). They are said to have gradability.
Group Genitive
Arises when the possessive marker ('s is applied not to a noun phrase as a whole and attached after a post-modifying element--e.g. the King of England's palace.
Head
The constituent of a phrase which determines its nature and properties. A noun is the head of a noun phrase, a verb is the head of a verb phrase, and so on.
Helping Verbs
Another name for auxiliary verbs.
Hypercorrection
A misapplication of a misunderstood grammatical rule in a failed attempt to be "correct."
Imperative
Denotes both a verb mood and the sentence type of a sentence with the main verb in that mood. The mood is indicated by the use of the base form of the verb. Imperative sentences do not require surface subjects or complements, though they may have them.
Impersonal It
The dummy subject introduced by extraposition or impersonal verbs has no real antecedent and thus no person to represent, so it can be called "impersonal."
Impersonal Verb
Some verbs can't take a real subject. In English, these are mostly weather verbs, and the language is so insistent on sentence order that it supplies dummy subjects, as in "It rains a lot." There are null subject languages which do not.
Incomplete Sentence
A nicer name for sentence fragment. I use an occasional "incomplete sentence" for effect; your writing has "sentence fragments."
Indefinite Article
The words a and an.
Indefinite Pronouns
The words some, any, either, no, neither can serve as pronouns or central determiners. One can also form indefinite pronouns by adding one, body, or thing to some, any, no, and every.
Indicative
The unmarked or default mood of an English verb.
Infinitive Phrase
A non-finite (untensed) phrase or clause in which the base form of the verb is preceded by the infinitive marker to.
Independent Clauses
A clause which could stand by itself as a sentence.
Independent Possessive Personal Pronouns
The form of a possessive personal pronoun used when serving a nominal (as opposed to determiner) function: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.
Indirect Objects
A sentence function reserved for an NP which is the recipient or beneficiary of the action of the verb in sentences in which there is also a direct object.
Inflection
A change in a word's form to signal a change in its grammatical relationships, as in the possessive for nouns or tense for verbs.
Inflection Phrase (IP)
A phrase headed by the INFL category. It gets its name from the use of inflections in English to express tense, the most common content of the INFL position. It is usually equivalent here to an independent clause, as defined in traditional grammar..
Interjection
A word used by itself or in the middle of a sentence as an emotive exclamation. Think Ugh! Hello and goodbye are also counted as interjections. Because such words are almost exclusively interjections, interjections constitute one of the eight traditional parts of speech. Many words that are used as interjections, however, can also be used in other ways, like the many profane or obscene interjections we call expletives. Interjections are als sometimes called ejaculations.
Intensifier
Degree words are sometimes called intensifiers or intensifying adverbs
Interrogative Sentence
A sentence whose form indicates it is intended as a question, whether through simple INVERSION, the use of WH-interrogatives, the Tag-Question structure, or intonation.
Instrument
The thematic role of the entity by means of which an action is accomplished. In some languages, nouns are inflected for an instrumental case. In English this relationship is generally expressed through prepositional phrases.
Intransitive
A complete VP consisting entirely of one verb would be an intransitive predicate and the verb would be called an intransitive verb. Some linguists speak of intransitive prepositions when words that can head a PP are used by themselves in adverb functions.
INVERSION
As a kind of movement to make yes/no questions, this moves a tense-bearing operator from the I position in front of the subject. It also applies in WH-questions, though its operation may be obscured by WH-MOVEMENT when the phrase with the interrogative pronoun is also the subject. In TAG-questions, the INVERSION is of the operator in the tag and a pronoun referring to the subject. The term also applies to sentences in which the normal sentence order has been inverted for emphasis--e.g., "A mighty man was he."
Inverted Pseudo-Cleft
A form of cleft sentence in which the noun-phrase to be stressed becomes the subject and a form of be is the main verb is followed by a WH-clause containing the rest of the original sentence.
It-Cleft
A form of cleft sentence in which the noun-phrase to be stressed is placed after an it-subject and a form of be, while the rest of the sentence is placed in a relative clause.
Linking Verb
Be and other main verbs which "link" the subject with a class or attribute and so take subject complements rather than direct objects.
Locative
A place adverbial or the thematic role normally played by one.
Markedness
The basic, default forms are said to be unmarked, while all others are marked. In English, the present tense is unmarked, and can be used to refer to past or future time as well as the present. The past tense is marked and used only for past time.
Mass Noun
Nouns which have no plural form. Most of these can occasionally be used as count nouns in special situations.
Modal Auxiliary
A set of auxiliay verbs which occupy the tense/modal (I) slot and are not inflected for agreement in number with the preceding subject: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, and would are the principal modals. Do is not always included among the modals but resembles them in being followed by the base form of the verb.
Mood
In many languages, verbs can be inflected for "mood," representing the speaker's attitude toward the action of the sentence. English handles most such nuances through its modal auxiliaries and adverbials, but it retains some distinctive forms for the imperative and subjunctive. Unless so marked, English verbs are assumed to be in the indicative mood, which as the default mood carries no special meaning.
Multi-Word Verb
Function like one verb but is composed of two separate words, usually a normal verb and a particle.
Nominal
Any expression which can serve a sentence function normally served by a noun or noun phrase--for example, subject.
Nominal Relative Clauses
A relative clause used in a nominal position like subject.
Nominative Case
The case of pronouns used as subjects and, in formal writing, as subject complements. Sometimes also called subjective.
Non-Count Noun
A more descriptive term for mass nouns.
Non-Finite
Tenseless.
Non-Restrictive
A post-modifying element in an NP which can be eliminated without rendering ambiguous the identity of what is being discussed. It is used particularly of relative clauses. Non-restrictive relative clauses must be set off by punctuation (usually commas), and other non-restrictive post-modifiers may be. The opposite of restrictive
Noun
A word which by itself or with modifiers can occupy a nominal position like subject or object. Most nouns can be inflected to show the possessive case and the plural.
Noun Clause
Term sometimes used for clausal nominals like that- clauses.
Noun Modifier
A noun used to modify another noun.
Noun Phrase (NP)
A phrase headed by a noun. The specifier for an NP is called a determiner.
Number
As a feature of nouns, pronouns, or verbs, this can be either singular or plural in English. Cardinal and ordinal numbers also compose a word category capable of serving as a nominal or postdeterminer
Object
Used in traditional grammar for the complements of transitive verbs, the direct object and the indirect object, and the complements of prepositions.
Object Complement
The second complement taken by a complex transitive verb, it has the same relationship to the first complement (the ) as a subject complement does to the subject, hence the name.
Object Predicative
Another name for an object complement.
Objective Case
A separate case in English only for pronouns, where it is used for all cases in which the pronoun is serving as a complement. It can also be used for the subject of gerund phrases. Also called accusative.
Of-Genitive
A prepositional phrase with of taking as its complement an NP that would otherwise be a possessive NP.
Open Class of Words
A part of speech which is constantly being added to by the creation and borrowing of new members. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are all open class parts of speech.
Operator
The modal or other verb which carries the INFL element in yes/no questions and negative sentences.
Optative Mood
A verb mood expressing desirability. If one thinks of mood as requiring inflection of the verb, English has folded this use into the subjunctive. In practice, modern English uses various modals for this meaning more often than not.
Ordinal Number
Numbers indicating place in some order, as first, second, last
Part of Speech
A category of words, a word class. Traditional grammar recognized eight parts of speech: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection.
Parts of Verbs
See verb.
Passive
A verb structure in which the subject position is occupied by what would normally be a complement of a transitive verb.
Past Participle
A verb form which functions as part of the structures for perfect aspect (when preceded by a form of have) and passive voice (when preceded by a form of be). In a noun phrase, it can serve as a premodifier or head a postmodifying participle phrase. In regular English verbs it is formed with the same -ed as the simple past, but it is sometimes called the -en or +n participle because of irregular verbs which form it in that way--e.g., been, gone.
Patient
Another term applied to the semantic role of theme.
Perfect
A verb aspect indicating that the verb's action is or was completed (depending on whether present or past perfect) at the time indicated by the main tense. It is made up by a form of have followed by a past participle of the next verb in the expression.
Person
An attribute of personal pronouns with which any verb they govern must agree. First person (I, we) includes the speaker(s). Second person (you) includes the person(s) addressed. Third person is everything else. For purposes of agreement, English expressions are assumed to be third person unless a pronoun is present that explicitly identifies them otherwise.
Personal Pronouns
A small set of words in which English retains distinctions in gender, person, and case which it has otherwise abandoned. The term is sometimes limited to the pronouns expressive the nominative (subjective) and objective (accusative) case (I/me/, you, he/him, she/her, it, we/us, and they/them), but the possessive pronouns (like my/mine) clearly serve as the possessive case for these, and the reflexive pronouns obviously derive from them. There is some duplication of forms. In the table below, repeated forms are italicized. See also nominative, objective, number, gender, and person.
personnumber & gender personal possessive reflexive
nominativeobjective dependentindependent
1stsingular Imemyminemyself
pluralweusouroursourselves
2ndsingular
you
your
yours
yourself
plural yourselves
3rdmasculine singular hehim
his
himself feminine singular she
her
hersherself neuter singular
it
its
itself
plural theythemtheirtheirsthemselves
Phrasal Verb
A verb + particle multi-word verb. May be restricted to cases in which the particle serves as an adverb and may (when transitive) move behind the direct object.
Phrase
In traditional grammar, a phrase is a meaningful structure less complete than a clause but more complex than a single word. If one treats clauses as inflection phrases (IPs) and complementizer phrases (CPs), the distinction disappears, since the structure--specifier, head, complement--is the same.
Phrase Structure Trees
A way of visually presenting the structure of phrases and larger units.
Place Adverbs
Adverbs which indicate the location, source, destination, or direction of the action of the verb modified or, when predicative adverbs (A HREF="#subcomp">subject complements), of the subject. Also called locatives.
Possessive Case
The case of English nouns and pronouns used to convey possession and a variety of other relationships.
Possessives
Possessive personal pronouns and possessive nouns.
Post-Determiner
Words which may occupy the determiner position in a noun phrase, either by themselves or following a central determiner like the.
Post-Modifier
Optional modifying words, phrases, and clauses which follow the head noun in a noun phrase..
PreDeterminer
Words which can be used in the determiner position, either by themselves or preceding a central determiner like the.
Predicate
The verb and its complements (or objects) and adjunct modifiers (optional adverbials), if any--the VP. In traditional usage, includes all auxiliary verbs as well.
Predicate Adjectives
An adjective or adjective phrase serving as a subject complement.
Predicate Adverbials
A word, phrase, or clause used as a place or time adverbial in the subject complement position.
Predicate Nominative
An NP or other nominal used as a subject complement. With pronouns, this in theory requires the nominative case, though the result may sound excessively formal.
Predicative Complement
See subject complement.
PreModifier
Optional modifying elements in a noun phrase which come between the determiner (if any) and the head noun.
Preparatory it
Same as the anticipatory it.
Prepositions
A closed class of words like in and by which serve as heads of prepositional phrases.
Prepositional Phrase (PP)
Usually a preposition and its complement, most often a noun phrase. May have a degree word as a specifier.
Prepositional Verb
May be used for verb+particle multi-word verbs when the particle seems to function primarily as a preposition.
Prescriptive Grammar
A grammar intended to say what the rules for correct use of a language should be. A prescriptive grammar may deplore certain usages as illogical or unnecessary even when such usages are common among speakers of a language's prestige dialect.
Present Participle
Formed by adding ing- to the base form of the verb. Used to form the progressive aspect. By themselves or as heads of phrases, present participles may modify nouns or serve as nominals--in the later case, though, they are called gerunds and some texts distinguish them sharply from participles.
Preterit
The simple past tense form of a verb. Also spelled as preterite or praeterite.
Primary Auxiliary
When be and have are used as auxiliary verbs, they are sometimes referred to as the "primary" auxiliaries.
Progressive
An verb aspect with a form of be as an auxiliary followed by the present participle of the next verb in the expression. It generally indicates that the action of the verb is or was in progress at the time indicated by the tense of the expression as a whole, but it has a variety of other uses.
Pronoun
A word category which can take the place of a noun or noun phrase as a subject or object but differs from nouns in significant ways. This category is used as a catch-all including demonstratives, personal pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and various indefinite pronouns.
Pronoun Reference
Pronouns should agree in number, gender, and person with the nominal referred to, and it should be clear what that nominal is.
Proper Noun
The name of an individual person or thing.
Pro-Verb
Do and do so sometimes substitute for verbs and verb phrases in a way parallel to the relationship of pronouns and nominals.
Pseudo-Cleft
A form of cleft sentence in which the noun phrase to be stressed becomes the subject complement, a form of be is the main verb, and the rest of the original sentence because a WH-clause subject nominal.
Qualifier
Another term for degree word or intensifier.
Most quantifiers can serve as both postdeterminers and pronouns--for example, enough, few, less, many, more, much, or several. As determiners, some are used only with count nouns (e.g., few, many) and some are used only with mass nouns (e.g., less, much).
Quasi-Modal.
A verb or phrase that functions like a modal--for example be going to for will. Unlike true modals, they can be used with other modals or quasi-modals in the same verb sequence. Also called semi-auxiliaries.
Recipient
The thematic role of the recipient or beneficiary of the action. Particularly used for indirect objects of active ditransitive verbs.
Recursive
Another term borrowed from mathematics, this refers to structures and operations which can be endlessly repeated. English has many such, which is why we can say that it can produce an infinitive number of sentences.
Reduced Relative Clause
A relative clause that has undergone WHis-DELETION.
Reflective Personal Pronouns
A closed class consisting of myself, himself, yourself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. Ourseslf and themself are acceptable variants, but hisself and theirselves are non-standard. Used as the objective case when there is an earlier use of a pronoun in the same person and number. Also used for emphasis.
Relative Adverb
An adverbial pronoun like where or when used to introduce a relative clause.
Relative Clause
A clause introduced by one of the relative pronouns, or such a clause after it has undergone that-DELETION. Normally used to post-modify nominals, though such clauses may be extraposed and one also finds occasional nominal relative clauses and sentential relative clauses.
Relative Determiner
The relative pronouns whose and which can serve as relative pronouns while in the determiner position. In such cases, WH-MOVEMENT moves the entire noun phrase to the beginning of the relative clause.
Restrictive
A term usually applied to postmodifying relative clauses, though in theory applicable to most post-modifiers of nouns. A restrictive relative is information necessary to help the listener or reader identify the particular instance of the modified NP which is under discussion--e.g., "the student who came late" makes it clear we are talking only about the one student who was late to class--as opposed to other students who might be around. Restrictive relative clauses are not set off with commas. The opposite of non-restrictive
Reverse WH-Cleft
The same as an inverted Pseudo-Cleft sentence.
Semantic Role
Alternative term for thematic role.
Semi-Auxiliaries
Another term for quasi-modals.
Sensory Verbs
A set of verbs which are normally transitive but can be used as linking verbs taking subject complements (usually AdjP), particularly feel, look, smell, sound, taste.
Sentence Fragment
A clause which either (1) lacks one of the required constituents of an independent clause (as a tensed verb or a subject), or (2) is introduced by a subordinator which marks it as a dependent clause.
Sentence
A grammatically complete expression in a given language. English has different forms for declarative, exclamatory, imperative, and interrogative sentences.
Sentence Adverbial
A word or phrase which modifies an entire independent clause or sentence. Sometimes restricted to disjuncts.
Sentential Relative Clauses
A relative clause almost always headed by which and serving as a sentence adverbial modifying and commenting on the entire previous clause or sentence.
Shibboleth
In Biblical Hebrew this meant an ear of corn or a torrent of water. Its modern use reflects an incident in the book of Judges where the tribe of Ephraim had lost a battle to the Gileadites: "Then the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. Whenever one of the fugitives of Ephraim said 'Let me go over', the men of Gilead would say to him, 'Are you an Ephraimite?' When he said 'No', they said to him, 'Then say Shibboleth,' and he said 'Sibboleth,' for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites fell at that time." It is used in our society for points of usage (including pronunciation) which are used to distinguish groups, usually in a negative way. Since such distinctions tend to be wholly arbitrary, it is also used to refer to strongly held common beliefs of little merit.
Simple Subject
The head noun of a subject noun phrase, with which the tensed verb should agree in number.
Specifier
In English, the constituent of a phrase which comes before the head. (Optional elements like premodifying adjectives in NPs are excluded.)
Split Infinitive
Arises when another word or phrase comes within an infinitive phrase between the infinitive marker to and the verb. The structure thus carries a minor cost in clarity, which may be offset by its making clearer which verb is being modified.
Stative
Verbs expressing a state or condition and thus not usually found in the progressive aspect. May also be used of adjectives of the same character, which are not usually found as subject complements with progressive forms of be as the main verb.
Stranded Preposition
A preposition left behind when its nominal complement is fronted by WH-movement.
Subject
In a declarative sentence, the NP or nominal which would normally come before the verb and with which the verb agrees in number and person. Used by extension for the equivalent expression in imperative or interrogative forms of the statement.
Subject Complement
The complement of a linking verb, so called because it provides an attribute of the verb's subject. Also known as subject predicative or predicative complement.
Subject Predicative
Another name for a subject complement
Subjective
Another term for nominative case.
Subjunctive
In English, this mood may be used to express that an action is only hypothetical or wished for. In the present tense, the subjunctive is marked by the use of the base form of the verb where it would not otherwise appear. In the past tense, the only surviving inflection is the use of the plural were where one would normally find was. The use of subjunctive forms marks prose as rather formal, sometimes overly so.
Subordinate Clause
A clause which serves as a dependent constituent of another clause.
Subordinating Conjunction
A word introducing a dependent clause if one regards it as a kind of conjunction. Alternatively called subordinator. They are sometimes used to introduce constituents other than clauses, though a full clause is usually implied--e.g., "if any" implies "if there are any."
Subordinator
A word class used to introduce a dependent clause--i.e., another term for a word traditionally classified as a subordinating conjunction.
Superlative
Many basic English adjectives and adverbs can be inflected for the superlative by adding the -est ending, indicating the high end of the property referred to. Best and worst are superlatives created by suppletion. Most new adjectives use a phrasal superlative with most instead of the inflection.
Syntactic Expletive
See expletive
Syntax
How sentences are formed in language
Tag Questions
A question form which turns statements into questions by appending auxiliaries and pronouns--e.g., "isn't it?" or "have you?"
Tense
English inflects verbs for present or past tense only, categories loosely (but only loosely) tied to the time of the action of the verb. The notion of tense is sometimes extended to include progressive and perfect, and the term "future tense" is sometimes applied to expressions beginning with the modal auxiliary will.
That-Clause
A noun clause with that as the complementizer.
That-Deletion
The optional deletion of that as a complementizer or of any restrictive relative pronoun.
Theta-Criterion
The theory that each argument of a verb can play only one thematic role and that each role can be played by only one argument.
Thematic Role
The semantic role played by a constituent of a particular IP.
Theme
The thematic role played by someone or something undergoing the effect of the verb's action.
Time Adverb
An adverb or adverbial indicating a point in time or duration.
Trace
An empty place marked with a t in PS-trees, left when a sentence constituent has moved
TP
Tense Phrase, an alternative label for Inflection Phrase (IP).
Transitive
When a predicate needs a nominal complement to complete its meaning, it is a transitive predicate, and its verb is said to be transitive. Verbs which can, as used, take other complements or no complements are not transitive. Prepositions with complements may also be regarded as transitive if one distinguishes between transitive and intransitive prepositions.
Verb
A word used in such a way that it can be inflected for the past and the 3rd-person singular and to form present and past participles. It can head the complement of an infinitive phrase. Notice that most of the modal auxiliaries are not true verbs by this definition, which is why linguists often treat them as a different word class altogether. For all English verbs but be, one can predict all uses if one knows the base form, the third-person present singular, the simple past (preterite), and the past participle; for regular verbs, just knowing the base form allows one to predict the rest. The present participle is completely predictable from the base form but is often included when the principal parts of English verbs are listed. The table below shows the principal parts for a representative set of verbs:
Base Form3rd Per Pres SingSimple Past (Preterite)Present ParticiplePast Participle
walkwalkswalkedwalkingwalked
beiswas,werebeingbeen
gogoeswentgoinggone
beginbeginsbeganbeginningbegun
buildbuildsbuiltbuildingbuilt
dodoesdiddoingdone
feelfeelsfeltfeelingfelt
havehashadhavinghad
hithitshithittinghit
winwinswonwinningwon
knowknowsknewknowingknown
mowmowsmowedmowingmown
runrunsranrunningrun
singsingssangsingingsung
thinkthinksthoughtthinkingthought
Notes: The pattern of walk is used for all regular English verbs. Be is the most irregular of all English verbs. Unlike all others, its third person singular form is not related to the base form, and it uses forms other than the base form (am, are) for other present singular persons and the plural. It also distinguishes between singular (was) and past (forms) of the simple past. Go is the only other verb whose past form (went) is completely unrelated to the base form. Some other irregular verbs use -n endings for past participles, form the simple past and/or participle by vowel change, or repeat the base form. The remaining verbs on the table above illustrate some of the possibilities.
Verb Phrase (VP)
A phrase headed by a verb.
Very Test
Gradable adjectives and adverbs combine easily with degree words like very as a specifier. Degree words can also serve as specifiers in prepositional phrases.
Vocative
Traditionally, the case of a noun used to indicate the persons or other entities being addressed. English has no inflection to mark the vocative use of nominals, but it does set them off with commas.
Voice
Refers to the kind of subjects and objects taken by a transitive verb. English expresses the passive voice with a special structure; the default is active voice.
WH-Clause
A clause containing a fronted WH-word (e.g., who, when, but also how).
WH-Cleft
The same as a pseudo-cleft sentence.
WH-MOVEMENT
Moving a WH-pronoun to the front of the clause, as when forming relative clauses or WH-questions.
WH-Question
A WH-clause in which the fronted WH-word is being used as an interrogative pronoun.
WHis-DELETION
Relative clauses in which the relative pronoun is followed immediately by a form of be, whether as a main verb or auxiliary, can have both the pronoun and the be deleted. Many non-clausal pre- and postmodifiers can be thought of as reduced relative clauses and products of WHis-DELETION.
X-Bar Theory
Given any phrase (CP, NP, etc.), which we may call XP, its structure will be binary, with the X-bar portion being the head and its complement, which serve within the XP as the complement of the specifier.
Yes-No Questions
A common question form, which assumes that the answer will be either "yes" or "no"--e.g. "Does time fly?"
Zero Relative
A relative clause which has undergone That- DELETION may be said to have a zero relative as its pronoun.