Glossary

names or titles we use when we address other people, like 'mister', 'buddy', 'ma'am', or 'honey'. They can be respectful, neutral, or intimate.

the person or persons who the speaker or writer is addressing or speaking to, part of the audience (which may include non-addressees)

in grammar is a category of syntactic function, i.e. what role the word or phrase plays in the sentence. In general, subject case is for what does the action, and object case is for what receives the action.

pronouns that point towards specific things and are marked for number (singular or plural) and proximity to the speaker (near or far). They include this, that, these, & those, and can also be demonstrative determiners.

Information that is purposefully false and meant to mislead or deceive, sometimes equated with propaganda. Recently it's been called "fake news".

the use of 'we' and equivalent first person plural pronouns to refer to the speaker and others, NOT including the addressee, i.e. 'I and others, but not you'

a fallacious way of presenting choices that implies there are two, and only two, opposing options; also called false dilemma or either/or

a form of pronoun (usually 2P) that is used for informal interaction, implying equality. Until the 1800s in English, 'thou' was the familiar 2P pronoun form in contrast to the formal form 'you'. Other languages like Spanish, French, and German still have distinct familiar and formal 'you' pronouns.

First person (or '1P') means from the perspective of 'I'. 1P pronouns are I, me, mine, myself, we, us, ours, & ourselves.

a form of pronoun (usually 2P) that is used for formal interaction, implying respect and distance. Until the 1800s in English, 'you' was the formal 2P pronoun form in contrast to the informal form 'thou'. Other languages like Spanish, French, and German still have distinct familiar and formal 'you' pronouns.

in English grammar refers to the sex of the human referent -- male (he, him, his), female (she, her, hers), or neutral (they, them, theirs).

pronouns that can refer to humans without specifying their gender, e.g. English 'they' and proposed pronouns like 'hir', 'xe', and 'co'

the use of 'you' to mean 'one' or 'anyone'-- addressing not a specific individual but anyone

a title or address form like 'Dr.', 'Mrs.', or 'sir' that shows respect to the addressee or referent

the grammatical mood in English used for making commands or directives; the 2P form is the plain, uninflected (e.g. 'go!'), and the 1P plural form is 'let's' + the plain form (e.g. 'let's go')

the use of 'we' and equivalent first person plural pronouns to refer to the speaker and others that may include the addressee (i.e., when 'we' means 'you and I')

address forms that show informality and intimacy between the speaker and the addressee, e.g. 'dear', 'honey', 'baby', 'bro', 'girl', etc.

Information that is not true or partially untrue. Misinformation may be unintentional, unlike disinformation, which is purposeful.

in grammar refers to the quality of being singular or plural (i.e. more than one)

in grammar refers to perspective of the speaker or writer: first person (e.g. I, we), second person (e.g. you), and third person (e.g. it, they)

the pronouns I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them, marked for person, gender, number, and case

a power or propaganda technique used to convince audiences that the speaker/subject is common or average, e.g., if a politician advertises themselves eating street food at a fair or taking public transportation

the pronouns mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs, & whose, marked for person, number, and gender. Don't confuse them with possessive determiners my, your, his, her, its, our, their, & whose, although his, its, & whose are the same.

a word like 'we', 'hers', or 'someone' that represents and replaces a noun or noun phrase

Information that deliberately promotes a particular perspective, regardless of its veracity.

the '-self' and '-selves' pronouns

address forms like honorifics and formal pronouns that show respect from (or distance between) the speaker to the addressee

Second person (or '2P') means from the perspective of 'you'. 2P pronouns are you, yours, yourself, & yourselves.

the use of the pronouns they, them, and theirs to refer to a single individual, which allows not having to refer to the individual's gender identity

the use of 'you' to mean a specific addressee that the speaker/writer knows or implies they know

Third person (or '3P') means from the perspective of 'he, she, it', or 'they'. 3P pronouns are he, him, his, himself, she, her, hers, herself, it, its, itself, they, them, themself, & themselves. 'Who', 'whom', and indefinite pronouns are also 3P.

a language power technique that relies on false dichotomy fallacy to build in-group solidarity and identity through contrast with outsiders