Download English Grammar Terms Explained

English Grammar Terms Explained
Term
Abbreviation
Explanation
A short way of writing something e. g. G.A.A for Gaelic Athletic
Association
Adjective
A word describing a noun e.g. the red car
Adverb
A word describing a verb e.g. He shouted furiously at the boys
Analogy
Comparing phrases e.g. finger is to hand as toe is to foot
Antonym
Opposite e.g. bad is the antonym of good
Apostrophe
Mark (‘) used to show possession e.g. Tom’s car
Collective Noun
A word for a group of things e.g. a pack of wolves
Common Noun
A noun which only begins with a capital at the start of a sentence
Comparative adjective Adjective used in comparing 2 things e.g. Mary is shorter than Ann
Concord (verbs)
Verb agreeing with the noun e.g. e.g. the children eat their dinner
rather than the children eats their dinner
Conjunction
Word joining two phrases e.g. I was sick but I went to school
Contraction
Way to shorten a phrase e. g. can’t instead of can not
Definite Article
The e.g. the boy, the car
Direct speech
What was actually said e.g. Tom said “I feel sick”.
Gender of nouns
Masculine (ram) feminine (ewe) common (sheep) neuter (tree)
Homophone/Homonym Words which sound alike but mean different things e.g. I combed
my hair A hare is like a rabbit.
Idiom
Common phrase or term e.g. The robber turned over a new leaf
Indefinite Article
a or an e.g. a girl, an orange
Indirect speech
Reported speech e.g. Tom said that he felt sick.
Metaphor
Poetic phrase of comparing things e.g. a white blanket of snow
Noun
A word naming a person, place, animal or thing e.g. man, cow, pen
Participle (verb)
A verb needing another verb e.g. Mary has gone to bed
Plural noun
More than one noun e.g. boys, wolves, babies
Prefixes
Short phrase before a word e.g. unhappy, disappear
Preposition
Word showing relation between other words e.g. over, on, with
Pronoun
Word used instead of a noun e.g. That’s his bed instead of That’s
Tom’s bed
Proper Noun
Noun which always begins with a capital letter e.g. Mary, Dublin,
Easter, Friday
Proverb
Well known wise saying e.g. A stitch in time saves nine
Punctuation
Correct use of capital letters, commas, question marks etc.
Quotation marks
Marks( “ “) put around direct speech e.g. Pat said, “I’m really tired”
Simile
Comparing 2 things using like or as e.g. As cold as ice
Singular noun
Noun describing one thing e.g. boy, wolf, baby
Suffixes
Short phrase after a noun e.g. careless, helpful
Superlative adjective
Adjective used when comparing more than 2 things e.g. Pat was the
tallest boy in the class
Synonym
Words which mean the same e.g. woman/lady, old/ancient
Tense (verbs)
Verbs in the past ( I said) the present (I say) and the future (I will
say)