In the unrevised entries, determiners are often revealed just since adjectives

[OED records to have determiners feel the part of speech adj. (determiner), since the historically there was oftentimes indeterminacy anywhere between adjective and determiner. In some grammars, the phrase determinative is used.]

head matter

A direct question is a question which is quoted as actually spoken (that is, in lead address), rather than being reported.

For example, in ‘“What did the doctor say?” asked Sue’, what did the doctor say? is a direct question because it is quoted. As an indirect concern this would be: ‘Sue asked what the doctor said.’

• At Query v. 3a, examples are given of uses ‘with indirect or direct question as the second object’. An example with a direct question is: ‘then I asked him, “Is this goodbye?”.’

head speech

Direct speech is speech which is quoted as actually spoken, rather than being reported (see secondary speech). Speech of this type is typically indicated using quotation marks.

For example, in ‘“I demand my rights,” roared Paul’, I demand my rights is direct speech because it is quoted without modification. In indirect speech this would be: ‘Paul roared that he demanded his rights.’

• MISGUESS v. 2a is described as sometimes occurring ‘with condition or direct speech as object’. An example with direct speech is: ‘“You are expecting!” her mother, longing for a grandchild, joyously mis-guessed.’

twice object

In some contexts, a verb may take both a lead target and an secondary target. For example, in ‘I gave the children their dinner’, their dinner is the direct object and the children is the indirect object. This pair of objects may be referred to as a double object.

• Ask v. step three is defined as ‘With double object (the person and the matter in question).’ An example is ‘I ask him what that entailed’: what that entailed is the direct object, and him is the indirect object.

In modern English, nouns and pronouns may be either only one, referring to one person or thing (child, table, I, he, etc.) or plural, referring to more than one person or thing (children, tables, we, they, etc.). Some languages also have a dual category which distinguishes two people or things as opposed to one or to more than two. In Old English and early Middle English, there was a dual category of pronouns: for example, the pronoun Humor pron. was a dual pronoun meaning ‘we two’.

element

An element is a word, consolidating form, prefix, or suffix which is a component part of a larger construction (a material word, a clause, etc.).

• In the OED, element most often refers to a component part of a compound. For example, ABIDING adj. 3 describes uses of abiding ‘As the second element in compounds forming adjectives’, with the sense ‘remaining true to, standing by (what is denoted by the first element)’. The quotation paragraph includes the compound adjectives Constitution-abiding, rule-abiding, and code-abiding.

ellipsis | elliptical

Ellipsis occurs when a phrase otherwise number of words was excluded regarding a phrase otherwise utterance it is know in the framework. A sentence otherwise the means to access terms associated with ellipsis is defined as elliptical.

• Know v. 11g(b) is defined as ‘In elliptical use: to have knowledge of a fact previously mentioned or contextually implied.’ An example is ‘I do not care the way they travelling serwis randkowy her dating, and I do not want to know.’ The fuller form of this sentence would be ‘I do not care how they travel, and I do not want to know how they travel‘: the final clause is omitted as it can be understood from the context.