subordination Most words in a sentence are linked in the unequal has, leaving, accompanied, teacher, assistant relation of subordination (rather than the equality of coordination). For example, a modifier is subordinate to the word it modifies, and a verb’s subject, object and He likes it. He liked it. complement are all subordinate to the verb. In each case, the subordinate word makes the other meaning word’s He looked out of the window. more precise. See also subordinate clause. suffix A suffix is an something added at the end of one ‘ending’, A nature trail has been designed. word to turn it into another word. (Contrast prefix.) Your child will be travelling by coach. tense The choice between present and past. (English has no future tense.) Yusuf is tired. verb E.g. be, take, arrive, imagine It rained all day. Verbs are sometimes called because they ‘doing words’ (Compare: The journey will take an hour. [noun] often name an action that someone does; but this can be confusing, because they also name events (where things His tiredness was easy to understand. [noun]) simply happen) or states (where nothing changes). Moreover, actions can also be named by nouns. headteacher or head teacher (can be written with or without a space) Instead, it is better to identify verbs by their ability to have primary-school teacher (normally written with a hyphen) a tense either present or past (see also future tense). – English teacher (written with a space) going I’m out… word A word is a unit of grammar that can be selected and 9.30am. …at moved around relatively independently of other such units. In punctuation, words are normally separated by The time was 8.10pm. word spaces. teacher teach – But there are challenging complexities: When word-divisions are unclear we may be able to extensive extend extent – – show this uncertainty by using hyphens. apostrophes for omitted letters show where two words are treated as one. word family The words in a word family are normally related to each other by a combination of form, grammar and meaning. xxv A big car swept past. (big is subordinate to car; car and past are subordinate to swept)
subordination Most words in a sentence are linked in the unequal relation of subordination (rather than the equality of coordination). For example, a modifier is subordinate to the word it modifies, and a verb’s subject, object and complement are all subordinate to the verb. In each case, the subordinate word makes the other word’s meaning more precise. See also subordinate clause. suffix A suffix is an ‘ending’, something added at the end of one word to turn it into another word. (Contrast prefix.) tense The choice between present and past. (English has no future tense.) verb E.g. be, take, arrive, imagine Verbs are sometimes called ‘doing words’ because they often name an action that someone does; but this can be confusing, because they also name events (where things simply happen) or states (where nothing changes). Moreover, actions can also be named by nouns. Instead, it is better to identify verbs by their ability to have a tense – either present or past (see also future tense). word A word is a unit of grammar that can be selected and moved around relatively independently of other such units. In punctuation, words are normally separated by word spaces. But there are challenging complexities: When word-divisions are unclear we may be able to show this uncertainty by using hyphens. apostrophes for omitted letters show where two words are treated as one. word family The words in a word family are normally related to each other by a combination of form, grammar and meaning. A big car swept past. (big is subordinate to car; car and past are subordinate to swept) has, leaving, accompanied, teacher, assistant He likes it. He liked it. He looked out of the window. A nature trail has been designed. Your child will be travelling by coach. Yusuf is tired. It rained all day. (Compare: The journey will take an hour. [noun] His tiredness was easy to understand. [noun]) headteacher or head teacher (can be written with or without a space) primary-school teacher (normally written with a hyphen) English teacher (written with a space) I’m going out… …at 9.30am. The time was 8.10pm. teacher – teach extensive – extend – extent xxv