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 The word cat has three letters and three that signals a distinct, contrasting meaning. phonemes: /kæt/ For example: The word has five letters and three /t/ contrasts with /k/ to signal the phonemes: /kaʧ/ difference between tap and cap /t/ contrasts with /l/ to signal the The word caught has six letters and three difference between bought and ball. phonemes: /kɔ:t/ 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 . phrase A phrase is a group of words that are She waved to her mother. [a noun phrase, grammatically connected so that they stay with the noun as its head] mother together, and that expand a single word, She waved to her mother. [a preposition called the The phrase is a if its head ‘head’. phrase, with the preposition to as its is a noun, a if its head is a preposition, and head] so on; but if the head is a , the phrase is She waved to her mother. [a clause, with called a . Phrases can be made up of other the verb waved as its head] phrases. plural A plural normally has a or and dogs [more than one dog]; boxes [more –s –es means than one’. than one box] ‘more are a few nouns with different in the mice [more than one mouse] plural (e.g. mice, formulae). A possessive can be: [Tariq has the book] possessive Tariq’s book a followed by an , with or without s The boys’ arrival [the boys arrive] a possessive . His obituary [the obituary is about him] The relation expressed by a possessive goes That essay is mine. [I wrote the essay] well beyond ordinary of ‘possession’. A possessive may act as a . prefix A prefix is added at the beginning of a in overtake, disappear order to turn it into another word. Contrast .
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
English%20Glossary.docx