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Paradigm

A list of forms that a particular word may assume. For example: write, writes, writing, wrote, written are different forms of the verb paradigm write.

Particularizer Adverb

A type of ADVERB which focuses attention on what follows, e.g. mostly in This is mostly true.
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Participial Adjective

An adjective in the form of an -ed participle or an -ing participle.
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Particle

A MINOR WORD CLASS consisting of the PARTICLE to (e.g. I want you to leave), as well as for (It's difficult for you to leave) and with (I can't read with you standing behind me).
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Particle To

The PARTICLE which appears in TO-INFINITIVES: I want to leave.
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Part Of Speech

Nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and verbs, amongst others, belong to different word classes and are known as Parts of Speech.

Passive

In a passive sentence, the PASSIVE AUXILIARY be is combined with the -ed participle of a verb, e.g. John was kicked.
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Passive Auxiliary

This is the auxiliary verb be which is combined with the -ed participle of a verb to form the PASSIVE, eg. the money was stolen
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Past

A value for TENSE, which indicates that the event referred to took place in the past. It is indicated by an -ed inflection on regular verbs.
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Perfective Aspect

PERFECTIVE ASPECT is grammatically encoded by the PERFECTIVE AUXILIARY + -ED PARTICIPLE of a VERB. For example, I have broken the glass. Perfective aspect indicates that an action/situation started in the past but has current relevance.
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Perfective Auxiliary

The AUXILIARY have is used in combination with the -ED PARTICIPLE to denote PERFECTIVE ASPECT, eg. We have decided to leave
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Peripheral Adjective

Peripheral adjectives do not fulfil all the criteria for membership of the ADJECTIVE class.
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Person

I (the speaker/writer) is a first person pronoun, you (the listener/reader) is a second person pronoun, and he/she/it are third person pronoun. First and third person pronouns also have a plural form: we (first person plural) and they (third person plural), whereas you is both the singular and plural form. The form of the verb has to agree with person. For example, I am, you are, he is, we are they are. For regular verbs all forms are the same except in the third person singular present tense which takes -s (e.g. she laughs, it works) - this is AGREEMENT or CONCORD.
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Personal Pronoun

Personal pronouns are a type of PRONOUN which refer to people. They have SUBJECTIVE and OBJECTIVE forms depending on their function. Also includes it.
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Phrasal Verb

A phrasal verb is a MULTI-WORD VERB made up of a VERB and ADVERB. For example, The toaster blew up. Give up teasing your sister. The meaning of the phrasal verb is not usually obvious from the meaning of the parts. For example, blew up means 'exploded' and give up means 'stop'.
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Phrasal-Prepositional Verb

A MULTI-WORD VERB comprising a VERB, an ADVERB and a PREPOSITION:

Jenny is looking forward to meeting you
I don't know how you put up with him.

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Phrase

A phrase is a syntactic unit which may be composed of one or more words. For example, Jim, the man; the girl in the corner. A phrase takes its name from the Head word. For example, ADJECTIVE PHRASE, ADVERB PHRASE, VERB PHRASE, PREPOSITION PHRASE. Phrases may have premodifiers and postmodifiers.
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Place Adverb

A type of CIRCUMSTANTIAL ADVERB that refers to the direction in which an action is taking place, put the book there.
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Plural

A form of the NOUN indicated by the -s INFLECTION, denoting more than one entity. The converse of SINGULAR.
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Polysyndetic Coordination

COORDINATION in which all CONJOINS are linked by COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS, John and Mary and Bill.
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Possessive Pronoun

The possessive pronouns are my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, our, ours, their, theirs. They indicate possession. They can function as NOUNS, for example, Is this yours? Pass me mine, or as DETERMINERS, e.g. my house.
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Postdeterminer

A type of DETERMINER which occurs after PREDETERMINERS and CENTRAL DETERMINERS. They include CARDINAL and ORDINAL NUMERALS, e.g. my two cats.
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Postmodifier

A phrase or clause which follows and modifies the meaning of a Head, for example

The book on the table
The man who sells fruit
fast enough

Postpositive Adjective

Postpositive adjectives occur after the nouns which they modify, for example, the governor general.
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Predeterminer

A type of DETERMINER which generally specifies quantity in a NOUN. They include ORDINAL NUMERALS such as twice, half, all, and both. They occur before CENTRAL DETERMINERS and POSTDETERMINERS.
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Predicate

Everything that follows the Subject in a sentence is the Predicate of that sentence. For example, in the sentence the farmer shot the rabbit, the Predicate is shot the rabbit.
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Predicative Adjective

A predicative adjective heads an ADJECTIVE PHRASE which follows a COPULAR VERB. E.g. He is clever.
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Predicator

This is a functional term for the Head of the Predicate of a sentence. In the farmer shot the rabbit, the Predicate is shot the rabbit. The Head of this constituent is shot, which functions as the Predicator.
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Premodifier

A phrase which precedes and modifies the meaning of a Head, for example, in very fast the adverb phrase very premodifies fast .

 

Preposition

Prepositions are short words, including in, of, by, and with, that occur before a noun phrase. Some prepositions consist of more than one word (along with, out of, up to), and are known as COMPLEX PREPOSITIONS.

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Prepositional Complement

The phrase that follows a preposition within a prepositional phrase is called a Prepositional Complement. This is usually a noun phrase. In the following examples, the highlighted phrases are Prepositional Complements:

around the shops
through the streets
on the bed

Prepositional Object

This term may be used to refer to two things: (1) the Object of a prepositional verb (I agree with your arguments) and (2) a PREPOSITIONAL COMPLEMENT (in the cupboard)

Prepositional Verb

A prepositional verb is a MULTI-WORD VERB consisting of a VERB + PREPOSITION. For example:

Shall we listen to this new CD?
I have to look after the kids
.

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Prepositional Phrase

In general, a prepositional phrase is made up of a preposition (the Head) followed by a noun phrase. For example, before two o'clock, from my grandparents, past the hospital, across the bridge. They can take a premodifier, eg. , just over the bridge.
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Present

A value for TENSE. It usually indicates that the action is occuring at the present moment. It is denoted by the -s inflection on regular verbs in the 3rd person singular.
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Primary Verbs

The AUXILIARY VERBS be, have and do are called primary verbs when they act as MAIN VERBS. Examples: am a student, I have a car, I did my homework.
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Progressive Aspect

Perfective aspect is grammatically encoded by the PROGRESSIVE AUXILIARY be + -ING PARTICIPLE of a VERB are used. For example, Marie is singing tonight. Sean was reading his paper. Progressive aspect indicates that an action/situation is ongoing.
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Progressive Auxiliary (be)

The progressive auxiliary is AUXILIARY VERB be when combined with an -ING PARTICIPLE to form the PROGRESSIVE ASPECT. It must be distinguished from the PASSIVE AUXILIARY.
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Pronoun

Pronouns can occur in positions typically occupied by nouns: Ann/she went on holiday to France. The doctor examined the children/them. This is a message for Jane/her.

Pronouns have a CASE contrast with SUBJECTIVE and OBJECTIVE forms. We distinguish the following types: PERSONAL, POSSESSIVE, DEMONSTRATIVE, REFLEXIVE, RELATIVE, INTERROGATIVE, INDEFINITE and RECIPROCAL. They are closed-class items.
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Proper Noun

A proper noun refers to a particular person or place (e.g. London, Justin). Proper nouns begin with a capital letter and are not normally preceded by DETERMINERS.
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Prop it

A special use of the PERSONAL PRONOUN it, also called DUMMY IT, in expressions like: it is raining and hold it!
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Pseudo-Coordination

Another term for FALSE COORDINATION.
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