a study of related languages for the light which the knowledge of each one of them throws on the phenomena of all the others.

one that has the characteristics of a much earlier period and is on the way out of use.  Any word is archaic if it is too old to be generally used.  To determine whether a word is archaic or obsolete, consult an up-to-date dictionary.

expressions used in ordinary conversation.  They admit words, phrases, forms, and constructions that would be out of place in formal oral or written speech.  Their use should be restricted to informal communications.

a word or phrase that is not in good use.  It may be a newly coined word, a slang expression, a vulgarism, a provincialism, or any illiterate or unauthorized expression, such as ain’t, irregardless, attackted, nowheres, unbeknownst, complected.

a term used to describe a blunder in grammar or a construction not sanctioned by good usage.  Any word or combination of words deviating from the idiom of the language or from the rules of syntax may be called a solecism, such as he don’t or between you and I.

terms used by grammarians to explain or classify the unusual, the illogical, or the peculiar expressions in a language. Idiomatic expressions frequently defy grammatical analysis and are, therefore, not easily translated into other words and phrases in the same language, or into other languages word for word, without losing some of their highly specialized meaning.  Some idioms are had better and How do you do?

a term employed by linguists to classify speech habits or language peculiarities, to show what is or has been practiced at a given time by a stated group of users of a language.

Pronoun

a word that takes the place of a noun

a word describing a noun or a pronoun and answering which one, what kind, how many, or whose.

a word that shows action, being, or state of being.

a word “placed before” to show relation between words; to show the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and the rest of the sentence.

a word that yokes or connects elements of a sentence.

sentence structure; the orderly arrangement, relation, agreement of parts of the sentence in accordance with usage or custom; the relation of words to other words in phrases, clauses, and sentences.

the study of the shape of words and the meanings and relationships that may result from inflection; the study of inflections.

the change, or modification, in the form of a word to indicate a change in its meaning.

Comparison

the inflection of an adjective or an adverb

Function, Form, or Empty Words, or Morphemes

terms for words and phrases that have lost their original or individual meaning and serve only to show the relationship or the structure of full words.  Some function words are more, most, and of.

Declarative Sentence

states a fact or makes an assertion and closes with a period

asks for information; always ends with a question mark.  The question may be introduced by the verb or by an interrogative pronoun, an interrogative adjective, or an interrogative adverb; or it may have the form of a declarative sentence, especially if an affirmative answer is expected or inferred. This kind of interrogative sentence may end with a tag, such as You will be on time, won’t you?

issues a command, a request, or an imprecation. It closes with a period.  The sentence is addressed to some person or some group of persons.  The subject is usually implied (an understood you).

expresses strong emotion:  surprise, relief, grief, fear, hate, delight, and so forth.  It ends with an exclamation mark.  It is often expressed in the form of an indirect (and sometimes a direct) question:  How could someone be so cruel!

a group of related words containing a subject and a predicate that expresses a complete thought and that can stand by itself.

a group of related words containing a subject and a predicate that does not express a complete thought and that cannot stand by itself.

Grammar

the study of words and their function

a systematic study of the changes occurring in a language or a group of languages as they vary from generation to generation, from century to century.

a study of the nature, the origin, and the growth of the English language from its earliest written form to the present time.  It describes the characteristics of Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English, and analyzes the variations and changes that occur in these three periods.