-ing form

Formed by adding the suffix -ing to a verb, noun or adjective. They always express a sense of ongoing activity.
Used in the following ways:
present participle (non finite) (verbs)
Gerunds (nouns)
Adjectives
preposition
Verb in non-finite clause
participle in complex verb phrases
Adjective
a describing word. Many adjectives are formed from nouns or verbs by addition of AFFIXES. COMPOUND ADJECTIVES
are formed of two words, while others are derived of PARTICIPLES.
It can be modified by an ADVERB (very, really)
COMPARATIVE or SUPERLATIVE
When they follow a linking verb they are PREDICATIVE - The Princess is beautiful.
ATTRIBUTATIVE when precede a noun - the beautiful princess.
Adverb
Describe VERBS and ADJECTIVES. Often formed by adding "LY" to an ADJECTIVE. However, it is an enormous word
class and when in doubt it is said to classify a word as this. Can be PREMODIFIED by other adverbs.
Meanings include
manner, place, time, degree, frequency
Can also including FOCUSING FUNCTION. - It was only 3 euros.
Most an be at beginning, middle or end of a sentence but many are limited. Never go between the verb and it' s object.
Adverbial
One of five possible elements in a CLAUSE or SENTENCE. It functions like an ADVERB
1. contributes circumstantial information.
2. comments on what is being expressed
3. links clauses or sentences
Can be single words or adverb phrases
In winter, generally speaking, it freezes. As a result, the pipes burst.
Affix
Affixation
An element (BOUND MORPHEME) that is added to a
word to change its meaning. A PREFIX or SUFFIX can
change a word to ANTONYM or the WORD CLASS.
Grammatical affixation changes tense.
Antonym
A word which is opposite in meaning to another word. There are degrees of oppositeness and senses
hot-cold (GRADABLE)
alive-dead (COMPLEMENTARY, NON-GRADABLE)
buy-sell (CONVERSENESS)
Opposites also depend on context
dry-wet = weather
dry-sweet = wine
Article
A DETERMINER placed before a NOUN that tells us whether the noun is definite (the) or indefinite (a/an).
INDEFINITE - indicates it is one of many or being introduced for the first time. Only used with singular
countable nouns.
DEFINITE - indicates that there is only one or shared knowledge.
ZERO ARTICLE - plural or singular uncountable nouns (indefinite function)
There are many idiomatic expressions that are difficult to categorise and are exceptions to the rule.
Aspect
The speaker's view of an event expressed in a verb phrase.
PROGRESSIVE and PERFECT aspects exist in English. Both are formed by
AUXILIARY VERBS and PARTICIPLES.
Progressive = be + present participle (ing)
Perfect = have + past participle (ed (usually))
Difficult to teach because different languages have different systems of aspect.
Auxiliary Verb
Modal Auxiliary Verb
They have a grammatical function and there are two types - primary (be, do, have) and MODAL AUXILIARIES (can, will
would).
The primary auxiliary verbs are used to express ASPECT and VOICE (active/passive).
Change form according to TENSE, NUMBER and PERSON.
The OPERATOR is the first verb and performs the following functions:
negation, inversion, emphasis, ellipsis, question tags
DUMMY OPERATOR = do/did
Often have weak forms (unstressed) and strong forms (stressed) and can be contracted.
Ls find difficult as sometimes are difficult to spot weak forms and the dependence on auxiliaries for grammatical function is
different from many languages - many languages are highly inflected
Causative
A passive construction formed with have/get + noun phrase + ed.
1. Used when someone causes something to be done - typically a service - by someone else.
2. To talk about experiences.
Also describes verbs used to talk about people causing events - started the fire, felled the tree
Spoken language more often than written.
Clause
Finite and Non-Finite
The largest grammatical unit in a sentence and usually contains a verb with a few exceptions.
Other elements include subject, object, complement and adverbial.
FINITE = contains a FINITE VERB that is marked for tense and agrees with the subject
NON-FINITE = has a PARTICIPLE or an INFINITIVE as its verb.
VERBLESS = ellipsis(?)
Cleft Sentence
A sentence that is split to foreground one element in a
sentence in relation to others.
It was Dorothy who was in the Wizard of Oz (not Jean).
Relates to context.
Cognate
False Cognate
A word that has a similar meaning in another language. This is
because the word derives from the same source.
FALSE COGNATE = a word that looks the same in two languages
but have two different meanings. eg. embarrassed and embarazada.
Collocation
Describes words that occur together more frequently than normal. (bed and breakfast/ catch and bus). There
are strong collocations and weak collocations, grammatical collocations (i.e. verb+ preposition) and lexical
collocations ie noun+noun). FIXED EXPRESSIONS are collocations of words that rarely or never occur
without each other.
narrow escape (lexical/strong)
depend on (grammatical/strong)
narrow path (lexical/weak)
moot point (fixed expression)
Complement
The clause element that follows LINKING VERBS, such as "be" and
"seem" and which provides further information about the
SUBJECT. e.g. My brother is a nurse.
Can also add more information about the OBJECT - e.g. some like it
hot.
Complex Sentence
A sentence that contains a main clause and
one or more subordinate clauses e.g. This
is the house - that Jack built.
Compound Sentence
A sentence that contains only two co-
ordinate clauses. e.g. Jack fell down and
broke his leg.
Concord
In English, this is the agreement between
the subject and the verb, e.g. I am, you are,
etc.
Conditional
Sentences that express imaginary or hypothetical situations and usually
contain a modal verb. Consist of two clauses, main and conditional
(subordinate clause) that can be real or unreal. Unreal conditional clauses are
backshifted in tense. Generally organised into 3 or 4 types for teaching
purposes but this does not include the mixed conditional clauses.
CONJUNCTIONS introduce the conditional clause = if, provided that, unless.
Conjunction
Co-ordinating and Subordinating
Members of a word class that join words, phrases, clauses and
sentences.
CO-ORDINATING - join to equal clauses together - and, but, so
SUBORDINATING - join a subordinating clause to a main clause -
if, because, when
Connotation
The good, bad, humorous or other associations. Often culturally
determined so difficult for Ls to understand. e.g. propaganda and
collaborator have negative connotations in English but their
COGNATE forms in other languages are not so loaded.
Contraction
When a FUNCTION WORD is reduced and attached to an adjacent
word, e.g. won't. Most common in spoken language and informal
written texts. Most common contracts are subject pronoun +
auxiliary and modal auxiliary verbs - but not contracted when the
auxiliary is stressed.
Copular Verb
(Linking Verb)
Verbs that take an obligatory complement. The complement can be either a
noun phrase, or an adjective phrase and expresses a current or resulting
attribute. My tailor became rich. My tailor seems rich. Common copular verbs
are
be, appear, feel, look, seem, smell, become, get + adjective, go + adjective.
Declarative Sentence
Takes the form of a statement as opposed to an
interrogative or an imperative. Usually subject + verb +
object. Can be positive or negative.
Deixis
Deictic Reference
The language points to spatial, temporal and personal features of the context.
Personal deixis - I you they
Spatial = here, there (near and far)
Time = now and then
Sensitive to perspective so changes in REPORTED SPEECH
"I'll see you tomorrow" = "she said she'd see her the day after".
Can be projected to the deictic centre e.g. I'm coming over tomorrow. What shall I bring? NOT I'm going over
tomorrow. What shall I take?
Determiner
Words that come before nouns such as the, that, her, many and
limit the noun in some way. The choice of determiner depends on
whether the noun is countable or not. In the order of elements in a
NOUN PHRASE the determiner always comes first. Many
determiners are also pronouns e.g. Would you like some?
Finite Verb
Non-Finite Verb
FINITE - shows that they are related to the subject by have PERSON, NUMBER and TENSE.
She works for her father. They work for their father. They worked for their father.
NON-FINITE - Infinitive with or without to or present or past participles. e.g. Before working for
his uncle, Brad used to work for his father.
When there is more than one verb in a a verb phrase, the finite verb comes first.
Function Word
Words with a mainly grammatical function such as auxiliary verbs,
determiners, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and some adverbs,
such as adverb particles (up, down, off). They are very common and
make up to 1/3 to 1/2 of text. They carry a great deal of grammatical
meaning because English is not a heavily inflected language.
Gerund
A verb form that ends in -ing but which is
used in a sentence like a noun. For
example, "Swimming is good for you"
Homograph
Words that are written the same but have different
meanings and pronunciation.
A long and windy road
A dark and windy night.
Homonym
Words written and pronounced the same way but with a different
meaning.
What do you like to eat?
What do you look like?
Great source of jokes! English rich in homonyms.
Homophone
Words that are written differently and have different
meanings, but pronounced the same.
To, two and too.
Hyponym
Describes words that have a relationship with each other.
A mango is a type of fruit.
SUPERORDINATE is the umbrella word for a word
family, eg. fruit
Idiom
A word sequence whose meaning is not literal. Formulaic in that they are and understood as if they were a single unit.
Metaphorical - a hot potato
Restricted collocations - pitch black
Phrasal Verbs - pick up
Frozen Similes - as easy as pie
Binomials and trionimals - spick and span
proverbs and catchphrases - waste not want not
euphemisms - spend a penny
true - spill the beans
Used more often in informal and spoken than formal texts (ie. horoscopes that have a conversational tone)
Imperative
Non inflected base form of verb and normally without a subject. Negatives formed with DO NOT (DON'T)
before the base form. Emphasise with DO. LET used to express first person plural meaning (suggestion).
Common in instructions, directions, suggestions.
Can be face threatening so indirect forms normally preferred with strangers. TPR is a good way of practising.
Infinitive
A non-finite form of a verb with "to" or without "to" (bare infinitive). Bare infinitive always follows modal verbs. Can be
marked for aspect and voice. Main uses:
BARE INFINITIVE
follow modal verbs
verbs like help, make, let
verbs of perception - see, hear
TO INFINITIVE
some verbs + reporting verbs - offer, remember
some nouns - It' s time to be going
some adjectives - I' m sorry to hear
wh words - We don' t know what to do
express purpose - I stopped to look at the flowers
Subject - To err is human
constructions beginning "it + linking verb + adjective" - (It' s easy to forget)
Intensifier
Adverbs that modify adjectives and verbs by heightening
or lowering their intensity - rather, absolutely, very. Very
common in spoken language and they signal high
involvement on the part of the speaker.
Inversion
Where two grammatical elements are reversed, for example in a question. Less common are:
after adverbial expressions of place - here comes the judge.
reported speech - "You're late" said Terry
certain negative expressions - Seldom have I been so angry.
substitute for if - Had I known
after (not) only - Only then did I understand
Last three uses are literary.
Lexical Item
Any item that functions as a single meaning unit,
regardless of its different derived forms, or of the number
of words that make it up. e.g. idioms, phrasal verbs.
Lexical Verb
De-Lexicalised Verb
A content word that has some kind of dictionary meaning. I came, I saw, I
conquered are all lexical verbs.
A DE-LEXICALISED verb forms the verb element in a number of multi-word
expressions and have little or no dictionary meaning - take, get, make and go.
Lexical Word
Content Word
The main carriers of meaning in written and spoken texts. They belong
to the four main WORD CLASSES and are the words that remain when
you remove the FUNCTION WORDS. LEXICAL DENSITY measures the
proportion of lexical words as opposed to function words. Newspaper
reports often have a high density of lexical words.
Modal Verb
Most common way of expressing modality. There are 9 pure modal verbs that
do not have infinitive forms, participles or third person "s". They are placed
first in the verb phrase and each can express two kinds of meaning - extrinsic
and intrinsic. The main meanings are possibility, volition, permission, ability,
obligation, prediction, prediction, logical necessity. There are also semi-modal
verbs - ought to, have to, need to, be able to, used to and be going to.
Modality
The lexical and grammatical ways speakers express their attitude to what they
are saying.
EXTRINSIC = likelihood of situation (wonder, guess, think, perhaps, maybe,
possibly, will, may, can)
INTRINSIC = necessity or desirability (wish, promise, suggest, allow, hopefully,
ideally, should, can, have to)
Modifier
Adds further information to or modifies the head of a noun phrase. It can go before or after the
head (pre-modifier and post-modifier).
Pre-modifier - typical adjective, noun, possessive
Post-modifier - typically prepositional phrase, of construction , non-finite clause or a relative
clause.
Typical in journalism, technical and academic writing to form complex noun phrases to provide
a high lexical density.
Morphology
Morphology is the area of grammar concerned with the formation of words. The basic unit is the Morpheme.
There are two branches:
INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY describes the way that words are formed to convey different grammatical
meaning, eg. verbs - play = she played - the addition of ed changes the meaning of the verb to past time.
DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY is concerned with the way lexical words are formed to change meaning,
for example by affixation, eg. the verb help becomes an adjective with the addtion of the affix ful = helpful.
Negation
There are a variety of ways to express negation:
Not negation - auxiliary + not (usually contracted)
negative determiner - No thanks
not + time or quantity expression - not now
negative prounouns - nobody, nothing
negative words - never, neither, nor
negative affixes - un, less
Order of Acquisition:
no + verb
not + verb
don`t + verb
operator + not + verb
Noun
Largest word class in English constantly being added to. Refer to people,
places, things, and abstract entities. Can occur as subject or object of verb and
most have singular/plural forms. Take 's to indicate possession. Often formed
from affix to verb, adjective or other noun.
PROPER - specific people, places,
COMMON - countable and uncountable - concrete/abstract.
Noun Phrase
One of 5 types of phrase in English and typical form subject, object or
complement of clause. Consist of a HEAD that is pre-or post-modified
with a determiner, adjective and other nouns. Post-modified include
prepositional phrases and relative clauses. Structure of noun phrases
differs from language to language and Ls have difficulty with word order.
Object
The person or thing in a clause that is affected by the action of the verb. It is
usually a NOUN PHRASE or PRONOUN. Only TRANSITIVE verbs can take
objects - some take two DIRECT and INDIRECT. I gave the book to Sally.
An OBJECT QUESTION is a question without the object of the verb. What are
you doing later?
Parsing
The process of analysing sentences into their component parts and
was very common in traditional teaching. Used to describe the
unconcious mental process a reader or listener works out the
grammatical structure of sentences/utterances.
Phrasal Verb
A construction which is a combination of a verb and one
or two particles. The particle can be an adverb or a
preposition or both, eg. get on, get on with.
Question Tag
A kind of yes/no question that is added to a statement. The tag consists of two
words, a subject pronoun and an auxiliary verb (or the form of the verb "to
be"). The function of question tags is to invite the addressee to respond to the
statement. A rising intonation is used when the speaker is uncertain of his/her
statement, and a falling intonation is used when the speaker expects the
listener to agree with the statement.
Relative Clause
A clause which is attached to a noun phrase, which it modifies by
giving extra information. It cannot stand alone. It is often
introduced by a pronoun such as who, which, that, etc. eg The
restaurant that we ate in last week has closed down; Jules, who left
before all the others, still had not arrived.
Subject
The agent in a sentence or clause that causes the event
expressed by the verb. In passive sentences, it is the thing
or person affected by the action. eg. The thieves stole the
money. The money was stolen by thieves.