A grammatical unit that refers to a happening or state (for example, ‘the netball team won’ [happening], ‘the cartoon is an animation’ [state]).
A clause usually contains a subject and a verb group/phrase (for example, ‘the team [subject] has played [verb group/phrase] a fantastic game’), which may be accompanied by an object or other complements (elements that are closely related to the verb – for example, ‘the match’ in ‘the team lost the match’) and/or adverbials (for example, ‘on a rainy night’ in ‘the team won on a rainy night’).
A clause can be either a ‘main’ clause (also known as an ‘independent’ clause) or ‘subordinate clause’ (also known as a ‘dependent’ clause), depending on its function.
A main clause does not depend on or function within the structure of another clause.
A subordinate clause depends on or functions within the structure of another clause. It may function directly within the structure of a larger clause, or indirectly by being contained within a noun group/phrase.
An embedded clause is a clause (a group of words that includes a subject and a verb) that is within a ‘main’ clause, usually marked by commas.
In these examples square brackets have been used to indicate a subordinate clause:
- I took my umbrella [because it was raining].
- [When I am studying Shakespeare], my time is limited.
- The man [who came to dinner] is my brother. (embedded clause)
See definition for cohesion below:
Grammatical or lexical relationships that bind different parts of a text together and give it unity. Cohesion is achieved through:
- various devices such as connectives, ellipses and word associations (sometimes called ‘lexical cohesion’). These associations include synonyms, antonyms (for example, ‘study / laze about’, ‘ugly/beautiful’), repetition (for example, ‘work, work, work – that’s all we do!’) and collocation (for example, ‘friend’ and ‘pal’ in, ‘My friend did me a big favour last week. She’s been a real pal.’)
A punctuation mark used to separate a general statement from one or more statements that provide additional information, explanation or illustration. Statements that follow a colon do not have to be complete sentences.(for example , He has three important qualities: determination, a through knowledge of literature and a quick wit.
Punctuation is the use of conventional characters (e.g., commas, semicolons) to improve clarity. Complex punctuation includes colons, ellipsis, hyphens, semicolons, dashes and brackets
A sentence with one or more subordinate clauses. In the following examples, the subordinate clauses are indicated by square brackets:
- I took my umbrella [because it was raining].
- [Because I am studying for an exam], my time is limited.
- The man [who came to dinner] is my brother
See text complexity
A sentence with two or more main clauses of equal grammatical status, usually marked by a coordinating conjunction such as ‘and’, ‘but’ or ‘or’. In the following examples below, the main clauses are indicated by square brackets:
- [Jill came home this morning] [but she didn't stay long].
- [Kim is an actor], [Pat is a teacher], [and Sam is an architect].
Two words combined to make a new word (For example, sunglasses, airport)
Words that communicate uncertainties or possibilities. ‘If’ is the most common conditional word (For example, If you had eaten your lunch you wouldn’t be hungry now.)
A word that joins other words, phrases or clauses together in logical relationships such as addition, time, cause or comparison. There are two types of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.
Coordinating conjunctions are words that link words, groups/phrases and clauses in such a way that the elements have equal grammatical status. They include conjunctions such as ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘but’:
- Mum and Dad are here. (joining words)
- We visited some of our friends, but not all of them. (joining noun groups/phrases)
- Did he miss the train or is it just late? (joining clauses)
Subordinating conjunctions introduce certain kinds of subordinate clauses. They include conjunctions such as ‘after’, ‘when’, ‘because’, ‘if’ and ‘that’:
- When the meeting ended, we went home. (time)
- That was because it was raining. (reason)
- I'll do it if you pay me. (condition)
- I know that he is ill. (declarative)
- I wonder whether/if she’s right. (interrogative)
Words that link paragraphs and sentences in logical relationships of time, cause and effect, comparison or addition. Connectives relate ideas to one another and help to show the logic of the information. Connectives are important resources for creating cohesion in texts. The logical relationships can be grouped as follows:
- temporal – to indicate time or sequence ideas (for example, ‘first’, ‘second’, ‘next’)
- causal – to show cause and effect (for example, ‘because’, ‘for’ , ‘so’)
- additive – to add information (for example, ‘also’, ‘besides’, ‘furthermore’)
- comparative – to compare (for example, ‘rather’, ‘alternatively’)
- conditional/concessive – to make conditions or concession (for example, ‘yet’, ‘although’)
- clarifying – for example, ‘in fact’, ‘for example’.
See Connective
All letters of the alphabet that are not vowels. The 21 consonants in the alphabet are b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z.
A group of two or three consonants that are all pronounced individually (for example, /b/ and /l/ in the word ‘black’; /g/and /r/ in the word ‘green’).
See digraph definition
A text composed of sentences that link or relate to one another. Continuous texts may organise sentences into paragraphs, sections and chapters.
abbreviated version of a word or words, often formed by shortening a word or merging two words into one. do not: don’t; doctor: Dr.
Words that link words, groups/phrases and clauses in such a way that the elements have equal grammatical status. They include conjunctions such as ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘but’:
- Mum and Dad are here. (joining words)
- We visited some of our friends, but not all of them. (joining noun groups/phrases)
- Did he miss the train or is it just late? (joining clauses)