Halloween, Hallowe’en, All Hallows’ Eve — English speakers use many names for the holiday that occurs each year on October 31. Which is the correct form, and from when and where does the word arise? While the Halloween holiday begins as far back as Samhain of the ancient Celtic people and winds through history, the […] More
Learn about the history of Halloween costumes from the ancient Celts through modern America. More
Have you ever thought about the English language and considered the orthographic system downright wacky? Many words have a “silent e” at the end and others have a “silent b” in the middle. Not even the second month of the year gets away without an r that may or may not be pronounced. Befuddling as […] More
School children all over the English-speaking world bemoan the many “silent” letters of English spelling. The orthographic system of the English language appears inconsistent at first. Many words have a “silent e” and February has an ‘r’ that is sometimes but sometimes not pronounced. Despite initial impressions, the “silent” letters of English spelling reveal a […] More
English spelling appears inconsistent at first. From silent letters to doubled letters, the orthography of English seems downright wacky to native and foreign speakers of the language. However, delving into the history of words reveals that the spelling of English makes more sense than first impressions imply. For example, why does February have an r […] More
E is the most common vowel and letter in the English language. Many words end in e in written English. In most words that end with an e, the letter is not pronounced, resulting in the term “silent e.” Although the list of words that end with a “silent e” is lengthy, the unpronounced letter […] More
An adverb is a “word that describes a verb, adjective, other adverb, or clause.” An adverb phrase consists of an adverb plus any modifiers. Many grammars use the category of adverb as a “catch-all” category to classify words with various different types of syntactic behavior that otherwise have little in common except for not fitting […] More
Traditional grammars describe adverb clauses as dependent or subordinate clauses that consist of a subordinating conjunction followed by a clause and that perform an adverbial function. Grammatical Forms Grammatical Form of English Adverb Clauses explains the internal structures that distinguish adverb clauses from other grammatical forms. Grammatical Functions Grammatical Function of English Adverb Clauses explains […] More
P-words are prepositions and adverbs that no longer perform prepositional or adverbial functions including particles in phrasal verbs, quasi-modal verbs, and determiner phrases and infinitive markers. P-words are function words, which are words that perform definite grammatical functions but that lack definite lexical meaning. Grammatical Form Grammatical Form of English P-words explains the grammatical forms […] More
P-words are prepositions and adverbs that no longer perform prepositional or adverbial functions. P-words are also function words, which are defined as words that perform definite grammatical functions but that lack definite lexical meaning. Belonging to a grammatical category consisting of a small closed word set, p-words show no inflectional variation. In the English language, […] More
Notional grammars define conjunctions as words that “link together other words, phrases, and clauses.” Coordinating conjunctions are a type of conjunction that link, or coordinate, two or more words, phrases, or clauses. The seven coordinating conjunctions in English for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. In grammar, a coordinator is a function word that […] More
Belonging to a grammatical category consisting of a small closed word set, notional grammars define adpositions as “words that indicate a relation between the noun or pronoun and another word, which may be a verb, an adjective, or another noun or pronoun.” Postpositions are a subcategory of adpositions in which the postposition follows the complement […] More
Clauses are defined as grammatical structures that contain a subject and a predicate and that are the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. One primary division in the analysis of clauses is the distinction between independent clauses and dependent clauses. Independent Clauses Independent clauses in English grammar are grammatical structures that consist […] More
Notional grammars define adverbs as “words that describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and clauses.” An adverb phrase consists of an adverb plus any modifiers. Grammatical Forms Grammatical Form of English Adverbs: Positive, Comparative, and Superlative Adverbs explains the internal structures that distinguish adverbs from other grammatical forms, which includes three degrees of modification. English Adverbs […] More
Grammatical aspect is the grammaticalized expression of the temporal structure of an action or state. Temporal structure roughly relates to duration. Four grammatical aspects exist in the English language: simple aspect, perfect aspect, progressive aspect, and perfect-progressive aspect. Grammatical Tense Grammatical Aspect in English describes the four grammatical aspects of the English language. Tense and […] More
Appositives are words, phrases, and clauses that support another word, phrase, or clause by describing or modifying the other word, phrase, or clause. Although nouns and noun phrases most frequently function as appositive in sentences, three grammatical forms can perform the grammatical function of appositive in the English language. The three grammatical forms that can […] More
Determiners are a closed class of words that provide information such as familiarity, location, quantity, and number about a noun phrase or verb phrase in the form of a present participle. Determiners differ in form and function from adjectives, which describe attributes of nouns, pronouns, and noun phrases. Grammatical Forms Grammatical Forms of English Determiners […] More
Determiners are a closed class of words that provide information such as familiarity, location, quantity, and number about a noun or noun phrase. Determiners differ in form and function from adjectives, which describe attributes of nouns and noun phrases. Determiners perform the grammatical function of determinative. In the English language, determiners are classified into seven […] More
Language is the scholarly journal published by the Linguistic Society of America (LSA), which is a professional group for linguists founded in 1924 whose stated mission is to advance the field of linguistics, the scientific study of language (LSA: Publications; LSA: About LSA). Currently edited by Gregory N. Carlson of the Department of Linguistics at […] More
Adverb phrase modifiers are words and phrases that that modify or describe an adverb or adverb phrase. Only one grammatical form can function as the adverb phrase modifier in English grammar: adverb phrases. Adverb Phrases as Adverb Phrase Modifiers The only grammatical form that can perform the grammatical function of adverb phrase modifier is the […] More
