A-Z Grammar Terms

Abstract noun: A noun that refers to ideas, feelings, or qualities, not things we can touch.

Example: love, happiness, courage

Accusative case: The form of a noun or pronoun used as the object of a verb.

Example: She saw him (him is in the accusative case).

Active, active voice: A sentence where the subject does the action.

Example: The cat chased the mouse.

Adjectival clause: A clause that describes a noun.

Example: The boy who is wearing a blue shirt is my friend.

Adjective: A word that describes a noun.

Example: a tall building

Adjective phrase: A group of words that work together to describe a noun.

Example: a very beautiful dress

Adjunct: A word or phrase that gives extra information in a sentence.

Example: She left in a hurry.

Adnominal: A word or phrase that describes a noun.

Example: His book is on the table.

Adverb: A word that describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb.

Example: She ran quickly.

Adverb phrase: A group of words that act like an adverb.

Example: He arrived late at night.

Adverbial: A word or phrase that gives extra information about time, place, or manner.

Example: We met after school.

Adverbial clause: A clause that works like an adverb.

Example: I left because I was tired.

Affirmative: A sentence that is positive.

Example: She is happy.

Agent: The person or thing that does an action in a passive sentence.

Example: The cake was baked by my mom.

Agentless passive: A passive sentence without saying who did the action.

Example: The cake was baked.

Agreement (Concord): When subjects and verbs match in number and person.

Example: She is (not "She are").

Alternative question: A question with two or more choices.

Example: Do you want coffee or tea?

Anacoluthon: A sentence that changes structure suddenly.

Example: If you think I—well, let’s not talk about it.

Antecedent: The noun a pronoun refers to.

Example: John lost his bag. ("John" is the antecedent of "his").

Any-words (Non-assertive): Words like any, anyone, anything used in negatives or questions.

Example: Do you have any money?

Apposition: When two nouns are placed next to each other to describe the same thing.

Example: My friend, a doctor, lives in New York.

Appositive: The noun or phrase that gives extra information in apposition.

Example: Tom, my younger brother, is very tall.

Articles: Words a, an, the that come before nouns.

Example: A dog, an apple, the sun

Aspect: The way a verb shows time and duration.

Example: I am eating (present continuous aspect).

Assertive: Words used in positive statements.

Example: I have some money.

Asyndeton: A sentence with missing conjunctions.

Example: I came, I saw, I conquered.

Attributive adjective: An adjective placed before a noun.

Example: A red car.

Auxiliary verb: A helping verb used with the main verb.

Example: She is singing.

Bare infinitive: The base form of a verb without "to."

Example: She made me cry.

Base form: The simplest form of a verb.

Example: go, eat, play

Canonical: The usual or standard form of something.

Example: He plays football (canonical sentence).

Cardinal number: A number that shows quantity.

Example: one, two, three

Case: The form a noun or pronoun takes based on its role in a sentence.

Example: I (subject), me (object)

Catenative verb: A verb followed by another verb.

Example: I want to go home.

Causative Verb:

Example: She got her teacher do the sum.

Clause: A group of words with a subject and a verb.

Example: She sings every day.

Clause pattern: The structure of a sentence with a verb.

Example: S-V-O (She eats an apple).

Clause type: Different kinds of clauses (e.g., main, subordinate).

Example: I stayed because it rained (subordinate clause).

Cleft construction: A sentence that emphasizes a part.

Example: It was John who called you.

Closed interrogative clause: A question with a yes/no answer.

Example: Do you like ice cream?

Closed word classes: Word groups that rarely change (e.g., pronouns, prepositions).

Collective noun: A noun for a group of people or things.

Example: team, family, crowd

Command: A sentence that gives an order.

Example: Close the door!

Common noun: A general noun, not specific.

Example: dog, city, book

Comparative: A form of an adjective or adverb showing more.

Example: taller, bigger

Comparative clause: A clause that compares two things.

Example: She is taller than I am.

Comparative phrase: A phrase that shows comparison.

Example: More expensive than before.

Complement: A word or phrase that completes meaning.

Example: She is happy.

Complement clause: A clause that acts as a complement.

Example: I believe that she is right.

Complementation: The way a verb takes complements.

Complementizer: A word that introduces a complement clause.

Example: that in "I know that she is coming."

Complex conjunction: Multi-word conjunctions.

Example: As soon as

Complex preposition: Multi-word prepositions.

Example: Because of

Complex sentence: A sentence with one main clause and one subordinate clause.

Example: I stayed home because it was raining.

Compound: A word made of two parts.

Example: blackboard, airport

Compound sentence: A sentence with two main clauses joined by a conjunction.

Example: She called, but he didn’t answer.

Concessive adverbial, concessive clause: A phrase or clause showing contrast or an unexpected result.

Example: Although it was raining, we went outside.

Concessive conjunction: A conjunction used in concessive clauses.

Example: although, even though, while

Concord (Agreement): When subjects and verbs match in number and person.

Example: She is (not "She are").

Concrete noun: A noun that names something we can touch, see, or feel.

Example: table, dog, apple

Conditional clause: A clause that talks about a condition.

Example: If it rains, we will stay home.

Conditional conjunctions: Words that introduce conditional clauses.

Example: if, unless, provided that

Conditional tense: A verb form used to express possibility or hypothetical situations.

Example: I would go if I had time.

Conjunct: A word that connects ideas between sentences.

Example: However, therefore, moreover

Conjunction: A word that joins words, phrases, or clauses.

Example: and, but, or

Constituent: A part of a sentence that functions as a unit.

Example: "The small cat sat on the mat."

Construction: The way words are arranged to form a sentence.

Content clause: A clause that functions as a noun.

Example: I believe that she is honest.

Continuous: A verb form showing an ongoing action.

Example: She is reading a book.

Contracted form, contraction: A shortened form of words.

Example: I am → I'm, they have → they've

Contrast, clause of: See concessive clause.

Coordinate clause: A main clause joined to another main clause.

Example: She sings, and he plays the guitar.

Coordinating conjunction, coordinator: A word that joins equal parts of a sentence.

Example: and, but, or, so

Coordination: The linking of equal parts in a sentence.

Example: She likes apples and bananas.

Copula: A verb that links the subject to information about it.

Example: She is a teacher.

Copular verb: A verb like be, seem, become that connects a subject to a complement.

Example: He became famous.

Corefer, coreference, coreferential: When two words refer to the same thing.

Example: John said he was happy.

Correlative: A pair of words that work together in a sentence.

Example: Either you stay, or you leave.

Count noun (Countable noun): A noun that has a plural form and can be counted.

Example: one apple, two apples