Glossary of English Grammatical Terms - 2

Article
English has three articles:

•the - The "definite" article refers to specific objects.
•a, an - The "indefinite" articles refer to unspecified members of a class. The article "a" is used before a word starting with a consonant sound and "an" is used before a word starting with a vowel sound.

Examples:
"the mouse", "a mouse", "an orange mouse",
"an honor" (H is silent), "a horse" (H is aspirated).

Auxiliary Verb
Auxiliary verbs are used with other verbs to express moods or tense.
Common auxiliary verbs are:
will, would, may, might, shall, should, can, could, must

Examples:
"Mary will sing.",
"Mary can sing."

Consonants and Vowels

English uses 26 letters: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

AEIOU are vowels.

BCDFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ are consonants.

Interjections
Interjections express strong feeling or emotion and have no grammatical relation to any other word in a sentence.
Some common interjections are: Oh, Alas, Aha, Bah, Whew.

Examples:
"Aha! I found it!".

Glossary of English Grammatical Terms - 1

This glossary provides definitions and examples of basic components of English grammar.

Action Verb
Action verbs specify the action performed by the subject.

Examples:
"John ran to the store."
"Mary swims very well."

Adjective
Adjectives modify nouns and have three forms or degrees:

* Positive - new
* Comparative - newer
* Superlative - newest

Adverbial Particle
Adverbial particles are prepositions that are considered part of the verb because they change the meaning of the verb. Some verbs allow one or more words between the verb and the particle.

Example:
"Turn off the lights.",
"Turn the lights off."

Adverb
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

Example:
"Mary walks gracefully".
"She is very pretty".

The Window (Author: Unknown)

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour a day to drain the fluids from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed next to the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed would live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the outside world. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake, the man had said. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Lovers walked arm in arm amid flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man could not hear the band, he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Unexpectedly, an alien thought entered his head: Why should hehave all the pleasure of seeing everything while I never get to see anything? It didn't seem fair. As the thought fermented, the man felt ashamed at first. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began to brood and found himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window - and that thought now controlled his life.

Late one night, as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room, he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running. In less than five minutes, the coughing and choking stopped, along with the sound of breathing. Now, there was only silence--deathly silence.

The following morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendant to take it away--no words, no fuss. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.

Moral of the story:

The pursuit of happiness is a matter of choice...it is a positive attitude we consciously choose to express. It is not a gift that gets delivered to our doorstep each morning, nor does it come through the window. And I am certain that our circumstances are just a small part of what makes us joyful. If we wait for them to get just right, we will never find lasting joy.

The pursuit of happiness is an inward journey. Our minds are like programs, awaiting the code that will determine behaviors; like bank vaults awaiting our deposits. If we regularly deposit positive, encouraging, and uplifting thoughts, if we continue to bite our lips just before we begin to grumble and complain, if we shoot down that seemingly harmless negative thought as it germinates, we will find that there is much to rejoice about.

Usage of "During, In and For"

During, In and For

During means from the beginning to the end of a particular period of time.

It rained during the night.

There was not even a whisper during the whole service.

During can also be used to talk about things that happened continuously or several times between the beginning and the end of a period of time.

I used to visit him during my stay in Boston.

The baby woke up several times during the night.

During and For

During is used to say when something happens; for is used to say how long it lasts.

It rained for three hours.

It rained during the night.

I was sleeping during the service.

The service lasted for more than three hours.

I don't remember the exact date, but it was during the winter.

During and In

We use both during and in to say that something happens inside a particular period of time.

I woke up during/in the night.

It rained during/in the week.

We prefer during when we stress that we are talking about the whole of the period. In cannot be used like this.

There was not even a whisper during the whole service. (NOT … in the whole service.)

We were on holiday during the whole of May.

What is a morphological process?

Definition: A morphological process is a means of changing a stem to adjust its meaning to fit its syntactic and communicational context.

Here are some kinds of morphological processes:

1.What is affixation?
2.What is prefixation?
3.What is suffixation?
4.What is circumfixation?
5.What is infixation?
6.What is modification?
7.What is reduplication?

Note: The process suppletion, though not strictly morphological, typically encodes the same type of information as the above morphological processes. It is often discussed in conjunction with them.

Morphemes

Morphemes are what make up words.
Often, morphemes are thought of as words but that is not always true.
Some single morphemes are words while other words have two or more morphemes within them.
Morphemes are also thought of as syllables but this is incorrect. Many words have two or more syllables but only one morpheme.

Banana, apple, papaya, and nanny are just a few examples. On the other hand, many words have two morphemes and only one syllable; examples include cats, runs, and barked.

Definitions

morpheme: a combination of sounds that have a meaning. A morpheme does not necessarily have to be a word.
Example: the word cats has two morphemes.
Cat is a morpheme, and s is a morpheme. Every morpheme is either a base or an affix. An affix can be either a prefix or a suffix. Cat is the base morpheme, and s is a suffix.

affix: a morpheme that comes at the beginning (prefix) or the ending (suffix) of a base morpheme. Note: An affix usually is a morpheme that cannot stand alone. Examples: -ful, -ly, -ity, -ness. A few exceptions are able, like, and less.
base: a morpheme that gives a word its meaning. The base morpheme cat gives the word cats its meaning: a particular type of animal.

prefix: an affix that comes before a base morpheme. The in in the word inspect is a prefix.

suffix: an affix that comes after a base morpheme. The s in cats is a suffix.

free morpheme: a morpheme that can stand alone as a word without another morpheme. It does not need anything attached to it to make a word. Cat is a free morpheme.

bound morpheme: a sound or a combination of sounds that cannot stand alone as a word. The s in cats is a bound morpheme, and it does not have any meaning without the free morpheme cat.

inflectional morpheme: this morpheme can only be a suffix. The s in cats is an inflectional morpheme. An inflectional morpheme creates a change in the function of the word. Example: the d in invited indicates past tense. English has only seven inflectional morphemes: -s (plural) and -s (possessive) are noun inflections; -s ( 3rd-person singular), -ed ( past tense), -en (past participle), and -ing ( present participle) are verb inflections; -er (comparative) and -est (superlative) are adjective and adverb inflections.

derivational morpheme: this type of morpheme changes the meaning of the word or the part of speech or both. Derivational morphemes often create new words. Example: the prefix and derivational morpheme un added to invited changes the meaning of the word.

allomorphs: different phonetic forms or variations of a morpheme. Example: The final morphemes in the following words are pronounced differently, but they all indicate plurality: dogs, cats, and horses.

homonyms: morphemes that are spelled the same but have different meanings. Examples: bear (an animal) and bear (to carry), plain (simple) and plain ( a level area of land).

homophones: morphemes that sound alike but have different meanings and spellings. Examples: bear, bare; plain, plane; cite, sight, site.

by Kirsten Mills Edited by Mark Canada, Ph.D.

What is Morphology and Morpheme?

Morphology is a field of linguistics focused on the study of the forms and formation of words in a language.

A morpheme is the smallest indivisible unit of a language that retains meaning. The rules of morphology within a language tend to be relatively regular, so that if one sees the noun morphemes for the first time, for example, one can deduce that it is likely related to the word morpheme.

Mother

A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away.

As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing.

He asked her what was wrong and she replied, "I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother.

But I only have seventy-five cents, and a rose costs two dollars."

The man smiled and said, "Come on in with me. I'll buy you a rose."

He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother's flowers.

As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home.

She said, "Yes, please! You can take me to my mother."

She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.

The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to his mother's house.

My Father When I Was ...

4 years old : My daddy can do anything.
5 years old : My daddy knows a whole lot.
6 years old : My dad is smarter than your dad.
8 years old : My dad doesn't know exactly everything.
10 years old : In the olden days when my dad grew up, things were sure different.
12 years old : Oh, well, naturally, Father doesn't know anything about that. He is too old to remember his childhood.
14 years old : Don't pay any attention to my father. He is so old-fashioned!
21 years old : Him? My Lord, he's hopelessly out-of-date.
25 years old : Dad knows a little bit about it, but then he should because he has been around so long.
30 years old : Maybe we should ask Dad what he thinks. After all, he's had a lot of experience.
35 years old : I'm not doing a single thing until I talk to Dad.
40 years old : I wonder how Dad would have handled it. He was so wise and had a world of experience.
50 years old : I'd give anything if Dad were here now so I could talk this over with him. Too bad I didn't appreciate how smart he was. I could have learned a lot from him.


Ann Landers

Geography Jokes

1. "It's clear" said the teacher, "That you haven't studied your geography.
What's your excuse ?"
"Well, my dad says the world is changing every day . So I decided to wait until it settles down !"

2. Teacher: What can you tell me about the Dead Sea?
Pupil: Dead ?, I didn't even know he was sick !

3. Teacher: Where is the English Channel ?
Pupil: I don't know, my TV doesn't pick it up

4. Teacher: Why does the statue of liberty stand in New York harbour ?
Pupil: Because it can't sit down !

5. Pupil: My teacher was mad with me because I didn't know where the Rockies were.
Mother: Well next time remember where you put things !

USED vs LOVED

While a man was polishing his new car,
his 4 yr old son picked up a stone
and scratched lines on the side of the car.
In anger, the man took the child's hand
and hit it many times not realizing
he was using a wrench.

At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers
due to multiple fractures.

When the child saw his father.....
with painful eyes he asked, 'Dad when will my fingers grow back?'
The man was so hurt and speechless;
he went back to his car and kicked it a lot of times.

Devastated by his own actions......
sitting in front of that car he looked at the scratches;
the child had written 'LOVE YOU DAD'.
The next day that man committed suicide. . .

Anger and Love have no limits;
choose the latter to have a beautiful, lovely
life & remember this:
Things are to be used and people are to be loved.
The problem in today's world is that people are used while things are loved.

Let's try always to keep this thought in mind:
Things are to be used,
People are to be loved.

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character;
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Neurological Test

I hope you will enjoy this Short Neurological Test

1- Find the C below.. Please do not use any cursor help.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO



2- If you already found the C, now find the 6 below.

99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
69999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

3 - Now find the N below. It's a little more difficult.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

This is NOT a joke. If you were able to pass these 3 tests, you can
cancel your annual visit to your neurologist. Your brain is great
and you're far from having a close relationship with Alzheimer.

High Phone Bill

The domestic phone-bill was exceptionally high. This prompted the man of the house to call for a family-meeting after dinner.

Dad : People, listen carefully, this high usage of our telephone is unacceptable. You have to limit the use of it. I do not use the home telephone at all, because I use the one at my work-place.

Mum : Same here. I hardly use our home telephone as I also use my office's telephone.

Son : Me too. I never use the home phone. I always use the mobile provided by my company.

Then they all looked at the foreign maid.

Maid : So, what is the problem, huh? Don't we all use our work-place telephones?!!!

Word Stories

The following are some etymologies* of words that have come up in this and previous years. (Etymology = n. (pl. etymologies) an account of the origins and the developments in meaning of a word.)

Anaconda Probably a modification of Sinhalese henakandaya 'a slender green snake' (WNC)

Brainwash Although now associated mainly with spy movies, to brainwash originated as a military term during the Korean War. The word is a literal translation of the Chinese phrase HSI NAO, 'to wash the brain.' We call such cases of native word forms put together with a borrowed meaning "loan translations" or "calques". Another pair of loan translations is to save face/ lose face, both of which literally translate Chinese expressions.

Cappuccino 'milky coffee drink, originating in Italy'
Named after the color of the robes of the Capuchin monks, which, like the drink, are light chocolaty brown. The word is from Italian Cappuccino, which is the Italian name for the monks' order. The Capuchins themselves got their name from the hooded robe they wear; cappuccio means 'hood' (a diminutive form of Late Latin cappa 'head covering, cloak')

Catalyze 'to induce a chemical reaction; to engender a change'
Comes from cata 'down' + lyze 'loosen, break'. A catalyst (the noun form of the word) causes things to break down chemically; this breaking down causes further chemical reactions, and this aspect of the process is represented by the modern meaning.

Catholic 'universal'; when capitalized, the name of the church of Rome.
From cata 'down, entirely'' + hol 'whole' + ic 'ADJ'. The church, emphasizing the all-embracing nature of the religion, called itself catholic in the sense of entirely universal. Something of this sense survives in the phrase catholic tastes, meaning eclectic or non-parochial tastes. But the word stuck to the church most strongly, and became essentially its proper name, distinguishing the Catholic religion from other religions.

Hoosegow 'jail'. From Spanish juzgado 'justice', used to refermetonymically to the institutions for administering justice, specifically to the place of confinement for lawbreakers. Comes from the old west, from areas that had been under the jurisdiction of Mexico. American settlers simply pronounced the word as it sounded to them. It spread, and became a slangy or jocular American term for jail even outside the southwest.

Ketchup The name of this most American of condiments originates from the Malay word koetsiap, which literally means 'seafood sauce.'

Lord A native word, going back to an ancient compound hlaf weard, literally 'loaf ward'--the guardian of the stock of bread in a household. Since this was usually the master of the household, the word came to mean specifically that in Anglo-Saxon (in the somewhat reduced form hlaford). Hlaford was used by Christian missionaries to translate the Latin word for 'master', Dominus, when referring to God. Lord in its ordinary social sense became a respectful term of address for a householder of means, then a title for a major landowner, and finally a hereditary title independent of land ownership. Unlike its counterpart German Herr 'lord, master', it never became an ordinary form of address prefixed to mens' last names; that role was taken on by Mister, from Latin magister 'great one'.

Money n. From Old French monee, literally 'coined', from Latin moneta, from the honorific name of Juno Moneta, 'Juno the Guardian, Juno the Warning Goddess'. From the metonymic association of Juno with her temple, which was the place where money was coined. Similar etymology for mint in the sense of 'place where money is coined'.

Paparazzo n., pl. paparazzi. A reporter or photographer, esp. a free-lance one, who doggedly searches for sensational stories about or takes candid pictures of celebrities for magazines and newspapers.
This word is an example of eponymy, or naming a concept after a person associated with that concept. In this case the person is a fictional character, one Signor Paparazzo, a character in the movie La Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini (b. 1920), in the 1960s. In the movie, Paparazzo was a street photographer. The name was apparently taken from the dialectal Italian word paparazzo, a kind of buzzing insect.
In its current sense, the word is usually found in the plural, since such photographers are often found in insect-like clusters around celebrities. Paparazzi became a household word after the tragic death of Princess Diana while she was being pursued by paparazzi in Paris. (AWAD)

Vermicelli Italian for 'little worms', from the resemblance of the pasta to wriggly worms. Ultimately derives from Latin vermiculae 'little worms'.

A Box Full of Kisses

The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy."

The man was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found out the box was empty. He yelled at her, stating, "Don't you know, when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside? The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They're all for you, Daddy."

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.

Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child. It is also told that her father kept that gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

Four Easy Ways To Learn English - By:George Williams

1. Preparation
There is no need to start from the beginning, since you already a fairly good notion of English. Take stock of your current skills and find out where you are weak. Once you know what you need to learn...all you have to do is learn it.

So, pick out something from your list of things that you know you need/want to learn. Take a few minutes to analyze why you want learn this information, and make sure you focus on that particular point while studying. It is super easy to get side-tracked onto other topics.

If you do see something of interest while you are on your search for information...make sure to take note of it so you can come back at a later time. But for now...FOCUS on the task at hand!

2. Practice
Now that you know what you know what you want to learn, jump over to Google or Yahoo and do a quick search on your chosen topic of interest. From there you should be able to find sites that will provide you with tools and resources such as audio files, video files, exercises, and tests to practice what you want to learn.

3. Use
Alright! You are ripping, raring, and ready-to-go! You studied what it was you wanted to learn, and now you need to put it into use in real life situations. Use what you just learned on your friends and acquaintances. Hit the forums and try out what you now know. Try to use it at least thirty times to really assimilate it well and make it a part of you.

4. Evaluate
Once you are done for the day, sit down for a few minutes and evaluate how you did. Did you learn everything that is required? Are you still weak in certain areas of this topic?

If you have a strong determination to learn English, take note of these things. Start making plan now and start practice it tomorrow. Make sure to do these four steps everyday, and you will steadily see your skills progressing. So now...just go do it!

English Proverbs - with their meanings

1. Actions speak louder than words.
Meaning: What a person actually does is more important that what they say they will do.

2. All good things come to those who wait.
Meaning: Patience brings rewards.

3. Knowledge in youth is wisdom in age.
Meaning: What you learn when you are young will be invaluable when you grow old.

4. Two wrongs don't make a right
Meaning: It is wrong to harm someone because they have harmed you.

5. You never know what you can do until you try.
Meaning: Try first before deciding not to do something.