Grammar terms beginning with P – part II

July 22nd, 2010 in English Grammar, English Learning

Polar question
Any question which offers a choice between two possible answers. Another name for Yes-No question.

Positive
The dictionary form of an adjective. Examples are: big, tall, small, neat, nice, pretty. Note that an adjective can be in three forms: positive, comparative and superlative. The comparative and superlative forms are usually formed by adding -er and -est to the positive.
Possessive determiner
A determiner which shows possession. Examples are: my, your, his, our, their etc.

That is my cat.

Which is your boy?
Possessive pronoun
A pronoun which expresses possession. Examples are: mine, yours, ours, theirs, his and hers.

She is a friend of mine.
Post determiner
A label applied to the second of two consecutive determiners. Examples are: two in these two boys and these in both these books.

Predeterminer
A label applied to the first of two consecutive determiners. Examples are: these in these two boys and both in both these books.

Predicate
The part of a sentence that contains the verb and consists of a verb phrase.  For example, in the sentence ‘My sister is a doctor’, the predicate is the verb phrase ‘is a doctor’.

Predicative
The label applied to a linguistic element which comes inside a predicate. For example, the adjective beautiful in ‘She is beautiful’ is in predicative  position.

Prefix
An affix which precedes the material it is attached to. Examples include the re- of replay and un- of unpleasant.

Prepositional adjective
An adjective which can or must be followed by a prepositional phrase.