Types and forms of word, clause or sentence

in some languages, the form of a noun or pronoun that shows that it is the direct object of a verb

linguistics the part of a clause that shows when, where, how, or in what circumstances something happens. An adjunct usually consists of an adverb or adverb group, or a prepositional phrase, for example 'moreover', 'quite happily', and 'in the near future'.

allomorph (noun)

one of the forms that a morpheme can have. For example, the plural ending ‘-s’ has three allomorphs: /s/, /z/, and /iz/, as in the words ‘trucks’, ‘cars’, and ‘buses’.

allophone (noun)

linguistics one of the slightly different ways that a phoneme can be pronounced. For example, the /p/ in the word ‘pill’ is slightly different from the /p/ in the word ‘spill’.

antecedent (noun)

linguistics the antecedent of a word is the noun or phrase nearer the beginning of the sentence that it refers to. In the sentence ‘I threw the keys to him and he caught them’, ‘keys’ is the antecedent of ‘them’.

article (noun)

linguistics a type of determiner (=word used before a noun) that shows whether you are referring to a particular thing or to a general example of something. The indefinite article is ‘a’ or ‘an’ and the definite article is ‘the’.

case (noun)

linguistics a form of a noun, adjective, or pronoun in some languages that shows its relationship in grammar to other words in a sentence

clause (noun)

linguistics a group of words that contains a verb and often a subject, object, complement and adjunct. A sentence consists of one or more clauses. For example the sentence ‘If you can help, please get in touch’ has two clauses.

cleft sentence (noun)

a way of emphasizing a word or words by re-ordering the information in a sentence. A cleft sentence consists of impersonal ‘it’, the verb ‘be’, the important word or words, and a clause. For example the sentences ‘It is the answers that matter’ and ‘It was the money he wanted’ are cleft sentences. The non-emphatic alternatives would be ‘The answers matter’ and ‘He wanted the money’.

collocate (noun)

a word that is often used with another word

collocation (noun)

a collocate, or a particular combination of collocates

combining form (noun)

a form of a word that has its own meaning but is used only in combination with other words to make new words, for example -footed in ‘a four-footed animal’

complement (noun)

linguistics in active clauses, the part of a clause that comes after a linking verb such as ‘be’, ‘seem’, or ‘appear’ and identifies or describes the subject. A complement is usually a noun or adjective. For example in the sentences ‘Parking is always a problem in city-centres’ and ‘Sometimes the future seems very uncertain’, the complements are ‘a problem’ and ‘very uncertain’.

complex sentence (noun)

a sentence consisting of an independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses. Subordinate clauses usually begin with a subordinating conjunction like ‘because’, ‘as’, or ‘when’. For example, ‘As the 19th century came to an end, gold was discovered in Alaska and the Yukon’ is a complex sentence.

compound sentence (noun)

a sentence consisting of two or more independent clauses, linked by a coordinating conjunction such as ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘or’, or ‘plus’. For example ‘It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s the best I can suggest’ is a compound sentence.

concessive clause (noun)

a subordinate clause that begins with a conjunction such as ‘although’, 'while', or ‘whereas’, and makes a statement that is unexpected in some way, or contrasts with information in another clause. For example in the sentence ‘I’ve never met my neighbours, although I’ve lived here for five years’, the information after ‘although’ seems unexpected. In the sentence ‘Men have to wear business suits to the office, whereas women can wear what they like’ there is a contrast between the two clauses.

conditional clause (noun)

linguistics a subordinate clause that usually begins with a conjunction such as ‘if’ or ‘unless’, and states possible situations and events, while the independent clause states their results, for example in the sentences 'All these courses are free if you are a student or unemployed’ and ‘Unless immediate action is taken, more lives will be lost’

coordinate clause (noun)

an independent clause that is connected to another one of equal importance, often with a conjunction such as ‘and’, ‘but’, or ‘or’. For example in the sentence ‘He died and she married again’ there are two coordinate clauses.

dative (noun)

the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective that you use in some languages when it is the indirect object of a verb

declension (noun)

a group of nouns, adjectives, or pronouns in some languages that all change their form in the same way depending on their relationship to other words in a sentence

definite article (noun)

the word ‘the’ in English, or a similar type of word in another language

deixis (noun)

the use of words or phrases such as ‘you’, ‘there’, or ‘last month’ whose meaning depends on the situation in which they are used

direct question (noun)

a question that is asked directly, for example 'What's your name?' or 'Did they come by train?'

direct speech (noun)

British the exact words that someone has said. In writing, they are shown inside quotation marks.

discourse marker (noun)

words such as ‘however’ or ‘furthermore’ that provide a connection between ideas in written language

display question (noun)

a question asked by a teacher that allows students to display their knowledge

gender (noun)

linguistics the gender of a word is whether it is masculine, feminine, or neuter. In English, only pronouns like ‘he’ and ‘she’ and possessive determiners like ‘his’ and ‘her’ have gender, but in other languages such as French all nouns, pronouns etc have gender.

hypothetical meaning (noun)

a meaning that refers to situations which are unlikely or impossible. Hypothetical meaning is frequently expressed by conditional constructions.

indefinite article (noun)

the word ‘a’ or ‘an’ in the English language, or a word in another language that is used in a similar way

independent clause (noun)

a clause that contains a verb which shows time or tense, and usually a subject. An independent clause can be a sentence on its own, for example ‘Halley’s comet is named after the English astronomer’ is an independent clause.

indirect discourse (noun)

mainly American indirect speech

indirect question (noun)

the words that you use to report a question that someone else has asked, for example ‘She asked me where I was going.’

indirect speech (noun)

the words that you use to report what someone else has said, for example ‘He said we shouldn’t leave town.’

inflection (noun)

the form of a word that is not the basic form

interjection (noun)

linguistics a word or phrase used for expressing a strong emotion such as surprise or anger. ‘Oh’ and ‘ouch’ are interjections.

interrogative (noun)

a word or phrase that you use for asking a question, for example ‘what?’ or ‘how?’

lexeme (noun)

a word or group of words that has a meaning that cannot be understood from the meaning of the parts of which it consists

loan translation (noun)

a word or expression used in a language that has been translated from another language

locative (noun)

the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective that you use in some languages when you are talking about where someone or something is

locution (noun)

a word or phrase, especially one used by people in a particular area or from a particular group

masculine (noun)

a word or form of a word that belongs to the masculine group of nouns, pronouns, or adjectives

minimal pair (noun)

a pair of words that are different from each other in one sound only, for example pan and can

modifier (noun)

the part of a noun group, adjective group, or verb group that comes before the most important word (the head), and adds information about it. For example in the noun groups ‘dangerous games’, and ‘my maths teacher’, ‘dangerous’, ‘my’ and ‘maths’ are all modifiers. In some grammars, ‘modifier’ refers to words that come both before and after the head.

morpheme (noun)

the smallest unit of meaning in a language. A morpheme can be a whole word, for example ‘the’, or part of a word, for example ‘un’ in ‘unable’.

mot juste (noun)

exactly the right word or phrase

negative (noun)

linguistics a word or phrase that means ‘no’ or ‘not’. Verb groups with ‘no’ or ‘n’t’ are negatives, for example ‘I don’t understand’, and ‘I won’t comment’.

non-restrictive relative clause (noun)

a relative clause that gives extra information about a person, thing, or situation in the previous clause. There is usually a comma before the relative pronoun, indicating that the information in the relative clause is not essential. For example, in the sentence ‘None of the documents had a date, which was very confusing’, ‘which was very confusing’ is a non-restrictive relative clause.

number (noun)

linguistics the form of a word that shows whether you are referring to one thing or more than one thing

object (noun)

linguistics in active clauses, the part of a clause referring to the person or thing that is affected by the action of a verb. In English, the object is usually a noun group or pronoun, and comes after the verb. For example the sentence ‘I’ve promised the children new bicycles’ has two objects: ‘new bicycles’ is the direct object, and ‘the children’ is the indirect object.

paradigm (noun)

linguistics the complete set of the different forms of a word, for example student, student’s, students, and students’

partitive (noun)

a word or expression used for showing that only part of something is being referred to, rather than all of it. In the sentence ‘Have a piece of cake’, ‘a piece of’ is a partitive.

phrase (noun)

linguistics a word or words that act as a unit in a clause, such as a noun phrase, a verb phrase, or an adjective phrase. For example in the sentence ‘This road can get very busy ’, ‘this road’ is a noun phrase, ‘can get’ is a verb phrase, and ‘very busy’ is an adjective phrase.

pl. (abbreviation)

plural

the plural (noun)

a word or form used for referring to more than one person or thing. For example ‘students’ is the plural of ‘student’, and ‘mice’ is the plural of ‘mouse’.

plurality (noun)

linguistics the state of being plural

polysemy (noun)

the fact of having more than one meaning

poss. (abbreviation)

possessive

possessive (noun)

a possessive word or form of a word

predeterminer (noun)

a word that comes before a determiner (a word such as ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘his’, and ‘this’) and gives more information about a noun. For example in the noun groups ‘all my fingers’ and ‘half a loaf’, ‘all’ and ‘half’ are predeterminers.

predicate (noun)

the part of the sentence that contains the verb and its object or complements and gives more information about the subject, for example ‘was combing her hair’ in the sentence ‘Francesca was combing her hair’.

prepositional phrase (noun)

a prepositional phrase consists of a preposition followed by a noun group, pronoun, or ‘-ing’ form. A prepositional phrase is often an adjunct in a clause, for example in the sentences ‘I called about your advert’, and ‘I learned a lot from reading crime fiction', ‘about your advert’ and ‘from reading crime fiction’ are prepositional phrases.

pseudo-cleft sentence (noun)

a way of emphasizing part of a sentence by using a ‘what’ clause as its subject or complement, with a form of ‘be’ as the main verb. The sentences ‘What we should do is tell the truth’, and ‘A holiday in the mountains is what I really need’ are pseudo-cleft sentences. The non-emphatic alternatives would be ‘We should tell the truth’ and ‘I really need a holiday in the mountains’.

qualifier (noun)

linguistics the part of a noun group, adjective group, or verb group that comes after the most important word (the head), and adds information about it. For example in the noun group ‘the rules of the game’, the prepositional phrase ‘of the game’ is a qualifier.

quantifier (noun)

a word or phrase such as ‘much’ or ‘a few’ that is used with another word to show quantity

question tag (noun)

a short clause that you add to a statement to make it a question or to request agreement, for example ‘You called the builder didn’t you?', 'He’s a fantastic player, isn’t he?’ and ‘You can’t work it out, can you?’ When the first clause is affirmative, the tag is usually negative, and when the first clause is negative, the tag is usually affirmative.

referential question (noun)

a question that is designed to find out something the questioner does not already know

relative clause (noun)

a subordinate clause that follows another clause and usually begins with words such as ‘who’, ‘which’, or ‘that’. Relative clauses give extra information about a person, thing, or situation in the preceding clause. For example in the sentence ‘From there you can see the whole city, which is beautiful at sunset’, ‘which is beautiful at sunset’ is a relative clause.

reported speech (noun)

the words that you use to report what someone else has said, for example ‘He said we shouldn’t leave town’

restrictive relative clause (noun)

a relative clause that makes clear which particular person or thing you are referring to. For example, in the sentence ‘We need to maximize the amount of waste that is recycled’, ‘that is recycled’ is a restrictive relative clause. When the relative pronoun would be the object or complement of the relative clause, it is often omitted, for example in the sentence ‘His first movie contains some of the best acting I’ve ever seen’.

rheme (noun)

in discourse analysis, the new information in a clause or sentence

run-on sentence (noun)

a sentence in which two main clauses are connected without any conjunctions, or without the correct punctuation

sentence (noun)

a group of words, usually including a subject and a verb, that express a statement, question, or instruction. A written sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark.

simple sentence (noun)

a sentence consisting of one independent clause only. It usually has a subject and verb, and often an object or complement and one or more adjuncts. For example, ‘We played football in the rain all afternoon’ is a simple sentence.

the singular (noun)

the form of a word that is used for referring to one person or thing

speech act (noun)

an action that people perform when they communicate with others. When for example someone claims, suggests, promises, requests, or refuses something, they are obeying certain rules of communication in order to make their intentions understood.

speech event (noun)

another name for a speech act

subject (noun)

linguistics in active clauses, the part of a clause referring to the person or thing that does or causes the action of a verb. In English, the subject is usually a noun group or pronoun, and comes before the verb. For example in the sentence ‘Some children enjoy writing stories’, the subject is ‘some children’.

subordinate clause (noun)

a clause that adds information about an independent clause, but is not considered to be a well-formed sentence on its own. For example in the sentence ‘When you hear the alarm, get out of bed immediately’, ‘when you hear the alarm’ is a subordinate clause.

tag (noun)

linguistics a question tag

tag question (noun)

a question tag

topic sentence (noun)

the first sentence in a paragraph, which sets out the topic of the paragraph

valency (noun)

linguistics all the phrases and clauses that typically follow a verb. For example, the valency of a linking verb like ‘be’ typically involves a noun group, an adjective group, or a prepositional phrases such as ‘in a muddle’ in the sentence ‘Oh dear, you are in a muddle, aren’t you?’

zero article (noun)

in English, the absence of an article before nouns that refer to something that is indefinite. For example, in the sentence 'She loves cheese but hates eggs' both 'cheese' and 'eggs' have zero article.

the zero conditional (noun)

in English, a type of conditional used in statements of general truths, where both verbs are in the present, for example, 'If you prick me do I not bleed?'

Synonyms and antonyms of Types and forms of word, clause or sentence in British Thesaurus