Glossary 307Speech act. An act like making a statement, asking a question, or issuing a directive.
Stranded preposition. Preposition which is not followed by the NP that is under
stood as its complement: Who did you give it to ?; This is the book [/ was talking
about].
Subject. The function in clause structure (usually filled by an NP; before the pred
icate in canonical clauses) that in active clauses describing action normally
denotes the actor: Ed ran away.
Subject-auxiliary inversion. Placement of the subject after (instead of before) the
auxiliary: Is he ill?
Subject-determiner. A genitive NP combining the functions of determiner and
complement in NP structure: Kim 's house.
Subjunctive clause. One of the three major constructions headed by a plain form
verb (the others are imperatives and infinitivals): It is vital that I be kept
informed.
Subordinate clause. Normally, a clause embedded as a dependent in a larger
clause, often differing in form from a main clause; e.g., Th is is the book she
reviewed.
Subordinator. A small class of words generally serving to mark a clause as subor
dinate: I know [that it's possible]; I wonder [whether she's ill]; [For her to be
late] is quite unusual.
Suffix. An affix that attaches to the end of a base.
Superlative (grade, form). The term in the grade system indicating "most";
marked either inflectionally (as in hottest) or by the adverb most (most useful).
Supplement. Loosely attached expression set off by intonation (and usually punc
tuation) presenting supplementary, non-integrated content. Usually an adjunct
(Luckily, we don 't have to do that) or a supplementary relative clause (I saw
her son, who 's quite worried).
Symbol. A letter or sequence of letters representing a single sound. In heat there are
three symbols: h, ea (a composite symbol), and t.
Tag. Truncated interrogative clause added to the end of another clause, requesting
some kind of confirmation: He hasn't seen her, has he?
Tense. A system marked by verb inflection or auxiliaries whose basic use is to
locate the situation in time: I liked it (past tense, past time), I like it (present tense,
present time).
To-infinitival clause. Infinitival clause containing the marker to: I want to see
them; We arranged for them to meet.
Transitive. A clause containing at least one object (I broke the vase), or verb used
in such a clause (break).
Truth conditions. The conditions that must be satisfied for the statement made by
uttering a declarative main clause in a given context to be true: Oswald shot
Kennedy and Kennedy was shot by Oswald have the same truth conditions,
because if one is true the other is.
Verb. A category of lexemes whose most distinctive property is that they normally
inflect for tense (She was ill vs She id ill; We liked it vs We like it).