Delahunty and Garvey
ment, subject complement.
concrete noun: noun that denotes an entity that can be apprehended by
any one of the five senses, e.g., sneeze, floor, paper. See abstract noun.
content word: words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) that express
the major information of a sentence. See function word.
conversion: change of part of speech without change of form.
count noun: a noun that represents entities that can be individuated and
counted, and hence can be made plural, e.g., typewriter, diskette, page. See
non-count noun.
degree adverb: adverb indicating the extent to which an adjective or adverb
applies. See intensifier.
descriptive adjective: any adjective that meets the formal requirements for
adjectives.
function word (also called structure word): words representing gram-
matical information. See content word.
functional shift: See conversion.
gerund: in traditional grammar, a verb phrase that functions as a subject
or object.
head: main word of a phrase.
infinitive: (a) a form of a verb without any inflection—i.e., the form that
one would look up in a dictionary, e.g., eat. Abbreviated as V. (b) the same
form of a verb when preceded by to, e.g., to eat.
intensifier: words such as very and quite that modify adjectives and adverbs.
intransitive verb: a verb that does not accept a direct object.
linking verb: a verb that is followed by a subject complement.
main verb: head of a verb phrase or predicate.
modifier: optional expression that qualifies or restricts the denotation of
another expression.
nominalization: the process by which a word (or group of words) becomes
a noun (or noun phrase), often through the addition of a derivational suffix.
non-count noun (also called mass): a noun thought of as representing
things in the world as undifferentiated masses, whose parts are not identi-
fied as discrete individuals (rice, sugar, milk). See count noun.
object complement: expression that complements a direct object. See sub-
ject complement.
participle: the Ving or Ven inflectional form of a verb; in traditional gram-
mar, a verb form that modifies a noun.
past participle: the Ven inflectional form of a verb.
positive: degree of adjective or adverb that is not compared. See compara-
tive and superlative.