The Twelve Essays of Christmas: Partridge!

Most of what I learned about grammar in school was wrong.

English doesn't have a true infinitive, and even if it did, there'd be nothing wrong in splitting it.

There are not exactly eight types of word - the number of categories depends on the system of categorisation. Obviously.

English doesn't have three tenses referring to time - namely past, present and future. Tense is a grammatical category, while 'timeframe' is a semantic one. We use the so-called 'present tense' to refer to plans for the future, as in "We leave tomorrow", and we use the so-called 'past tense' to refer to things which aren't the case in the present, as in "If I knew, I'd say".

And by the way, there's only two tenses.

It's not true that every sentence needs a verb. Sentences like "Wow!" and "Well, yes and no" are definitely verbless, and we have a vaguely defined category of words which occur in verbless utterances. We call them exclamations, or interjections, and the Concise Oxford English Dictionary contains 297 of them.

Now wouldn't it be useful to have a list of all the exclamations in the COED? And indeed all the pronouns, verbs, 'determiners' and so on? Well, it might be useful to me, and it might even be interesting to you.

I've spent the last few days extracting words and their categories from the COED (11th edition). The book has 28 'types' of word, and I'll be going through them. Time, personal energy, internet access and upcoming holidays permitting.

So, in no particular order other than alphabetical, here are the 297 interjections, exclamations and sententially verbless utterances.

abracadabraadieuadios
affirmativeahaha
ahemahoyalack
alleluiaalleyaloha
alrightamenarrividerci
attaboyavastavaunt
aveaway
ayebahbam
bancobanzaibedad
begadbegonebegorra
bejabersbejesusbingo
bismillahblastblimey
boboingboo
boohoobotherbow
boybravobrother
brrrbyebye
capeeshcarambacave
charmedcharmingcheck
cheeriocheerschin
chopChristciao
confoundcoocor
crikeycripescroeso
crumbsdammitdamn
damnationdangdash
deardiddumsdoh
dratduheasy
eeeekegad
ehencoreer
eurekaarewellfaugh
fielipfloreat
foreudgegad
gadzooksgangwayGawd
geegeeGeez
Geronimogesundheitgiddy
GodGodspeedgolly
goodgoodbyegoodness
goodnightgoodygosh
gotchagraciousha
hahhailhallelujah
hallohalloohang
heaveheckheel
heighheighhell
hellohelphem
hereheyhi
hichiphist
hiyahmmho
hohoicksholla
hoorayhootshow
howdyhowzathoy
huhhullohum
humphhurrahhushaby
huzzanshallaheepers
JeezJesusings
awksoook
orordLordy
ummemanmarry
mercymushnight
nitnonope
Oochochone
ohohoohone
oiOKokey
oléoohoops
oopsouchow
oyoyezpah
pardonpaxpeccavi
phewphutphwoah
pishpoopoof
poohpoufpow
prestopritheeprosit
pshawpsstquite
rahatrather
reallyightrighto
rightyogersalut
saysayonaraselah
shabashshalomshazam
sheeshshhshoo
shootshucksshush
sireeskolslainte
steadystrewthstruth
suckata
taallythere
timberoodletouché
tushuttut
ughuhuh
uhuhum
upsupsyviva
voilawahoowakey
welcomewellwhacko
whateverwheewheesht
whewwhishtwhist
whoawhoopswhoops
whooshwhywilco
wowoomphwoosh
wotchayahyah
yahooyeahyeehaw
yesyessiryikes
yippeeyoyo
yoicksyooyuck
yumzounds

1 comment:

  1. Every indicative sentence, however, does require a verb.

    Not sure either about your comments on tense.

    Anyway hope you are OK!

    ReplyDelete