Linguistics Girl

Although grammatical relationships among forms of lexemes are expressed through either inflection or periphrasis, English is a highly periphrastic language. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (2008), periphrasis is defined as “a phrase of two or more words used to express a grammatical relationship which would otherwise be expressed by the inflection of a single word.” Examples of periphrasis include [Read Full Article...]

Verb Phrases Verb phrases in English grammar are phrases in which a verb functions as the head of the phrase. Verb phrases perform verbal, nominal, adjectival, and adverbial grammatical functions. Verb phrase is a grammatical form. The eleven grammatical functions performed by verb phrases are predicate, noun phrase modifier, adjective phrase complement, verb phrase complement, adverbial, subject, subject complement, direct [Read Full Article...]

Verb Phrase Complements Verb phrase complements in English grammar are words and phrases that complete the meaning of the verb phrase. Verb phrase complement is a grammatical function. The grammatical forms that can function as the verb phrase complement in English grammar are the prepositional phrase and the verb phrase. The preposition of a prepositional verb functions as a verb [Read Full Article...]

Prescriptive Grammar Rule for Infinitives To split the infinitive or to not split the infinitive, that is the question. Prescriptive grammars forbid the splitting of infinitives. Most English speaking students have been told by the grade school or high school grammar teacher to never split an infinitive. Even in college, I have had professors chastise me for splitting my infinitives. [Read Full Article...]

Infinitive Markers Infinitive markers in English grammar are function words that distinguish the base forms from the infinitive forms of English verbs. Function words perform definite grammatical functions but lack definite lexical meaning. Infinitive marker is a grammatical function. The grammatical form that can function as the infinitive marker in English grammar is the preposition or p-word, specifically the preposition [Read Full Article...]

Linguistic Modality Modality is the grammaticalized expression of the subjective attitudes and opinions of the speaker including possibility, probability, necessity, obligation, permissibility, ability, desire, and contingency. As a semantic-grammatical category concerned with the status of the proposition that describes the event expressed by an utterance, modality might also be construed as the relativization of the validity of sentence meanings to [Read Full Article...]

Copular Verbs Copular verbs in English grammar are equating verbs that link the subject complement in the predicate to the grammatical subject. Copular verbs are also called linking verbs, state-of-being verbs, and copula. Copular verb is a grammatical form. Copular verbs belong to a subcategory of the grammatical form verb. The most common copular verb in English is be. Other [Read Full Article...]

Grammatical Aspect The article Verb Aspect: Simple, Perfect, Progressive, Perfect-Progressive describes the three grammatical aspects of the English language. The articles The English Verb System for ESL Students and All about English Verb Conjugation at Bright Hub present an overview of the English verb system, which includes grammatical aspect. Simple Aspect The articles Forming the Simple Present Tense of English [Read Full Article...]

Grammatical Tense The article Verb Tense: Present Tense and Past Tense in English describes the two grammatical tenses of the English language. The articles The English Verb System for ESL Students and All about English Verb Conjugation at Bright Hub present an overview of the English verb system, which includes grammatical tense. Present Tense The articles Forming the Simple Present [Read Full Article...]

Grammatical Voice The article Verb Voice: Active Voice and Passive Voice in English describes the two grammatical voices of the English language. The articles The English Verb System for ESL Students and All about English Verb Conjugation at Bright Hub present an overview of the English verb system, which includes grammatical voice. Active Voice As described in the articles Forming [Read Full Article...]