Synonyms and antonyms of The grammatical behavior of words in American Thesaurus

agree with (linguistics)

linguistics when a verb group changes according to whether its subject is singular or plural. In English, this affects only the simple present, which adds an ‘s’ to the infinitive in the third person singular: ‘I want’ but ‘she wants’. The verbs ‘be’, ‘have’, and ‘do’ are irregular: ‘I am’, ‘you are', ‘she is’; ‘I have’, ‘she has’; and ‘I do’, ‘she does’. In the sentences ‘A thorough search was carried out’, ‘It doesn’t matter’, and ‘The course has given me more confidence’, the verb groups ‘was carried out’, ‘doesn’t matter’, and ‘has given’ all agree with their subjects.

backshift (noun)

the way in which a present tense changes to a past tense, or a past tense to a past perfect tense, in reported speech

cataphora (noun)

the use of a word or phrase in a sentence which stands for a word or phrase that is used later. An example of cataphora is the use of the word “she” in the sentence “She was running late, so Sue grabbed a quick sandwich.”

cohesion (noun)

linguistics a relationship between sentences or parts of a piece of writing that is shown by particular words or phrases

collocate (verb)

words that collocate are often used together

collocation (noun)

the fact that a word collocates with other words

comparison (noun)

linguistics changes in the form of an adjective or adverb to show that someone or something has more of a quality, such as the change from “good” to “better” and “best”

complementation (noun)

the words or phrases used as complements in a sentence

conjugate (verb)

to state the different forms a verb can have, for example according to the number of people it refers to and whether it refers to the present, past, or future

conjugate (verb)

if a verb conjugates, it has different forms

construction (noun)

the way in which words are put together to form a sentence or phrase

declension (noun)

the process by which the form of nouns, adjectives, or pronouns changes in some languages depending on their relationship to other words in a sentence

decline (verb)

linguistics if a noun, adjective, or pronoun declines, its form changes depending on its relationship to other words in a sentence

decline (verb)

to list all the forms of the declension of a noun, adjective, or pronoun

deep structure (noun)

the logical relationships on which the different parts of a phrase or sentence are based

ellipsis (noun)

the practice of leaving a word or words out of a sentence when they are not necessary for understanding it

inflect (verb)

linguistics if a word inflects, you change its form to go with the grammar of the other words you are using with it

inflect (verb)

if a language inflects, it has words that do this

inflection (noun)

linguistics changes in the basic form of a word to show something such as tense or number

inflection (noun)

an addition or a change to the basic form of a word

lexical priming (noun)

the theory of lexical priming suggests that each time a word or phrase is heard or read, it occurs along with other words (its collocates). This leads you to expect it to appear in a similar context or with the same grammar in the future, and this ‘priming’ influences the way you use the word or phrase in your own speech and writing.

modify (verb)

linguistics to add to the meaning of another word or a phrase by giving more information about it

passivize (verb)

to change a sentence so that the verb becomes passive

postmodification (noun)

the fact of coming after the most important word in a noun group (the head) and adding information about it. For example, in the noun group "the rules of the game," the prepositional phrase "of the game" is an example of postmodification.

premodification (noun)

the fact of coming before the most important word in a noun group (the head) and adding information about it. For example, in the noun group "the best people," "the" and "best" are examples of premodification.

priming (noun)

the process by which words gain associations with other words or with particular meanings

qualify (verb)

linguistics a word that qualifies another word gives more information about it. For example, in “the dog barked furiously,” the adverb “furiously” qualifies the verb “barked.”

subordination (noun)

linguistics a way of linking clauses so that one clause is dependent on another

surface structure (noun)

the structure that a sentence has when you consider only the classes of its words, which may be different when you also consider the meaning of the sentence, as opposed to the logical relationships on which this structure is based