ABSP - Grammar

Grammar

Words

Alphabets, Scripts etc.

Grammar and Semantics

Interjections

Non-standard Pl'ls (.PDF)

Non-stand' Verbs (.PDF)

abessive	a grammatical case indicating absence or lack.
ablatival	relating to the ABLATIVE case.
ablative	(a case) indicating direction from or time when > ABLATIVES, ABLATIVELY.
ablaut	vowel change in related words, esp. that in Indo-European, which survives in English in, e.g., sing, sang, sung, song.
accidence	the science of inflections in grammar.
accusatival	relating to the ACCUSATIVE.
accusative	a case indicating the direct object of a verb.
actant	a noun phrase functioning as the agent of the main verb of a sentence.
active	expressing action > ACTIVELY; (noun) the active mood of a verb.
adessive	(a case) indicating place where or proximity to. Cf. ABESSIVE.
adjective	added, dependent > ADJECTIVELY; (noun) a word added to a noun to qualify it.
adnominal	pertaining to an ADNOUN; adjectival; (noun) a word attached to a noun.
adnoun	an adjective used as a noun.
adverb	a word used to modify the meaning of a verb, adjective, or other adverb.
adverbial	relating to an adverb > ADVERBIALLY; (noun) an adverbial phrase > ADVERBIALS.
agentive	a grammatical case indicating the agent performing an action.
allative	a grammatical case indicating movement towards. Cf. ELATIVE, ILLATIVE.
amphibology amphiboly	a grammatically ambiguous phrase or sentence.
anacoluthia	a non-sequential syntactic construction in which the latter part of a sentence does not grammatically fit the earlier.
anacoluthic	relating to ANACOLUTHIA.
anacoluthon	a sentence or construction lacking grammatical sequence > ANACOLUTHA or ANACOLUTHONS.
antepenult	the antepenultimate (third from last) syllable or word.
antibarbarus	a list of words and sayings to be avoided in the classical usage of a language > ANTIBARBARUSES.
antonym	a word opposite in meaning to another.
antonymic antonymous	like an ANTONYM.
antonymy	the state of being an ANTONYM.
aorist	(a tense) expressing simple past time with no continuance. [Gk. aoristos, indefinite].
aoristic	indefinite; pertaining to the AORIST > AORISTICALLY.
apathaton	(Shakesp.) = EPITHETON, an epithet.
apodosis	the main clause in a conditional sentence > APODOSES. [Gk. apodosis, from apo, back, + didonai. to give].
apposition	the position of a word parallel to another in syntactic relation.
appositive	relating to APPOSITION; (noun) a clause in apposition.
aptote	a noun that has no grammatical cases. Cf. MONOPTOTE, TRIPTOTE, TETRAPTOTE.
aptotic	uninflected; indeclinable.
assertoric	stating a fact, as opposed to expressing an evaluative judgment.
asyndetic	not connected by conjunctions: I came, I saw, I conquered.
asyntactic	loosely put together, irregular, ungrammatical.
atelic	pertaining to a type of verb form.
athematic	without a thematic vowel.
bahuvrihi	(Sanskrit) a class of compound words where the first element describes the second but cannot substitute for it, e.g. turncoat.
biliteral	consisting of two letters; as, a biliteral root of a Sanskrit verb.
cacology	bad choice of words or faulty pronunciation.
catachresis	the use of a wrong word for the context; the strained use of a word or phrase.
causal	relating to cause > CAUSALLY; (noun) a word expressing a cause or reason > CAUSALS.
causative	relating to causation > CAUSATIVELY; (noun) a causative agency; a causative word > CAUSATIVES.
clausal	relating to a clause.
clause	a distinct part of a composition.
clausula	a short clause ending a period in Latin prose > CLAUSULAE.
clausular	consisting of, or having, clauses.
cohyponym	a word which is one of multiple hyponyms of another word.
comitative	expressing accompaniment; (noun) a comitative case.
conjugable	that can be conjugated.
conjugate	joined, connected > CONJUGATELY; (verb) to give the various inflections or parts of (a verb).
conjugateness	the state of being CONJUGATE.
construe	to analyse the grammatical construction of (a sentence).
construer	one who construes.
copula	a word which unites the subject and predicate > COPULAE or COPULAS.
copular	relating to a COPULA.
copulative	a CONJUNCTION that indicates combination e.g. 'and'.
datival	relating to a DATIVE.
dative	a grammatical case, indicating the indirect object of a verb > DATIVES, DATIVELY.
deictic	relating to the time and place of utterance > DEICTICS, DEICTICALLY.
deixis	the use of words relating to the time and place of utterance > DEIXES or DEIXISES.
denominal	derived from a NOUN.
denotive	serving to denote.
deponent	a verb having a passive form but active meaning.
deverbal	(a word) deriving from a verb > DEVERBALS.
diaeresis diereses	the separation or resolution of one syllable into two; cf. SYNAERESIS > DIAERESES, DIERESES. [Gk. diairesis separation]. Also DIERESIS.
diaeretic	pertaining to DIAERESIS, the separation or resolution of one syllable into two.
dieretic	of or like DIERESIS, the separation of two vowels into two syllables.
disyllable	a word with two syllables,
disyllabic	having two syllables.
durative	(a tense) denoting continuing action.
dvandva	(Sanskrit) a compound word in which neither element is subordinated to the other, e.g. tragicomedy.
elative	of a grammatical case, indicating movement away from. Cf. ILLATIVE, ALLATIVE.
emic	relating to a type of linguistic analysis.
enallage	the exchange of one grammatical case for another, as of singular for plural, present for past tense, etc.
enclisis	the state of being an ENCLITIC > ENCLISES.
enclitic	dependent, especially of a word or particle attached to the preceding word: in "Give 'em the works" the particle em has no independent accent and forms an accentual and graphemic unit with "give".
endeictic	showing, exhibiting or demonstrating. [Gr. endeiktikos].
endeixis	an indication > ENDEIXES or ENDEIXISES. [Gk. endeiktikos].
epithesis	the addition of one or more letters to a word > EPITHESES.
epithet	an ADJECTIVE or adjectival phrase; (verb) to apply an epithet to > EPITHETS, EPITHETING, EPITHETED.
epitheton	an EPITHET > EPITHETONS.
equative	in grammar, denoting identity or equivalence.
equivoke equivoque	an ambiguous term; a word susceptible of different significations.
ergative	a grammatical case found in certain languages > ERGATIVES.
ergativity	the state of being ERGATIVE, a grammatical case found in certain languages.
essive	a case in Finnish and certain other languages expressing a continuous state of being.
etic	relating to a type of linguistic analysis.
etymic	relating to the ETYMON, the original form of a word, as, an etymic word.
etymon	an earlier word form; a morpheme from which derivatives are formed > ETYMA or ETYMONS.
exocentric	not fulfilling the grammatical role of any of its constituents; as in until last Easter, where the constituents are prepositional, adjectival, and nominal, while the whole construction is adverbial.
extremal	a clause in a recursive definition.
factive	designating or pertaining to a verb taking an assumed fact as object (e.g. English know, regret, resent).
finite	limited > FINITELY; (noun) a finite verb > FINITES.
genitival	relating to the GENITIVE case > GENITIVALLY.
genitive	(a grammatical case) indicating possession, origin or relation > GENITIVES, GENITIVELY.
gerund	a verbal form such as 'cooking' that functions as a noun > GERUNDS.
gerundial	pertaining to, or resembling, a GERUND; as, a gerundial use.
gerundive	in Latin, the verbal adjective formed from the gerund stem and having the sense 'that can or must be done' > GERUNDIVES, GERUNDIVELY.
glosseme	an indivisible unit in a language.
grammar	the science which treats of the principles of language; the study of forms of speech, and their relations to one another.
grammatic grammatical	belonging to, or according to the rules of, grammar > GRAMMATICALLY.
grammaticalness	the state of being GRAMMATICAL.
heteroclite	deviating from the ordinary rule; eccentric; (in grammar) irregularly inflected; (noun) an irregularly inflected word.
heteroclitic	irregularly inflected.
heteronym	a word having same spelling but different sound and meaning e.g. lead/lead.
holophrase	a single word expressing sentence or phrase.
holophrastic	expressing a sentence in one word, e.g. "Go"; expressing complex ideas in a single word, as in some Eskimo languages. [Gk. holo (whole) + Greek phrastikos, from phrazein (to speak)].
homoeoteleuton	the use of words with similar endings in close proximity.
homograph	one of two or more words that have the same spelling but differ in origin, meaning, and sometimes pronunciation e.g. bow (in hair) and bow (of a ship).
homonym	a word having the same sound as another but a different meaning e.g. noun 'quail' and verb 'quail'.
homonymic homonymous	like a HOMONYM.
homonymy	the state of being a HOMONYM.
homophone	a word that sounds the same as another but is spelt differently e.g. 'to', 'too' and 'two'.
hypercorrect	refers to a linguistic construction or pronunciation produced by mistaken analogy with standard usage out of a desire to be correct, such as 'open widely' or 'on behalf of my wife and I'.
hypercorrection	a grammatical, usage or pronuciation mistake made by 'correcting' something that's right to begin with.
hypernym	a word representing a class of words or things, e.g. DOG.
hypernymy	the state of being a HYPERNYM.
hyponym	a term which is a member of a larger class e.g. spaniel of dog.
hyponymy	the state of being a HYPONYM.
hypotactic	relating to HYPOTAXIS, a dependent or subordinate relationship of clauses with conjunctions.
hypotaxis	a dependent or subordinate relationship of clauses with conjunctions > HYPOTAXES.
illative	(a grammatical case) indicating movement into or toward > ILLATIVES, ILLATIVELY. Cf. ELATIVE, ALLATIVE.
imparisyllabic	having different number of syllables in different cases.
imperative	expressive of command, advice or request > IMPERATIVELY; (noun) a verb in the imperative mood > IMPERATIVES.
imperfect	not perfect > IMPERFECTLY; (noun) a verb tense expressing ongoing action in the past > IMPERFECTS.
imperfective	expressing action as incomplete or without reference to completion or as reiterated > IMPERFECTIVELY; (noun) an imperfective verb > IMPERFECTIVES.
inceptive	marking the beginning or formation > INCEPTIVELY; (noun) an inceptive verb > INCEPTIVES.
inchoative	expressing or pertaining to a beginning; inceptive; as, an inchoative verb > INCHOATIVELY.
inessive	(a grammatical case) indicating location within) > INESSIVES.
inferencing	the practice of inferring the meaning of an unfamiliar word or expression from the meaning of familiar words occurring with it in a context together with one's knowledge of or beliefs about the context.
infinitive	expressing the verbal idea without reference to person, number or time > INFINITIVELY; (noun) the infinitive mood; a verb in the infinitive mood > INFINITIVES.
inflection inflexion	a change in the form of a word, usually modification or affixation, signalling change in such grammatical functions as tense, voice, mood, person.
intensive	making intense > INTENSIVELY; (noun) an intensifier > INTENSIVES.
intercalation	an insertion or interposing, as of a word between other words in a sentence.
intercalative	relating to INTERCALATION, an insertion or interposing, as of a word between other words in a sentence.
jussive	(a mood of a verb) expressing a command > JUSSIVES.
lapsus	a slip e.g. of the tongue > LAPSUS.
lexeme	the fundamental unit of the lexicon of a language e.g. ind, found, and finding are members of the English lexeme find.
lexemic	of or like a LEXEME, one of the vocabulary items of a language.
loanshift	the adaptation of a word from one language to another.
loanword	a word borrowed from another language.
locative	(a grammatical case) signifying place where > LOCATIVES.
locution	a form of expression, a phrase.
meronym	a word whose relation to another is that of a part to the whole, e.g. whisker to cat.
meronymy	the state of being a MERONYM, a word whose relation to another is that of a part to the whole.
modal	related to mood > MODALLY; (noun) a modal auxiliary > MODALS.
modality	the property of a verb or verbal form that is represented or distinguished by its mood.
moneme morpheme	a word or part of a word that contains no smaller unit of meaning.
monoptote	a noun that has one grammatical case only > MONOPTOTES. Cf. TRIPTOTE, TETRAPTOTE.
monosemy	the fact of having only one meaning.
monosyllable	a word with one syllable.
monosyllabic	having only one syllable.
morpheme	see MONEME.
morphemic	of or like a MORPHEME.
morphemics	the study of MORPHEMES.
morphology	the study of the forms of words.
morphophonemics	linguistic structure in terms of the phonological patterning of MORPHEMES.
mumpsimus	an erroneous word or spelling that, through long usage, has become absorbed into the language; an incorrect manuscript reading blindly adhered to by some scholar > MUMPSIMUSES.
mutative mutatory	expressing a change of place or state.
nominal	only in name > NOMINALLY; (noun) a noun or phrase etc. standing as a noun > NOMINALS.
nonpast	a verb form that lacks an inflection for a past tense > NONPASTS.
nonstative	denoting a verb describing an action rather than a state, as for example throw or thank as opposed to know or hate; (noun) a nonstative verb.
noun	a word used to denote the name of something.
nounal	of or pertaining to a noun > NOUNALLY.
nounless	without nouns.
nouny	having many nouns; having the nature of a noun > NOUNIER, NOUNIEST.
nunnation	the addition of a final n in the declension of nouns.
optative	a grammatical mood expressing a desire or wish.
orthographical	relating to ORTHOGRAPHY, the part of language study that deals with letters and spelling.
orthography	a part of language study that deals with letters and spelling.
parasynthesis	the derivation of words using hyphenated compounds.
paronym	a word from the same root or having the same sound as another.
paronymic	of or like a PARONYM.
paronymous	having the same derivation; allied radically; conjugate; -- said of certain words, as man, mankind, manhood, etc.
paronymy	the quality of being PARONYMOUS; also, the use of paronymous words.
parsable	that can be parsed.
parse	to describe a word fully in terms of classification.
partitive	parting, distributing > PARTITIVELY; (noun) a word indicating a part of a larger whole > PARTITIVES.
passive	not active > PASSIVELY; (noun) the passive mood of a verb > PASSIVES.
pastless	lacking a past.
paucal	a grammatical number in some languages representing a few.
pejoration	degeneration of a word or term e.g. "hector" has degenerated from "hero" to scourge.
penult penultima	the last but one syllable.
perfective	(of a verb aspect) denoting completed action > PERFECTIVELY.
perissosyllabic	having an additional syllable.
phatic	relating to a communication meant to generate an atmosphere of social relationship rather than to convey some information > PHATICALLY.
phrasal	of the nature of a phrase; consisting of a phrase; as, a phrasal adverb > PHRASALLY.
pluperfect	of a tense, signifying completion of action before a certain point in past time.
plural	more than one > PLURALLY; (noun) a word that expresses more than one.
polyseme polysemant	a word with many meanings.
polysemic polysemous	relating to a POLYSEME, a word with many meanings.
polysemy	the state of having many meanings.
polysynthetic	of languages, where whole phrases are combined into one word.
postbase	following a base word.
postfix	a letter, syllable, or word, added to the end of another word; a suffix; (verb) to suffix.
postpositive	of an adjective, placed after the word it modifies e.g. attornery general, Scrabble player manque.
predicator	the part of a sentence or clause containing the verbal group.
prefix	to add as a prefix (a form affixed to the beginning of a root word).
prefixal	relating to a PREFIX > PREFIXALLY.
prelexical	denoting or applicable at a stage in the formation of a sentence at which words and phrases have not yet replaced all of the underlying grammatical and semantic material of that sentence in the speaker's mind.
prenominal	placed before a noun, esp. (of an adjective or sense of an adjective) used only before a noun.
preterit preterite	the grammatical tense signifying past time or a completed action.
preteriteness	the state of being PRETERITE.
preteritive	used only in the preterite.
preverb	a particle or prefix which precedes a verb.
privative	indicating absence, deprivation or negation > PRIVATIVELY; (noun) a privative attribute, quality, proposition, or particle > PRIVATIVES.
proclitic	a word transferring its stress to the following word. Cf. ENCLITIC.
prolative	esp. of an INFINITIVE > serving to continue or complete a predication.
pronoun	a word that may be used in place of a noun.
prosthetic	of or pertaining to prosthesis; prefixed, as a letter or letters to a word.
protasis	the first or introductory clause in a sentence; spec. the clause expressing the condition in a conditional sentence > PROTASES. Cf. APODOSIS.
provection	the transferring of a letter from the end of one word to the beginning of the next, eg a newt from an ewt.
rankshift	to shift or be shifted from one linguistic rank to another.
rection	syntactical government, i.e. the influence of one word over another in determining the case of a noun, the mood of a verb, etc > RECTIONS.
reflexive	indicating that the action turns back upon the subject; relating to a reflex > REFLEXIVELY; (noun) a reflexive pronoun or verb > REFLEXIVES.
relatival	relative.
retronym	a word coined for an existing thing to distinguish it from a new thing.
rhematic	of words or verbs; forming a word or words. [Gk. rhema, word].
rheme	the constituent of a sentence that adds the most new information.
sandhi	modification of the sound of a word or affix caused by the context in which it is uttered.
semanteme	an irreducible linguistic unit of meaning.
semantic	of or relating to meaning > SEMANTICALLY.
sememe	the smallest unanalysable unit of linguistic meaning (e.g. a word or affix).
sememic	pertaining to a SEMEME or meaning of a linguistic unit.
semiology semeiology	the study of signs and symbols ((including but not confined to words).
semiotics semeiotics	the study of signs and symbols (including but not confined to words)
singular	not plural; strange > SINGULARLY; (noun) a singular word or form > SINGULARS.
solecise solecize	to commit a SOLECISM.
solecism	a nonstandard usage or grammatical construction; a violation of etiquette.
solecist	one who commits a SOLECISM.
solecize	see SOLECISE.
sprachgefuhl	an intuitive sense of what is linguistically appropriate > SPRACHGEFUHLS.
statal	of a passive verbal form > expressing a state or condition rather than an action.
stative	a verb indicating a state rather than an action.
subclause	a part of a CLAUSE.
subordinative	containing a subordinate clause or clauses.
suffix	to add as a suffix (a form affixed to the end of a root word).
suffixal	relating to a SUFFIX.
sumpsimus	a correct expression that replaces a popular but wrong one > SUMPSIMUSES. Cf. MUMPSIMUS.
supine	lying on the back, passive > SUPINELY; (noun) a Latin verbal noun > SUPINES.
svarabhakti	development of a vowel between consonants.
syndetic	connected, esp. by conjunctions.
syndeton	a type of grammatical construction.
synesis	a construction in which a form differs in number but agrees in meaning with the word governing it, e. g. If anyone arrives, tell them to wait > SYNESES or SYNESISES.
synonym	a word having the same meaning as another.
synonymatic	of, consisting of or relating to synonyms.
synonyme	a synonym.
synonymic synonymical	like a SYNONYM.
synonymise synonymize	to make synonymous.
synonymist	a student of synonyms.
synonymous	having the character of a synonym > SYNONYMOUSLY.
synonymousness	the state of being synonymous.
synonymy	the state of being synonymous.
syntactic	relating to SYNTAX.
syntactics	the branch of semiotics that deals with the formal properties of signs and symbols.
syntagm	a syntactic unit comprising one or more (esp. linguistic) signs or elements.
syntagma	a syntactic unit comprising one or more (esp. linguistic) signs or elements > SYNTAGMAS or SYNTAGMATA.
syntagmic	relating to a SYNTAGMA.
syntax	grammatical structure in sentences.
tagmeme	any of the positions in the structure of a sentence into which a certain class of grammatical items can fit.
tagmemic	relating to TAGMEMES.
tagmemics	the analysis of the grammar of a language based on the arrangement of spoken elements.
tatpurusha	(Sanskrit) a class of compound words in which the first element modifies the second by standing to it in various types of relation e.g. goatskin, fieldmouse.
taxeme	any element of language that can affect the meaning of an utterance.
taxemic	relating to a TAXEME, a unit of grammatical relationship.
tenseless	without tenses, e.g. a language.
tetraptote	a noun that has four grammatical cases only. Cf. APTOTE, MONOPTOTE, TRIPTOTE.
tmesis	the separation of the parts of a word by insertion of another word > TMESES.
transitive	(a verb) taking a direct object > TRANSITIVES.
transitiveness	the state of being TRANSITIVE.
trilieral	(a word) consisting of three letters > TRILITERALS.
triptote	a noun that has three grammatical cases only. Cf. APTOTE, MONOPTOTE, TETRAPTOTE.
trisyllable	a word with three syllables.
tuptowing	present participle of TYPTO, to work at Greek conjugation.
typto	to work at Greek grammar (literally to conjugate the Greek verb typto, I strike) > TYPTOS, TUPTOWING, TYPTOED.
ultima	the last syllable of a word.
unmeaning	having no meaning or signification; as, unmeaning words > UNMEANINGLY.
verb	a word used to express an act, occurrence, or mode of being.
verbid	the non-finite part of a verb.
verbify	to convert into a verb.
verbing	the use of nouns as verbs.
verbless	without a verb.
vocative	a grammatical case indicating calling or personal address > VOCATIVES, VOCATIVELY.
volitive	a verb expresing desire.

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