Category: language

When is a verb not a verb? When it is a verbal noun. A verbal noun is the infinitive form of a verb, that acts like a noun. It is usually created by adding “-ing,” after that it loses all the qualities of a verb and can now be used as a subject, direct or…

Intransitive An intransitive verb is not followed by an object. If the subject and verb can stand by themselves as a complete sentence, forming a complete idea without any helper words, the verb is intransitive. “Foofoo barked.” This clause is complete even though no other information is offered. “Foofoo, the little black cocker spaniel that…

The smallest element of sound in speech that can make one sound different from another is called a phoneme. The two major categories of phoneme sounds are consonant and vowel. Common consonant phonemes in English are -b, -n, -t and -r. Note how the smallest phoneme alteration in the following example changes each word completely. Ray,…

A suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word that forms a derivative of the original and gives extra or a different meaning. It can’t be complete without some sort of root and cannot stand alone in a sentence. Common Suffix Examples in English Many suffixes, as well…