GRAMMATICA INGLESE:
2 lexical words, function words (the structure of words, compounding, adjectives, adverbs, determiners,
coordinators, subordinators, wh-words)
THE STRUCTURE OF WORDS, COMPOUNDING: Technically, a word is a unit of language that carries
meaning and consists of one or more morphemes which are linked together, and has a phonetic value.
Typically a word will consist of a root or stem and zero or more affixes. Words can be combined to create
phrases, clauses, and sentences. A word is a unit of language that consists of one or more morphemes, that
is a smallest linguistic unit that has semantic meaning. Function words (funzioni delle parole): Pronouns
(pronomi), Determiners (determinatori)(articles, demonstratives, possessives, quantifiers), Prepositions,
Complex prepositions (preposizioni complesse)(such as, except for, according to, instead of), Adverbial
particles (particelle avverbiali)(part of a verb ‘make up)
ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB: An adjective is a word or set of words that modifies a noun or pronoun.
Adjectives may come before the word they modify, for example: That is a cute puppy, but they may also
follow the word they modify for examples: That puppy looks cute. An adverb instead, is a word or set of
words that modifies verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs answer how, when, where, why, or how
often... In most cases, an adverb is formed by adding "ly" to an adjective (quick = quickly, angry = angrily,
probable = probably, basic = basically)
CONJUNCTIONS (congiunzioni):
Coordinators: Indicate the relationship between two units (phrases or clauses). Bread and butter
Subordinators: Link clauses and establish a relationship between them: The telephone rang just as I
was sitting down to eat. Complex subordinators: As long as, As soon as, Given that…, Provided
that…, As if, Even if, So that
WH-DETERMINERS: are the interrogative clause: which way are you going? Relative clause (clausola): I had
a girl whose dog was the bridesmaid
4 (concrete/abstract nouns, countables/uncountables, proper nouns, collective nouns, gender and noun
formation, pronouns, articles, possessive determiners, demonstrative determiners, quantifying
determiners, the formation of derived nouns)
Types of nouns (nomi):
Abstract and concrete nouns: Abstract nouns are words that name things that are not concrete, for
example the five physical senses. In essence, an abstract noun is a quality, a concept, an idea, or an
event. Something that is abstract exists only in the mind, while something that is concrete can be
interacted with in a physical way, for example dog, woman ...
Proper nouns: Need no article or plural form. They name an individual (person, place)= Sue,
Chicago. Con: Personal names, Place names, Organization names (Congress, NATO), Time names
(Saturday, July, Christmas). Proper nouns occurring with ‘the’: Geographical names (the Nile, the
Indian Ocean), Plural geographical names (the Cayman islands), Hotels, restaurants, theatres,
museums, libraries, Names of ships (the Titanic), Newspapers/periodicals. Proper names of official
bodies/organizations: the BBC, the Senate; the Parliament
Countable & uncountable. Words can be both… I think these are eggs from our new chickens
(countable), Would you like some chicken for dinner? (uncountable). Common nouns (nomi
comuni) can be countable or uncountable. Countable nouns refer to entities which can be counted:
they have both a singular and a plural form. There is a contrast between indefinite and definite
signalled by articles: A cow ( singular indefinite), The cow (singular definite), Cows (plural
indefinite), The cows (plural definite). Common nouns denote a class = girl, city
Collective nouns: Refer to groups of people, animals, things, Army; audience; Committee; family;
staff; team. Collective nouns and collocations: fans, spectators, sheep, children, gang of bandits,
group of girls
