pluperfect

Shortening of plusquamperfect, from Latin plusquamperfectum (“more than perfect”), from plus (“more”) + quam (“than”) + perfectum, neuter singular of perfectus (“achieved; finished; perfected”).

bor

(grammar) Pertaining to action completed before another action or event in the past, past perfect.


nominal

→ Afrikaans: nominaal

From the Middle English nominalle (“of nouns”), borrowed from Latin nōminālis (“of names”), from nōmen (“name”).

This sentence contains a nominal phrase.

(grammar) Of or relating to a noun or word group that functions as a noun.


nominal

This sentence contains two nominals.

(grammar) A noun or word group that functions as part of a noun phrase.

A considerable number of derived nominals, especially thematic nouns, also exhibited o-grade roots.

2006, Donald Ringe, From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1), Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 12

(grammar) A part of speech that shares features with nouns and adjectives. (Depending on the language, it may comprise nouns, adjectives, possibly numerals, pronouns, and participles.)

névszó

the Hungarian terms is actually broader, corresponding to Nomen


vocative case

(grammar) case of address, case used for a noun identifying the person or thing being addressed. It corresponds to the archaic English particle "O" as used in solemn or poetic address e.g.: Hear me, O Albion! Languages that regularly employ the vocative include Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Czech, Georgian, Greek, Hawaiian, Hindi-Urdu, Irish, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ojibwe, Polish, Romanian, Ruthenian/Rusyn, Sanskrit, Scottish Gaelic, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Tamil and Ukrainian.


instrumental case

en-noun

instrumental case (plural instrumental cases)

(grammar) A noun case used to express means or agency—and is generally indicated in English by by or with with the objective. Languages that use the instrumental case include Armenian, Serbo-Croatian, Czech, Dyirbal, Georgian, Latvian, Slovene, Polish, Ukrainian, Quechua, Russian, Assamese, Turkish and Sanskrit. Extinct languages that used the instrumental case include Old English, Old Saxon and Old High German.


construct

en-verb

construct (third-person singular simple present constructs, present participle constructing, simple past and past participle constructed)

constructs (present singular third-person)
constructing (participle present)
constructed (participle past)
constructed (past)

Borrowed from Latin cōnstrūctus, from cōnstruō (“to heap together”), from com- (“together”) + struō (“I heap up, pile”). Doublet of construe.

A sentence may be constructed with a subject, verb and object.

The Vietnam War films are forms of memory that function to provide collective rememberings, to construct history, and to subsume within them the experience of the veterans.

(transitive, grammar) To build (a sentence, an argument, etc.) by arranging words or ideas.


prepositional case

en-noun

prepositional case (plural prepositional cases)

(grammar) noun case serving as object of a preposition. Prepositions that often govern the prepositional case include "about", "in", "on", and "near". Russian is an example of a language that uses the prepositional case.

ме́сны скло́н m (mjésny sklón, literally “locative case”)


prospective

From Middle French prospectif, from Late Latin prospectivus. See more at English prospect.

What some other languages convey with prospective aspect, English conveys with expressions like going to drive the car home.

(grammar) Indicating grammatically an activity about to begin.


past historic tense

(grammar) A tense used in some languages (such as French and Italian) in narrative, and in spoken language primarily when reading narrative or in storytelling, for completed actions in the past or in speaking of the dead. It is semantically the same as the simple past in many languages, including English.


modifier

(grammar) A word, phrase, or clause that limits or qualifies the sense of another word or phrase.

修飾語

grammar: qualifying word, clause or phrase

jelzői vagy szabad határozói kifejezés (szerepű)


synthetic

en-adj

synthetic (comparative more synthetic, superlative most synthetic)

more synthetic (comparative)
most synthetic (superlative)

From French synthétique, from Ancient Greek συνθετικός (sunthetikós); Equivalent to synthesis + -ic (suffix formation of -tic).

(grammar) Pertaining to the joining of bound morphemes in a word (compare analytic).

համադրական

pertaining to the joining of bound morphemes in a word


heteroclite

heteroclite (comparative more heteroclite, superlative most heteroclite)

more heteroclite (comparative)
most heteroclite (superlative)

From Late Latin heteroclitus, from Ancient Greek ἑτερόκλιτος (heteróklitos), from ἕτερος (héteros, “other, another, different”) + κλίνω (klínō, “lean, incline”), the latter from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-.

der

(grammar) Irregularly declined or inflected.


heteroclite

(grammar) An irregularly declined or inflected word.


semelfactive

Learned borrowing from New Latin semelfactīvus, from to Latin semel (“once, a single time”) + factum (“event, occurrence”) + adjectival suffix -īvus.

lbor

(grammar) That denotes a momentary or punctiliar action.


non-verbal

In the Moroccan dialect of Meknès, verbal negation is by means of the circumfix ma...-š, as in (15), while nonverbal negation is primarily by means of invariable ma-ši before the nonverbal predicate, as in (16).

1991, Bernard Comrie, “On the Importance of Arabic to General Linguistic Theory”, in Bernard Comrie, Mushira Eid, editors, Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics III: Papers from the Third Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 15

Negative prefix in Russian is a distinctive feature of nonverbal parts of speech, namesly, nouns (even those that do not denote situations, e.g. 3a), adjectives (3b), and adverbs (3c): […]

2009, Anna Pazelskaya, “Three Kinds of Event Nominal Negation in Russian”, in Peter Bosch, David Gabelaia, Jérôme Lang, editors, Logic, Language, and Computation: 7th International Tbilisi Symposium, Springer, page 25

(grammar, somewhat rare) Of or relating to a word that belongs to any part of speech other than that of verbs


dependent clause

en-noun

dependent clause (plural dependent clauses)


polysynthetic

en-adj

polysynthetic (comparative more polysynthetic, superlative most polysynthetic)

more polysynthetic (comparative)
most polysynthetic (superlative)

(grammar, of languages) Characterized by a prevalence of relatively long words containing a large number of morphemes. Typically, the morphemes are bound.


concrete noun

(grammar) A noun that denotes something tangible or material, such as a person or place.


apprehensive

/ˌæpɹɪˈhɛnsɪv/

From Latin apprehensīvus, from apprehensus, perfect passive participle of apprehendō (“to apprehend, understand, learn”) + -īvus (“-ive”).

In 16.66 the non-visual apprehensive is used with the third-person.

2003, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, “16 - Mood and modality”, in A Grammar of Tariana, from Northwest Amazonia, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, page 384

(grammar) A mood indicating an undesired outcome.


intentional

[ɪnˈtʰɛnʃn̩ɫ̩]

Borrowed from Medieval Latin intentiōnālis. By surface analysis, intention + -al.

bor+

Tariana distinguishes interrogative and imperative moods. Interrogative mood is marked through a separate set of evidentials fused with tense (see §14.2). Imperatives are discussed in §16.1. Modalities include: frustrative (§16.2), intentional (§16.3), apprehensive (§16.4), uncertainty (§16.5), conditional (§16.6), purposive (§16.7) and counter-expectation (§16.8). […] The intentional is marked with the clitic -kasu. It can occur with any group of verbs, marking imminent action, as in 16.60 and intention, as in 16.61.

2003, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, “16 - Mood and modality”, in A Grammar of Tariana, from Northwest Amazonia, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, pages 371, 383

(grammar) The cohortative mood as found in Hebrew (terminology borrowed from Julius Friedrich Böttcher † 1863 and now outmoded), and constructions of similar purpose in even more exotic languages.


monotransitive

(grammar, linguistics) pertaining to a transitive verb that takes a single mandatory object, either a direct object or a primary object depending on the language.


mediopassive

Whereas the function of the passive voice is to remove the agent from the discussion of a transitive activity, the function of the mediopassive voice is to discuss an event in a way which explicitly denies the involvement of an initiating agent.

1989, Jon Philip Dayley, University of California publications in linguistics: volume 115

Until about 1900 the r-element attached to mediopassive endings was merely regarded as a marginal feature peculiar to Halo-Celtic; it was taken as evidence for Italo-Celtic because it was supposed to be an innovation of these two groups.

1990, Kazuhiko Yoshida, The Hittite Mediopassive Endings in -ri, page 103

(grammar) Pertaining to a voice of a transitive verb that is both middle voice and passive voice or reflexive and passive voice.


mediopassive

A systematic study of mediopassive sell in the BNC (Figure 6) confirms that – at least for this verb – the constraint seems to hold: the vast majority of mediopassives with sell contain some kind of modification, namely 92.2%.

2014, Antoinette Renouf, Andrew Kehoe, The Changing Face of Corpus Linguistics, page 177

More importantly, it is highly context dependent: (a) certain text types (such as advertising copy) seem to license bare mediopassives more than others (see Section 6.4.1), (b) contextually implied contrast may enable an inherent property reading of a bare mediopassive (see Sections 6.4.2.1 and 6.4.2.2), or the verb itself might foster bare mediopassive use (this seems to be the case with denominal verbs like zip, button, bolt, or clamp, see Goldberg and Ackerman 2001: 806).

2014, Marianne Hundt, Late Modern English Syntax, page 107

(grammar) A mediopassive construction; a phrase that uses the mediopassive voice.

voz médio-passiva

grammatical voice in which the actor of a stative verb is not expressed


future perfect

en-noun

future perfect (plural future perfects or futures perfect)

future perfects (plural)
futures perfect (plural)

The sentence “In a few years time I will have moved to another country” is in the future perfect.

(grammar) A tense that expresses action completed at some time in the future; in English it is formed by use of will have (or shall have) and a past participle

voltooid tegenwoordig toekomende tijd

a tense that expresses action completed at some time in the future


solecism

Borrowed from French solécisme, from Latin soloecismus, from Ancient Greek σολοικισμός (soloikismós), from σόλοικος (sóloikos, “speaking incorrectly”), from Σόλοι (Sóloi), an ancient Athenian colony in Cilicia whose inhabitants spoke a dialect regarded by Athenians as a corrupted and barbarous form of Attic Greek. Compare Atticism.

The "simple" metaphor, such as the instance given, becomes the "continued" metaphor when the analogy or similitude is worked out in a series of phrases and expressions based on the primary metaphor; it is in such "continued metaphors" that the solecism of "mixed" metaphors is likely to occur.

1911, “Metaphor”, in Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition

Eliot and Gertrude Stein had a solemn conversation, mostly about split infinitives and other grammatical solecisms and why Gertrude Stein used them.

1933, Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas

Prepositions are also prone to particular solecisms and infelicities.

2008, Ben Yagoda, chapter VII, in When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It, Crown

On June 12th The Economist’s pages featured an activist investor “honing in on the dearth of energy experience” on a company’s board. A few readers honed in on a solecism: the original phrase is to “home in” on something, like the creatures that find their way back to their nests—that is, they “home”—with surprising precision.

2021 July 15, “Sometimes solecisms can reveal linguistic ingenuity”, in The Economist, →ISSN


illative case

Languages that make use of the illative case include Finnish, Hungarian, and Quechua.

(grammar) A case used to indicate movement into something; for example, into the house.


vulgarism

"Shit" is a vulgarism.

(grammar) A word or term that is considered offensive or vulgar.


locative case

(linguistics, grammar) A case used to indicate place, or the place where, or wherein; corresponding roughly to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by".

ներգոյական հոլով

前置格 (ぜんちかく, zenchikaku) "prepositional case"

өгөх оршихын тийн ялгал (ögöx oršixyn tiin jalgal, literally “dative-locative case”)

оршихын тийн ялгал (oršixyn tiin jalgal, literally “locative case”)


inessive case

(grammar) noun case used to indicate location inside something. In English, this is usually expressed by the prepositions "in" or "inside", as in "inside the house". Languages that use the inessive case include Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian, Ossetian and Erzya.


ablative case

(grammar) A noun case used in some languages to indicate movement away from something, removal, separation. In English grammar, it corresponds roughly to the use in English of prepositions "of", "from", "away from", and "concerning". In Latin grammar, the ablative case (cāsus ablātīvus) includes functions derived from the Indo-European ablative, instrumental, comitative, associative and locative cases; these cases express concepts similar to those of the English prepositions "of"/"from", "by", "with", "to"/"with", and "at"/"in", respectively. Here/hence/hither, there/thence/thither, and where/whence/whither are the only English words with separate forms for the ablative (motion away from) and lative (motion towards) cases.

rrjedhore

grammatical case used to indicate movement away from something, removal, separation, source


temporal case

(grammar) A noun case used to specify a time. In English, this is usually expressed by the preposition "at," as in "at six o’clock," "at midnight," "at Christmas." Hungarian is a language that uses the temporal case.


superessive case

superessive case (plural superessive cases)

(grammar) Noun case used to indicate location on an object. In English, it roughly corresponds to the prepositions "on" or "on top of", as in "on top of the house". Hungarian is a language that uses the superessive case.


adessive case

(grammar) A noun case used to indicate adjacent location. In English, this is usually expressed by the prepositions near, at, or by, as in "by the house." Languages that use the adessive case include Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian, Lezgi and Lithuanian.


delative case

(grammar) case used to indicate movement from an object. In English, this is usually expressed by the prepositions from or off of, as in "down off of the house." Hungarian is a language that uses the delative case, see -ról.


caritive case

(grammar) A case used to express the lack or absence of something. It has the meaning of the English preposition "without." The caritive case is found in some Caucasian languages.

karitiivi

case used to express the lack of something


abessive case

Languages that use the abessive case include Erzya, Estonian, Finnish, Mongolian, Northern Sámi, and Inari Sámi.

(grammar) A grammatical case used to express the lack or absence of something. It has the meaning of the English preposition without or the affix -less.


collective noun

collective noun (plural collective nouns)

A hundred, a thousand, few, many, are to be considered as collective nouns, and distinguished as such, by the singular article.

1775, John Ash, The New and Complete Dictionary of the English Language, volume 1, London: Edward and Charles Dilly in the Poultry; and R. Baldwin in Pater-Noster Row, →OCLC, page 23

British English tends more than American English to have plural agreement with collective nouns.

2008, Ron Cowan, The Teacher's Grammar of English with Answers

(grammar) A noun which, though singular, refers to a group of things or animals. Examples: a school of fish, a pride of lions.

versamelnaam

noun referring to a group of similar things


allative case

(grammar) A case used to indicate movement onto, or to the adjacency of something. In English, this is usually expressed by the prepositions to or onto, as in "to the house," "onto the house." Languages that use the allative case include Basque, Dyirbal, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, and Lithuanian.


conjunctive

From Latin coniunctivus (“serving to connect”), from coniunctus, past participle of coniungere; compare conjoin. From late 15th c; grammatical sense from 1660s.

uder

(grammar) Relating to a conjunction (part of speech).

(grammar) Relating to the conjunctive mood.

(grammar) Of a personal pronoun, used only in immediate conjunction with the verb of which the pronoun is the subject, such as French je or Irish sé

(grammar, of a verb) Subjunctive: inflected to indicate that an act or state of being is possible, contingent or hypothetical, and not a fact.


disjunctive

en-adj

disjunctive (comparative more disjunctive, superlative most disjunctive)

more disjunctive (comparative)
most disjunctive (superlative)

From Middle English disjunctief, disjunctyf, from Middle French disjunctif and Latin disjunctīvus (“placed in opposition”).

der

(grammar, of a personal pronoun) Not used in immediate conjunction with the verb of which the pronoun is the subject.

disjunktiivinen

grammar, of a personal pronoun: not used in immediate conjunction


benefactive case

en-noun

benefactive case (plural benefactive cases)

Basque and Quechua are languages with a benefactive case.

(grammar) A case used to indicate beneficiary, or the receiver of the benefit, roughly corresponding to English prepositions such as for, for the benefit of, in the interests of, intended for, or on behalf of.


absolutive case

absolutive case (plural absolutive cases)

(grammar) case used to indicate the patient or experiencer of a verb’s action. The absolutive case is used to mark the subject of an intransitive verb, as well as the object of a transitive verb (inasmuch as they are codified in the English nominative-accusative system). Some languages that employ the absolutive case include Abkhaz, Basque, Chechen, Dyirbal, Hindi, Inuktitut, Hiligaynon, and Yup'ik.


supine

The adjective is borrowed from Latin supīnus, from *sup- (see sub (“under”)) + -īnus (“of, pertaining to”). The word is cognate with Catalan supí, Italian supino, Old French sovin, Middle French souvin, Anglo-Norman supin, Old Occitan sobin, sopin, Portuguese supino, Spanish supino. Partly displaced Old English upweard (“upward, supine”), whence Modern English upward.
The noun is from Late Middle English supin (“supine of a Latin verb”) or Middle French supin (“(grammar) supine”), from Latin supīnum, (ellipsis of supīnum verbum (“supine verb”)), from supīnus; further etymology above.

der

And here also you may observ, that the syllable which is doubled in the Preterperfect tens is not doubled in the Supines, as totondi to clip, make's tonsum: cecídi to beat, cæsum: […]

1653, Charles Hoole, “Of the Supines of Simple Verbs”, in The Latine Grammar Fitted for the Use of Schools. […], 2nd corrected edition, London: Printed by William Du-Gard; and are to bee sold by John Saywell […], →OCLC, page 142

There be alſo appertaining unto Verbs, two Supines, the one ending in um, which is called the firſt Supine, becauſe it hath the ſignification of the Verb Active: as, Eo amatum, I go to love: and the other in u, becauſe it hath for the moſt part the ſignification of Paſſive, as Difficilis amatu, hard to be loved.

1718, Richard Johnson, “Of Supines”, in Grammatical Commentaries: Being an Apparatus to a New National Grammar: […], London: Printed for the author, and sold by Thomas Bickerton, […], →OCLC, page 354

Of the large number of verbs which take the infinitive in Old-English the greater number are now followed by the supine. […] The substitution of the supine for the infinitive began in Old-English itself. Thus the supine of purpose, as in hīe cōmon þæt land tō sċēawienne 'they came to spy out the land,' gradually supplanted the older infinitive with many verbs of desiring, intending, attempting, etc., so that while such a verb as willan 'will' continued—as it still does in modern English—to take the infinitive only, other verbs of similar meaning, […] began to take the supine as well as the infinitive.

1898, Henry Sweet, “Verbs”, in A New English Grammar: Logical and Historical (Clarendon Press Series), part II (Syntax), Oxford: At the Clarendon Press [by Horace Hart], →OCLC, §§ 2314 and 2315, page 118

If you must know, the verb finite (i.e. limited by person and number) has three persons, two numbers, six tenses and three moods, while the verb infinite (not so limited) has infinitives, three participles, the gerund and gerundive and two supines.

2013, Emma Short, Alex George, “The Verb (Stearn, pp. 130–139)”, in A Primer of Botanical Latin with Vocabulary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, page 47

The chapter focuses on the supine clause, which is a language-specific construction. An example is offered in (1): the aspectual verb isprăvi 'finish' selects a clausal complement that contains a supine verb. We know that the supine is a verb because its direct object is in unmarked Case (i.e. Accusative). Supine nouns, like any regular noun, have the direct object marked for Genitive Case. […] The emergence and the spread of the supine clause is very well captured in the Old Romanian texts, a situation that contrasts with the incomplete information we have about other clausal complements.

2016, Virginia Hill, Gabriela Albiou, “Supine Clauses: On the Road to Balkanization”, in Verb Movement and Clause Structure in Old Romanian (Oxford Studies in Diachronic & Historical Linguistics), Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 267

(grammar, also attributively) In Latin and other languages: a type of verbal noun used in the ablative and accusative cases, which shares the same stem as the passive participle.

The three conjugations are distinguished principally by the ending of the supine. In the first conjugation the supine ends in at, as: tala speak talat spoken. In the second conjugation the supine ends in t after a consonant, as: köpa buy köpt bought. In the third conjugation the supine ends in it, as: taga take tagit taken.

[1849], A[lfred] May, “Etymology”, in A Practical Grammar of the Swedish Language, with Reading- and Writing-exercises, Stockholm: A. Bonnier, →OCLC, page 42

There are two non-finite forms in Swedish, the infinitive and the supine. […] The supine has two basic allomorphs: -t (weak verbs) and -it (strong verbs). […] The supine verb phrase serves as complement of the perfect auxiliary ha 'have' (hon hade bundit honom) which can be deleted, though, in subordinate clauses (eftersom hon [hade] bundit honom 'since she had bound him'). (The supine has existed as a morphologically distinct category in standard Swedish language at least since the 19th c.; cf. art. 155.)

2005, Ulf Teleman, “The Standard Languages and Their Systems in the 20th Century IV: Swedish”, in Herbert Ernst Wiegand, editor, The Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages (Händbucher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft [Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science]; 22.2), volume 2, Berlin, New York, N.Y.: Walter de Gruyter, part XVI (The Nordic Languages in the 20th Century), pages 1613–1614

(grammar, also attributively) In Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic and Old Norse: a verb form that combines with an inflection of ha/hafa/hava to form the present perfect and pluperfect tenses.

(grammar, also attributively) (obsolete terminology) The 'to'-prefixed infinitive in English or other Germanic languages, so named because the infinitive was regarded as a verbal noun and the 'to'-prefixed form of it was seen as the dative form of the verbal noun; the full infinitive.


ergative case

en-noun

ergative case (usually uncountable, plural ergative cases)

(grammar) A grammatical case used to indicate the agent of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages.

nork

case used to indicate the agent of a verb in ergative-absolutive languages


imperfect tense

imperfect tense (plural imperfect tenses)

“I was watching tennis” is an example of the imperfect tense.

(grammar) A tense used to describe a past action that is ongoing, incomplete or continuous, or coincident with another action.


conditional tense

conditional tense (plural conditional tenses)

But he is stopped short by vocabulary, by the conditional tense, by that way of speaking that shifts everything into the hypothetical, into an imagined existence that could or could not be true.

2019, Maaza Mengiste, The Shadow King, Canongate Books (2020), page 341


counter

Inherited from Middle English countour, from Old French conteor (French comptoir), from Medieval Latin computātōrium, from Latin computō, equivalent to count + -er. Doublet of cantore, computer, and kontor.

doublet

[ˈkʰaʊ̯.ɾ̃ɚ]

(grammar) A class of word used along with numbers to count objects and events, typically mass nouns. Although rare and optional in English (e.g. "20 head of cattle"), they are numerous and required in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

vastatoimi

something in contradiction to a proposal


gerundive

/dʒəˈɹʌndɪv/

From Latin gerundīvus (“of a gerund”), from gerundium (“gerund”), from gerundus (“which is to be carried out”), future passive participle (gerundive) of gerō (“carry, bear”).

(in Latin grammar) a verbal adjective that describes obligation or necessity, equivalent in form to the future passive participle.

gerundiivi

Latin verbal adjective that describes obligation or necessity

(less commonly, in English grammar) a verbal adjective ending in -ing, also called a "present participle".

gerundi

verbal adjective — see also present participle


reflexive

From Medieval Latin reflexīvus, from Latin reflexus.

(grammar) Referring back to the subject, or having an object equal to the subject.


framework

inquadramento

the identification and categorisation of processes or steps that constitute a complex task or mindset

(grammar) An established and structured system of rules and principles used for analyzing and describing the structure of a language.


comparative degree

en-noun

comparative degree (plural comparative degrees)

(grammar) The form of an adverb or adjective that is used when comparing two things.


superlative degree

(grammar) adverbial or adjectival forms modified by most or ending in -est, used when comparing three or more things


subordinate

en-adj

subordinate (comparative more subordinate, superlative most subordinate)

more subordinate (comparative)
most subordinate (superlative)

From Middle English subordinat, from Medieval Latin subōrdinātus, past participle of subōrdināre, from sub- + ōrdināre (“to order”).

In the sentence “The barbecue finished before John arrived”, the subordinate clause “before John arrived” specifies the time of the main clause, “The barbecue finished”.

(grammar, of a clause, not comparable) dependent on and either modifying or complementing the main clause


apodosis

Learned borrowing from Late Latin apodosis, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀπόδοσις (apódosis).

lbor

Coordinate term: protasis

In "I will be coming if this weather holds up", "I will be coming" is the apodosis and "this weather holds up" is the protasis.

1943 Dornford Yates An Eye for a Tooth
"If, after that, there is anything more to be done. . ."
"Yes?"
"You’d ----well better do it," said Forecast.
The meaning with which he invested this blunt apodosis was unmistakable. Even I, an eavesdropper, found it most sinister: and I was not surprised when, after a little silence, the other turned on his heel and led the way to the road.

1997 Angeliki Athanasiadou, René Dirven (eds) On Conditionals Again p. 309 by Hansjakob Seiler
There is furthermore the claim that conditionals necessarily involve a causal relation from protasis to apodosis. This may hold for the "conjunctive" types signalling a natural consequence from protasis to apodosis, but becomes increasingly unlikely as we approach disjunctive structures of the type. "May I perish most miserably, if I do not love Xanthia." does not mean "May I perish most miserably, because I do not love Xanthia."

(logic, grammar) The consequential clause in a conditional sentence.

جَوَابُ الشَّرْط

the consequential clause in a conditional sentence


projection

en-noun

projection (countable and uncountable, plural projections)

/pɹəˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/

From either the Middle French projection or its etymon, the Classical Latin prōiectiō (stem: prōiectiōn-), from prōiciō, equivalent to project + -ion. Compare the Modern French projection, the German Projektion, and the Italian proiezione.

(grammar) The preservation of the properties of lexical items while generating the phrase structure of a sentence. See Projection principle.


paragoge

paragoge (countable and uncountable, plural paragoges)

/pæɹəˈɡəʊd͡ʒi/

From Late Latin paragoge, from Ancient Greek παραγωγή (paragōgḗ, “derivation, addition”).

der

(grammar, prosody) The addition of a sound, syllable or letter to the end of a word, either through natural development or as a grammatical function.

lostkresk

the addition of a sound, syllable or letter to the end of a word


inanimate

en-adj

inanimate (comparative more inanimate, superlative most inanimate)

more inanimate (comparative)
most inanimate (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English inanimate, from Late Latin inanimātus, from Latin in- + animātus.


animate

animate (comparative more animate, superlative most animate)

more animate (comparative)
most animate (superlative)

fixed

antonym(s) of “possessing the quality or ability of motion”

From Middle English animate, from Latin animatus, past participle of animare (“to fill with breath, quicken, encourage, animate”), from anima (“breath”); see anima.

عَاقِل

"intelligent", used for intelligent beings

Nouns can be singular or plural, and one of two genders, animate or inanimate.

(grammar, of a noun or pronoun) having a referent that is considered alive (this generally includes humans and animals, often also gods, plants, etc.)

(grammar) Inflected to agree with an animate noun or pronoun.


preterite

From Middle English preterit, from Old French preterit (13th century), from Latin praeteritum (as in tempus praeteritum (“time past”)), the past participle of praetereō (“I go by, go past”), itself from praeter (“beyond, before, above, more than”) (comparative of prae (“before”)) + itum (the past participle of eō (“I go”)).

The Dravidian preterite tense is ordinarily formed, like the present, by annexing the pronominal signs to the preterite verbal participle.

1913 [1856], Robert Caldwell, edited by J.L. Wyatt and T. Ramakrishna Pillai, A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian, or, South-Indian Family of Languages, 3rd edition, London: Kegan Paul, →OCLC, page 496

(grammar, of a tense) Showing an action at a determined moment in the past.

минал

showing an action at a determined moment in the past


preterite

When simple verbs redouble the preterite, the compounds drop the first syllable, as: Pello, pĕpŭli, to drive away, to beat back; Repello, rĕpŭli, and not rĕpĕpŭli, to drive back, to repel.

1772, John Mair, A Radical Vocabulary, Latin and English, Edinburgh: A. Murray, and J. Cochran, for A. Kincaid & W. Creech, and J. Bell, →OCLC, page 101

Nevertheless, a small amount of variation still exists in one area of standard English verbal morphology: the preterite and past participle forms of certain irregular verbs.

1994, Dieter Stein, Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade, Towards a Standard English: 1600-1800, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, page 115

(grammar) A grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past.


present perfect

(grammar) A perfect tense that expresses action in the past (usually completed) with consequences in the present time.

現在完成

tense that expresses action in the past with consequences in the present time


vii

(grammar) Initialism of verb inanimate intransitive.


agrammatism

en-noun

agrammatism (countable and uncountable, plural agrammatisms)

From Ancient Greek ἀγράμματος (agrámmatos, “illiterate”) + -ism (English suffix).


conditional perfect

en-noun

conditional perfect (plural conditional perfects)

(grammar) A combination of the conditional mood and the perfect tense, roughly corresponding to English 'I would have...'


pf.

perfective aspect
perfective aspect#English

(grammar) Abbreviation of perfective aspect.


semelfactive aspect

semelfactive aspect (plural semelfactive aspects)

(grammar) A subclass of perfective verbs that denotes a momentary or punctiliar action (e.g., to sneeze, to blink).


imperfective aspect

2007, Almut Hintze, A Zoroastrian Liturgy: The Worship in Seven Chapters (Yasna 35—41), Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, page 240,
If the root meaning is iterative or durative, such as 'to go', the verb belongs to the imperfective aspect and forms a root present.

2012, David Holton, Peter Mackridge, Irene Philippaki-Warburton, Vassilios Spyropoulos (reviser), Greek: A Comprehensive Grammar of the Modern Language, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2nd Edition, page 286,
The imperfective aspect in Greek presents the action or state expressed by the verb either as a single but continuous event (progressively) or as a repetitive or habitual one.

2012, Zygmunt Frajzyngier, A Grammar of Wandala, Walter De Gruyter (De Gruyter Mouton), page 149,
Subject pronouns precede the simple form of the verb and the reduplicated form of the verb in the imperfective aspect.

(grammar) A feature of a verb which denotes that its action or condition does not have a fixed temporal boundary, but is habitual, unfinished, continuous, repetitive or in progress.


aorist aspect

(grammar) A temporal feature of the verb which denotes the speaker's standpoint of the event described by the verb, as from outside of the event and seeing it as a completed whole.


iterative aspect

(grammar) A subclass of imperfective verbs that denote a continuously repeated action. An example in English would be the iterative verb sniffle, as opposed to the noniterative sniff.


perfective aspect

(grammar) A feature of the verb which denotes viewing the event the verb describes as a completed whole, rather than from within the event as it unfolds. For example, "she sat down" as opposed to "she was sitting down". Since the focus is on the completion of what is expressed by the verb, this aspect is generally associated with the past and future tenses. This term is often used interchangeably with aorist aspect. This is not to be confused with the perfect tense.


cursive

en-adj

cursive (comparative more cursive, superlative most cursive)

more cursive (comparative)
most cursive (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French cursif, from Medieval Latin cursīvus, from Latin cursus.

(grammar) Of or relating to a grammatical aspect relating to an action that occurs in a straight line (in space or time).


open compound

Two-word compounds--named open compounds in Edward N. Teall's Meet Mr. Hyphen--are in fact very common.

Thus such words, to give only a very few examples, as pismire, baise-mains, favonian, hearstling, happenstance, chanticleer, and open compounds like guardhouse lawyer,sidewalk superintendent and slush fund are registered without any kind of status label ...

1966, Ladislas Országh, Deficiencies of Modern English Dictionaries in English Studies Today, Fourth Serieshttps://books.google.com/books?id=ftJKfD7WKwcC&pg=PA71&dq=%22open+compounds%22

Further, the language permits open compounds, as indicated above, so that we might conjecture such spellings as "battlecry, battle-field, battle ground, battle-piece and battlewise."

1971, Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, Volume 5https://books.google.com/books?id=dvWkHF_6NAgC&pg=PA52&dq=%22open+compounds%22

Should the Yiddish noun ris-uf 'start' be written as an open or a hyphenated compound? The MEYYED gives it as an open compound (ris uf) in the English- Yiddish ...

The examples also exemplify the three forms that compound words take: 1) open compound (snail mail); 2) hyphenated compound (eagle-eyed); and 3) solid compound (bookworm).

1992, Sheila Davis, The Songwriter's Idea Bookhttps://books.google.com/books?id=6hhjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT143

A subentry is an open compound (e.g., express contract) whose major element is the noun (contract at whose alphabetical place the subentry is entered.

1996, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Lawhttps://books.google.com/books?id=JYs74quLWLIC&pg=PR7&dq=%22open+compound%22

In an open compound, the component words are separate, with no hyphen (well fed; wagon train).

2008, Oxford American Large Print Dictionaryhttps://books.google.com/books?id=V585_u2mRG0C&pg=PA1398&dq=%22open+compound%22

Some compounds are written as space-separated words, which are called open compounds (e.g. hard drive), while others are written as single words, which are called closed compounds (e.g. wallpaper). In this paper, we shall focus only on closed compounds because open compounds do not require further splitting.

2011, Language-independent Compound Splitting with Morphological Operationshttps://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en//pubs/archive/37093.pdf

(grammar) A compound word with spaces in it, for example, high school, school bus, or science fiction.

erikseen kirjoitettu yhdyssana

but note that Finnish has no open compounds


closed compound

en-noun

closed compound (plural closed compounds)

(grammar) A compound word without spaces in it.

(yhteenkirjoitettu) yhdyssana

in Finnish, but not in English, all compounds are written without spaces; see open compound


deponent

From Latin dēpōnēns (“laying aside”), the present active participle of dēpōnō (“lay aside”), from dē- + pōnō (“put, place”). The name comes from the idea that such verbs were originally reflexive and then later "laid aside" their passive meanings.

(grammar, of a verb) Having passive grammatical form (that is, conjugating like the passive voice), but an active meaning.

異態

of a verb: having a passive form with an active meaning


compound word

A Compound Word, is that which is Compounded of two or more Words; as a Book-Seller, Compounded of Book and Seller; a Watch-man, of Watch and Man.

1700, A. Lane, A Key to the Art of Lettershttps://books.google.ccom/books?id=d81lAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA19&dq=%22compound+word%22

A word is a compound word when it is made up of two or more parts, each of which is a significant word by itself; as, apple-tree, tea-spoon, spend-thrift.

1858, Charles Peter Mason, English grammarhttps://books.google.com/books?id=XmoCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA74&dq=%22compound+word%22

Thus it is found in English compound words, e.g. “elbow,” “rainbow,” “bow-net,” “bow-window,” “bow-knot,” “saddle-bow,” and by itself as the designation of a great variety of objects.

Compound words contrast with words built up by the use of affixes. Thus, for example, re-use, substandard, hyperventilate, prehistoric and pro-communist woud not usually be counted as compound words ...

1994, James R. Hurford, Grammar: A Student's Guidehttps://books.google.com/books?id=ZaBKd8pT6kgC&pg=PA43&dq=%22compound+words%22

Some important vocabulary words your child needs to study are compound words. A compound word is made when two words are joined together to form a new word. For example, the word rainbow is made using the words rain and bow.

2014, Kelly Hackett, Compound Words--Banana Splits Literacy Center

As stated above, compound words are formed by joining two words into one word. Some compound words retain elements of the meanings of the two words. Examples include sunlight, flagpole, flying fish, and bridge-builder.

2018, Dale D. Johnson, Words: The Foundation of Literacyhttps://books.google.com/books?id=Jx9WDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT40&dq=%22compound+words%22

1784, Noah Webster, A Grammatical Institute of the English languagehttps://books.google.cz/books?id=S09gAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA8&dq=%22compound+word%22https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N14876.0001.001/1:4?rgn=div1;submit=Go;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=compound+word
A compound word is formed of two or more simple words; as, country-man, gold-smith, ink-horn; or of a simple word and a preposition; as, over-come, with-draw, dis-engage.

(linguistics) A word composed of two or more stems.

ទ្វយវាទ

tvĕəʼyĕəʼviət


translative case

translative case (plural translative cases)

(grammar) a form of declension that indicates a change in the state of a noun; the Estonian, Finnish and Hungarian languages have such a case

變格

case used to indicate a change in the state of a noun


translative

From Latin translativus (“that is to be transferred”).
 Compare French translatif.

der

(grammar) A word in the translative case.


split infinitive

en-noun

split infinitive (plural split infinitives)

Yeah, Ronnie! (or, the Split Infinitive of the Year, possibly the Century) – on being asked if the New York Times report was true that the 1983 deficit will be $124 billion, rather than the $91.5 billion in the Reagan budget … A: 'I couldn't answer until we have to, by law, shortly, in a couple of weeks, present an updated project.'

1982 April 4, Nick Clarke, quoting Alistair Cooke, “Keeping in Touch”, in Alistair Cooke: A Biography, 1st U.S. edition, New York, N.Y.: Arcade Publishing, published 2000, page 487

The split infinitive was regrettable, but the writers of Star Trek came up with the phrase to capture the essential idea brought to mind at the mention of the words "frontier" and "pioneer": "to boldly go where no man has gone before."

1994, Patricia Nelson Limerick, “The Adventures of the Frontier in the Twentieth Century”, in James R. Grossman, editor, The Frontier in American Culture: An Exhibition at the Newberry Library, August 26, 1994 – January 7, 1995, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, page 89

Such fetishes as insisting on It's I, not ending sentences with prepositions, and avoiding split infinitives are all dismissed as the nonsense they are.

2001, R[obert] L[awrence] Trask, “Introduction”, in Mind the Gaffe: The Penguin Guide to Common Errors in English (Penguin Reference Books), London: Penguin Books, page 17

(grammar) An infinitive with one or more modifiers inserted between the to and the verb.

disigita infinitivo

an infinitive with one or more modifiers inserted between the to and the verb


displacement

From French déplacement. Morphologically displace + -ment.

водоизместимост

the quantity of anything, as water, displaced by a floating body, as by a ship

there is no replacement for displacement

(grammar) The capability of a communication system to refer to things that are not present (that existed or will exist at another time, or that exist at another location).


modal auxiliary

modal auxiliary (plural modal auxiliaries)

(grammar) A verb used to express the mood (or tense) of another verb.


gnomic

en-adj

gnomic (comparative more gnomic, superlative most gnomic)

more gnomic (comparative)
most gnomic (superlative)

From French gnomique, ultimately from Ancient Greek γνωμικός (gnōmikós), from γνώμη (gnṓmē, “thought, judgement”), akin to γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “know”).

gnomic aspect

(grammar) Expressing general truths or aphorisms.


indicative mood

en-noun

indicative mood (plural indicative moods)

(grammar) The mood of a verb used in ordinary, factual, or objective statements.


headword

From head + word. Compare West Frisian haadwurd (“noun, substantive, headword”), Dutch hoofdwoord (“headword”), German Hauptwort (“noun, substantive, headword”), Swedish huvudord (“headword, keyword”).

cog

In "a very discerning car shopper", "shopper" is the headword.

(grammar) Any word which may be modified by an adjunct; often, the core noun of a noun phrase.


past anterior

(grammar) A compound tense used in literary French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, in function a pluperfect, and in form composed of the conjunction of the simple past tense of an auxiliary verb (avoir, être) with the past participle. Example: Après que la femme et l'homme l'eurent remercié = After the woman and the man had thanked him

pasau anterior

a compound tense used in literary French, Spanish, and Italian


partitive case

(grammar) A noun case used to indicate that an object is affected only partially by the verb, or that the effect is not real. It often corresponds roughly to the English words "some" or "any." It is similar in many ways to the genitive case. Some languages that make use of the partitive case include Finnish and Estonian.


quintal

From quint- (“five, fivefold”) + -al (“forming adjectives”).

Furthermore, if the number-incorporated pronouns are analyzed as grammatically marked for number, distinct grammatical categories for trial, quadral and quintal must be posited.

2002, Kearsy Annette Cormier, Grammaticization of Indexic Signs: How American Sign Language Expresses Numerosity, page 69

In UgSL, we find a complete set of forms for dual, trial, quadral and quintal in several paradigmatic contrasts.

2014, Sam Lutalo-Kiingi, A Descriptive Grammar of Morphosyntactic Constructions in Ugandan Sign Language (UgSL), page 198

All in all, this suggests that in LSC the differences observed in the motion taken by exact number pronouns is not grounded in a fundamental distinction between the dual vs. the trial, the quadral and the quintal.

2023, Raquel Veiga Busto, Person and Number: An Empirical Study of Catalan Sign Language Pronouns, page 164

(grammar) A grammatical number referring to five (or more) things.


quintal

What Table 4 does not show is the possibility of even "quadral" and "quintal" forms, like yufopela 'you four', 'the four of you', yufaipela 'you five', 'the five of you'.

1995, John W. M. Verhaar, Toward a Reference Grammar of Tok Pisin: An Experiment in Corpus Linguistics, page 20

In sign languages, on the other hand, trial, quadral and quintal forms such as found in UgSL are not uncommon.

Moreover, trial, quadral and quintal forms are given an identical status as number values in the pronominal domain.

2023, Raquel Veiga Busto, Person and Number: An Empirical Study of Catalan Sign Language Pronouns, page 102

(grammar) Referring to five (or more) things; of, in or relating to the quintal grammatical number.


parsable

en-adj

parsable (comparative more parsable, superlative most parsable)

more parsable (comparative)
most parsable (superlative)

Well-formed XML is an example of parsable text.

The regular languages are also efficiently parsable and used extensively in computing for string matching.

2019, Hannes Hapke, Cole Howard, Hobson Lane, Natural Language Processing in Action, Simon and Schuster


ultima

en-noun

ultima (countable and uncountable, plural ultimas)

From the Latin feminine of ultimus (“last”).

(grammar, prosody, countable) The final syllable of a word.


singulative

From French singulatif, from Latin singillatim (“singly", "one by one”), from singulus (“single", "separate”), from Proto-Italic *sem-g-lo-, a diminutive form derived from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, together”).

der

English doesn't have a singulative number in general, but many uncountable nouns have usual singulative constructions.

(grammar) Of or pertaining to a grammatical form or construction that expresses the individuation of a single referent from a mass noun.


singulative

The singulative of "cattle" is "a head of cattle".

The singulative of "scissors" is "a pair of scissors".

(grammar) A singulative form or construction.


ditransitive verb

en-noun

ditransitive verb (plural ditransitive verbs)

(grammar) A verb that requires (in the unmarked form) both a direct object and an indirect object so as to be grammatical.

δίπτωτο ρήμα

verb that requires a direct object and an indirect object


ditransitive

So far, we have considered only transitive Verbs which take a single NP Complement. However, there are a subset of transitive Verbs (known as ditransitive Verbs) which can take two NP Complements, as illustrated in (16) below (where the NP Complements are bracketed):
(16) (a) John gave [Mary] [a present]
(16) (b) The postman handed [me] [a parcel]
(16) (c) He showed [her] [his credentials]
(16) (d) He sent [his mother] [some flowers]
(16) (e) Never promise [anyone] [anything]
The relevant subcategorisation frame for Verbs used in this construction will be [— NP NP], indicating that they can take two NP Complements.

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 344

(grammar) Of a class of verbs which take both a direct and an indirect object. An example is 'give', which entails a giver (subject), a gift (direct object) and a receiver (indirect object).

مُتَعَدٍّ إِلَى مَفْعُولَينَ

having both a direct and indirect object — see also ditransitive verb


ditransitive

(grammar) A verb that takes both an object and an indirect object.


protasis

From Late Latin protasis, from Ancient Greek πρότασις (prótasis), from προτείνω (proteínō, “put forward, tender, propose”), from πρό (pró) + τείνω (teínō, “stretch”).

In "I will be coming if this weather holds up", "if this weather holds up" is the protasis, and "I will be coming" is the apodosis.

2005 B. P. Bairan: An Introduction to Syllogistic Logic
Every conditional statement is made up of two component statements. The component statement that follows the "if" is called antecedent (or the "implicans" or — rarely — the "protasis"), and the component statement that follows the "then" is the "consequent"(or the "implicate" or — rarely — the "apodosis").

Coordinate term: apodosis

(logic, grammar) A clause that expresses a contingent element in a conditional sentence


L.

(grammar) Abbreviation of locative case.


proper adjective

proper adjective (plural proper adjectives)

These two general classes of adjectives may also be divided into several others, of which the following are the most important: — 1. A proper adjective is one that is derived from a proper name; as, American . . .

1859, William Harvey Wells, A Grammar of the English Language: For the Use of Schools

(grammar) An adjective derived from a proper noun, such as British derived from Britain.


G

G (countable and uncountable, plural Gs)

(grammar) Abbreviation of genitive case.


modify

en-verb

modify (third-person singular simple present modifies, present participle modifying, simple past and past participle modified)

modifies (present singular third-person)
modifying (participle present)
modified (participle past)
modified (past)
modify (infinitive)

From Middle English modifien, from Middle French modifier, from Latin modificare (“to limit, control, regulate, deponent”), from modificari (“to measure off, set bound to, moderate”), from modus (“measure”) + facere (“to make”); see mode.

der

There is inherently no ordering to the modification and no hierarchy of modification: that is, both adjectives modify the substantive and both apply equally to the substantive[…]

1977, Linda R. Waugh, A Semantic Analysis of Word Order: Position of the Adjective in French

Adjectives modify nouns.

2016, Allen Ascher, The New Harbrace Guide: Genres for Composing

(grammar, transitive) To qualify the meaning of.

modifier

in grammar, to qualify another word or phrase


V

(grammar) Abbreviation of vocative case.


O

The ordinal number fifteenth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.


f.

The "and the following" sense is derived from an abbreviation of Latin foliō (“on the (next) page”), ablative of folium (“leaf, page”).


autological

/ˌɔː.təʊˈlɒ.dʒɪ.kəl/

/ˌɑːtoʊˈlɑːd͡ʒɪkəl/

/ˌɑːtəˈlɑːd͡ʒɪkəl/

From German autologisch, from Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + λόγος (lógos, “word”), by surface analysis, auto- + logical.

The word polysyllabic is autological, but the word monosyllabic is not.

Because the word short is in fact short, it is considered autological.

The word noun is itself a noun, and is thus autological.

(grammar, of a word, phrase, or especially an adjective) Possessing the property it describes.


termination

en-noun

termination (countable and uncountable, plural terminations)

Borrowed from Latin terminationem (accusative of terminatio).

1. Some adjectives of the third declension have three terminations in the nominative singular,—one for each gender; some two,—one for the masculine and feminine, the other for the neuter; and some, only one for all genders.
1. Verbs whose terminations are alike, are said to be of the same conjugation.
2. Latin verbs are divided into four conjugations.

1849, E. A. Andrews, A First Latin Book; Or Progressive Lessons in Reading and Writing Latin, 2nd edition, Boston, page 52 & 69

ялғау

(grammar) the last part (or morpheme) of a word — see also suffix


heterological

homological

antonym(s) of “capable of developing into different forms”

From Ancient Greek ἕτερος (héteros, “different”) + λόγος (lógos, “word”), by surface analysis, hetero- + logical.

der

A paradox arises when we ask, "Is the word 'heterological' heterological." If it is, it is not. If it is not, it is.

1993, Noel Balzer -, The Human Being as a Logical Thinker, page 70

(grammar) Of a word, not describing itself.


constituent

From Latin cōnstituēns, present participle of cōnstituō (“I establish”), from com- (“together”) + statuo (“I set, place, establish”); see statute or statue, and compare institute and restitute.

Thus, the postulation of a Noun Phrase constituent is justified on morphological grounds, since it is not obvious how we could describe the grammar of the genitive s inflection in English without saying that it's a Noun Phrase inflection.

1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 65

(grammar) A functional element of a phrase or clause


PV

en-noun

PV (countable and uncountable, plural PVs)

Abbreviation.
* Sense "promotional video" is a borrowing from Japanese PV (PV, “promotional video”), from English promotional + video.

(countable, grammar) Initialism of phrasal verb.


multiplier

English multipliers include "double" and "triple".

(grammar) An adjective indicating the number of times something is to be multiplied.


DP

DP (countable and uncountable, plural DPs)

(grammar) Abbreviation of determiner phrase.


DO

DO (countable and uncountable, plural DOs)


wk.

wk. verbs


I

I (countable and uncountable, plural Is)

instrumental case
instrumental case#English

(grammar) Abbreviation of instrumental case.


emphatic

en-adj

emphatic (comparative more emphatic, superlative most emphatic)

more emphatic (comparative)
most emphatic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek ἐμφατικός (emphatikós, “emphatic”), from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō, “I show, present”), from ἐν (en, “in”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “I shine, show”); related to ἔμφασις (émphasis) and English emphasis.

der

(grammar) Belonging to a set of English tense forms comprising the auxiliary verb do + an infinitive without to.


mute e

(grammar, British) an unpronounced letter e at the end of a word; such as excite or glue.


dangling modifier

en-noun

dangling modifier (plural dangling modifiers)

The dangling modifier is a curse of modern writing, particularly obituaries.

2004, Wynford Hicks, Quite Literally: Problem Words and how to Use Them, Psychology Press, page 45

(grammar) A word or clause that qualifies another word or clause ambiguously, possibly causing confusion with regard to the intended meaning.


appurtenance

From Middle English appurtenaunce, from Anglo-Norman apurtenance and Old French apartenance, from apartenir, from Latin appertineō (“I belong, I appertain”). Equivalent to appertain + -ance. More at appertain.

der

(grammar) A modifier that is appended or prepended to another word to coin a new word that expresses belonging.


PP

en-noun

PP (countable and uncountable, plural PPs)

prepositional phrase
prepositional phrase#English

(grammar) Initialism of prepositional phrase.


collective

From Middle French collectif, from Latin collēctīvus, from collēctus, past participle of colligō (“I collect”), from com- (“together”) + legō (“I gather”). Compare French collectif. Doublet of colectivo.

(grammar) Expressing a collection or aggregate of individuals, by a singular form.


subject pronoun

subject pronoun (plural subject pronouns)

(grammar) A pronoun that is used as the subject of a sentence, such as "I", "he" "she" "they" or "we" in English.


object pronoun

(grammar) A pronoun that is used as the object of a sentence, such as "me", "him" or "us" in English.


diastole

diastole (usually uncountable, plural diastoles)

From Ancient Greek διαστολή (diastolḗ, “separation, drawing asunder”), from διά (diá, “apart”) + στέλλειν (stéllein, “send”).

der

(Greek grammar) The hypodiastole, a textual or punctuation mark formerly used to disambiguate homonyms in Greek.


reflexive pronoun

en-noun

reflexive pronoun (plural reflexive pronouns)

(grammar) In English: a personal pronoun, having a form of "-self" as a suffix to show that the subject's action affects the subject itself.

(grammar) In many languages: a pronoun that makes a transitive verb reflexive or reciprocal.


PAP

past active participle
past active participle#English

(grammar) Abbreviation of past active participle.

present active participle
present active participle#English

(grammar) Abbreviation of present active participle.


ablatival

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(grammar) Of or pertaining to the ablative case.


successive

(grammar) Of or relating to the grammatical aspect which presupposes the completion of a secondary action as a premise for the primary action of the statement.


objective case

(grammar) the form of a noun or pronoun used as the object of a verb or a preposition.


passively

Statements phrased in an active voice, with a few outcome-oriented goals, improve school performance more than those stated passively with either multiple goals or goals focused on processes or behaviors.

2008, Timothy J. Conlan, Alice M. Rivlin, Paul L. Posner, Intergovernmental Management for the Twenty-first Century, page 214

(grammar) In the passive voice; having a passive construction.


vai

(grammar) Initialism of verb animate intransitive: an intransitive verb that agrees with an animate subject.


directive

From Middle French directif. The noun senses are from French directive (feminine form of the adjective).

(grammar) Relating to the directive case.


correlative

From correlate + -ive or cor- + relative.

(grammar) A pro-form; a non-personal pronominal, proadjectival, or proadverbial form


indeclinable

From French indéclinable, from Middle French, from Latin indeclinabilis. See in- not, and decline.

(grammar, of a word) Not grammatically declinable.


indeclinable

(grammar) A word that is not grammatically inflected.


elative case

(grammar) The case used to indicate movement out of something; for example, out of the house. Some languages that make use of the elative are Finnish, Hungarian, and Estonian.


elative

From Latin ēlātus, perfect past participle of efferō (“I carry out or away”)

(grammar) In Finno-Ugric languages, one of the locative cases, expressing “out of,” or “from” as in Finnish talosta, Hungarian házból (“out of the house”). Its opposite is the illative case (“into”). In Finnish, the case form is used also to express "out of" or "proximity" in a figurative sense which in English is often conveyed by the word "about".


essive case

(grammar) Noun case used to indicate a temporary state of being, such as the site of an action or the time at which it took place.


ethical dative

(grammar) A form of the dative case applied to pronouns; used (in Latin and some other languages, but rare in English) to show a certain interest felt by the person indicated.


screeve

screeve (countable and uncountable, plural screeves)

Borrowed from Georgian მწკრივი (mc̣ḳrivi, “row, series”).

bor

(grammar) In Georgian grammar, a combination of tense, aspect and mood.


sentence fragment

en-noun

sentence fragment (plural sentence fragments)

(grammar) An incomplete sentence; a phrase or clause that is punctuated and capitalized as a sentence but does not constitute a complete grammatical sentence. It is usually the result of failing to include a subject and a verb, or beginning a sentence with a subordinate conjunction or relative pronoun.


reciprocity

reciprocity (countable and uncountable, plural reciprocities)

(grammar) A reciprocal construction involves two noun phrases where each of the participants occupies both the role of agent and patient with respect to the other. see: Wikipedia:Reciprocal pronoun.


cmene

Cmene are always written with a period at the end, and if they start with a vowel then also with a period at the beginning.

These minor restrictions are due to the fact that all Lojban cmene embedded in a speech stream will be preceded by one of these words or by a pause. With one of these words embedded, the cmene might break up into valid Lojban words followed by a shorter cmene.

1997, John W. Cowan, The Complete Lojban Language

I removed from the frequency list all cmene and unknown lujvo and cmavo.

a. 2001, Chris Double, https://web.archive.org/web/20050910052916/http://www.double.co.nz/lojban/ http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.double.co.nz/lojban/

cmene always end with a consonant followed by a mandatory pause (a period). No other Lojban word ends with a consonant.

respelled according to Lojban rules
law of Hobson-Jobson

(grammar) A proper name, or proper noun, respelled according to Lojban rules; reckoned as a part of speech separate from brivla (content words) and cmavo (function words).

cmavo

structure words ie: conjunctions, prepositions, articles, numerals, and some adverbs


cliticization

cliticization (countable and uncountable, plural cliticizations)

(grammar) The process, or an instance, of a word becoming a clitic.


ACI

accusativus cum infinitivo
accusativus cum infinitivo#English

(grammar) Initialism of accusativus cum infinitivo.


exocentric

(grammar, of a phrase or compound) Not having the same part of speech as any of its constituent words.

eksosentrinen

(grammar, of a phrase or compound) not having the same part of speech as any of its constituent words


semi-deponent

Of a verb whose present system is normal but its perfect system is deponent.


postposed

(grammar) Placed after another term in a phrase.


preposed

(grammar) Placed before another term in a phrase.


thematic

en-adj

thematic (comparative more thematic, superlative most thematic)

more thematic (comparative)
most thematic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek θεματικός (thematikós), from θέμα (théma, “theme”). Equivalent to theme + -atic.

A considerable number of derived nominals, especially thematic nouns, also exhibited o-grade roots.

2006, Donald Ringe, From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1), Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 12

Indo-European studies
Indo-European studies

(grammar, Indo-European studies) Of a word stem, ending in a vowel that appears in or otherwise influences the noun or verb's inflection.


vincular

See Table 3.2 for a collection of enumerative results related to vincular 3-patterns, as well as for their connections to other combinatorial objects.

2011, Sergey Kitaev, Patterns in Permutations and Words, page 293


suppletion

en-noun

suppletion (usually uncountable, plural suppletions)

From German Suppletivwesen, from Latin supplēre (“to supply”), perfect stem supplet-, + -ion.

(linguistics, grammar) The use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking, e.g. using “to be able” as the infinitive of “can”, or “better” as the comparative of “good”, or “went” as the simple past of “go”.

суплетыві́зм

(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking

(grammar) More loosely, the use of unrelated (or distantly related) words for semantically related words which may not share the same lexical category, such as father/paternal or cow/bovine, normally referred to as collateral adjectives.


topicalize

en-verb

topicalize (third-person singular simple present topicalizes, present participle topicalizing, simple past and past participle topicalized)

topicalizes (present singular third-person)
topicalizing (participle present)
topicalized (participle past)
topicalized (past)

(grammar) To place the topic of a sentence at the beginning.


causal

Borrowed from Late Latin causalis, from Latin causa (“cause”); see cause.

(grammar) a word (such as because) that expresses a reason or a cause


formative

en-adj

formative (comparative more formative, superlative most formative)

more formative (comparative)
most formative (superlative)

(grammar) Pertaining to the inflection of words.


formative

(grammar) A language unit that has morphological function.


prolepsis

en-noun

prolepsis (countable and uncountable, plural prolepses)

From Latin prolepsis, from Ancient Greek πρόληψις (prólēpsis, “preconception, anticipation”), from προλαμβάνω (prolambánō, “take beforehand, anticipate”).

der

(grammar, rhetoric) A construction that consists of placing an element in a syntactic unit before that to which it would logically correspond.


definitive

demonstrative pronoun
demonstrative pronoun

(grammar) a word, such as a definite article or demonstrative pronoun, that defines or limits something


grammatical person

en-noun

grammatical person (countable and uncountable, plural grammatical persons)

(grammar) A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and other people; implemented in most languages by a variety of pronouns, and in inflected languages by variation in word endings.


fourth person

(grammar) A variety of the third person sometimes used for indefinite referents, such as one, as in one shouldn't do that.


partitive

en-adj

partitive (comparative more partitive, superlative most partitive)

more partitive (comparative)
most partitive (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English partitif, borrowed from Medieval Latin partītīvus, from Latin partītus + -īvus.

The word some is used in partitive constructions.

(grammar) Indicating a part rather than the whole of something.


partitive

(grammar) A partitive word, phrase or case.


perfective

(grammar) Of, or relative to, the perfect tense or perfective aspect.

даскана́лы

related to the perfect tense or perfective aspect


essive

From New Latin casus essīvus (from Latin esse), coined in New Latin by Rasmus Rask.

(grammar) of, or relating to the grammatical case that in some languages indicates existence in a state or capacity.

(grammar, Indo-European linguistics) designating being in a state as opposed to entering into a state.


essive

(grammar) the essive case, or a word in that case.


adessive

(grammar) of or relating to the grammatical case that in some languages indicates adjacent location

adessiu

grammar: of a case indicating adjacent location


adessive

(grammar) the adessive case, or a word in that case.


comitative

From Latin comitātum (“that which is accompanied”).

der

(grammar) Of, or relating to the grammatical case that is used in some languages to indicate accompaniment.


allative

(grammar) Of or relating to the grammatical case that in some languages indicates motion towards a place.


allative

(grammar) The allative case, or a word in that case.


illative

From Late Latin illātīvus (“illative”), from Latin illātus, perfect passive participle of inferō (“carry or bring into somewhere; bury; conclude”), from in + ferō (“bear, carry; suffer”).

(grammar) Of, or relating to the grammatical case that in some languages indicates motion towards or into something.


illative

(grammar) A word or phrase that expresses an inference (such as for or therefore).

(grammar) The illative case, or a word in that case.


abessive

From Latin abesse (“to be absent”), infinitive of absum, from ab- (“away”) + sum (“be”, verb).
* See absent.

(grammar) Of, or relating to the grammatical case used in some languages to indicate absence.


abessive

(grammar) The abessive case, or a word in this case.


inessive

(grammar) Of or relating to the grammatical case that in some languages indicates the state of being in or inside a location.


inessive

(grammar) The inessive case, or a word in that case.


aoristic

(grammar) Of, or relating to the aorist aspect.


reflective

en-adj

reflective (comparative more reflective, superlative most reflective)

more reflective (comparative)
most reflective (superlative)


modal verb

Although at first glance combinations of two modal verbs might seem to be cases of grammatical distortion, their use is scientifically recognised.

2019, Irina S. Lebedeva, Svetlana N. Orlova, “Semantics and pragmatics of the double modal ‘might could’”, in Training, Language and Culture, volume 3, number 2, →DOI

(grammar) A verb whose primary function is to express grammatical mood.


metalanguage

en-noun

metalanguage (countable and uncountable, plural metalanguages)

In order to talk or theorise about phenomena, one inevitably uses a language that is in effect a metalanguage, a special instance of language that allows the theorist to stand back and describe what is happening.

2005, Michael Cronin, edited by Martha Tennent and Benjamins Translation Library, Training for the New Millennium: Pedagogies for translation and interpreting, page 255

(linguistics, translation studies, critical theory) Any language or vocabulary of terms used to describe or analyze a language or linguistic process.

programming language
programming language

(computing) Any similar language used to define a programming language


transitivity

transitivity (countable and uncountable, plural transitivities)

From French transitivité.
Morphologically transitive + -ity

There are 3 cardinal degrees of transitivity of any one verb: intransitive, monotransitive and ditransitive.

(grammar) The degree in which any one verb can take/govern objects.

təsirlilik

the degree in which a verb can govern objects


aorist

From Ancient Greek ἀόριστος (aóristos, “unbounded”).

der

(grammar) A verb paradigm found in certain languages, usually an unmarked form or one that expresses the perfective or aorist aspect.

(grammar) A particular verb in the aorist.


aorist

the aorist stem of a verb

(grammar) Of or pertaining to a verb in the aorist aspect.


modal

en-adj

modal (comparative more modal, superlative most modal)

more modal (comparative)
most modal (superlative)

From Middle French modal, from Medieval Latin modālis (“pertaining to a mode”), from Latin modus (“mode”); equivalent to mode + -al. Compare to French, Spanish, and Portuguese modal and Italian modale.

der

(grammar) Of, relating to, or describing the mood of a clause.

modaal

of, relating to, or describing the mood of a clause


modal

Using the same type of distributional criterion, we could argue that only a Verb (in its base form) can occur in the position marked — in (23) below to complete the sentence:
(23) They/it can —
[...]
Conversely, the only type of word which could be used to begin a three-word sentence such as (25) below:
(25) — I be frank?
is a Modal: cf. [...]

1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar: A First Course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 61


combining form

Common in English, where in some putative compounds, such as autocrat or technocrat, both members would be combining forms.

2007, P. H. Matthews, “combining form”, in The concise Oxford dictionary of linguistics, 2nd edition, Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford University Press, pages 63–64

(grammar) A type of word part; a bound morpheme; used in combination with a word, a different combining form, or an affix to form a new word.

(szó)összetétel elő- vagy utótagjaként élő alak


solidification

en-noun

solidification (countable and uncountable, plural solidifications)

From French solidification, or from solid + -ification.

(grammar) The tendency to transform an open compound into a closed compound (solid compound).


conjoin

en-verb

conjoin (third-person singular simple present conjoins, present participle conjoining, simple past and past participle conjoined)

conjoins (present singular third-person)
conjoining (participle present)
conjoined (participle past)
conjoined (past)

/kənˈd͡ʒɔɪn/

From Old French conjoindre, from Latin coniungo, from con- (“together”) + iungo (“join”). Equivalent to con- + join.

(transitive, grammar) To join as coordinate elements, often with a coordinating conjunction, such as coordinate clauses.


conjoin

/kənˈd͡ʒɔɪn/

Et is the general coordinator that can be used for all types of coordination, both clauses and constituents, regardless of the semantic relation between the conjoins.

2021, Harm Pinkster, The Oxford Latin Syntax, volumes 2, The Complex Sentence and Discourse, page 621

(grammar) One of the words or phrases that are coordinated by a conjunction.


puttee

Coordinate term: putter

[…] for example, Gleitman (1990:30), in support of her claim for universal alignments of syntax and semantics, argues for the universal naturalness of three arguments for 'put' verbs (a putter, a puttee, and a location).

2012, Anetta Kopecka, Bhuvana Narasimhan, Events of Putting and Taking: A Crosslinguistic Perspective, page 55

(grammar) Something that is put somewhere; the object of the action of putting.


solidify

solidify (third-person singular simple present solidifies, present participle solidifying, simple past and past participle solidified)

solidifies (present singular third-person)
solidifying (participle present)
solidified (participle past)
solidified (past)

[səˈlɪɾəˌfaɪ]

/səˈlɪdəˌfɑɪ/

[səˈlɪɾəˌfɑɪ]

/səˈlɪdˌfɑɪ/

[səˈlɪɾˌfɑɪ]

(grammar, transitive) To transform an open compound into a closed compound (solid compound).


objecthood

(philosophy, grammar) The condition of being an object.


construe

construe (third-person singular simple present construes, present participle construing, simple past and past participle construed)

construes (present singular third-person)
construing (participle present)
construed (participle past)
construed (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-عُثمان (Middle river exports)-construe.wav

From Middle English construen, from Late Latin construo, construere (“to relate grammatically”), from Latin construo (“pile together”); doublet of construct.

der

Thus, in a sentence such as:
(113) John considers [_S Fred to be too sure of himself]
the italicised Reflexive himself can only be construed with Fred, not with John: this follows from our assumption that non-subject Reflexives must have an antecedent within their own S. Notice, however, that in a sentence such as:
(114) John seems to me [_S — to have perjured himself]
himself must be construed with John.

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 8, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 436

(grammar, transitive) To analyze the grammatical structure of a clause or sentence; to parse.

(grammar, ergative) To admit of grammatical analysis.


anacoluthon

en-noun

anacoluthon (plural anacolutha or anacoluthons)

anacolutha (plural)
anacoluthons (plural)

/ænəkəˈluːθɒn/

From Late Latin anacolūthon, from Ancient Greek ἀνακόλουθον (anakólouthon, “without sequence, anomalous [of inflections or grammatical constructions]”), from ἀ(ν)- (a(n)-, “un-”) + ἀκόλουθος (akólouthos, “following”). Compare English non sequitur, from an analogous Latin phrase, denoting a different but related concept.

der

without sequence, anomalous 􂀿of inflections or grammatical constructions􂁀

Another species of anacoluthon is when, after the sentence is begun with a participle, the construction passes over into a finite verb, where we should naturally expect the participial construction to be continued.

1835, Moses Stuart, A Treatise on the Syntax of the New Testament Dialect: With an Appendix, Containing a Dissertation on the Greek Article, Edinburgh: T. Clarke, →OCLC, page 249

(grammar) A sentence or clause that is grammatically inconsistent, especially with respect to the type of clausal or phrasal complement for the initial clause.


pleonastic

en-adj

pleonastic (comparative more pleonastic, superlative most pleonastic)

more pleonastic (comparative)
most pleonastic (superlative)

A second class of Subject Expressions in English are so-called pleonastic pronouns such as it and there in sentences like:
(104) (a) It is raining/It is a long way to Dallas/Itʼs time to leave/It is obvious that youʼre right
(104) (b) There must have been some mistake/There walked into the room the most beautiful woman I had ever encountered
These Pronouns are called ‘pleonasticʼ (which means ‘redundantʼ) in traditional grammar because (in their ‘pleonasticʼ use, but not in other uses) they are felt to be (in some vague intuitive sense) ‘semantically emptyʼ, and thus cannot have their reference questioned (cf. ^✽What is raining? ^✽Where must have been some mistake?).

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 319

1988 [Hutchinson Educational], Anna Laura Lepschy, Giulio C. Lepschy, The Italian Language Today, 2nd Edition, Reprinted 1992, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 107,
In these sentences finchè may be followed by a non which is called ‘pleonastic’ and does not negate the predicate in the subordinate clause: Ugo aspetta finchè non lo chiamano 'Ugo is waiting until they call him'. When the main clause is negative one must always use the pleonastic non after finchè in the subordinate clause: Ugo non si muove finchè non lo chiamano 'Ugo is not moving until they call him'.


regimen

/ˈɹɛd͡ʒ.ɪ.mən/

Learned borrowing from Latin regimen (“guidance, direction, government, rule”). Doublet of regime.

lbor

(3.) Verbs admit two kinds of regimen: the direct regimen and the indirect regimen. (4.) The direct regimen, or immediate object … (5.) The indirect regimen, or remote object [....]

The Popular Educator. A Complete Encyclopaedia of Elementary, Advanced, and Technical Education. New and Revised Edition. Volume III., page 394 (Lessions in French.---LVIII. § 42.---Of Verbs)

Active verbs express an action which an agent, called the nominative or subject, performs on an object or regimen, without the help of a preposition: as,--- Pierre aime Sophie, Peter loves Sophia. [...] Of the Object or Regimen of Verbs.

1828, J. V. Douville, The Speaking French Grammar, forming a series of sixty explanatory lessons, with colloquial essays, 3rd edition, London, page 84 & 315

15. A verb is active in French when it expresses that an agent called nominative, or subject, performs an action on an object, or regimen, without the help of a preposition---as, Jean frappe Joseph, John strikes Joseph, &c.

1831, A. Bolmar, “A Book of the French Verbs, Wherein the Model Verbs, and Several of the Most Difficult Are Conjugated Affirmatively, Negatively, Interrogatively, an Negatively and Interrogatively.”, in A Book of the French Verbs, Wherein the Model Verbs, and Several of the Most Difficult Are Conjugated Affirmatively, Negatively, Interrogatively, an Negatively and Interrogatively. A New Edition, Philadelphia, published 1854, page 2

Pronouns may be nominatives, and of the direct or indirect regimen.

1847, M. Josse, A Grammar of the Spanish Language with Practical Exercises. First Part, page 51

(grammar) A syntactical relation between words, as when one depends on another and is regulated by it in respect to case or mood; government.


purposive

en-adj

purposive (comparative more purposive, superlative most purposive)

more purposive (comparative)
most purposive (superlative)

From purpose + -ive. Compare purpositive.

Many scholars suggest that […] the increase in the use of the to-infinitive in Middle English took place at the expense of the bare infinitive (i.e. an infinitive without the marker to). […] due to the loss of verbal inflections, it became difficult to distinguish the infinitival form from other verbal forms. As a result […] to began to function as a mere marker of the infinitive, losing its original ‘purposive’ sense […]

2004, Olga Fischer et al., chapter 7, in The Syntax of Early English, Cambridge University Press, page 212

(grammar) Of a clause or conjunction: expressing purpose.


purposive

This purposive was described by speakers as referring to the action which can be observed at the moment of speech; this is why it is termed ‘visual’.

2003, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, “16 - Mood and modality”, in A Grammar of Tariana, from Northwest Amazonia, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, page 393

(grammar) A mood indicating a purpose of the course of activity expressed by the verb.


binominal

(grammar) A construct involving two nouns or two names.


vta

(grammar) Initialism of verb transitive animate.


prepositional phrase

en-noun

prepositional phrase (plural prepositional phrases)

(grammar) A phrase containing both a preposition and its object or complement; may be used as an adjunct or a modifier.

կապային կառույց

phrase containing both a preposition and its complement


relative clause

relative clause (plural relative clauses)

(grammar) A subordinate clause that modifies or gives further information about a noun or sometimes whole statement; in English, may be introduced by a relative pronoun (sometimes optional) such as that, which or who.

連体修飾節

れんたいしゅうしょくせつ

относи́тельное прида́точное предложе́ние


prepositional article

prepositional article (plural prepositional articles)

(grammar) In some languages, such as French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, a contraction of a preposition and an article, e.g. au in French (a contraction of à and le).


articulated

(grammar, linguistics) Qualified by an article


vti

(grammar) Initialism of verb transitive inanimate.


fractional

In English, most ordinals double as fractionals — "third", "fourth", and so on — with the exception of "second", whose corresponding fractional is "half".

(grammar) An expression of a fractional number.


periphrastic

en-adj

periphrastic (comparative more periphrastic, superlative most periphrastic)

more periphrastic (comparative)
most periphrastic (superlative)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek περιφραστικός (periphrastikós), from περίφρασις (períphrasis, “periphrasis”).

der

περιφραστικός

“The daughter of the man” may be used as a periphrastic synonym for “the man’s daughter”.

описателен

grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution


inchoative

Borrowed from Latin inchoātīvus, formed by metathesis from incohātīvus, from incohō (“to begin”). Compare French inchoatif.

The inchoative (inceptive) aspect of a verb expresses the beginning of an action. Example: He is beginning to crawl.

1974, Floyd L. Moreland, Rita M. Fleischer, Latin: An Intensive Course, University of California Press, page 12

(grammar) Aspectually indicating that a state is about to be entered or is in the process of being entered.

inchoatief

grammar: aspectually indicating that an action is to begin

(grammar) Inflected in or relating to the inchoative aspect.


non-past

In the phrases ‘I am running tomorrow’ and ‘I am running now,’ the main verb is in the non-past tense.

(grammar, of the tense) Of a tense, not pertaining to the past; in particular, applicable to both the present and the future.


nominoaccusative

(grammar) Of or pertaining to both the nominative and accusative cases at once, capable of conveying either the subject or direct object of the verb.


nomino-

(grammar) Pertaining to the nominative case.


aequalis

Learned borrowing from Latin aequālis (“equal”). Doublet of equal and egal.

lbor

(grammar) The case conveying an equality with another noun, equivalent to “like” or “as” in English. This case is used in some languages like Inuktitut.


interrogative pronoun

en-noun

interrogative pronoun (plural interrogative pronouns)

What did you say?

Who said that?

To whom was that said?

Which student said that?

Whose question was that?

(grammar) A pronoun used in a question. In English, the five interrogative pronouns are what, which, who, whom, and whose (also used as relative pronouns). These require no antecedent.


articular

From Latin articularis. English article + -ar.

(grammar) Of or relating to the grammatical article.


past continuous

(grammar) A tense used to describe actions and states continued in the past.


homological

From Ancient Greek ὁμός (homós, “same”) + λόγος (lógos, “word”), by surface analysis, homo- + logical.

(grammar) Of an adjective, describing itself.


postpositive

(grammar, of an adjective or other modifier) Placed after the word modified, either immediately after, as in two men abreast, or as part of a complement, as in those two men are bad.


emotive

en-adj

emotive (comparative more emotive, superlative most emotive)

more emotive (comparative)
most emotive (superlative)


emotive

(grammar) A word or construct that expresses an emotion.


p-word

(grammar) A preposition or adverb that no longer performs a prepositional or adverbial function including particles in phrasal verbs, quasi-modal verbs, and determiner phrases and infinitive markers.


nominal clause

(grammar) A clause that is used as a subject or object.


bound state

(grammar) In Berber languages, a marked form of a noun, varying in usage cases per specific language but chiefly characterized by its being used for untopicalized subjects of sentences – default word order being VSO.


denominative

From Late Latin dēnōminātīvus, a calque of Ancient Greek παρώνυμος (parṓnumos, “derivative”). It originally had the meaning “derived”, but in its grammatical sense, it has developed the meaning “from a noun”, perhaps a reinterpretation of the Latin morphemes that it consists of: the preposition dē (“from”) and the stem of nōmen (“name, noun”).

der

(grammar) Deriving from a noun, or from an adjective, such as the verb destruct from the noun destruction.


hypallage

en-noun

hypallage (countable and uncountable, plural hypallages)

From Latin hypallage, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ὑπαλλαγή (hupallagḗ), from ὑπό (hupó, “hypo-”) + ἀλλάσσειν (allássein, “to exchange”).

(rhetoric, grammar) A construction in which a modifier with meaning associated with one word appears grammatically applied to another, often used as a literary device.


demonstrative determiner

demonstrative determiner (plural demonstrative determiners)

In the sentence "I like this music", the word "this" is a demonstrative determiner.

(grammar) a determiner used to demonstrate the identity of the thing referenced by the following noun; in English, they include this, these, that and those


possessive determiner

possessive determiner (plural possessive determiners)

(grammar) A determiner used to demonstrate the possession of the object referenced by the following noun; in English, they include my, his, her, our, your, its and their.


quantifier

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 4. Unsubstantiality

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 78. Generality

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 100. Plurality

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 101. Zero

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 102. Multitude

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 103. Fewness

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 105. Infinity

(grammar) A word, such as all or many, that expresses the quantity of a related noun.

量词

a word, such as all or many, that expresses a quantity


parataxis

parataxis (usually uncountable, plural parataxes)

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek παράταξις (parátaxis, “placement side by side”), from παρα- (para-) + τάξις (táxis, “arrangement”); equivalent to para- + taxis.

lbor

(grammar) Speech or writing in which clauses or phrases are placed together without being separated by conjunctions, for example "I came; I saw; I conquered".


curative

(grammar) of a verb, conveying the meaning "the agent makes a patient do something"


prohibitive

From Middle English prohibitif, prohibityve, from Medieval Latin prohibitīvus, from prohibit-, past-participle stem of Latin prohibēre.


irrealis

Learned borrowing from New Latin irreālis (“intangible, immaterial”), from Latin in- (“un-: not”) + reālis (“real, material, composed of physical things”), from res (“thing”) + -ālis (“-al: forming adjectives”). Doublet of irreal.

(grammar, of a verb) inflected to indicate that an act or state of being is not a fact.


irrealis

[…] then it would make sense to view Australian past irrealises as TAM forms combining a modal stative predicate (conveying e.g. a capacity, expectation, or desire state) with a past imperfective content.

2023, Kasia M. Jaszczolt, Understanding Human Time, page 170


interrogative

/ˌɪn.təˈɹɒɡ.ə.tɪv/

/ˌɪn.təˈɹɑ.ɡə.tɪv/

[ˌɪn.təˈɹɑ.ɡə.ɾɪv]

/ˌɪn.təˈɹɔɡ.ə.tɪv/

[ˌɪn.təˈɹɔɡ.ə.ɾɪv]

The regular place of the interrogative word, of whatever kind, is at the beginning of the sentence, or as near it as possible.

1877, William Dwight Whitney, Essentials of English Grammar for the Use of Schools, §470

(grammar) Asking or denoting a question: as, an interrogative phrase, pronoun, or point.


interrogative

/ˌɪn.təˈɹɒɡ.ə.tɪv/

/ˌɪn.təˈɹɑ.ɡə.tɪv/

[ˌɪn.təˈɹɑ.ɡə.ɾɪv]

/ˌɪn.təˈɹɔɡ.ə.tɪv/

[ˌɪn.təˈɹɔɡ.ə.ɾɪv]

(grammar) A word (pronoun, pronominal adjective, or adverb) implying interrogation, or used for asking a question: why, who, when, etc.


run-on sentence

en-noun

run-on sentence (plural run-on sentences)

So called because the sentence runs on beyond the point where it should end.

coordinating conjunction
coordinating conjunction

(grammar) A written sentence that inappropriately joins two (or more) independent clauses into a single sentence, often with only a comma as separator (comma splice), which should be rendered either as separate sentences or as clauses joined more appropriately (such as by a semicolon or by a comma and coordinating conjunction).


independent clause

independent clause (plural independent clauses)

(grammar) A clause that can stand alone syntactically as a complete sentence; contains at least a subject and a verb.


cohortative

(grammar, of a verb) Inflected to express plea, insistence, imploring, self-encouragement, wish, desire, intent, command, purpose, or consequence.


demonstrative

en-adj

demonstrative (comparative more demonstrative, superlative most demonstrative)

more demonstrative (comparative)
most demonstrative (superlative)

From Middle English demonstratif, from Middle French démonstratif; equivalent to demonstrate + -ive.

(grammar) that specifies the thing or person referred to


demonstrative

demonstrative adjective
demonstrative adjective

(grammar) A demonstrative word
A demonstrative adjective.

(grammar) A demonstrative word
A demonstrative pronoun.


jussive

en-noun

jussive (usually uncountable, plural jussives)

From Latin jussus, perfect participle of jubeō (variant of iubeō), 'to order, command'. Related to Latin iūs, 'law, order'.

For example, in the Aaronide blessing, only two of the six verbs are formally jussives, yet all have the same volitional sense.

1990, Bruce K. Waltke, Michael Patrick O′Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, page 566

As far as the jussive goes — ignoring the very few occurrences of this in first person — it can be noted that most of the second-person jussives are in negative commands.

2003, Robert E. Longacre, Joseph: A Story of Divine Providence: A Text Theoretical and Textlinguistic Analysis of Genesis 37 and 39-48, 2nd edition, footnote, page 121

If, on the other hand, reference is made purely to the root, we would expect all frequentative jussives to appear with a front element, producing *mɨt′ət′ɨs instead of mɨt′ət′ɨs (19d).

2003, Sharon Rose, “The formation of Ethiopian Semitic internal reduplication”, in Joseph Shimron, editor, Language Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic, Root-Based, Morphology, page 90

The jussive and cohortative usually convey more indirect, or more subtle, expressions of volition than the imperative does.

2006, Robert Ray Ellis, Learning to Read Biblical Hebrew: An Introductory Grammar, page 174

(grammar, uncountable and countable) The jussive mood, a verb inflection used to indicate a command, permission or agreement with a request; an instance of a verb so inflected.

(Arabic grammar) A verbal mood of vague or miscellaneous senses, occurring after some particles and in conditional clauses.


paraphrastic

en-adj

paraphrastic (comparative more paraphrastic, superlative most paraphrastic)

more paraphrastic (comparative)
most paraphrastic (superlative)

(grammar) Of a Latin conjugation: composed of the verb sum with participial forms of the verbs conjugated (as in e.g. amaturus sum).


hypotaxis

en-noun

hypotaxis (countable and uncountable, plural hypotaxes)

(grammar) Syntactic subordination of one clause or construction to another.


metonym

Calling a government a "city hall" is using a metonym.

...to say that "New York was thrown into a state of great excitement," when we mean the inhabitants of New York, is technically to use the metonym of putting "the container for the thing contained."

1891 September 30, William Minto, “Practical talks on writing English”, in Theodor Flood, editor, The Chautauquan, volume 13, →OCLC, pages 279–280

She not only outlines the devastating effects of seferberlik but also highlights the changing meaning of this term - as it acquired a civilian dimension in its Arabic rendition (safar barlik) - and its potency as a metonym for the war as a whole.

2014 November, Melanie Schulze Tanielian, “Feeding the city: The Beirut Municipality and the politics of food during World War I”, in International Journal of Middle East Studies, volume 46, number 4, →JSTOR, pages 737–758

(grammar) A word that names an object from a single characteristic of it or of a closely related object; a word used in metonymy.


complex sentence

complex sentence (plural complex sentences)

(grammar) A sentence that contains an independent clause as well as one or more dependent clauses, such as a relative clause, an adverbial clause, or a noun clause.

複句

sentence containing one independent clause and a dependent clause


inceptive

en-adj

inceptive (comparative more inceptive, superlative most inceptive)

more inceptive (comparative)
most inceptive (superlative)

Borrowed from French inceptif, from the Latin inceptīvus, from incipiō (“I begin”).

The inceptive aspect is often translated into English as "to start [doing something]".

(grammar) Aspectually inflected to show that the action is beginning.


grammarian

/ɡɹəˈmɛəɹɪən/

Inherited from Middle English gramarien, form Middle French gramarien, gramairien.


troponym

‘Stroll’ is a troponym of ‘walk’, since it involves a slow and relaxed sort of walking.

(grammar) A verb that indicates more precisely the manner of doing something by replacing a verb of a more generalized meaning.


past perfect

A tense which describes actions that occurred before another action or event in the past; the pluperfect or the past anterior tense.


vt

(grammar) verb transitive or transitive verb (often in dictionaries)


phrasal

phrasal (comparative more phrasal, superlative most phrasal)

more phrasal (comparative)
most phrasal (superlative)

phrasal preposition

(grammar) Consisting of multiple words, but behaving as a single part of speech.


phrasal

Furthermore, children demonstrated that they understood the mapping by elaborating phrasals to sententials, and reducing sententials to phrasals when imitating.

1985, Dan Isaac Slobin, The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition, page 105

(grammar) A grammatical construct that consists of multiple words, but behaves as a single part of speech.


pronominal adverb

en-noun

pronominal adverb (plural pronominal adverbs)

(grammar) An adverb which contains a pronominal element; generally such an adverb replaces a phrase of preposition + pronoun.


qualifier

(grammar) A word or phrase, such as an adjective or adverb, that describes or characterizes another word or phrase, such as a noun or verb; a modifier; that adds or subtracts attributes to another.


iterative

noniterative

antonym(s) of “involving repetition of steps”

/ˈɪtəˌɹeɪtɪv/

[ˈɪɾ.(ə.)ɹə.ɾɪv]

/ˈɪtəˌɹeɪtɪv/

[ˈɪɾ.əˌɹeɪ.tɪv]

[ˈɪɾ.əˌɹeɪ.ɾɪv]

[ˈɪɾ.(ə.)ɹə.ɾɪv]

(grammar) Expressive of an action that is repeated with frequency.


iterative

/ˈɪtəˌɹeɪtɪv/

[ˈɪɾ.(ə.)ɹə.ɾɪv]

/ˈɪtəˌɹeɪtɪv/

[ˈɪɾ.əˌɹeɪ.tɪv]

[ˈɪɾ.əˌɹeɪ.ɾɪv]

[ˈɪɾ.(ə.)ɹə.ɾɪv]

(grammar) A verb showing the iterative aspect.


backshift

backshift (countable and uncountable, plural backshifts)

(grammar) The changing of the tense of a verb from present to past in reported speech.


backshift

en-verb

backshift (third-person singular simple present backshifts, present participle backshifting, simple past and past participle backshifted)

backshifts (present singular third-person)
backshifting (participle present)
backshifted (participle past)
backshifted (past)

(grammar, transitive) To change the tense of a verb from present to past in reported speech.


reported speech

If we were to change "Fred says, 'I will do the housework'" into reported speech it would become "Fred said that he would do the housework."

(grammar, narratology) A form of speech used to express what another has said, often involving a change in tense.

ситләтелгән телмәр

a form of speech used to express what another has said


hyperbaton

en-noun

hyperbaton (plural hyperbatons or hyperbata)

George Lucas
Lawrence Kasdan
pity this busy monster, manunkind

Borrowed from Latin hyperbaton, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ὑπερβατόν (huperbatón, “overstepping”), from ὑπερβαίνω (huperbaínō), from ὑπέρ (hupér) + βαίνω (baínō, “walk”).

der

In real life we often see a man under the influence of rage, or fear, […] begin a sentence, and then swerve aside into some inconsequent parenthesis, and then again double back to his original statement […]Now the figure hyperbaton is the means which is employed by the best writers to imitate these signs of natural emotion.

c. 100, Longinus, chapter XXII, in H. L. Havell, transl., On the Sublime, published 1890

(grammar) An inversion of the usual or logical order of words or phrases, for emphasis or poetic effect.


ethic dative

(grammar) Alternative form of ethical dative


diathesis

en-noun

diathesis (countable and uncountable, plural diatheses)

/daɪˈæθəsɪs/

Borrowed from New Latin diathesis, from Ancient Greek διάθεσις (diáthesis, “state, condition”), from διατίθημι (diatíthēmi, “to arrange”).