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Grammar terms
absolute A construction that consists of a noun and a modifier and modifies the
construction rest of the sentence, rather than a single element of the sentence. See
Grammar, absolute constructions.
active voice A property of transitive verbs whereby the subject of the verb is the agent
of the action. The verb ate in Mike ate the watermelon is in the active
voice. See Grammar, verbs, voice of.
adjective A word that modifies a noun. Adjectives are distinguished chiefly by
their suffixes, such as -able, -ous, and -er, or by their position directly
preceding a noun or noun phrase.
adverb A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
affix A word element, such as a prefix or suffix, that can only occur attached
to a base form.
agreement Correspondence in gender, number, case, or person between words. See
Grammar, pronouns, agreement of and subject and verb agreement.
antecedent The word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers.
appositive A noun or noun phrase that is placed next to another to help explain it.
The composer in The composer Beethoven lived in Bonn is an appositive.
article A word that indicates that the word which follows it is a noun and that
specifies the noun’s application. The indefinite articles are a and an. The
definite article is the.
aspect A property of verbs that designates the relation of the action to the
passage of time, especially in reference to completion, duration, or
repetition.
attributive A word, such as an adjective or a noun, that is placed adjacent to the
noun it modifies, as city in the city streets.
auxiliary verb A verb, such as have, can, or will, that accompanies the main verb in a
clause and helps to make distinctions in mood, voice, aspect, and tense.
See Grammar, auxiliary and primary verbs.
base form The form of a word to which affixes or other base forms can be added to
make new words, as mystify in mystifying, build in rebuild, and writing in
skywriting.
case The form of noun, pronoun, or modifier that indicates its grammatical
relationship to other words in a clause or sentence. In English only
pronouns are differentiated by case. English pronouns have three cases:
Nominative or Subjective (she), Objective (him), and Possessive (his).
See Grammar, pronouns, personal.
clause A group of words containing a subject and a predicate and forming part
of a compound or complex sentence.
collective noun A noun, such as flock or team that refers to a collection of persons or
things regarded as a unit. See Grammar, collective nouns.
common noun A noun, such as book or dog, that can be preceded by the definite article
and that represents one or all of the members of a class.
comparative The intermediate degree of comparison of adjectives, as better, sweeter,
degree or more wonderful, or adverbs, as more softly. See Grammar, adjectives
and adverbs, comparison of.
comparison The modification or inflection of an adjective or adverb to indicate the
positive, comparative, and superlative degrees. See Grammar, adjectives
and adverbs, comparison of.
complement A word or group of words used after a verb to complete a predicate
construction; for example, the phrase to eat ice cream in We like to eat
ice cream is the complement.
complex A sentence that consists of at least one independent clause and one
sentence dependent clause, such as When I grow up, I want to be a doctor.
compound- A sentence consisting of at least two coordinate independent clauses and
complex one or more dependent clauses, as I wanted to go, but I decided not to
sentence when it started raining.
compound A sentence of two or more coordinate independent clauses, often joined
sentence by a conjunction, as The problem was difficult, but I finally found the
answer.
concord Agreement.
conditional Of, relating to, or containing a clause that expresses a condition, that is, a
circumstance that is necessary for something else to happen. Conditional
clauses usually begin with if, unless, provided that, or a similar
conjunction. Conditional sentences are sentences that contain conditional
clauses: If it starts to rain, we will have to leave. We cannot go to the
beach unless he lends us his car.
conjunction A word, such as and, but, as, and because, that connects words, phrases,
or clauses.
construction A group of words arranged to form a meaningful phrase, clause, or
sentence.
coordinating A conjunction, such as and, but, or or, that connects grammatical units
conjunction that have the same function.
correlative Either of a pair of conjunctions, such as either … or or both … and, that
conjunction connect two parts of a sentence and are not used adjacent to each other.
The second of the pair is always a coordinate conjunction.
count noun A noun that can be referred to as a single entity, can occur in the plural,
and can be used in a phrase with a or an. Chair and experience are count
nouns. Furniture and helium are not.
dangling A participle with no clear grammatical relationship to the subject of the
participle sentence. See Grammar, dangling modifiers and participles.
definite article A word that restricts or particularizes a noun. In English the definite
article is the. It identifies a noun that has already been referred to (I found
the book under the chair). It helps specify a particular thing (I am
reading about the development of the polio vaccine). It also indicates a
noun that stands as a typical example of its class (The Golden Retriever is
an ideal pet.
degree One of the forms used in the comparison of adjectives and adverbs. For
example, sweet is the positive degree, sweeter the comparative degree,
and sweetest the superlative degree of the adjective sweet.
demonstrative Specifying or singling out the person or thing referred to. The
demonstrative adjectives are this, these, that, and those.
dependent A clause that cannot stand alone as a full sentence and functions as a
clause noun, adjective, or adverb within a sentence.
descriptive A nonrestrictive clause.
clause
determiner A word belonging to a group of noun modifiers (which include articles,
demonstrative adjectives, possessive adjectives and words such as any,
both, or whose) and occupying the first position in a noun phrase or the
second or third position after another determiner.
dialect A variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or
vocabulary and shared by a group that is set off from others
geographically or socially. The term dialect is sometimes used to refer to
a variety of language that differs from the standard literary language or
speech pattern of the culture in which it exists.
diminutive A word, name, or suffix that indicates smallness, youth, familiarity,
affection, or contempt. Booklet, lambkin, and nymphet are diminutives.
The suffixes -et, -let, and -kin are diminutive suffixes.
direct object The noun, pronoun, or noun phrase referring to the person or thing that
receives the action of a transitive verb. In mail the letter and call him,
letter and him are the direct objects.
disjunctive Serving to establish a relationship of contrast or opposition. But in sad
but wiser is disjunctive.
double negative A construction that employs two negatives, especially to express a single
negation. See Grammar, double negative.
elliptical Characterized by the omission of a word or phrase that is necessary for a
complete grammatical construction but is not necessary for
understanding. In the sentence While cleaning the desk, he found an old
photograph, the clause while cleaning the desk is elliptical in that it
stands for while he was cleaning the desk.
epicene pronoun A pronoun that has one form for both masculine and feminine
antecedents. See Gender, epicene pronouns.
finite Limited by person, number, tense, and mood. A finite verb can serve as
the predicate of a sentence or as the initial verb in a verb phrase that is the
predicate.
function word A word such as a preposition, conjunction, or article that has little
meaning on its own and chiefly indicates a grammatical relationship.
future perfect The verb tense that expresses action completed by a specified time in the
tense future and that is formed by combining will have or shall have with a past
participle. See Grammar, verbs, tenses of.
future tense The verb tense that expresses action that has not yet occurred or a state
that does not yet exist. See Grammar, verbs, tenses of.
gender 1. A category used in the selection or agreement of nouns, pronouns, and
adjectives with modifiers, words being referred to, or grammatical forms.
Grammatical gender may be arbitrary, or it may be based on
characteristics such as sex or the quality of being animate. In English
grammatical gender applies only to pronouns, which normally coincide
with the sexual identity of their antecedents. In other languages,
abstractions and inanimate objects may be grammatically masculine or
feminine. In German, for example, the word for fork is feminine, the
word for spoon is masculine, and the word for knife is neuter. 2. Sexual
identity.
gender-neutral Free of explicit or implicit reference to biological gender or sexual
identity, as the term police officer instead of policeman. See Gender,
epicene pronouns and he.
genitive case The case that expresses possession, measurement, or source. See
Grammar, possessive constructions and pronouns, personal.
gerund A noun derived from a verb and retaining certain features of verbs; in
English gerunds end in -ing, as singing in We admired the choir’s
singing. See Grammar, gerund.
grammar 1. The system of inflections, word order, and word formation of a
language. 2. The system of rules that allows the speakers of a language
to create sentences. 3. A set of rules setting forth the current standard of
usage in a language. 4. Writing or speech judged in relation to this set of
rule.
head The word in a construction that has the same grammatical function as the
construction as a whole and that determines relationships of agreement to
other parts of the construction or sentence. The word variety is the head
of the phrase a wide variety of gardening tools in the sentence You can
buy a wide variety of gardening tools at that store.
imperative The verbal mood that expresses a command or request. Stop in Stop
running and Give in Give me a break are in the imperative mood. See
Grammar, verbs, mood of.
imperfect tense The tense of a verb that shows, usually in the past, an action or a
condition as incomplete, continuous, or coincident with another action or
condition.
indefinite article An article that does not fix the identity of the noun it modifies. In English
the indefinite articles are a and an. They are typically used when the
noun has not been mentioned before and so is unfamiliar: A waiter
appeared and asked to take our order.
indefinite A pronoun such as any or some that does not specify the identity of its
pronoun object.
independent A clause in a complex sentence that contains a subject and a verb and can
clause stand alone as a complete sentence.
indicative The verbal mood used to make statements. See Grammar, verbs, mood
of.
indirect object An object indirectly affected by the action of the verb, as me in Sing me a
song and the turtle in He feeds the turtle lettuce.
infinitive A verb form that functions as a noun while retaining certain verbal
characteristics, such as modification by adverbs. It is called the infinitive
because the verb is not limited or “made finite” to indicate person,
number, tense, or mood. In English the infinitive may be preceded by to,
as in We want him to work harder and To cooperate means to be willing
to compromise, or it may appear without to, as in We may leave
tomorrow and She had them read the letter. The infinitive without to is
called the bare infinitive.
inflection 1. A change in a word that expresses a grammatical relationship, such as
case, gender, number, person, tense, or mood
2. A word form or element that is involved in this change. In English
intensive
intransitive verb
irregular
linking verb
main clause
main verb
mass noun
modifier
mood
nominative case
noncount noun
nonrestrictive
clause
noun
number
most inflections are affixes, such as -s, which indicates the plural of
many nouns (dogs), or -ed, which indicates past tense in many verbs
(relaxed). Some English inflections involve a change in the base form of
the word to indicate past tense or the past participle, as spoke and spoken
from speak.
Tending to emphasize or intensify, as the adverb so in The music was so
beautiful or the pronoun yourself in How can you ask me to help when
you haven’t done anything yourself? See Grammar, pronouns, reflexive
and intensive and so.
A verb that does not require or cannot take a direct object, as sleep or
meditate. See Grammar, verbs, transitive and intransitive.
Departing from the usual pattern of inflection, derivation, or word
formation, as the present forms of the verb be or the plural noun children.
See Grammar, verbs, principal parts of.
A verb, such as a form of be or seem, that identifies the predicate of a
sentence with the subject.
An independent clause.
A verb that expresses an action or a state. Main verbs can be inflected to
show tense, number, person, and mood. They are distinguished from
auxiliary verbs, which cannot be inflected. Swim is the main verb in the
sentence I could have swum a mile today.
A noun, such as sand or honesty, that denotes a substance or concept that
cannot be divided into countable units. Mass nouns are preceded in
indefinite constructions by modifiers such as some or much rather than a
or one.
A word, phrase, or clause that limits or qualifies the sense of another
word or word group.
A property of verbs that indicates the speaker’s attitude toward the
factuality or likelihood of the action or condition expressed. Mood
determines whether a sentence is a statement, a command, or a
conditional or hypothetical remark. English has three moods: indicative,
imperative, and subjunctive. See Grammar, verbs, mood of and
subjunctive.
The case of a pronoun used as the subject of a finite verb (as I in I wrote
the letter) or as a predicate nominative (as we in It is we who have made
the mistake).
A mass noun.
A dependent clause that describes but does not identify or restrict the
meaning of the noun, phrase, or clause it modifies, as the clause who live
in a small house in The Smiths, who live in a small house, have ten cats.
Nonrestrictive clauses are normally set off by commas. See Grammar,
that.
A word that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action and
can function as the subject or object of a verb, as the object of a
preposition, or as an appositive.
The indication of whether a word is singular or plural. Number in English
nouns is usually indicated by inflection, that is, by the presence or
absence of the suffix -s or -es.
object A noun or word acting like a noun that receives or is affected by the
action of a verb or that follows and is governed by a preposition.
objective case The case of a pronoun used as the object of a verb or preposition. The
pronoun him is in the objective case.
objective A noun, pronoun, or adjective serving as complement to a verb and
complement qualifying its direct object, as governor in They elected him governor.
parallelism The use of identical or equivalent syntactic structures in corresponding
clauses or phrases. See Style, parallelism.
participle A form of the verb that can serve as an adjective or is used with an
auxiliary verb to indicate tense, aspect, or voice. In English the present
participle ends in -ing, and the past participle ends in -ed or is an altered
base form, as ridden from ride or spoken from speak. See Grammar,
participles and verbs, principal parts of.
passive voice A property of verbs whereby the subject receives the action or effect of
the verb. In the sentence The house was built in a month, the verb build is
in the passive voice. See Grammar, verbs, voice of.
past participle A verb form indicating past or completed action or time that is used as an
adjective and is used with auxiliary verbs to form the passive voice or the
perfect and pluperfect tenses. In English the past participle is formed by
the addition of the suffix -ed or by altering the base form of the verb, as
spoken from speak. See Grammar, participles and verbs, principal parts
of.
past perfect The pluperfect tense.
tense
past tense The verb tense used to express an action or a condition prior to the time it
is expressed.
perfect tense A verb tense expressing action completed prior to a fixed point of
reference in time. English has two perfect tenses: the present perfect and
the past perfect, or pluperfect. See Grammar, verbs, tenses of.
person Any of the pronoun forms or verb inflections that distinguish the speaker
(first person), the individual addressed (second person), and the
individual or thing spoken about (third person). See Grammar, pronouns,
agreement of; pronouns, personal; and pronouns, reflexive and intensive.
personal A pronoun designating the person speaking (I, me, we, us), the person
pronoun spoken to (you), or the person or thing spoken of (he, she, it, they, him,
her, them). See Grammar, pronouns, personal.
phrase Two or more words occurring in sequence that form a grammatical unit
that is less than a complete sentence.
pluperfect tense A verb tense used to express action completed before a stated or implied
past time. In English the pluperfect tense is formed with the past
participle of a verb and the auxiliary verb had, as had learned in He had
learned to skate before his fourth birthday. See Grammar, verbs, tenses
of.
plural 1. A grammatical form that designates more than one of the things
specified. In English most plurals are formed by adding -s or -es to
nouns. Some words, like sheep and deer, can have plural meaning but
have no plural form: The deer are in the field again. A few words form
their plurals by the addition of -en: children; oxen. 2. A verb form that
positive degree
possessive
possessive case
predicate
predicate
adjective
predicate
nominative
prefix
preposition
prepositional
phrase
present
participle
present perfect
tense
present tense
principal parts
progressive
pronoun
proper noun
reflexive
pronoun
reflexive verb
expresses the action of a plural subject.
The simple, uncompared degree of an adjective or adverb. See Grammar,
adjectives, comparison of and adverbs, comparison of.
A form of a noun or pronoun that indicates possession. In English the
possessive of singular nouns is usually formed by the addition of an
apostrophe and s. See Word Formation, possessives and Grammar,
possessive constructions and pronouns, personal.
The case of a pronoun that indicates possession. The pronoun my is in the
possessive case. Pronouns in the possessive case are often considered
adjectives. See Grammar, pronouns, personal.
One of the two main parts of a sentence containing the verb, objects, or
phrases governed by the verb, as opened the door in Jane opened the
door or is very sleepy in The child is very sleepy.
An adjective that follows a linking verb and modifies the subject, as hot
in The sun is hot.
A noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and refers to the same
person or thing as the subject, as firefighter in Jim was a firefighter.
An affix put before a word to alter its meaning. The element dis- in
disbelieve is a prefix.
A word, such as in or to, or a group of words, such as in regard to, that is
placed before a noun or pronoun and indicates a grammatical relation to a
verb, adjective, or another noun or pronoun.
A phrase that consists of a preposition and its object and functions as an
adjective or an adverb.
A participle expressing present action, formed by adding the suffix -ing
to verbs and used as an adjective and with the auxiliary verb be to make
progressive tenses. See Grammar, participles and verbs, tenses of.
A verb tense expressing action completed at the present time, formed by
combining the present tense of have with a past participle, as in He has
spoken. See Grammar, verbs, tenses of.
The verb tense expressing action in the present time, as in She writes and
She is writing. See Grammar, verbs, tenses of.
The forms of a verb that are necessary to derive other forms. In English
these are the infinitive, the past tense, the past participle, and the present
participle. See Grammar, verbs, principal parts of.
A verb form that expresses an action or condition in progress. In English
progressive verb forms employ a form of the verb be and a present
participle of the main verb, as in He is walking, He has been walking, He
had been walking. See Grammar, verbs, tenses of.
A word that functions as a substitute for a noun or noun phrase.
A noun used as a name for a specific individual, event, or place and
usually having few possibilities for modification.
A pronoun used as the direct object of a reflexive verb. Reflexive
pronouns end in -self or -selves.
A verb whose subject is identical with its object, as dressed in She
dressed herself.
regular Conforming to the usual pattern of inflection, derivation, or word
formation. A plural ending in -s is a regular plural.
relative clause A dependent clause introduced by a relative pronoun, as which is
downstairs in The stereo, which is downstairs, has four speakers.
relative pronoun A pronoun that introduces a relative clause and refers to an antecedent.
Who, whom, whose, which, and that the relative pronouns. See Grammar,
that, who, and which.
restrictive A dependent clause that identifies the noun, phrase, or clause it modifies
clause and limits or restricts its meaning, as the clause who live in glass houses
in People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
singular 1. A grammatical form that designates a single person or thing or a group
of things considered as a single unit. 2. A verb form that expresses the
action or state of a grammatically singular subject.
split infinitive An infinitive with an element, usually an adverb, interposed between to
and the verb, as to boldly go. See Grammar, split infinitive.
strong verb A verb such as drink, ride, or speak, that forms its past tense by a change
in the vowel of the base form and that forms its past participle by a
change in vowel and sometimes by adding -n or -en. See Grammar,
verbs, principal parts of.
subject The noun, noun phrase, or pronoun in a sentence or clause that denotes
the doer of the action or what is described by the predicate. In some
sentences the subject is not a doer but is acted upon. This is true for
sentences with verbs in the passive voice and for verbs with a passive
meaning, such as undergo in She underwent surgery to repair her
shoulder.
subjunctive The verbal mood that expresses the speaker’s attitude about the
likelihood or factuality of the situation and is also used in conditional
clauses, in that clauses making a command or expressing an intention,
and in other clauses. See Grammar, verbs, mood of and subjunctive.
subordinate A dependent clause.
clause
subordinate A conjunction, such as after, because, if, and where, that introduces a
conjunction dependent clause.
substantive A word or group of words functioning as a noun, as wealthy in Only the
wealthy can afford to belong to that club.
suffix An affix added to the end of a word, forming a new word or serving as an
inflectional ending, as -ness in gentleness, -ing in walking, or -s in sits.
superlative The extreme degree of comparison of an adjective or adverb, as best and
degree brightest.
syntax 1. The system of rules whereby words are combined to form grammatical
phrases and sentences. 2. The pattern of word arrangement in a given
phrase or sentence.
tense A set of verb forms that indicates the time (as past, present, or future) and
the continuance or completion of the action or state. See Grammar, verbs,
tenses of.
transitive verb A verb that requires a direct object to complete its meaning, carrying the
action of the verb from the subject to the object. In the sentence She
played the waltz, play is a transitive verb. In the sentence She plays
beautifully, play is not transitive. See Grammar, verbs, transitive and
intransitive.
verb A word that expresses existence, action, or occurrence.
voice A property of verbs that indicates the relationship between the subject
and the action of the verb. See Grammar, verbs, transitive and intransitive
and verbs, voice of.
weak verb A verb that forms its past tense and past participle by adding a suffix that
ends in -d, -ed, or -t, as start, have, and send. See Grammar, verbs,
principal parts of.