Download Grammar and Punctuation Glossary

Term
Grammar and Punctuation Glossary
Definition
Examples
Adjective
An adjective gives more information about The little, green bird pecked the juicy
a noun.
apple. The apple was delicious.
Adverb
An adverb gives more information about a
verb, an adjective, another adverb or a
clause.
An adverb tells you how, when, where or
how often something happens.
Joe quickly ate three apples.
Joe ran fast.
Joe ran faster than Jim.
Joe ran the fastest.
He is very shy.
A clause is:
 either a complete sentence
 or part of a sentence which contains a
subject and a verb
He was running along the beach.
Running along the beach
Adverbial phrase
Clause
A word or phrase that gives more
information about a verb or clause. An
adverbial can be an adverb, a phrase or a
subordinate clause.
Cohesion/Golden Cohesion refers to the ways in which the
writer makes the different parts of a text
Thread
link together, for example by:
 grouping sentences together in
paragraphs
 using particular words and phrases to
link ideas
 linking different paragraphs together
Complex
sentence
An main clause joined to one or more
subordinate clauses.
Compound
sentence
Contains 2 main clauses joined by a
conjunction.
Suddenly, thunder struck.
As fast as lightning, he sped down the
road.
Being careful not to spill anything, pour
the mixture into the bowl.
The man walked at a slow steady pace
towards the door.
He was happy.
Because he won the race
A visit has been arranged for the Year 6
class, to Mountain Peaks Field Study
Centre, on July 18th, leaving school at
9.30am. This is an overnight visit. The
centre has extensive grounds in which a
nature trail has been designed. During the
afternoon, the children will follow the
nature trail…
As mentioned earlier…
Because he had won the race, the boy was
very happy.
The boy was very happy because he had
won the race.
At cat crept up the tree as the bird pecked
an apple.
Conjunction
Grammar and Punctuation Glossary
A conjunction links words or groups of
words within a sentence.
Co-ordinating conjunctions join words
which are of the same importance within
the sentence
Dash
Determiner
Hyphen
Modal verb
Parenthesis
A subordinating conjunction joins a
subordinate clause that is dependent on
the main clause and can’t stand alone.
A dash introduces further information and
can be used instead of a colon, comma or
occasionally brackets. After a dash there
may be a list or subordinate clause.
A determiner goes in front of a noun and
its adjectives to help to tell you which
person or thing the sentence is about, or
how much or how many of them there
are.
A hyphen is used to join two or more
words that should be read as a single unit.
A hyphen is shorter than a dash.
Modal verbs are a type of auxiliary verb.
Modal verbs are used for expressing:
 possibility, ability or likelihood – can,
could, may, might, should
 necessity – must, ought to, should
 the future – shall, will, would
Brackets ( ) commas , and dashes – can all
be used to separate a word or phrase that
has been added to a sentence as an
explanation or afterthought.
The word or phrase inside the brackets,
commas or dashes is called a parenthesis.
Co-ordinating conjunctions: and, but, so,
yet.
Subordinating conjunctions: although,
because, if, since, while.
(Often used in informal writing)
The fire spread quickly – I was scared.
We catch the bus-the blue one-at 3:15pm.
He is reading a book.
He is reading the book.
This book is better than that book.
Tongue-tied
Football-mad
Monster-like
Man-eating shark
Can, could, will, would, may, might, shall,
should, must and ought to.
You should do your home learning.
You must do your home learning.
I looked up, squinting because of the sun,
and saw the birds flying across the sky.
Grammar and Punctuation Glossary
Prefix
A prefix is a group of letters added before
a word or base to change its meaning and
form a new word
dis + appear = disappear
im + possible = impossible
un + well = unwell
sub + marine = submarine
Phrase
A phrase is a collection of words working
together but with no verb.
Smashing into a fence
Preposition
A preposition usually comes before a noun She waved to her mother and watched her
or pronoun. It often shows place or
as she disappeared in the fog at the
direction.
bottom of the street.
The cat stayed under the table until the
dog left the room.
Relative clause
A relative clause is a subordinate clause
that changes a noun.
Before the first test
After the devastation
The person who phoned me last night is
my best friend.
The car, which was bright red, sped down
the street.
Relative pronoun A relative pronoun is a pronoun that
(Who, whom, whose, which, that)
The person who phoned me last night is
my best friend.
The car, which was bright red, sped down
the street.
Semi-colon
A semi-colon is used to join two complete
sentences into a single written sentence.
The two sentences are felt too closely
related to be separated by a full stop.
There is no connecting word.
The film was brilliant; I had a great time.
Simple sentence
An independent clause that contains a
subject and a verb. It is a complete
thought.
The boy was very happy.
introduces a relative clause.
Grammar and Punctuation Glossary
Subordinate
clause
A clause containing a subject and a verb
and which cannot stand alone.
It adds information to the main clause.
Because it was raining, playtime was
indoors.
He ran to the bus stop because it was
pouring with rain.
Synonym
Synonyms are different words with the
same or similar meanings
Crazy, mad
Immense, titanic
Suffix
A suffix is a group of letters added after a
word or base to form a new word.
Verb
A verb often names an action but it can
also describe feelings or states.
Word family
Words related to each other by a
combination of form, grammar and
meaning.
They share a common base, to which
different prefixes and suffixes are added.
fast + er = faster
sad + ness = sadness
joy + ful = joyful
hope + less = hopeless
apple + s = apples
advert + ise = advertise
I play football.
They skip quickly.
We eat spaghetti.
Bob is seven today.
Teach, teacher
Big, little (size)
Noise, noisy, noiseless