Tag Archives: term of art

“1. The words in a text, usually a noun phrase, to which a pronoun or other grammatical unit refers back. Cook is the antecedent of him in: ‘In 1772. Cook began his second voyage, which took him further south than he had ever been.’ Similarly, his second voyage is the antecedent of which. With impersonal it, this, that, which, the antecedent may be a whole clause or paragraph, as in: ‘Might not the coast of New South Wales provide and armed haven? To some people this looked good on paper, but there is no hard evidence that it did so to William Pitt or his ministers.’ Despite the implications of the name, an antecedent can follow rather than precede: ‘For his first Pacific voyage, Cook had no chronometer.’ 2. In logic, the conditional element in a proposition. In If they did that, they deserve our respect, the antecedent is they did that.”

Excerpted from: McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

“Demonstrative: A term used in association with pronouns and determiners as an adjective and a noun: a demonstrative pronoun; three demonstratives in one sentence. A demonstrative usage indicates relationships and locations, such as between this (near the speaker and perhaps the listener) and that (not near the speaker, perhaps near the listener, or not near either).”

Excerpted from: McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

“1. Also verbal phrase. In traditional grammar, a term for the main verb and any auxiliary or combination of auxiliaries that precedes it: can spell; may have cried; should be paid; might have been transferred. 2. In generative grammar, a term roughly equivalent to the traditional predicate. It includes the traditional verb phrase with (at least) any complements of the verb, such as the non-bracketed parts of the following sentences: (They) have understood his intention); (Susan) was very patient.”

Excerpted from: McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.