Welcome In the News Workshops AZ News
Welcome Language in the news
Language workshops
All articles
News & events

Glossary of terms used on this site

Term Definition
Semantics

The study of the meaning of linguistic expressions.

Sentence

A grammatical unit that makes a proposition about the world, and at the least contains a subject and a predicate.

Speech act

A piece of speech that performs an action, e.g. a declaration, an announcement or a blessing.

Speech and thought presentation

The way in which the speech and thought of others are represented in spoken or written language.

Stylistics

The study and interpretation of texts using linguistics.

Subject

A clause element that performs the function of actor in a clause — Michu scored for Swansea; The two parties debated the Euro; Globalisation has damaged smaller country's economies.

Subordinate clause

A clause that is embedded within a main clause — Whoever ends up winning the league, it has been an eventful season; He was swotting up so that he would pass his exams.

Subordination

The process by which information is placed in subordinate clauses, where it is not as prominent as information in the main clause — The England team performed well except for a couple of slip-ups.

Synonym

A word that has a more or less identical meaning to another, except for a difference in style — Toilet and loo; Roll and bap; Alcohol and booze.

Synonymy

The relationship between two words — synonyms — that are more or less identical.

Syntax

The set of rules governing how sentences are constructed.