English Grammatical Terms

Letter O

(PG = Prescriptive Grammar  —  DG = Descriptive Grammar)

(GL = Grammatical Lingo  —  OB = Obtuse  —  NG = Not Grammatical)

 

For Example:  “Many Traditional Grammatical Terms are just a bunch of useless crap  —  “Useless Crap” is the so-called Object Of The Preposition “of”.

 

For Example:  “A staggeringly large amount of so-called “English Professionals” do not really Comprehend Grammar at all.”   —  “Grammar” is the so-called Object Of The Verb “Comprehend”.

  • Onomatopoeia  —  [NG]  The Term “Onomatopoeia” is not a Grammatical term.  It is a Rhetorical Term which is used to refer to Words which do not have an actually function or meaning, but represent an actual sound.

 

Examples:  “Bang!”“Pow!”“Blam!”“Crunch”, “Crack!”, “Burble”“Tinkle”“Jingle”, “Plump”, “Splash”, “Brap!”, “Boom!”, “Slurp”, “Fap”, “Zoom!” 

  • Open-Ended Question  —  [NG]  The Term “Open-Ended Question” is NOT a Grammatical term.  Is is a Rhetorical Term which is used to refer to Questions which — un-like with “Yes/No Questions” — require a more thorough response — and do not try to guide the one being asked the question about specific details, but instead, about more broad subjects.
  • Order Of Adjectives  —  [NG]  The Phrase “Order Of Adjectives” is not a Grammatical Term.  It is Grammatical Lingo that is used to refer to…  (wait for it)…  “The Order Of Adjectives” — Specifically the order of the different Types of Adjectives (what characteristics they are describing) when there is more than one Adjective describing a Noun.

 

That Order Is:  Quantity  ⇒  Opinion  ⇒  Size  ⇒  Shape  ⇒  Condition/Quality  ⇒  Age  ⇒  Color  ⇒  Origin  ⇒  Material  ⇒  Purpose

  • Ordinal Adjective  —  [DG]  This is a Term that was created by C. James Cote (“The Teacher” from GiveMeSomeEnglish!!!) to describe a type of Adjective that describes a thing by its Order in a sequence of Numbers.

In The Grammar Of The Common Tongue — what we CORRECTLY refer to as an Ordinal Adjective, is what — In Traditional Grammar — is referred to as an ‘Ordinal Number’.  However, it is NOT a Number.  So we do not use that term.

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When Numbers are converted to an Ordinal Adjective — and are written in their Number Symbol Form — they have the Suffixes “-st”, “-nd”, “-rd”, or “-th” added to the Symbol of the Number.

 

For Example:  1st (first), 2nd (second), 3rd (third), 4th (fourth)

  • Ordinal Number  —  [PG]  In Traditional Grammar, The Term “Ordinal Number” is used to refer to the form of a number which is used to show the “Order” of that thing in a sequence.

However — An ‘Ordinal Number’ Is NOT a Number.  It is merely a type of Adjective which describes a thing by referring to it by its Order in a sequence of a Number of things.

When Numbers are converted to an #Ordinal_Adjective — and are written in their Number Symbol Form — they have the Suffixes “-st”, “-nd”, “-rd”, or “-th” added to the Symbol of the Number.

 

For Example:  1st (first), 2nd (second), 3rd (third), 4th (fourth)

An “Other Conditional” — according to the way they describe it — is basically the same as a “Mixed Conditional”.  And it is The Rules of The Conditional Sentences which PROVES that there is not-only a difference between Prescriptive & Descriptive Grammar — but that the difference MATTERS GREATLY.  Because you do NOT have to follow the Traditional Rules of Grammar relating to how to form Conditional Sentences, and they can still work.

So — instead of explaining (because they probably do not comprehend) that The Rules for The Conditional Sentences are only a description, and not a Regulation (because you can break the “Rules” in many different ways and the message can still be the same)…  Instead of doing that — they come up with a completely separate Grammatical Term (which is actually just Grammatical Lingo) for THOSE kind of Conditional Sentences.

That is why the Term Other Conditional Is Stupid & Obtuse.

 

For Example:  “Jumbo Shrimp” — The Word “Jumbo” means “large”, and the Word “Shrimp” is also a Slang Term which is used to say that something is “small”.

Some people would Argue that the Term “Jumbo Shrimp” is not actually an Oxymoron because “Shrimp” is the actual name of the thing, and “Jumbo” is used to say that they are large versions of that thing.  And the Name “Shrimp” — used to describe something as being small — is a Metaphorical Slang Term which is based on the fact that the creature called “Shrimp” are themselves very small.

This is a valid Argument, but most Oxymorons can be argued to some extent.  For example:  “Adult Children”.  If they are “Adults” then they are no-longer “Children”.  But if those adults’ parents are still alive — then we can say that they are still the “Children” of their parents — even though they are actually “Adults” by age and biology.

There-fore — most Arguments about if something is a true Oxymoron, or not, are futile.

 

Here Are Some Other Examples:  “Graduate Student”, “Lady Stallion”, “Woman King” (the name of a movie), “Vegan Bacon, Sausage, Turkey, Cheese”, (or ANY vegan pretend version of something which is NOT vegan), “Fresh Frozen”, “Working Vacation”, “Deafening Silence”, “Un-invited Guest”, “African American”, “Democratic Socialism”

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