SPANISH 406

Glossary of Grammatical Terms & Functions

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Traditional "parts of speech"

                                                                                                Noun                          Adjective

                                                                                                Pronoun                      Adverb

                                                                                                Verb                          Conjunction

                                                                                                Preposition                  Interjection

                                                                         Grouping of traditional parts of speech

                                                                                            Noun, pronoun = Substantives

                                                                                            Adjective, adverb = Modifiers

                                                                                            Preposition, conjunction = Linkers

                                                                                            Necessary Distinctions

                                                                           VERBS: Active or copulative (linking)? Transitive or intransitive?

                                                                            CONJUNCTIONS: Coordinating or subordinating?

                                                                            SUBSTANTIVES: Case and function in sentence.

Case

The relation of a noun o pronoun to the other words in its sentence or clause. In Latin, case is indicated by the ending of the noun or pronoun. In modern Spanish it is usually indicated through the use of prepositions, case markers, and word order.

Predicate

The verb of a sentence or clause along with all the words it governs and those that modify it. In normal declarative word order in English and Spanish, the predicate consists of that part of the sentence from the verb to the end of the sentence or clause. In other words, everything except the subject and its modifiers.

                                                                                            Phrase

A group of two or more words which act together to carry out one of the above grammatical functions. All of these functions may be expressed by a single word or by multi-word units. A multi-word unit that carries out one of the basic grammatical functions, and is not a clause, is a phrase.

Clause

A secondary syntactic unit that contains a conjugated verb. In Spanish, clauses come in two basic varieties: independent clauses and subordinate clauses. Independent clauses contain all the ingredients necessary to stand alone and form a complete grammatical sentence. Two or more independent clauses in the same sentence are known as coordinate clauses. They are usually joined by a coordinating conjunction, but sometimes by a semicolon. Subordinate clauses are, as the name implies, inferior in strength to another clause in the same sentence. They exist only as appendages of another clause. In Spanish, subordinate clauses function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. That is, a subordinate clause modifies something in the main clause, or it acts as a noun within that clause.

Sentence structure

Depending on the clauses it contains, a sentence may be simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

SIMPLE: Contains only one conjugated verb and no secondary clauses.
EXAMPLE: Fui a la tienda.

COMPOUND: Contains two or more independent clauses and no subordinate clauses:
EXAMPLE: Fui a la tienda y luego volví a casa.

COMPLEX: Contains one independent clause and at least one subordinate clause.
EXAMPLE: Fui a la tienda antes de que mi madre llegara a casa.

COMPOUND-COMPLEX: Contains at least two independent (coordinate) clauses and at least one subordinate clause.
EXAMPLE: Fui a la tienda y compré helado, a pesar de que mi madre me lo había prohibido.

Sentence mode

A sentence may be declarative (statement), interrogative (question), or exclamatory (exclamation). The mode of the sentence will usually be indicated by its punctuation (period, question mark, or exclamation point). A sentence's mode may also affect its syntax (word order).

Verbal mood

That quality of a verb that conveys the degree of reality of the action, as perceived by the speaker or writer. In Spanish, the mood of the verb is indicated in the coding of the verb's ending. Verbal moods in Spanish have traditionally been identified as the indicative, the imperative, and the subjunctive. But the conditional, and the future and conditional of speculation, also convey the degree of reality of the action, and may thus also be considered to be expressions of verbal mood.

Verbal aspect

The viewpoint, or "aspect," from which an action is viewed. Aspect in Spanish is concerned primarily with the completeness of an action. It is expressed through tense, and sometimes through modification or complementation. Primary aspects in Spanish are the perfective and the imperfective. In the past tense a perfective aspect is usually expressed by the preterite verb form, and the imperfective aspect by the imperfect verb form.

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