Main Clause - Oxymoron

A group of words made up of a subject and a predicate. A main clause (unlike a dependent clause) can stand alone as a sentence.

A main verb in English is (1) any verb that is not an auxiliary verb, and/or (2) the verb in a main clause.

See "capital letter."

An informal term for a blend of two aphorisms, idioms, or clichés.

Absurd or humorous misuse of a word, especially by confusion with one of similar sound.

The part of a page outside the main body of text.

A verb that displays some but not all of the properties of an auxiliary.

A noun that names things that cannot be counted. A mass noun (also known as a noncount noun) is used only in the singular.

In linguistics (and in generative grammar in particular), a matrix clause is a clause that contains a subordinate clause.

A compact expression of a general truth or rule of conduct.

In semantics, the message conveyed by words, sentences, and symbols in a context.

In composition, the conventions governing the technical aspects of writing, including spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and abbreviations.

(1) A channel or system of communication. (2) The means of transmitting information between a speaker or writer (the sender) and an audience (the receiver).

To belittle, use a degrading epithet, often through a trope of one word; rhetorical understatement.

A form of creative nonfiction in which an author recounts experiences from his or her life.

A short message or record used for internal communication in a business.

One of the traditional five parts or canons of rhetoric, that which considers methods and devices to aid and improve the memory.

The generative grammar stored in the brain that allows a speaker to produce language that other speakers can understand.

In psycholinguistics, a person's internalized knowledge of the properties of words.

A rhetorical term for a pair of contrasting words used to express totality or completeness.

A word that denotes a constituent part or a member of something.

In rhetorical studies and communication studies, the information conveyed by (a) words (in speech or writing), and/or (b) other signs and symbols.

An umbrella term for words used by a speaker or writer to mark the direction and purpose of a text; broadly defined as "discourse about discourse."

Language used in talking about language.

(1) A figure of speech, such as metaphor or metonymy, in which one thing is referred to by something else that is only remotely associated with it. (2) In narratology, a paradoxical transgression of the boundaries between narrative levels or logically distinct worlds.

A reinterpretation of the division between words or syntactic units.

A rhetorical term for the act of self-correction in speech or writing.

A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common.

A group or series of metaphors that rely on the same image, condition, or event to convey a particular idea or experience.

Metaplasm is a rhetorical term for any alteration in the form of a word, in particular the addition, subtraction, or substitution of letters or sounds.

A rhetorical term for shifting responsibility or blame, or turning an objection back against itself.

Metathesis is a rhetorical term for the transposition within a word of letters, sounds, or syllables.

A metonym is a word or phrase used in place of another with which it is closely associated.

Metonymy is a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as "crown" for "royalty").

The language spoken in England from about 1100 to 1500.

In classical rhetoric, speech or writing that falls between the extremes of the plain style and the grand style.

A rhetorical term for the imitation, reenactment, or re-creation of someone else's words, manner of speaking, and/or delivery.

A moderate form of swearing: a type of euphemism in which a profane or offensive term is replaced by a similar-sounding word or phrase that expresses a comparable sentiment in a less objectionable way.

In psycholinguistics, the minimal attachment principle is the theory that listeners and readers initially attempt to interpret sentences in terms of the simplest syntactic structure that is consistent with the input.

Two words that differ in only one sound.

See "verbless sentence."

The official written record of a meeting.

A word that is midway in meaning between two opposite extremes (or antonyms).

Words, phrases, or clauses that do not clearly relate to the word they are intended to modify.

A succession of incongruous or ludicrous comparisons.

A mnemonic is a device--such as an image, rhyme, or figure of speech--used to assist memory.

A verb that combines with another verb to indicate mood or tense.

Linguistic devices that indicate the degree to which an observation is possible, probable, likely, certain, permitted, or prohibited.

In current-traditional rhetoric, a sequence of essays or themes (compositions) developed according to familiar "patterns of exposition."

The English language since about 1500.

In composition studies, the four traditional types or categories of written texts: narration, description, exposition, and argument.

A word, phrase, or clause that functions as an adjective or adverb to limit or qualify the meaning of another word or word group.

Words that result from the mishearing or misinterpretation of a statement or song lyric.

A fear of using a word more than once in a single sentence or even in a single paragraph.

A speech or composition presenting the words or thoughts of a single character.

A monomorphemic word is a word that contains just one morpheme.

A one-word name (such as "Oprah" or "Prince") by which a person or thing is known.

A word or an utterance of one syllable.

In essays and other literary works, mood is the dominant impression or emotional atmosphere evoked by the text.

The quality of a verb that conveys the writer's attitude toward a subject.

In linguistics, a word segment that represents one morpheme in sound or writing.

A morpheme is a meaningful linguistic unit (a word or a word element) that cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts.

The branch of linguistics (and one of the major components of grammar) that studies word structures, especially in terms of morphemes.

A person's native language--that is, a language learned from birth.

A recurring theme or verbal pattern in a single text or a number of different texts.

(1) A word, phrase, or sentence that expresses an attitude, ideal, or guiding principle associated with the organization to which it belongs. (2) A brief saying or proverb.

Multilingualism is the ability of an individual speaker or a community of speakers to use multiple languages.

Two or more exclamation points (!!!) following a word or sentence.

The principle that any criticism of the speech or writing of others will itself contain at least one error of usage or spelling.

The use of language to deceive others or to disguise the conditions of our social existence.

An informal term for a word or phrase that designates a person, place, or thing.

A fallacy that uses emotionally loaded terms to influence an audience.

The part of an argument in which a speaker or writer provides a narrative account of what has happened and explains the nature of the case.

In composition studies, one of the traditional modes of discourse that recounts an event or a series of related events.

An account of a sequence of events, usually in chronological order.

Use of the particle "eh" as a discourse marker to signal a transition, invite agreement, or intensify a question or command.

A person who tells a story, or a voice fashioned by an author to recount a narrative.

See "semantic narrowing."

A speaker who uses a first language or mother tongue.

Native speakerism is the established belief (or bias) that native speakers of a language (with or without teaching credentials) are better qualified to teach that language than non-native speakers.

A spelling alphabet used by airline pilots, police, the military, and other officials when communicating over radio or telephone.

A human language, such as English or Standard Mandarin, as opposed to artificial language, machine language, or the language of formal logic.

Nature writing is a form of creative nonfiction in which the natural environment serves as the dominant subject.

Negation is a grammatical construction that contradicts (or negates) part or all of a sentence's meaning.

In English grammar, the word "not" (or its reduced form, "-nt") used to indicate negation, denial, refusal, or prohibition.

A method of achieving emphasis by stating an idea twice, first in negative terms and then in positive terms.

A neologism is a newly coined word, expression, or usage that is not yet commonly used.

Neurolinguistics is the interdisciplinary study of language processing in the brain.

Regional and national varieties of the English language used in places where it is not the mother tongue of the majority of the population.

Deliberately ambiguous and contradictory language used to mislead and manipulate the public.

New Zealand English is a variety of the English language that is used in New Zealand.

A familiar form of a proper name, or any descriptive name or epithet used informally.

The varieties of the English language that are used in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In communication studies, anything that interferes in the communication process between a speaker and an audience.

(1) Relating to nouns. (2) Any word or word group that functions as a noun.

See "noun clause."

A type of word formation in which a verb or an adjective (or other part of speech) is used as a noun.

See "subjective case."

A word coined or used for a special occasion.

See "mass noun."

Prose accounts of real people, places, objects, or events.

A nonfinite verb is a form of the verb that does not show a distinction in tense and cannot stand alone as the main verb in a sentence.

A word, phrase, or clause that provides added (though not essential) information to a sentence but does not limit or restrict the element it modifies.

A fallacy in which a conclusion does not follow logically from what preceded it.

(1) Any dialect of English other than Standard English. (2) A term used by some non-linguists to describe "bad" English.

The process of sending and receiving messages without using words, either spoken or written.

Agreement (or concord) of verbs with their subjects and of pronouns with their antecedent nouns on the basis of meaning rather than grammatical form.

The part of speech used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action.

A noun clause is a dependent clause that functions as a noun (that is, as a subject, object, or complement).

A word group that includes a noun and its modifiers.

The grammatical contrast between singular and plural forms of nouns, pronouns, determiners, and verbs.

A noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that receives or is affected by the action of a verb within a sentence.

The case or function of a pronoun when it is the direct or indirect object of a verb or verbal, the object of a preposition, the subject of an infinitive, or an appositive to an object.

A noun or a pronoun that follows a preposition and completes its meaning.

An adjective, noun phrase, or prepositional phrase that qualifies, describes, or renames the object that appears before it.

The rhetorical strategy of calling attention to something by passing over it quickly and refusing to elaborate on its significance.

The language spoken in England from around 450 to 1100.

A text created with (and usually intended for viewing on) a computer, smartphone, or similar digital device.

The study of proper names, especially the names of people and places.

An onomatope is a word that imitates the sound it denotes: an onomatopoeic word.

The formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

A type of metaphor in which something concrete is projected onto something abstract.

The category of content words--that is, parts of speech (or word classes) that readily accept new members.

Optative is a category of grammatical mood that expresses a wish, hope, or desire.

The use of speech, rather than writing, as a means of communication, especially in communities where the tools of literacy are unfamiliar to the majority of the population.

An oration is a speech delivered in a formal and dignified manner.

A skilled public speaker.

Oratory is the art of public speaking.

A number that indicates position or order in relation to other numbers: first, second, third, and so on.

The arrangement of ideas, incidents, evidence, or details in a perceptible order in a paragraph or essay.

An orientational metaphor is a figurative comparison that involves spatial orientation.

An oronym is a sequence of words (for example, "ice cream") that sounds the same as a different sequence of words ("I scream").

The customary or "correct" pronunciation of words.

(1) The practice or study of correct spelling according to established usage. (2) The study of letters and how they are used to express sounds and form words.

Straight talk; direct or neutral expressions that are not sweet-sounding, evasive, or overly polite (euphemistic), nor harsh, blunt, or offensive (dysphemistic).

Post-colonial countries in which English, though not the mother tongue, has for a long period of time played a significant role in education, governance, and popular culture.

A plan for--or a summary of--a writing project or speech.

A part of the language-learning process in which children extend regular grammatical patterns to irregular words.

A wordy writing style characterized by excessive detail, needless repetition, outlandish figures of speech, and/or convoluted sentence structures.

An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side.