glossary of grammatical terms -...

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Woodlands English Department May 2015

Glossary of Grammatical Terms

Note: Numbers 8 through 12 indicate the grade level at which the academic term should be introduced:

Absolutes (12): words or phrases that modify whole sentences rather than parts of sentences or individual words. An absolute phrase, which consists of a noun and participle, can be placed anywhere in the sentence but needs to be set off from the sentence by commas. The snow having finally stopped, the football game began. (absolute phrase)

Abstract nouns (8): Nouns that refer to idea’s, qualities, generalized concepts, and conditions, and that

so not have plural forms.

happiness, pride, furniture, trouble, sincerity

Active voice (10): The standard form of a clause, in which the actor or cause (if there is one) is the

grammatical subject.

A rabbit bit him (as opposed to the passive voice: He was bitten by a rabbit).

Adjectives (8): words that modify nouns and pronouns. Descriptive adjectives (clean, beautiful, offensive,

for example) have three forms:

Positive (9): Clean, beautiful, offensive

Comparative (9): for comparing two things): cleaner, more beautiful, less offensive

Superlative (9): for comparing more than two things): cleanest, most beautiful, least offensive

Adjective clauses: see dependent clauses.

Adjunct (12): A modifier which adds information about the time, place, manner, purpose, result, or

other feature of the event or state.

She opened the bottle with her teeth.

The errant husband slept in the doghouse.

Adverbs (8): Modify verbs, verbals, adjectives, and other adverbs. Descriptive adverbs (for example, fast,

gracefully, awkwardly) have three forms:

Positive (9): fast, gracefully, awkwardly

Comparative (9): for comparing two things): faster, more gracefully, less awkwardly

Superlative: (9): for comparing more than two things): fastest, most gracefully, least awkwardly

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Adverb clauses: See dependent clauses.

Affix (8): A prefix or suffix: enrich, restate, blacken, slipped, squirrels, cancellation, David’s

Agreement (8): The uses of corresponding form for related words in order to have them agree in

number, person, or gender.

John runs. [Both subject and verb are singular]

If the pipes are not flushed regularly, they might freeze.

[They agrees in number with the antecedent, pipes.]

Antecedents (8): Words or groups of words to which pronouns refer.

When the bell was struck, it rang very loudly.

[Bell is the antecedent of it.]

Antonyms (8): Words with the opposite meanings.

Appositives (11/12): Nonessential phrases and clauses that follow nouns and identify or explain them.

My uncle, who lives in Yellowknife, is taking wind surfing lessons in Bermuda. (appositive) Articles (8): A small category of words which mark the definiteness of a noun phrase, including the definite article the and the indefinite articles a, an and some. See noun determiners. Auxiliary verbs (8): A special kind of verb which conveys information relevant to meaning of the clause, including tense, mood, and negation. See also modal verbs. should be going has taken (auxiliary verb) (auxiliary verb) Backshift (12/ optional): Changing the tense of a verb (usually in indirect or reported speech) to match the tense of the verb of speaking or believing.

Lisa said she was tired (compare with Lisa said, “I am tired.”) Traditionally called sequence of tenses.

Cardinal numbers: See noun determiners.

Word Antonym

Hot Cold

Fast Slow

Noisy Quiet

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Case (12 or optional): The form or position of a noun or pronoun that shows its use or relationship to other words in a sentence. The three cases in English are: (1) subject (or subjective or nominative); (2) object (or objective or accusative; and (3) possessive (or genitive). Classic prose (11/12): Refers to a prose style in which the writer appears to direct the readers’ attention to an objective, concrete truth about the world by engaging the reader in conversation. Clauses (8): Groups of related words that contain both subjects and predicates and that function either as sentences or as parts of sentences. Clauses are either independent (or main) or dependent (or subordinate). Clichés (11/12: Overused or tired expressions that no longer effectively communicate. George Orwell described them as “dying metaphors.” Coherence connectives (12): A word, phrase, or punctuation mark that signals the semantic relation between a clause or a passage and one that preceded it. Anna eats a lot of broccoli, because she likes the taste. Moreover, she thinks it’s healthy. In contrast, Emile never touches the stuff. And neither does Anna’s son. See also conjunctive adverb / transition. Collective nouns (8/9): Singular nouns that refer to groups of people or things, such as committee, team, or jury. When the group includes a number of members acting as a unit and is the subject of sentence, the verb is singular. Colloquialisms (10/11): Words or phrases used in casual conversation and writing. Comma splices (10): Punctuation errors in which two or more independent clauses in compound sentences are separated only by commas and no coordinating conjunctions. but (or); Jared said he could not help ^ that response was his reply to all requests. Common nouns (8/9): Nouns that refer to general rather than specific categories of people, places, and things and are not capitalized. basket person history tractor Comparative: The form of adjectives and adverbs used when two thing are being compared. higher more intelligent less friendly Complement: When linking verbs link subjects to adjectives or nouns, the adjectives or nouns are complements. Dania was talented. She became a musician. (complement) (complement) Complex sentences: Sentences with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause arranged in any order.

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Compound nouns (9/10): Nouns such as swimming pool, dropout, roommate, stepmother, which are made from more than one word. Compound sentences (9/10): Sentences with two or more independent clauses and no dependent clauses. Compound-complex sentences (9/10): Sentences with at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause arranged in any order. Concrete nouns (8/9): Words that refer to people and things and can be perceived by the senses. Conjunctions (8): Words that connect other words, phrases, and clauses in sentences. Coordinating conjunctions connect independent clauses; subordinating conjunctions connect dependent or subordinating clauses with independent or main clauses. Coordinating Conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet Some Subordinating Conjunctions: after, although, because, if, since, until, while Conjunctive adverbs (10/11): Words that begin or join independent clauses. See also coherence connectors: consequently however therefore thus moreover Connotation (9/10): The attitudes and emotional overtones beyond the direct definition of a word. The words plump and fat both mean “fleshy,” but plump has a more positive connotation than fat. Consistency (11/12): Maintaining the same voice with pronouns, the sane tense with verbs, and the same tone, voice, or mode of discourse. Coordinating conjunctions: See conjunctions. Coordination (8): Using two or more linguistic elements (words, phrases, clauses, etc.) of equal importance. Two independent clauses in the same sentence are coordinate because they have equal importance and the same emphasis. Correlative conjunctions (9): Words that work in pairs and give emphasis. both . . . and neither . . . nor either . . . or not only . . . but also Count nouns (8/9): Nouns that name things that can be counted because they can be divided into separate and distinct units. Dangling modifiers (11/12): Phrases or clauses in which the doer of the action is not clearly indicated. Naveen thought Missing an opportunity to study ^ the exam seemed especially difficult. Declarative mood (12): See mood.

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Demonstrative pronouns (8/9): Pronouns that refer to things. (See noun determiners.) this that these those Denotation (8/9): The explicit dictionary definition of a word. Dependent clauses (subordinate clauses) (8/9): Clauses that cannot stand alone as complete sentences. There are two kinds of dependent clauses: adverb clauses and adjective clauses. Adverb clauses begin with subordinating conjunctions such as after, if, because, while, when, and so on. Adjective clauses tell more about nouns or pronouns in sentences and begin with words such as who, which, that, whose, whom. Determiner: See noun determiner. Direct discourse: See mode of discourse. Direct and indirect quotations (8/9): Direct quotations are the exact words said by someone or the exact words in print that are being copied. Indirect quotations are not the exact words but the rephrasing and summarizing of someone else’s words. Direct objects (8/9): Nouns or pronouns that follow a transitive verb and complete the meaning or receive the action of the verb. The direct object answers the question what? or whom? Ellipsis (10/11) : A series of three dots to indicate that words, parts of sentences, or complete sentences are being omitted from material being quoted. Essential and nonessential clauses and phrases (10/11): Essential (also called restrictive) clauses and phrases appear after nouns and are necessary or essential to complete the meaning of the sentence. Nonessential (also called nonrestrictive) clauses and phrases appear after nouns and add extra information. However, if that information is removed from the sentence, the meaning of the sentence does not change. Apples that are green are not sweet. (essential clause) Golden Delicious Apples, which are yellow, are sweet. (nonessential clause) Excessive coordination (8/9): Occurs when too many equal clauses are strung together with coordinators into one sentence. Excessive subordination (11/12): Occurs when too many subordinate clauses are strung together in a complex sentence. Faulty coordination (11/12): Occurs when two clauses that either unequal in importance or have little or no connection to each other are combined in one sentence and written as independent clauses.

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Faulty parallelism: See nonparallel structure. Fragments (8/9): Groups of words punctuated as sentences that either do not have both a subject and a complete verb or are dependent clauses. Whenever we wanted to pick a fresh fruit while we were staying on my , we would head for the apple orchard with buckets. Grandmothers farm ^. Fused sentences (8/9): Another name for run-on sentences. Punctuation errors in which there is no punctuation between independent clauses in the sentence. ;

Jennifer never learned how to ask politely ^ she just took what she wanted. General words (8): Words that would refer to whole categories or large classes of items. See also specific words. Gerunds (8/9): Verbal endings in –ing that function as nouns. Aron enjoys cooking. Jogging is another of his favorite pastimes. (gerund) (gerund) Helping verbs: See auxiliary verbs. Homographs (8): Words that have the same spelling as another word but a different meaning and sometimes a different pronunciation: Lead , meaning go to the front; lead meaning a metal. Homophones (8): Words that sound alike but different spellings and meanings. hear/here passed/past buy/by Idioms (8): Expressions meaning something beyond the simple definition or literal translation into another language. For example, idioms such as “short and sweet” or “wearing his heart on his sleeve” are expressions in English that cannot be translated literally into another language. Imperative Mood: See mood. Indefinite Pronouns (11/12): Pronouns that make indefinite reference to nouns. anyone everyone nobody something Independent clauses (8): Clauses that can stand alone as complete sentences because they do not depend on other clauses to complete their meanings.

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Indicative Mood: See mood. Indirect discourse (12): See mode of discourse. Indirect objects (8/9): Words that follow transitive verbs and come from before direct objects. They indicate the one of whim or for whom or for what something is given, said, or done and answer the questions to/for what? or to/for whom? Indirect objects can always be replaced by a prepositional phrase beginning with to or for. Alicia gave me some money. (indirect object) Alicia gave some money to me. (indirect object) Infinitives (8/9): Phrases made up of the base form of the verb preceded by to. Infinitives can have subjects, objects, complements, or modifiers. Everyone wanted to swim in the new pool. (infinitive) Intensifiers (12): Modifying words used for emphasis: She most certainly did fix that car! Interjections (8): Words used as exclamations. Oh, I don’t think I want to know about that. Interrogative Pronouns (8): Pronouns used in questions. who whose whom which that Intransitive Verbs: See verbs. Irregular Verbs (8/9): Verbs in which the past tense forms and/or the past participles are not formed by adding –ed or –d. do, did, done begin, began, begun Jargon (11): Words and phrases that are either the specialized language of various fields or, in a negative sense, unnecessarily technical or inflated terms. Linking verbs (9): Verbs linking the subject to the subject complement. The most common linking verbs are appear, seem, become, feel, look, taste, sound, and be. I feel sleepy. She became the president. (linking verb) (linking verb)

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Misplaced modifiers (11/12): Modifiers not placed next to or close to the word(s) being modified. on television We saw an advertisement ^ for an excellent new sound system with dual headphones on television. Modal verbs (8): Helping verbs such as shall, will, would, can, could, may, might, must, ought to, and used to that express an attitude such as interest, possibility, or obligation. See Auxiliary Verbs. Mode of discourse (12): Direct discourse repeats the exact words that someone says, indirect discourse repots the words but changes some of them. Everett said, “I want to become a physicist.” (direct discourse) Everett said that he wanted to become a physicist. (indirect discourse) Modifiers (8): Words or groups of words that describe or limit other words, phrases, and clauses. The most common modifiers are adjectives and adverbs. Mood (10/11): Verb forms that indicate whether a sentence expresses a fact (the declaration or indicative mood), expresses some doubt or something contrary to fact or states a recommendation ( the subjunctive mood), or issues a command (the imperative mood). Noncount Nouns (12 / optional): Nouns that name things and cannot be counted because they are abstractions or things that cannot be cut into parts. Nonessential Clauses and Phrases: See essential and nonessential clauses and phrases. Nonparallel Structure (10): Lack of parallelism that occurs when like items are not in the same grammatical form. Nonrestrictive Clauses and Phrases: See essential and nonessential clauses and phrases. Nouns (8): Words that name people, places, things, and ideas and have plural or possessive endings. Nouns function as subjects, direct objects, predicate nominatives, objects of preposition, and indirect objects. Noun Clauses (10): Subordinate clauses used as nouns. What I see here is adequate. (noun clause) Noun Determiners (8/9): Words that signal that a noun is about to follow. They stand next to their nouns or can be separated by adjectives. Some noun determiners can also function as nouns. There are five types of noun determiners:

1. Articles: the (definite) a, an (indefinite)

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2. Demonstratives: this, that, these, those 3. Possessives: my, our, your, his, her, its, their 4. Cardinal numbers: one, two, three, and so on 5. Miscellaneous: all, another each, every, much, and others

Noun phrases: See phrases. Number (8): The quantity expressed by a noun or pronoun, either singular (one) or plural (more than one). Object Case of Pronouns (8/9): The case needed when the pronoun is the direct or indirect object of the verb or the object of a preposition.

Objects (8): See direct objects and object complements. Object complements (12 / optional): The adjectives in predicates modifying the object of the verb (not the subject). The enlargement makes the picture clear. (object complement) Object of the preposition (8): Noun or pronoun following the preposition. The preposition, its object, and any modifiers make up the prepositional phrase. For Daniel She knocked twice on the big wooden door. (object of the preposition for) (prepositional phrase) Parallel construction (10): When two or more items are listed or compared, they must be in the same grammatical form as equal elements. When items are not in the same grammatical form, they lack parallel structure (this error is often called faulty parallelism).

She was sure that being an apprentice in a photographer’s studio would be more useful than being a student in photography classes. [The phrases in italics are parallel because they have the same grammatical form.]

Paraphrase (8): Restatement of information from a source, using your own words. Parenthetical element (10/11): Nonessential words, phrases, and clauses set off by commas, dashes, or parentheses.

Singular Plural

First person: me Second person: you Third person: him, her, it

First person: us Second person: you Third person: them

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Participles (8): Verb forms that may be part of the complete verb or function on their own as adjectives or adverbs. The present participle ends in –ing; the past participle usually ends in –ed, -d, -n, or –t. Present participles: running sleeping, digging She is running for mayor in this campaign. (part of complete verb) Past participles: elected, deleted, chosen The elected candidate will take office in January. (functions as adjective) Parts of speech (8): The eight classes into which words are grouped according to their function, place, meaning, and use in a sentence: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Passive voice: See voice. Past participle: See participles. Past progressive tense: See verb tenses. Perfect tenses: See verb tenses. Person (8): There are three “persons” in English. First person: the person(s) speaking (I or we) Second person: the person(s) spoken to (you) Third person: the person(s) spoken about (he, she, it, they, anyone, etc.)

Subject Object Possessive

Singular First person Second Person Third person

I

you he, she, it

me you

him, her, it

my, mine

your, yours his, her, hers, its

Plural First person Second Person Third person

we you they

us

you them

our, ours

your, yours their, theirs

Personal pronouns (8): Refer to people or things.

I, me, my, mine, you, your, yours, he, him, his, she, hers, hers, we, us, our, ours, they, them, their, theirs

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Phrasal verbs (8: Verbs that have two or three words following the verb that help too indicate the meaning. See also Auxiliary Verbs / Modal Verbs. Phrases (8/9): Groups of related words without subjects and predicates. Verb phrases function as verbs She has been eating too much sugar. (verb phrase) Noun phrases function as nouns. A major winter storm hit the eastern coast of Newfoundland. (noun phrase) (noun phrase) Prepositional phrases usually function as modifiers. That book of poetry is overdue at the library. (prepositional phrase) Participle phrases, ground phrases, infinitive phrases, appositive phrases, and absolute phrases function as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns. Participle Phrase: I saw people staring at my peculiar-looking haircut. Gerund Phrase: Making copies of videotapes can be illegal. Infinitive Phrase: He likes to give expensive presents. Appositive Phrase: You ought to see Dr. Elman, a dermatologist. Absolute Phrase: The test done, he sighed with relief. Plagiarism (8): Action that results when a writer fails to document a source so that the words and ideas of someone else are presented as the writer’s own work. Possessive pronouns: See personal pronouns, noun determiners. Predicate Adjectives: See subject complement. Predicate nominatives: See subject complement. Predicate (8): Words or groups of words that express action or state of being in a sentence and consist of one or more verbs, plus any complements or modifiers. Prefixes (8): Word parts added to the beginning of words.

Prefix Word Bio-(life) biography Mis-(wrong) misspell

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Prepositions (8): Words that link and relate their objects (usually nouns or pronouns to some other word or words in a sentence. Prepositions usually precede their objects but may follow the objects and appear at the end of a sentence. The grammatical category of words that generally spatial or temporal relationships. In, on at, near, by, for, under, before, after, up The waiter placed the order on the counter. (prepositional phrase)

I wonder what she is asking for. (object of the preposition) (preposition)

Prepositional phrases: See phrases. Progressive tenses: See verb tenses. Pronouns (8): Words that substitute for nouns. Pronouns should refer to previously stated nouns, called antecedents. When Josh came in, he brought some firewood. (antecedent) (pronoun) Forms of pronouns: personal, demonstrative, relative, interrogative, indefinite, possessive, reflexive and reciprocal. Pronoun case (8/9): Refers to form of the pronoun that is needed in a sentence. See subject, direct objects, indirect objects, and case. Pronoun reference (8/9): The relationship between the pronoun and the noun (antecedent) for which it is substituting. Proper nouns (8): Words that refer to specific people, places, and things. Proper nouns are always capitalized. Copenhagen Honda House of Commons Tamil Quotation (8): The record of the exact words of a written or spoken source, set off by quotation marks. Reciprocal pronouns (10): Pronouns that refer to individual parts of plural terms. one another, each other Reflexive pronouns (10): Pronouns that show someone or something in the sentence is acting for itself or on itself. Because a reflexive pronoun must refer to a word in a sentence, it is not the subject or direct object. It used to show emphasis, reflexive pronouns are called intensive pronouns.

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Singular Plural First person: myself First person: ourselves Second person: yourself Second person: yourselves Third person: himself, herself, itself Third person: themselves She fixed the leaky tap herself rather than calling a plumber. (reflexive pronoun) Relative Pronouns (8/9): Pronouns that show the relationship of a dependent clause to a noun in the sentence. Relative pronouns substitute for nouns already mentioned in sentences and introduce adjective or noun clauses. Relative pronouns: that, which, who, whom, whose This was the movie that won eleven Academy Awards. Restrictive Clauses and Phrases: See essential and nonessential clauses and phrases. Run-on Sentences (8): Punctuation errors in which there is no punctuation between independent clauses in the sentence. Sentences (8): Groups of words that have at least one independent clause (a complete unit of thought with a subject and predicate). Sentences can be classified by their structure as simple, compound, complex, and compound complex. Simple: One independent clause Compound: Two or more independent clauses Complex: One independent clause and one or more dependent clauses Compound-complex: Two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. Sentences can also be classified by their function as declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory. Declarative: Makes a statement. Interrogative: Asks a question. Imperative: Issues a command. Exclamatory: Makes an exclamation. Sentence Fragment: See fragments. Simple Sentence: See sentences. Simple tenses: See verb tenses. Slang 10): Terms that are either invented or are given new definitions in order to be novel or unconventional. They are generally considered to be inappropriate in formal writing. Specific words (8): Words that identify items in a group. See also general words.

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Split infinitives (11/12): Phrases in which modifiers are inserted between the two parts of the infinitive. Split infinitives need NOT be avoided in formal writing. to quickly turn to easily reach to boldly go Standard English (11): Generally accepted language that conforms to established rules of grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling. Subject (8): The word or words in a sentence that act or are acted upon by the verb or are linked by the verb to another word or words in the sentence. The simple subject is the key subject word or words. The complete subject is the key subject word or words with all modifiers. Harvey objected to his brother’s choice of DVD. [Harvey is the simple subject, or key subject word. It has no modifiers.] Every single one of the people in the room heard him score.

[The simple subject, or key subject word, is one. The complete subject, which included all the modifiers, is shown in bold type.]

Subject Complement (9): The noun or adjective in the predicate (predicate noun or adjective) that refers to the same entity as the subject in sentences with linking verbs such as is/are, feel, look, smell, sound, taste, and seem. She feels happy. He is a pharmacist. (subject complement) (subject complement) Subject Case of Pronouns: See personal pronouns. Subject-Verb Agreement (9): Agreement in number and person between subjects and verb endings in sentences. Subjunctive Mood: See mood. Subordinating Conjunctions (9): Words such as although, if, until, and when, which join two clauses and subordinate one to the other. She is late. She overslept. She is late because she overslept. Subordination (8/9): The act of placing one clause in a subordinate or dependent relationship to another in a sentence because it is less important and is dependent for its meaning on the other clause. Suffix (8): Word part added to the end of a word.

Suffix Word -ful careful -less nameless

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Summary (8): brief restatement of the main idea in a source, using your own words. Superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs: See adjectives and adverbs. Synonyms (8): Words with similar meanings. Word Synonym damp moist pretty attractive Tense: See verb tense. Tone (10/11): The attitude or level of formality reflected in the word choices of a piece of writing. Transitions (10): Words in sentences that show relationships between sentences and paragraphs. Transitive verbs: See verbs. Two-Word verbs: see phrasal verbs. Verbals (11/12): Words that are derived from verbs but do not act as verbs in sentences. Three types of verbals are infinitives, participles, and gerunds. Infinitives: to + verb to find to say

Participles: Words used as modifiers or with helping verbs. The present participle ends in –ing, and many past participles end in –ed. The dog is panting. He bought only used clothing.

(present participle) (past participle) Gerunds: present participles used as nouns. Reading mystery novels is her favorite form of procrastination. (gerund) Verbs (8): Words or groups of words (verb phrases) in predicates that express action, show a state of being, or act as a link between the subject and the rest of the predicate. Verbs change form to show time (tense), mood, and voice and are classified as transitive, intransitive, and linking verbs.

Transitive verbs (8/9) require objects to complete the predicate. He found the cardboard box on the shelf. (transitive verb) (object)

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Intransitive verbs (8/9) do not take objects. My ancient cat often lies on the porch.

(intransitive verb)

Linking verbs(8/9) link the subject to the following noun or adjective.

The trees are bare. (linking verb)

Verb conjugations (8/9): The forms of verbs in various tenses. Verb phrase: A phrase headed by a verb which includes the verb together with its complements and adjuncts. He tried to kick the football but missed; I thought I saw a pussycat; I am strong. Voice (11/12): The difference between an active voice (Teachers plan lessons) and passive voice (Lessons are planned by teachers). Word formation (11): Also called morphology: the component of grammar that alters the forms of worlds (rip › ripped) or that creates new words from old ones (a demagogue › to demagogue); priority › prioritize; crowd + source › crowd-source). Zombie nouns (11/12): Unnecessary nominalization that hides the agent of the action. According to Stephen Pinker, “they turn prose into the night of the living dead.” Comprehension checks were used as We excluded students who failed to exclusion criteria. Understand the instructions.

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