English Grammar
Grammar terms
- absolute used independently of its customary grammatical relationship or
- construction, e.g. Weather permitting, I will come.
- acronym a word formed from the initial letters of other words, e.g.
- NATO.
- active applied to a verb whose subject is also the source of the action
- of the verb, e.g. We saw him; opposite of passive.
- adjective a word that names an attribute, used to describe a noun or
- pronoun, e.g. small child, it is small.
- adverb a word that modifies an adjective, verb, or another adverb,
- expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner,
- cause, degree, etc., e.g. gently, accordingly, now, here, why.
- agent noun
- a noun denoting the doer of an action e.g. builder.
- agent suffix
- a suffix added to a verb to form an agent noun, e.g. -er.
- agree to have the same grammatical number, gender, case, or person as
- another word.
- analogy the formation of a word, derivative, or construction in
- imitation of an existing word or pattern.
- animate denoting a living being.
- antecedent
- a noun or phrase to which a relative pronoun refers back.
- antepenultimate
- last but two.
- antonym a word of contrary meaning to another.
- apposition
- the placing of a word, especially a noun, syntactically parallel
- to another, e.g. William the Conqueror.
- article a/an (indefinite article) or the (definite article).
- attributive
- designating a noun, adjective, or phrase expressing an
- attribute, characteristically preceding the word it qualifies,
- e.g. old in the old dog; opposite of predicative.
- auxiliary verb
- a verb used in forming tenses, moods, and voices of other verbs.
- case the form (subjective, objective, or possessive) of a noun or
- pronoun, expressing relation to some other word.
- clause a distinct part of a sentence including a subject (sometimes by
- implication) and predicate.
- collective noun
- a singular noun denoting many individuals; see “collective
- nouns” in topic 4.9
- collocation
- an expression consisting of two (or more) words frequently
- juxtaposed, especially adjective + noun.
- comparative
- the form of an adjective or adverb expressing a higher degree of
- a quality, e.g. braver, worse.
- comparison
- the differentiation of the comparative and superlative degrees
- from the positive (basic) form of an adjective or adverb.
- complement
- a word or words necessary to complete a grammatical
- construction: the complement of a clause, e.g. John is (a)
- thoughtful (man), Solitude makes John thoughtful; of an
- adjective, e.g. John is glad of your help; of a preposition,
- e.g. I thought of John.
- compound preposition
- a preposition made up of more than one word, e.g. with regard
- to.
- concord agreement between words in gender, number, or person, e.g. the
- girl who is here, you who are alive, Those men work.
- conditional
- designating (1) a clause which expresses a condition, or (2) a
- mood of the verb used in the consequential clause of a
- conditional sentence, e.g. (1) If he had come, (2) I should have
- seen him.
- consonant (1) a speech sound in which breath is at least partly
- obstructed, combining with a vowel to form a syllable; (2) a
- letter usually used to represent (1); e.g. ewe is written with
- vowel + consonant + vowel, but is pronounced as consonant (y) +
- vowel (oo).
- co-ordination
- the linking of two or more parts of a compound sentence that are
- equal in importance, e.g. Adam delved and Eve span.
- correlative co-ordination co-ordination by means of pairs of corresponding words regularly
- used together, e.g. either..or.
- countable designating a noun that refers in the singular to one and in the
- plural to more than one, and can be qualified by a, one, every,
- etc. and many, two, three, etc.; opposite of mass (noun).
- diminutive
- denoting a word describing a small, liked, or despised specimen
- of the thing denoted by the corresponding root word, e.g.
- ringlet, Johnny, princeling.
- diphthong see digraph.
- direct object
- the object that expresses the primary object of the action of
- the verb, e.g. He sent a present to his son.
- disyllabic
- having two syllables.
- double passive
- see “double passive” in topic 4.16.
- elide to omit by elision.
- elision the omission of a vowel or syllable in pronouncing, e.g. let’s.
- ellipsis the omission from a sentence of words needed to complete a
- construction or sense.
- elliptical
- involving ellipsis.
- feminine the gender proper to female beings.
- finite designating (part of) a verb limited by person and number, e.g.
- I am, He comes.
- formal designating the type of English used publicly for some serious
- purpose, either in writing or in public speeches.
- future the tense of a verb referring to an event yet to happen: simple
- future, e.g. I shall go; future in the past, referring to an
- event that was yet to happen at a time prior to the time of
- speaking, e.g. He said he would go.
- gerund the part of the verb which can be used like a noun, ending in
- -ing, e.g. What is the use of my scolding him?
- govern (said of a verb or preposition) to have (a noun or pronoun, or a
- case) dependent on it.
- group possessive
- see “double passive” in topic 4.16.
- hard designating a letter, chiefly c or g, that indicates a guttural
- sound, as in cot or got.
- if-clause a clause introduced by if.
- imperative
- the mood of a verb expressing command, e.g. Come here!
- inanimate opposite of animate.
- indirect object
- the person or thing affected by the action of the verb but not
- primarily acted upon, e.g. I gave him the book.
- infinitive
- the basic form of a verb that does not indicate a particular
- tense or number or person; the to-infinitive, used with
- preceding to, e.g. I want to know; the bare infinitive, without
- preceding to, e.g. Help me pack.
- inflexion a part of a word, usually a suffix, that expresses grammatical
- relationship, such as number, person, tense, etc.
- informal designating the type of English used in private conversation, personal letters, and popular public communication.
- intransitive
- designating a verb that does not take a direct object, e.g. I
- must think.
- intrusive r
- see item 2 in topic 2.21
- linking r see “r” in topic 2.21.
- loan-word a word adopted by one language from another.
- main clause
- the principal clause of a sentence.
- masculine the gender proper to male beings.
- mass noun a noun that refers to something regarded as grammatically
- indivisible, treated only as singular, and never qualified by
- those, many, two, three, etc.; opposite of countable noun.
- modal relating to the mood of a verb; used to express mood.
- mood form of a verb serving to indicate whether it is to express
- fact, command, permission, wish, etc.
- monosyllabic
- having one syllable.
- nominal designating a phrase or clause that is used like a noun, e.g.
- What you need is a drink.
- nonce-word
- a word coined for one occasion.
- non-finite
- designating (a part of) a verb not limited by person and number,
- e.g. the infinitive, gerund, or participle.
- non-restrictive
- see relative clauses.
- noun a word used to denote a person, place, or thing.
- noun phrase
- a phrase functioning within the sentence as a noun, e.g. The one
- over there is mine.
- object a noun or its equivalent governed by an active transitive verb,
- e.g. I will take that one.
- objective the case of a pronoun typically used when the pronoun is the
- object of a verb or governed by a preposition, e.g. me, him.
- paradigm the complete pattern of inflexion of a noun, verb, etc.
- participle
- the part of a verb used like an adjective but retaining some
- verbal qualities (tense and government of an object) and also
- used to form compound verb forms: the present participle ends
- in -ing, the past participle of regular verbs in -ed, e.g. While
- doing her work she had kept the baby amused.
- passive designating a form of the verb by which the verbal action is
- attributed to the person or thing to whom it is actually
- directed (i.e. the logical object is the grammatical subject),
- e.g. He was seen by us; opposite of active.
- past a tense expressing past action or state, e.g. I arrived
- yesterday.
- past perfect
- a tense expressing action already completed prior to the time of
- speaking, e.g. I had arrived by then.
- pejorative
- disparaging, depreciatory.
- penultimate last but one.
- perfect a tense denoting completed action or action viewed in relation
- to the present; e.g. I have finished now; perfect infinitive,
- e.g. He seems to have finished now.
- periphrasis
- a roundabout way of expressing something.
- person one of the three classes of personal pronouns or verb-forms,
- denoting the person speaking (first person), the person spoken
- to (second person), and the person or thing spoken about (third
- person).
- phrasal verb
- an expression consisting of a verb and an adverb (and
- preposition), e.g. break down, look forward to.
- phrase a group of words without a predicate, functioning like an
- adjective, adverb, or noun.
- plural denoting more than one.
- polysyllabic
- having more than one syllable.
- possessive
- the case of a noun or a pronoun indicating possession, e.g.
- John’s; possessive pronoun, e.g. my, his.
- predicate the part of a clause consisting of what is said of the subject,
- including verb + complement or object.
- predicative
- designating (especially) an adjective that forms part or the
- whole of the predicate, e.g. The dog is old.
- prefix a verbal element placed at the beginning of a word to qualify
- its meaning, e.g. ex-, non-.
- preposition
- a word governing a noun or pronoun, expressing the relation of
- the latter to other words, e.g. seated at the table.
- prepositional phrase
- a phrase consisting of a preposition and its complement, e.g. I
- am surprised at your reaction.
- present a tense expressing action now going on or habitually performed
- in past and future, e.g. He commutes daily.
- pronoun a word used instead of a noun to designate (without naming) a
- person or thing already known or indefinite, e.g. I, you, he,
- etc., anyone, something, etc.
- proper name
- a name used to designate an individual person, animal, town,
- ship, etc.
- qualify (of an adjective or adverb) to attribute some quality to (a noun
- or adjective/verb).
- reflexive implying the subject’s action on himself or itself; reflexive
- pronoun e.g. myself, yourself, etc.
- relative see “relative clauses” in topic 4.42.
- restrictive
- see relative clauses
- semivowel a sound intermediate between vowel and consonant, e.g. the
- sound of y and w.
- sentence adverb
- an adverb that qualifies or comments on the whole sentence, not
- one of the elements in it, e.g. Unfortunately, he missed his
- train.
- simple future
- see future
- singular denoting a single person or thing.
- soft designating a letter, chiefly c or g, that indicates a sibilant
- sound, as in city or germ.
- split infinitive
- see “split infinitive” in topic 4.46.
- stem the essential part of a word to which inflexions and other
- suffixes are added, e.g. unlimited.
- stress the especially heavy vocal emphasis falling on one (the
- stressed) syllable of a word more than on the others.
- subject the element in a clause (usually a noun or its equivalent) about
- which something is predicated (the latter is the predicate).
- subjective
- the case of a pronoun typically used when the pronoun is the
- subject of a clause.
- subjunctive
- the mood of a verb denoting what is imagined, wished, or
- possible, e.g. I insist that it be finished.
- subordinate clause
- a clause dependent on the main clause and functioning like a
- noun, adjective, or adverb within the sentence, e.g. He said
- that you had gone.
- substitute verb
- the verb do used in place of another verb, e.g. ‘He likes
- chocolate.’ ‘Does he?’
- suffix a verbal element added at the end of a word to form a
- derivative, e.g. -ation, -ing, -itis, -ize.
- superlative
- the form of an adjective or adverb expressing the highest or a
- very high degree of a quality, e.g. bravest, worst.
- synonym a word identical in sense and use with another.
- transitive
- designating a verb that takes a direct object, e.g. I said
- nothing.
- unreal condition
- (especially in a conditional sentence) a condition which will
- not be or has not been fulfilled.
- unstressed
- designating a word, syllable, or vowel not having stress.
- variant a form of a word etc. that differs in spelling or pronunciation
- from another (often the main or usual) form.
- verb a part of speech that predicates.
- vowel (1) an open speech sound made without audible friction and
- capable of forming a syllable with or without a consonant; (2) a
- letter usually used to represent (1), e.g. a, e, i, o, u.
- wh-question word
- a convenient term for the interrogative and relative words, most
- beginning with wh: what, when, where, whether, which, who, whom,
- whose, how.
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