Glossary
A
A part of speech that modifies a noun or a pronoun. Adjectives usually tell what kind, how many, which about nouns or pronouns.
A part of speech that modifies another adverb, a verb, or an adjective. Very often it can be recognized by the suffix -ly at the end of it. Adverbs usually describe an action in terms of how, when, where, and to what extent it occurred.
A clause that modifies a verb and answers questions such as how, when, where, and to what extent:
A prefix or a suffix: slowly, unusual
Subjects and verbs must agree in person and number. See Subject - Verb Agreement
Pronouns need to agree in number with the verb and in number, gender, and person with antecedents. See Pronoun Agreement
A noun that is replaced by the pronoun. The pronoun and its antecedent have to agree in number, gender, and person.
A punctuation mark ' used to express possession or signal omission of letters.
A noun or noun phrase that follows another noun or pronoun and explains it.
A verb that is used with the main verb to help form the correct tense and voice. For example, be, do, have, will, would are auxiliary verbs.
B
C
An expression that has a subject and a verb. A clause typically forms a part of a sentence. Clauses that stand by themselves are often referred to as sentences.
A word in singular form that defines a group of objects or people.
A punctuation mark : .
Two or more words combined together to form a new word.
A word that joins words, phrases, or clauses.
There are different kinds of conjunctions: coordinating, correlative, and subordinating.
An adverb that functions as a conjunction to join ideas in two independent sentences.
A conjunction that joins parallel words, phrases, and clauses. The following are coordinating conjunctions:
Conjunctions which are used in pairs:
D
A phrase or a clause that has unclear reference. Dangling modifiers tend to occur when the subject has been omitted.
A subordinate clause that modifies a noun or a nominal and provides essential information about that noun or nominal.
A subordinate clause that depends in meaning on the main clause. It cannot form a sentence on its own.
A double negative is a statement which contains two negative words. Unless used for emphasis, double negatives are nonstandard in English usage.
E
A punctuation mark ... which is used to signify missing information.
F
G
H
Words with the same spelling or pronunciation but different meaning.
I
Pronoun which does not refer to a specific person or object.
An expression that has a subject and a verb and can stand by itself as a sentence. A clause typically forms a part of a sentence. Clauses that stand by themselves are often referred to as sentences.
A word that cannot take a direct object. Some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive.
J
K
L
A verb that links a subject and its predicate. Common linking verbs:
This project seems interesting.
M
A modifier which has been placed in the wrong place in the sentence. This usually creates ambiguity in the sentence.
A word or a phrase that describes or specifies another word or phrase.
N
The base form of a noun or pronoun.
A subordinate clause that modifies a noun or a nominal and provides non-essential or additional information about that noun or nominal.
A word that denotes a person, thing, action, place, quality, etc.
A symbol representing a number.
O
A noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun that is affected by the action of the verb in a sentence. Objects can be direct, indirect, or prepositional.
-- me is a direct object; the book is an indirect object
-- to students is a prepositional object
P
Refers to conjoined items in a sentence that need to be in the same grammatical form.
A punctuation mark ( ) which is used to mark explanatory information.
An expression used to explain the statement.
A clause containing a verb ending in an -ing.
Having been out of school for so long, I find it hard to study for an exam.
A word used instead of a noun expressing a person or a thing. The following are personal pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, you, him, her, it, us, them.
A pronoun that expresses possession or ownership. These possessive pronouns are used together with the noun: my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose . And the following: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs, whose can be used in a sentence alone.
A word used to link other words in a sentence and show relationship between them. The following are prepositions:
I borrowed this book from a friend of mine.
A group of words with a preposition and a noun or a pronoun.
A word that can be used instead of a noun in a sentence.
I know her.
Q
A word expressing quantity that modifies a noun.
R
A personal pronoun followed by the suffix -self or -selves.
A clause that begins with a relative pronoun which sometimes maybe omitted.
A pronoun used to introduce a dependent relative clause.
Occurs when two independent clauses run together without proper punctuation or appropriate conjunctions.
S
A punctuation mark : which functions like a comma, but is stronger.
A group of words beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point. Sentences can be simple, compound, and complex.
I borrowed this book from the library last month, and it is due back tomorrow.
When I borrowed this book from the library last month, I didn't realize it will be due back so soon.
An incomplete sentence with either a subject or a verb missing.
An infinitive which one or more words inserted between to and the verb.
A word or a group of words in a sentence responsible for the action expressed by the verb.
Refers to having the subject of a sentence agree with its verb in number and person.
A part of a word that is attached at the end that word.
T
The verb form which expresses when the action occurred.
Our team will finish the group project last week.
A verb that can take a direct object.
U
V
A word that expresses an action or state.
The verb form which expresses when the action occurred.
Our team will finish the group project next week.
W
X
Y
Z
