Adjectives cannot be modified by other adjectives. This distinguishes them from , which can be. Adjectives are sometimes called ‘describing because they pick out single characteristics such as size or colour. This is often true, but it doesn’t help to distinguish adjectives from other word classes, because , and can do the same thing. He spoke loudly. [adverb] It was a French grammar book. [noun] adverb The surest way to identify adverbs is by the ways they can be used: they can a , an , another adverb or even a whole clause. Adverbs are sometimes said to describe manner or time. This is often true, but it doesn’t help to distinguish adverbs from other word classes that can be used as , such as , and . Usha soon started snoring loudly. [adverbs modifying the started and snoring] That match was really exciting! [adverb modifying the adjective exciting] We don’t get to play games very often. [adverb modifying the other adverb, often] Fortunately, it didn’t rain. [adverb modifying the whole clause ‘it didn’t rain’ by commenting on it] Not adverbs: Usha went up the stairs. [preposition phrase used as adverbial] She finished her work this evening. [noun phrase used as adverbial] She finished when the teacher got cross. [subordinate clause used as adverbial] adverbial An adverbial is a word or phrase that is used, like an adverb, to modify a verb or clause. Of course, can be used as adverbials, but many other types of words and phrases can be used this way, including and . The bus leaves in five minutes. [preposition phrase as adverbial: modifies leaves] She promised to see him last night. [noun phrase modifying either promised or see, according to the intended meaning] She worked until she had finished. [subordinate clause as adverbial] antonym Two words are antonyms if their meanings are opposites. hot – cold light – dark – heavy apostrophe Apostrophes have two completely different uses: I’m going out and I won’t be long. [showing missing letters]
establishing time relations in a text. The perfect tense is formed by: turning the verb into its past adding a form of the verb have before it. It can also be combined with the (e.g. he has been going). phoneme A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that signals a distinct, contrasting meaning. For example: /t/ contrasts with /k/ to signal the difference between tap and cap /t/ contrasts with /l/ to signal the difference between bought and ball. It is this contrast in meaning that tells us there are two distinct phonemes at work. There are around 44 phonemes in English; the exact number depends on regional accents. A single phoneme may be represented in writing by one, two, three or four letters constituting a single . The word cat has three letters and three phonemes: /kæt/ The word has five letters and three phonemes: /kaʧ/ The word caught has six letters and three phonemes: /kɔ:t/ phrase A phrase is a group of words that are grammatically connected so that they stay together, and that expand a single word, called the ‘head’. The phrase is a if its head is a noun, a if its head is a preposition, and so on; but if the head is a , the phrase is called a . Phrases can be made up of other phrases. She waved to her mother. [a noun phrase, with the noun mother as its head] She waved to her mother. [a preposition phrase, with the preposition to as its head] She waved to her mother. [a clause, with the verb waved as its head] plural A plural normally has a –s or –es and means ‘more than one’. are a few nouns with different in the plural (e.g. mice, formulae). dogs [more than one dog]; boxes [more than one box] mice [more than one mouse] possessive A possessive can be: a followed by an , with or without s a possessive . The relation expressed by a possessive goes well beyond ordinary of ‘possession’. A possessive may act as a . Tariq’s book [Tariq has the book] The boys’ arrival [the boys arrive] His obituary [the obituary is about him] That essay is mine. [I wrote the essay] prefix A prefix is added at the beginning of a in order to turn it into another word. Contrast . overtake, disappear
synonym Two words are synonyms if they have the same meaning, or similar meanings. Contrast . talk – speak old – elderly tense In English, is the choice between and , which is special because it is signalled by and normally indicates differences of time. In contrast, languages like French, Spanish and Italian, have three or more distinct tense forms, including a future tense. (See also: .) The simple tenses (present and past) may be combined in English with the and . He studies. [present – present time] He studied yesterday. [past tense – past time] He studies tomorrow, or else! [present tense – future time] He may study tomorrow. [present tense + infinitive – future time] He plans to study tomorrow. [present tense + infinitive – future time] If he studied tomorrow, he’d see the difference! [past tense – imagined future] Contrast three distinct tense forms in Spanish: Estudia. [present tense] Estudió. [past tense] Estudiará. [future tense] transitive verb A transitive verb at least one object in a sentence to complete its meaning, in contrast to an , which does not. He loves Juliet. She understands English grammar. trigraph A type of where three letters represent one . High, pure, patch, hedge unstressed See . verb The surest way to identify verbs is by the ways they can be used: they can usually have a , either or (see also ). Verbs are sometimes called ‘doing words’ because many verbs name an action that someone does; while this can be a way of recognising verbs, it doesn’t distinguish verbs from (which can also name actions). Moreover many verbs name states or feelings rather than actions. Verbs can be classified in various ways: for example, as , or ; as or ; and as states or events. He in Birmingham. [present tense] The teacher wrote a song for the class. [past tense] He likes chocolate. [present tense; not an action] He knew my father. [past tense; not an action] Not verbs: The walk to Halina’s house will take an hour. [noun] All that surfing makes Morwenna so sleepy! [noun] vowel A vowel is a speech sound which is produced without any closure or obstruction of the vocal tract.