Blood

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For other uses, see Blood (disambiguation).

Blood

Venous (darker) and arterial (brighter) blood

Details

Identifiers

Latin haema

MeSH D001769

TA98 A12.0.00.009

TA2 3892
Blood is a body fluid in humans and other animals that delivers necessary substances
such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away
from those same cells.[1]
In vertebrates, it is composed of blood cells suspended in blood plasma. Plasma, which
constitutes 55% of blood fluid, is mostly water (92% by volume), [2] and
contains proteins, glucose, mineral ions, hormones, carbon dioxide (plasma being the
main medium for excretory product transportation), and blood cells
themselves. Albumin is the main protein in plasma, and it functions to regulate
the colloidal osmotic pressure of blood. The blood cells are mainly red blood cells (also
called RBCs or erythrocytes), white blood cells (also called WBCs or leukocytes)
and platelets (also called thrombocytes). The most abundant cells in vertebrate blood
are red blood cells. These contain hemoglobin, an iron-containing protein, which
facilitates oxygen transport by reversibly binding to this respiratory gas and greatly
increasing its solubility in blood. In contrast, carbon dioxide is mostly transported
extracellularly as bicarbonate ion transported in plasma.
Vertebrate blood is bright red when its hemoglobin is oxygenated and dark red when it
is deoxygenated. Some animals, such as crustaceans and mollusks, use hemocyanin to
carry oxygen, instead of hemoglobin. Insects and some mollusks use a fluid
called hemolymph instead of blood, the difference being that hemolymph is not
contained in a closed circulatory system. In most insects, this "blood" does not contain
oxygen-carrying molecules such as hemoglobin because their bodies are small enough
for their tracheal system to suffice for supplying oxygen.
Jawed vertebrates have an adaptive immune system, based largely on white blood
cells. White blood cells help to resist infections and parasites. Platelets are important in
the clotting of blood. Arthropods, using hemolymph, have hemocytes as part of
their immune system.
Blood is circulated around the body through blood vessels by the pumping action of
the heart. In animals with lungs, arterial blood carries oxygen from inhaled air to the
tissues of the body, and venous blood carries carbon dioxide, a waste product
of metabolism produced by cells, from the tissues to the lungs to be exhaled.
Medical terms related to blood often begin with hemo- or hemato- (also
spelled haemo- and haemato-) from the Greek word αἷμα (haima) for "blood". In terms
of anatomy and histology, blood is considered a specialized form of connective tissue,
given its origin in the bones and the presence of potential molecular fibers in the form
of fibrinogen.
Grammar Focus : Conjunction and Interjection

Interjection
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An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and
expresses a spontaneous feeling or reaction. [1][2] It is a diverse category, encompassing
many different parts of speech, such as exclamations (ouch!, wow!), curses (damn!),
greetings (hey, bye), response particles (okay, oh!, m-hm, huh?), hesitation markers
(uh, er, um) and other words (stop, cool). Due to its diverse nature, the category of
interjections partly overlaps with a few other categories like profanities, discourse
markers and fillers. The use and linguistic discussion of interjections can be traced
historically through the Greek and Latin Modistae over many centuries.

Historical classification[edit]
Greek and Latin intellectuals as well as the Modistae have contributed to the different perspectives
of interjections in language throughout history. [3] The Greeks held that interjections fell into the
grammatical category of adverbs. They thought interjections modified the verb much in the same
way as adverbs do, thus interjections were closely connected to verbs.
Unlike their Greek counterparts, many Latin scholars took the position that interjections did not rely
on verbs and were used to communicate emotions and abstract ideas. They considered interjections
to be their own independent part of speech. Further, the Latin grammarians classified any small non-
word utterances as interjections.[3]
Several hundred years later, the 13th- and 14th-century Modistae took inconsistent approaches to
interjections. Some, such as Thomas of Erfurt, agreed with the former Greeks that the interjection
was closely tied to the verb while others like Siger of Courtrai held that the interjection was its own
part of speech syntactically, much like the Latin scholars. [3]

Meaning and use[edit]

In contrast to typical words and sentences, the function of most interjections is related to an
expression of feeling, rather than representing some idea or concept. [4] Generally, interjections can
be classified into three types of meaning: volitive, emotive, or cognitive. [4]

 Volitive interjections function as imperative or directive expressions, requesting or

demanding something from the addressee (e.g. "Shh!" = "Be quiet!").[4]
 Emotive interjections are used to express emotions, such as disgust and fear
(e.g. "Yuck!" = disgust).[4]
 Cognitive interjections express feelings which are more related to cognition, or
information known to the speaker of the utterance (e.g. "Wow!" = surprise).[4]
While there exists some apparent overlap between emotive and cognitive interjections, as both
express a feeling, cognitive interjections can be seen as more related to knowledge of something
(i.e. information previously known to the speaker, or recently learned). [4]
Distinctions and modern classification[edit]
Primary and secondary interjections[edit]
Interjections may be subdivided and classified in several ways. A common distinction is based on
relations to other word categories: primary interjections are interjections first and foremost
(examples: Oops., Ouch!, Huh?), while secondary interjections are words from other categories that
come to be used as interjections in virtue of their meaning (examples: Damn!, Hell!) [5][6][3] Primary
interjections are generally considered to be single words (Oh!, Wow!). Secondary interjections can
consist of multi-word phrases, or interjectional phrases, (examples: sup! from What's up?, Excuse
me!, Oh dear!, Thank God!), but can also include single-word alarm words (Help!), swear and taboo
words (Heavens!), and other words used to show emotion (Drats!).[3] Although secondary
interjections tend to interact more with the words around them, a characteristic of all interjections—
whether primary or secondary—is that they can stand alone. For example, it is possible to utter an
interjection like ouch! or bloody hell! on its own, whereas a different part of speech that may seem
similar in function and length, such as the conjunction and, cannot be uttered alone (you can't just
say and! independently in English).[3]
Further distinctions can be made based on function. Exclamations and curses are primarily about
giving expression to private feelings or emotions, while response particles and hesitation markers
are primarily directed at managing the flow of social interaction. [3]

Interjections and other word classes[edit]

Interjections are sometimes classified as particles, a catch-all category that includes adverbs
and onomatopoeia. The main thing these word types share is that they can occur on their own and
do not easily undergo inflection, but they are otherwise divergent in several ways. A key difference
between interjections and onomatopoeia is that interjections are typically responses to events, while
onomatopoeia can be seen as imitations of events.[7]
Interjections can also be confused with adverbs when they appear following a form of the verb “go”
(as in "he went 'ouch!'"), which may seem to describe a manner of going (compare: 'he went
rapidly'). However, this is only a superficial similarity, as the verb go in the first example does not
describe the action of going somewhere. One way to differentiate between an interjection and
adverb in this position is to find the speaker of the item in question. If it is understood that the subject
of the utterance also utters the item (as in "ouch!" in the first example), then it cannot be an adverb. [7]
Routines are considered as a form of speech acts that rely on an understood social communicative
pattern between the addressee and addressed. This differs from an interjection that is more of a
strategic utterance within a speech act that brings attention to the utterance but may or may not also
have an intended addressed (directed at an individual or group). [7] In addition, routines generally are
multi-word expressions whereas interjections tend to be single utterances. [3]
Under a different use of the term 'particle', particles and interjections can be distinctions in that
particles cannot be independent utterances and are fully a part of the syntax of the utterance.
Interjections, on the other hand, can stand alone and also are always preceded by a pause,
separating them from the grammar and syntax of other surrounding utterances. [3]

Interjections as deictics[edit]
Interjections are bound by context, meaning that their interpretation is largely dependent on the time
and place at which they are uttered. In linguistics, interjections can also be considered a form
of deixis.[8] Although their meaning is fixed (e.g. "Wow!" = surprised), there is also a referencing
element which is tied to the situation. For example, the use of the interjection "Wow!" necessarily
references some relation between the speaker and something that has just caused surprise to the
speaker at the moment of the utterance. [8] Without context, the listener would not know the referent of
the expression (i.e. the source of the surprise). Similarly, the interjection "Ouch!" generally expresses
pain, but also requires contextual information for the listener to determine the referent of the
expression (i.e. the cause of the pain).
While we can often see deictic or indexical elements in expressive interjections, examples of
reference are perhaps more clearly illustrated in the use of imperative examples. Volitive
interjections such as "Ahem", "Psst!", and "Shh!" could be considered imperative, as the speaker is
requesting or demanding something from the listener. Similar to the deictic pronoun "you", the
referent of these expressions changes, dependent on the context of the utterance. [8]

Interjections across languages[edit]

Interjections can take very different forms and meanings across cultures. For instance, the English
interjections gee and wow have no direct equivalent in Polish, and the closest equivalent for Polish
'fu' (an interjection of disgust) is the different sounding 'Yuck!'.[9] Curses likewise are famously
language-specific and colourful. [10] On the other hand, interjections that manage social interaction
may be more similar across languages. For instance, the word 'Huh?', used when one has not
caught what someone just said, is remarkably similar in 31 spoken languages around the world,
prompting claims that it may be a universal word. Similar observations have been made for the
interjections 'Oh!' (meaning, roughly, "now I see") and 'Mm/m-hm' (with the meaning "keep talking,
I'm with you").[11]
Across languages, interjections often use special sounds and syllable types that are not commonly
used in other parts of the vocabulary. For instance, interjections like 'brr' and 'shh!' are made entirely
of consonants, where in virtually all languages, words have to feature at least one vowel-like
element. Some, like 'tut-tut' and 'ahem', are written like normal words, but their actual production
involves clicks or throat-clearing.[12] The phonetic atypicality of some interjections is one reason they
have traditionally been considered as lying outside the realm of language.

Conjunctions
What is a conjunction?
A conjunction is a part of speech that is used to connect words, phrases,
clauses, or sentences. Conjunctions are considered to be invariable grammar
particle, and they may or may not stand between items they conjoin.

Types of Conjunctions
There are several different types of conjunctions that do various jobs within
sentence structures. These include:

 Subordinating conjunctions –  Also known as subordinators, these

conjunctions join dependent clauses to independent clauses.
 Coordinating conjunction – Also known as coordinators, these
conjunctions coordinate or join two or more sentences, main clauses,
 words, or other parts of speech which are of the same syntactic
importance.
 Correlative conjunction – These conjunctions correlate, working in
pairs to join phrases or words that carry equal importance within a
sentence.
 Conjunctive adverbs – While some instructors do not teach
conjunctive adverbs alongside conjunctions, these important parts of
speech are worth a mention here. These adverbs always connect one
clause to another, and are used to show sequence, contrast, cause and
effect, and other relationships.

When people first learn to write, they usually begin with short, basic sentences
like these: “My name is Ted. I am a boy. I like dogs.” One of the most
important jobs conjunctions do is to connect these short sentences so they
sound more like this: “I am a boy named Ted, and I like dogs.”

Conjunction Rules
There are a few important rules for using conjunctions. Remember them and
you will find that your writing flows better:

 Conjunctions are for connecting thoughts, actions, and ideas as well

as nouns, clauses, and other parts of speech. For example: Mary went
to the supermarket and bought oranges.
 Conjunctions are useful for making lists. For example: We made
pancakes, eggs, and coffee for breakfast.
 When using conjunctions, make sure that all the parts of your sentences
agree. For example: “I work busily yet am careful” does not agree. “I
work busily yet carefully” shows agreement.

Conjunctions List
There are only a few common conjunctions, yet these words perform many
functions: They present explanations, ideas, exceptions, consequences, and
contrasts. Here is a list of conjunctions commonly used in American English:

 And
 As
 Because
 But
 For
 Just as
 Or
 Neither
 Nor
 Not only
 So
 Whether
 Yet

Examples of Conjunctions
In the following examples, the conjunctions are in bold for easy
recognition:

o I tried to hit the nail but hit my thumb instead.

o I have two goldfish and a cat.
o I’d like a bike for commuting to work.
o You can have peach ice cream or a brownie sundae.
o Neither the black dress northe gray one looks right on me.
o My dad always worked hard so we could afford the things we
wanted.
o I try very hard in school yet I am not receiving good grades.