Terminology¶
Terms¶
Accusative¶
The accusative case is a grammatical category that marks the direct object of a verb. It signifies the noun, pronoun, or adjective that receives the action of a transitive verb
Adjunct¶
An non-obligatory modifier that is not selected by the head of the phrase or clause. Optional, non essential word or phrase that adds extra information.
Adverbial¶
Adverbial is a group of words that plays the role of an adverb. It’s not a CGEL term: CGEL ditched the -al terms, and works by “[Category] functioning as [Function]”, adverbial mixes the two.
However, it remains useful as a broader descriptive term, especially when looking for the most semantically precise expression.
Appositive¶
An appositive is a noun or a noun phrase that sits next to another noun to rename it or to describe it in another way
The buildings in London, the most interesting city in the world,
Argument: A noun phrase (or PP) that is required by the verb or adjective to complete its meaning.
Aspect¶
A grammatical form or construction qualifies as an aspect if its main use is to indicate how the speaker views the situation described in the clause with respect, not to its location in time, but to its temporal structure or properties, such as being imperfective.
Auxiliary verb¶
Verbs whose members characteristically accompany another verb and tend to convey meanings or mark grammatical systems which, in other languages (or even elsewhere in the same language), are expressed by in ection of the verb.
Anaphoric dependency¶
A syntactic–semantic relationship in which one element in a clause (the anaphor) refers back to or is licensed by another element (the antecedent). It’s particularly important for relative clauses and pronouns, and distinguishes them from ordinary adjuncts or complements (from “anaphora”, to carry, in Ancient Greek)
Finite clause¶
A finite clause contains a verb that is inflected for tense, person, and/or number.
She runs every morning (3rd person singular present)
Genitive¶
The genitive case is predominantly used for showing possession
Infinitive marker¶
The word “to”, when it precedes the verb to form a to-infinitive
Intransitive verb¶
A verb that expresses an action or state of being without transferring that action to a direct object
Modality¶
The situation described in a clause is not presented as a fact, indicating the speakers attitude towards an action or state: possibility, ability, permission, obligation, necessity , condition etc.
Nominative¶
The nominative case is a grammatical category for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives that function as the subject of a verb, the entity performing the action. It is the base or naming form of a word, often used for predicative nouns/adjectives
Non finite clause¶
A non-finite clause contains a verb that does not show tense, person, or number
Patient¶
Semantic, entity that undergoes a change of state or is directly affected by an action
Postmodifiers¶
Postmodifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that come after a noun to describe, rename, or qualify it, including adjectival phrases, prepositional phrases, relative clauses, participial phrases, infinitive phrases, and appositive phrases.
Situation¶
Actions, processes, states or whatever else can be described in a clause (a CGEL term)
Theme¶
The entity that the action is about or acts upon, whether or not it changes.
Two-object constructions¶
Also called ditransitive constructions, are verbs that take two core argument: usually a direct object and an indirect object (often the recipient). These are essential for grammar analysis because they help distinguish arguments from adjuncts.
She gave her friend a gift (her friend is an indirect object) She gave a gift to her friend (PP, same role)
Unaccusative verbs¶
An intransitive verb whose subject is not a semantic agent, functioning instead like a direct object or patient that undergoes an action (fall, arrive, expire, rise, improve, graduate)
Voice¶
Voice is a grammatical system that changes how the participants in a situation are mapped onto the clause structure, especially the relationship between the subject and the semantic roles of the verb.
In English, the main contrast is between active and passive