Adjectives, Language Functions, and Punctuation Marks
Adjectives: Describing Words
The adjective is a kind of word that indicates a quality of the noun. Regarding gender, many adjectives are marked by morphemes, but others do not support change. The number is formed with -s and -es. Expressing a quality can be done with more or less intensity; this is called the degree. There are three degrees: positive, comparative, and superlative. The adjective is classified according to the meaning it contributes to the noun: specifying and explanatory.
Language and Communication
Communication is a process by which a sender transmits a message. Any communication process depends on a communicative intention. Language functions are the expressions that can convey the attitudes of the sender (the speaker in oral communication, the writer in written communication) compared to the communicative process. There are six functions of language: referential, expressive, appellative, poetic, metalinguistic, and phatic.
The Linguistic Sign: Signifier and Signified
The signifier is the part of the sign that the recipient receives through one of the senses. The signified is the concept or idea associated with the signifier; its semantic content.
Semantic Relationships
- Synonymy: The relationship between two different words with similar meanings.
- Antonymy: The relationship between two words with opposite meanings.
- Homonymy: The relationship between two words that have the same signifier and different meanings.
Word Formation
Derivation is a regular procedure that enables the designation of concepts in languages. It is formed by adding a prefix or suffix to the root or lexeme of a word. Many of the prefixes and suffixes are of Latin and Greek derivation. It is the main source of new words in many languages. Examples: disorganize, unbrave, precaution, decentralize, machinery, dentist, premarket.
Compound words are those that consist of two or more lexemes. Examples: windshield wipers, grasshoppers, dishwasher, midday.
Punctuation Marks
Comma (,)
Indicates a pause in reading for separating two or more words or phrases that are of the same class, provided they are not included among the conjunctions and, or, or. It is also used to separate two independent members of a sentence, with or without conjunction, and to limit a clarification or extension that is inserted in a sentence.
Semicolon (;)
Indicates a longer break than the comma. It is used to separate the different members of a long sentence in which there is already one or more commas.
Period (.)
- Period and continued: Separates sentences within a paragraph.
- Period and separate: Signals the end of a paragraph.
- Final period: Marks the end of a written text.
- It is also used to signal the end of a sentence.
- Used in abbreviations.
Colon (:)
- Used in the greetings of letters.
- Before starting a listing.
- Before a direct quote.
Ellipsis (…)
- When we leave the meaning of the sentence hanging, unfinished, in order to express shades of doubt, fear, or irony.
- Upon interruption of what is being said because its continuation is known, particularly in proverbs and popular sayings.
- When reproducing a text, a fragment is deleted as unnecessary. In this case, the dots are usually placed in brackets or parentheses.
Question Marks (?)
Used in direct interrogative sentences to indicate the interrogative intonation of the speaker.
Exclamation Marks (!)
Used to indicate the character of exclamatory sentences. They are written at the beginning and end of an exclamatory, hortatory, or mandatory sentence. They also accompany interjections.
Parentheses ( )
Used to enclose explanatory sentences or phrases that are detached from the meaning of the sentence in which they are inserted. Also used to enclose clarifications, such as dates, places, etc.
Quotation Marks (” “)
Used at the beginning and end of sentences to reproduce verbatim what a character says. Also used when highlighting a word or using a word that is not part of the Spanish language.