Fixed expression A term for routinised and pre-formulated expressions. Fixed
expressions have a varying degree of fixity (at the end of the day, as far as I am
concerned, once and for all, how do you do?
).
Focus Enables special emphasis to be placed on particular elements of a clause
through the use of fronting, headers and tails, cleft sentences, etc. for purposes
such as introducing new topics, distinguishing between new and old
information, foregrounding and backgrounding things:
That bowl we got in Italy.
The other one
’s from Spain, I think.
(fronting of the object to show a contrast between the two bowls)
That brown chair, we bought
that
years and years ago.
(header gives extra focus to that brown chair)
He
’s quite a comic
that fellow.
(tail gives extra focus to the subject he)
It was on Sunday I first noticed I had a rash.
(cleft sentence gives extra focus to on Sunday)
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Backgrounding; Cleft; Fronting; Foregrounding; Header; Raised subject;
Tail
Foregrounding Refers to grammatical structures used to highlight some
important information in a discourse:
Perhaps
what is most important is the origin of such ideas.
(the wh-cleft structure signals that this is a key sentence in what follows)
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Backgrounding; Fronting
Formal A term associated with variation in speech or writing style in which
choices of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary are made which express a
polite distance between participants, as in formal situations such as debates
and official ceremonies:
I should like to extend my warm welcome to all guests tonight.
(compare the more informal: I want to welcome you all here tonight.)
Free direct and indirect speech Free direct speech refers to a reconstruction of
the exact words a speaker has said without a reporting clause. It is common in
literary style and in informal spoken contexts when it is clear who is speaking:
They looked at each other knowingly.
‘Okay?’
‘Right, I’ll come with you.’
Free indirect speech refers to a reconstruction of the words or thoughts of a
speaker conveyed in a reported clause without a reporting verb. This is
common in literary style:
David moved slowly and thoughtfully.
He would not be deterred.
(implied: He said/thought, ‘I won’t be deterred.’)
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Direct speech
904 | Glossary
Cambridge Grammar of English
Fronting Refers to the front-placing of words or phrases in a clause or sentence
which gives extra prominence to the items thus placed:
I really would like to see
Berlin.
(object in neutral position, after the verb)
Berlin I really would like to see.
(object fronted for greater prominence)
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Focus; Header; Tail; Topic
Gender A grammatical distinction in which words are marked for masculine,
feminine or neuter. Only pronouns and possessive determiners are marked
grammatically for gender (he, him, she, it, his, hers). However, English does
occasionally distinguish gender in nouns for male or female people or animals
(She’s a famous actress, isn’t she?).
Generic, generic pronoun A term used for a class of entities rather than a
specific member of a class:
Leopards are dangerous animals.
(all leopards)
You never know what the future will bring.
(generic you: all humans)
Genitive A case that denotes a possessive relationship with another noun phrase
in a sentence. It is realised by an of-phrase (the headteacher of the school), or
by adding ’s to singular nouns (Lily’s toys, the woman’s husband) and s’ for
plural nouns ending with -s (the Teachers’ Union, the girls’ room).
Gerund A word derived from a verb form which ends in -ing and is used as a
noun. It is also referred to as a verbal noun or -ing noun:
Smoking is hazardous to health.
No
eating or drinking in the library.
Gradable Refers to adjectives or adverbs which can be set on a scale of ‘more’ or
‘less’ in terms of their qualities, properties, states, conditions, relations, etc.
(good, small, easily, nicely). Gradable adjectives and adverbs can be
premodified by degree adverbs (That’s an
extremely good
camera.
) and can take
the comparative and superlative inflections (smaller, smallest), or be preceded
by more or most (more easily, most superior).
Gradable is contrasted with non-gradable.
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Non-gradable
Head, headword Refers to the central element of a phrase. The accompanying
constituents in the phrase have a grammatical relationship with the head: a
new
home for the children (noun head),
in the country (preposition head),
very
nice (adjective head),
rather slowly (adverb head).
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