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Lexical Item

Phonetics:

leksɪkl

aɪtəm

Pronunciation:

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Unleashing the Potential of Lexical Items: A Complete Overview

Comprehensive Definition, Description, Examples & Rules 

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English is a popular language worldwide. We gave structure to sentences by using nouns, adjectives, verbs, and so on, but the lexical item gave authenticity and framing to the sentences. A sentence gets its meaning, use, form, and relationship with other words through the lexical word . It helps to make your vocabulary strong and improve your English proficiency.

Edulyte is one of the best English learning platforms. Here you will get the best preparation for the IELTS and PTE exams. Here. You will find out the meaning of lexical, its significance, and its types, and, for better acknowledgment and to check your knowledge, you will get a worksheet on lexical items as well.

Lexical item meaning?

Lexical items are more like a unit of vocabulary that forms the basic elements of language; it is derived from the Greek word meaning speech and words. A lexical item is a single word or a chain of words that form the basic elements of language, which we can say is vocabulary, like a cat by the way it’s raining and it’s on.” It is used to make a word’s meaning more worthy.

This is a process of acquiring new words and meanings, which can be done through spoken or written language. We can observe lexical word  meaning in our day-to-day life, for example, as each one of us gets some new words that we read through the newspaper or by watching some interviews. Children learn and build their vocabulary through teachers’ and parents’ vocabulary.

Types of lexical items:

There are various kinds of lexical items, like nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and conjunctions. All these types gave formatting to the sentence.

Noun

Nouns play a significant role in lexical meaning; a noun is the name of a person, place, or thing, and how lexical items play their key role in this is interesting. For example, “Taj Mahal is a beautiful place in Agra.” Here you can see the place mentioned, and in this noun, beautiful is a lexical item.

There are various types of nouns

Common noun: 

The words “common themselves” mean the common name, place, “or “something.” For example, books, states, and cities are common but not specific. He reads the book, and here lexical items are read, which helps to make this sentence more clear.

Proper noun:

Where a common noun is about common hair, a proper noun refers to specifying a name, place, or thing. For example, “Animal Farm in an Interesting Book by George Orwell” is an interesting lexical item with a specific mention of the book and author.

Countable noun:

Countable nouns are countable and quantified as well. For example, do you have two pens? Here the pens are lexical items, and two refer to countable nouns.

Collective noun:

Where a collective form of person, place, or thing is involved, for example, “the Australian Cricket Board” is the best cricket team in Australia”. Which includes nouns, prepositions, verbs, and articles. Adjectives and adverbs.

Abstract Noun

An abstract noun is a noun that does not exist in the physical world but exists as an idea. For example, it is full of joy to enjoy the party. Joy is a lexical item in this example.

Verb

A verb means action or a state of being. It has to identify the action that is taking place in the sentence; for example, Herry is running, David is eating, Daniel is dancing, and James is playing—all these examples reflect the different actions of each individual.

The function of the verb

Action and state of being are functions of verbs:

Action verb:- 

This verb indicates action by the subject, like when Danial is singing.

state of being a verb:-

Indicates existing conditions, for example “to be” with forms like “am”, “is,” “was,” and “were”.

Helping and auxiliary verbs:-

This verb plays a crucial role and assists the main verb in framing the sentence by expressing tense, voice, etc., for example: “I am intelligent”, or “she is playing.” In both of these sentences, “am” and “is” are helping verbs.

The verb’s function is to communicate action, make clauses, demonstrate providence, demonstrate modality, and also show agreement.

Various forms of verbs:

Here are some common verbs: form like base form; it is an infinite and imperative form, like, for example, to study, to play, to dance, or to sing a song.

Past tense  

The action that has occurred in the past is known as past tense.” For example, “Mia did her homework,” which reflects the action taken by Mia in the past,

Present tense

It expresses what is happening at present, like, for example, “Smith prays daily in the morning”. 

Present participle

The present participle expresses itself by adding ING to the base form of the verb, which also creates a continuous tense. For example “Smith is praying to God.”. 

Past participle 

The first participle is expressed by adding “Ed”, “d”, “t”, and “en”.

For example, “she worshipped the god in the evening.”

Adjective:

An adjective is a descriptive and qualifying word. Adjectives are words that provide additional information about the noun and describe the qualities of the name, place, person, or thing.

The purpose of an adjective is to provide description, qualification, and comparison. For example, “Smith has been studying for a long duration of time”, “Maria has completed her highest degree, a Ph.D. from Australia “, and “Maria is better than Mia”. 

Different types of adjectives

There are different types of adjectives, like descriptive, demonstrative, comparative, superlative, and possessive.

  • Descriptive adjective
  • It means that a sentence indicates a proper description of something, for example.
  1. The beauty of the sun cherishes me.
  2. I like Mia’s passion because she is determined and well-disciplined.

Demonstrative adjective

This kind of adjective points out a specific noun, for example.

  1. These pens on the table belong to me.
  2. This blue car is mine.
  • Comparative adjective 

A comparative adjective means to establish a comparison between two people, places, or things.

For example,

  1. I drive better than you.
  2. Smith is more intelligent than Daniel.

Adverbs

Adverbs are modifying words, and expression at work provides additional information about verbs, adjectives, or the entire sentence, for example, how, when, etc.

Types of adverbs:

 There are various kinds of adverbs, like the

  • Adverb manner, which describes how an action takes place, for example.
  1. He quickly eats food.
  2. She covered her homework quickly.

Adverb of time

This type of adverb indicates when an action takes place and highlights the duration of the reaction. For example:

  1. They arrived at midnight.
  2. She has been preparing for the exam for six months.

Adverb of place

This kind of adverb expresses and emphasizes an action taking place, for example:

  1. Mia meets Smith at school.
  2. Banaras is the land of devotion for thousands of devotees in India.

The function of an adverb

If we talk about the function of an adverb, then it has several functions, like

  • Modifying adverb, 

where the adverb describes how and in what manner the reaction takes place, for example.

  1. Mia answered politely.
  2. Smith played cricket professionally.

Modifying adjective 

The modifying adjective means where the adverb adds more details or modifies the adverb. For example:

  1. She has a melodic voice.
  2. She has a high-pitched voice.
  • Modifying a sentence

where adverbs modify the entire sentence by providing extra information about the speaker’s attitude and some of their viewpoint, for example: –

  1. Smith is very rude.
  2. Mia has a polite nature.

Preposition

The preposition is indicating the relationship and the location in the sentence; it establishes the relationship between the other words in the sentence and indicates time direction. manor et cetera Prepositions help link nouns, pronouns, or phrases to other parts of a sentence.

Role of Prepositions

The role is crucial in the structuring of any sentence.

For example,

  • Preposition reflecting location:

“The pen is there on the table.

  • Preposition indicating time:

After breakfast, you will get your phone.

  • Direction:- 

She is just behind you.

Common preposition

  • The cup is on the table.
  • He lives in that city.
  • He will meet me at 5 p.m.
  • By my watch, it is 3 p.m.
  • Smith can do anything for his parents.
  • She brought money to purchase books.
  • I can see mountains from your roof.
  • This is about Rita’s study.
  • The library was full of books.

Conjunction

The conjunction is used to connect ideas and sentences. Its function is to join ideas and help structure the sentence.

The function of conjunction

There are various functions of conjunction.

coordinating conjunction 

which connects the words that structure the sentence, for example:

  1. Reading and writing are my hobbies.
  2. Does she like this book or not?
  3. The paper was hard, but he didn’t score well.

Subordinating conjunction

A conjunction connects independent clauses. It includes “because”, “although,” “while, “when”, “if”, and “since.”

For example,

  1. She didn’t understand because she didn’t read thoroughly.
  2. She will distribute sweets if she passes the exam.
  3. Peaceful sounds produce good results while meditating.
list of adverbs for kids

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Key Takeaways

  1. Lexical items are single units or composites of a chain of words that give structure to a sentence.

  2. Lexical items include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and other parts of speech as well.

  3. In every sentence, lexical items carry specific meanings, which is most important for understanding any sentence.
  4. There are various examples of lexical items, including run, voice melodic, gifted, studying run,” etc.

  5. A lexical item has relevance in effective communication because, through a lexical item, one can express thoughts and ideas with better clarity to the audience.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can a single word be considered a lexical item?

The answer is yes; a single word can be considered a lexical item because lexical items contain a single word, a part of a word, or a chain of words, which form the basic elements of language.

How do lexical items affect sentence structure and meaning?

A lexical item can be generally understood to have a single meaning; lexical items help to structure the sentence.

What role do lexical items play in effective communication?

lexical item plays an important role in effective communication as it contributes to the clarity of thought; it has to convey the tone and style in different contexts; and it emphasizes on  choosing the right word, which can result in effectiveness while communicating and ensuring the intended message to the audience.

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