English Terms
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- acronym
- a word made up of the first letters of other words it describes. UFO
- adjective
- a word that serves as a modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing named. happy, thin, etc.
- adverb
- a word serving as a modifier of a verb, an adjective, another verb, a preposition, etc. often ends in ly. Sadly, well, often
- alliteration
- repetition of the same sound beginning several words in a sequence.
- anagram
- a word that is formend when the letters of a word or phrase are rearranged. Minnesota/nominates
- article
- one of a small set of words or affixes (a, an, and the) used with nouns to limit or give definiteness to the application. English has an indefinate article a an and deifinte article the
- conjunction
- a word that joins together sentences, clauses, phrases or words. There are two kinds of conjunctions: Corrdinating conjunctions (such as, and and or) and subordinating conjunctions such as but and because
- consonance
- recurrance or repetition of consonants especially at the end of stressed syllables without the similar correspondence of vowels. stoke of luck
- diaeresis
- Two \" placed site-by-side over a vowel (like an umlaut), indicating that the vowel is considered a separate vowel, even though it would normally be considered part of dipthong. cooperation
- diphthong
- a gliding monosyllabic speech item that starts at or near the articulatory position for one vowel and moves to or toward the position for another. toy
- hyberbole
- exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect
- intrasitive verb
- a verb that does not act on an object (unlike a tranitive verb)sleep. I sleep I do not sleep it.
- irony
- expression of something which is contrary to the intended meaning; the words say one thing but mean another
- metaphor
- implied comparision achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in it literal sense, but in one analogous to it. Life's a walking shadow; poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage
- noun
- a word that is the name of something. person, animal, place etc.
- onomatopoeia
- use of words to imitate natural sounds, accommodation of sound to sense. hiss, whack, hum, etc.
- oxymoron
- apparent paradox achieved by the juxtopostion of words which seem to contradict one another. Jumbo shrimp
- palindrome
- a word spelled the same forward as backward. radar
- paradox
- an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that may yet have some truth in it.
- person
- first person = the speaker, second person = one spoken to, third person = one spoken of
- portmanteau
- a word created by blending two words together to form a new word that is related to both of the orginal words. brunch
- possessive
- a gramatical case that denotes ownership or a relation analogous to ownership. owners\'s manual possessive pronouns: hers, his, my, mine, your, yours, our, ours theri theirs, its whose
- predicate
- the part of a sentence or clause that expresses what is said of the subject and that usually consists of a verb with our without objects, complements, or adverbial modifiers. The predicate excludes the subject itself
- preposition
- a usually small word that combines with a noun, pronoun, or noun equivalent to form a prepositional phrase that modifies part of the sentence. after, at, before,by, for, with
- prepositional phrase
- a phrase that starts with a preposition.
- pronoun
- a word that is used as a substitute for a noun or noun equivlaent, takes noun constructions, and refers to persons or things named or understood in the context. I, you, he, she, it, we ,the me, him, her, us, them
- simile
- an explicit comparison between two things using like or as. Let us go the, you and I, While the evening is spread out against the sky, Like a patient etherized upon a table...
- subject
- the part of speech that indicates what acts upon the verb.
- superlative
- the degree of grammatical comparison that denotes an extreme or unsurpassed level or extent, denoted by an est ending. best worst fastest
- tautology
- a repetition of an idea in a differnt word, phrase, or sentence. cease and desist the activity
- transitive verb
- a verb that can act upon an object. One might sat that a transitive verb is one that is object oriented. see, buy ; I saw my friend when I bought a bagel.
- obsolete
- out of date