Linguistic terminology
Concrete noun
a noun that refers to a physical thing
Abstract noun
a noun that refers to something non physical
e.e sadness
Proper noun
a noun that serves as the name for a specific place, person or thing
Collective noun
a noun that refers to some sort of group or collective
Dynamic verb
a verb used to indicate an action, process
e.e to run, to hit, to savour
Stative verb
often relate to thoughts, opinions and feelings and emotions
e.e. agree, hate
Main verb
the important verb in a sentence, the one that typically shows the action or state of being of the subject
Primary verb
do, be and have
Modal verbs
show possibility, intent
e.e. must, might, should, must
Comparative adjective
used to compare diferences between the two objects
e.e taller, smarter, smaller
Superlative adjective
used to describe an object which is at the upper or lower limit of a quality
e.e smallest, tallest, fastest
Descriptive adjective
adds information to nouns or pronouns
e.e beautiful, brilliant, funny
Personal pronoun
takes the place of a particular person or thing
e.e I, me, you, us
Possesive pronoun
pronouns that are used to indicate the ownership (posession) of something or someone or someone by something or someone else
e.e mine, ours, yours
Demonstrative pronoun
pronouns that point to specific things
e.e this, that, these and those
Reflexive pronoun
they refer back to a person or a thing
e.e myself, yourself, himself, herself
Indefinite pronoun
a non-specific person or thing
e.e. anything, something, anyone, everyone
Reciprocal pronoun
a pronoun that both performs and recieves the action in a sentence
Relative pronoun
a pronoun that connects a noun or pronoun to an adjective clause
Interrogative pronoun
a pronoun used to ask a question
e.e which, what, who, whom
Definite article determiner
used to refer to a specific, known noun
e.e the, this, that, those, these
Indefinite article determiner
used to refer to a noun that is not specific or known
e.e. a, an. any, some, many
Ordinal determiner
one, two, three, twenty
Cardinal determiner
first, second, third
Possesive determiner
a determiner indicating possession
my, your, his, her, its, our, their and whose
Demonstrative determiner
they come before a noun to indicate quantity and location
e.e this, that, these, those
Preposition
a word that shows a noun or pronoun's position
e.e on, at, in, behind, with, below
Adverb of manner
describes how you do an action
e.e. sadly, slowly, like a.., without a sound
Adverb of frequency
a word that expresses how often an action occurs
e.e always, usually, often, never
Adverb of time
a word that describes or modifies when an action occurs.
e.e. yesterday, immediately, soon, never
Adverb of place
tells us where something happens
e.e inside, far, above, near
Declarative sentence moods
when a speaker makes a declaration or claim
e.e i love pizza, the sky is blue
Interrogative sentence moods
used to ask questions
e.e do you like tea?
Imperative sentence moods
inflicts a direct command
e.e. stop!, go to your room
Exclamatory sentence moods
used to express strong emotions, such as excitement, surprise, joy or anger
e.e. Wow!, that is a beautiful dress
Noun
a word that refers to a thing
(book)
Verb
a word that indicates a physical action, mental action or a state of being
(drive) (think) (exist)
Adjectival phase
a group of words that do the job of an adjective
e.e. well-behaved
Phrasal verb
a combination of 2 words or more , usually a verb and a preposition that create a phrase with a different meaning
e.e. break up, carry on
Past participle
e.e burnt, broken, rewarded
Present participle
e.e. burning, breaking, rewarding
Alternate rhyme
a rhyming final sound of every other line in a stanza. For example, if you had a four-line stanza, the final word of the first and third lines would rhyme, and the second and fourth lines would rhyme too
Apostrophe
an address to a dead or absent person, or personification as if he or she were present
Caesura
a pause in the middle of a line in poetry
End focus
the placing of the most important information in a sentence at the end
End stopped line
a line of poetry in which a sentence or phrase comes to a conclusion at the end of the line
Enjambment
the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next. An enjambed line typically lacks punctuation at its line break, so the reader is carried smoothly and swiftly—without interruption—to the next line of the poem.
Iambic
a rhythm structure, used mostly in poetry, that combines unstressed syllables and stressed syllables in groups of five.
composed of ten syllables arranged in five metrical feet (iambs)
Trochaic
a type of metrical foot consisting of two syllables—the first is stressed and the second is an unstressed syllable.
Internal rhyme
a rhyme that is created within a singular line of poetry
Lexical set
a group of words with the same topic, function or form.
Pentameter
five iambs per line
Tetrameter
four iambs per line
Quatrain
a type of stanza which consists of four lines
Rhyme scheme
the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem
Rhyming couplet
a pair of successive lines that rhyme
Semantic field
a collection of words which are related to one another
a lexical set
Sonnet
a one-stanza, 14 line poem written in iambic pentameter
Stanza
a group set of lines within a poem
Tercet
composed of three lines, forming a stanza or a complete poem
Tone
conveys the author's attitude toward the subject, speaker, or audience of a poem.
Volta
the Italian word for “turn,” a volta is a rhetorical shift that marks the change of a thought or argument in a poem.
Alliteration
the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words
Anachronism
someone or something placed in an inappropriate period of time
Anaphora
word or expression is repeated at the beginning of a number of sentences, clauses, or phrases
Anthropomorphism
the interpretation of nonhuman things or events in terms of human characteristics
Antithesis
placing direct opposites side by side, creating a contrast
Assonance
the similarity in sound between two syllables that are close together
Connotation
an idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
Foreshadowing
used to give an indication or hint of what is to come later in the story
Hyperbole
a figure of speech that is an intentional exaggeration for emphasis or comic effect
Narrative perspective
the perspective from which the story is told.
Onomatopoeia
a word that sounds like the noise it describes
Oxymoron
a figure of speech that combines contradictory words with opposing meanings
e.e. old news, awfully good
Parallelism
when words or phrases are repeated in succession and agree in both grammar and meaning. The famous line by Julius Caesar of "I came, I saw, I conquered" is an example of parallelism because each phrase begins with I and they all agree grammatically as well as in meaning.
Pathetic fallacy
the attribution of human emotion to inanimate objects, nature or animals
Personification
a type of metaphor that gives human characteristics to inanimate objects and animals, such as emotions and behaviors
Rhetorical question
a question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer
Sibilance
when a hissing sound is created in a group of words through the repetition of 's' sounds
Similie
a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing
(like, as, so, than)
Metaphor
stating that one thing is another.
e.e. the chef is a magician
Zoomorphism
where animal attributes are imposed on non-animal objects.
Adjacency pair
an example of turn talking
Back-channeling
occur in a conversation when a speaker is talking and a listener interjects.
used to show the listeners understanding, agreement and interest.
("yeah", "uh huh", "right"
Deixis
a word or phrase that shows the time, place or situation a speaker is in when talking
Elision
the omission of a sound
e.e "fish n chips"
"i dont know" - "i duno"
Ellipsis
a verb or part of a verb phrase is missing
leaving out words rather than repeating them unnecessarily; for example, saying 'I want to go but I can't' instead of 'I want to go but I can't go'.
False start
The act of beginning an utterance and subsequently aborting it prior to completion.
A new idea or train of thought.
Filled pause
a non-silent pause in an otherwise fluent speech, where instead of a silent pause there is a filler
e.e um, uh, erm, well, so, i mean
Filler
a sound or word that participants in a conversation use to signal that they are pausing to think but are not finished speaking.
e.e. you know, ah, um
Hedge
a way of avoiding giving a direct answer or opinion
e.e. "seem" "think" "believe"
Hesitation
pausing for a moment before you continue speaking
Micropause
a small pause in conversation
(often timed)
Non-fluency feature
features of spoken discourse that disrupt the flow of speech
e.e. false starts, fillers, hesitations, and repetition
Overlaps and interruptions
Interruption is when a listener interjects and takes the speaker's place, which results in the speaker not talking, but becoming a listener. Overlap is when a listener interjects but the speaker doesn't stop talking, which results in two speakers talking at the same time.
Paralinguistic feature
Body language, gestures, facial expressions, tone and pitch of voice are all examples of paralinguistic features. Paralinguistic features of language are extremely important as they can change message completely.
Phatic talk
small talk in a non-formal environment
Prosodic feature
accent, stress, rhythm, tone, pitch, and intonation
can add meaning to the things we say, show our emotions, and add structure and clarity to our speech.
Tag question
statements which are turned into questions by adding something at the end
e.e. im never on time, am I?
Taking the floor
start speaking in a debate or discussion
Turn-taking
occurs in a conversation when one person listens while the other person speaks. As a conversation progresses, the listener and speaker roles are exchanged back and forth
Utterance
a continuous piece of speech, by one person