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Grammaticalization. In historical linguistics, grammaticalization (also known as grammatization or grammaticization) is a process of language change by which words representing objects and actions (i.e. nouns and verbs) become grammatical markers (such as affixes or prepositions ). Thus it creates new function words from content words, rather ...
Traditional grammar (also known as classical grammar) is a framework for the description of the structure of a language. [1] The roots of traditional grammar are in the work of classical Greek and Latin philologists. [2] The formal study of grammar based on these models became popular during the Renaissance. [3]
v. t. e. In grammar, tense is a category that expresses time reference. [1] [2] Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their conjugation patterns. The main tenses found in many languages include the past, present, and future. Some languages have only two distinct tenses, such as past and nonpast, or ...
E-Prime (short for English-Prime or English Prime, sometimes É or E′) denotes a restricted form of English in which authors avoid all forms of the verb to be.. E-Prime excludes forms such as be, being, been, present tense forms (am, is, are), past tense forms (was, were) along with their negative contractions (isn't, aren't, wasn't, weren't), and nonstandard contractions such as ain't.
Verb phrase. In linguistics, a verb phrase ( VP) is a syntactic unit composed of a verb and its arguments except the subject of an independent clause or coordinate clause. Thus, in the sentence A fat man quickly put the money into the box, the words quickly put the money into the box constitute a verb phrase; it consists of the verb put and its ...
In linguistics, an argument is an expression that helps complete the meaning of a predicate, [1] the latter referring in this context to a main verb and its auxiliaries. In this regard, the complement is a closely related concept. Most predicates take one, two, or three arguments. A predicate and its arguments form a predicate-argument structure.
A typical English verb may have five different inflected forms: The base form or plain form ( go, write, climb ), which has several uses—as an infinitive, imperative, present subjunctive, and present indicative except in the third-person singular. The -s form ( goes, writes, climbs ), used as the present indicative in the third-person singular.
Persuasive writing. Persuasive writing is a form of writing intended to convince or influence readers to accept a particular idea or opinion and to inspire action. [1] A wide variety of writings, such as criticisms, reviews, reaction papers, editorials, proposals, advertisements, and brochures, utilize different persuasion techniques to ...
Agreement (linguistics) In linguistics, agreement or concord ( abbreviated agr) occurs when a word changes form depending on the other words to which it relates. [1] It is an instance of inflection, and usually involves making the value of some grammatical category (such as gender or person) "agree" between varied words or parts of the sentence ...
Periphrasis. In linguistics and literature, periphrasis ( / pəˈrɪfrəsɪs /) [1] is the use of a larger number of words, with an implicit comparison to the possibility of using fewer. The comparison may be within a language or between languages. For example, "more happy" is periphrastic in comparison to "happier," and English "I will eat" is ...