Glossary of Grammar Terms PDF

GLOSSARY OF GRAMMAR TERMS abstract noun a noun used to refer to a quality, idea, affirmative a clause or sentence in the affirmative is one feeling, or experience, rather than a physical object; eg which does not contain a negative word such as 'not' and size,...

GLOSSARY OF GRAMMAR TERMS abstract noun a noun used to refer to a quality, idea, affirmative a clause or sentence in the affirmative is one feeling, or experience, rather than a physical object; eg which does not contain a negative word such as 'not' and size, reason, joy. which is not a question... See Units 15. 70, 73 See Units 21, 29-30,41-42 active voice verb groups such as 'gives:'took: 'has made: apostrophe s an ending ('s) added to a noun to indicate which are used when the subject of the verb is the possession; eg... Harriet's daughter... the professor's person or thing doing the action or responsible for it. husband... the Managing Director's secretary. Compare with passive voice.. See Units 21-22.. See Unit 78 article See definite article, Indefinite article. adjective a word used to tell you more about a person or auxiliary another name for auxiliary verb. thing, such as their appearance, colour, size, or other qualities; eg... 0 pretty blue dress. auxiliary verb one of the verbs 'be; 'have; and 'do' when.. See Units 31-36,47 they are used with a main verb to form tenses, negatives, and questions. Some grammars include modals in the adjunct another name for adverbial group of auxiliary verbs. adverb a word that gives more information about when, See Units 3,5, 7, 9-11, 57 how, where, or in what circumstances something base form the form of a verb without any endings added happens; eg quickly, now. to it, which is used in the 'to'-infinitive and for the.. See Units 21,36 44,95 imperative; eg walk. go, have, be. The base form is the adverbial an adverb, or an adverb phrase, prepositional form you look up in a dictionary. phrase, or noun group which does the same job as an See Units 3, 72, 79 adverb; eg then, very quicklYt in the street, the next day. cardinal number a number used in counting; eg one, See Units 38-46 seven, nineteen. adverbial of degree an adverbial which indicates the See Units 2, 13, 23, 26, 30-31 amount or extent of a feeling or quality; eg She felt clause a group of words containing a verb. See also main extremely tired.. See Unit 43 clause and subordinate clause See Unit 1 adverbial of duration an adverbial which indicates how long something continues or lasts; eg He lived in London collective noun a noun that refers to a group of people or things, which can be used with a singular or plural for six years. See Unit 42 verb; eg committee, team, family.. See Unit 14 adverbial of frequency an adverbial which indicates how often something happens; eg She sometimes goes to comparative an adjective or adverb with '-er' on the end the cinema. or 'more' in front of it; eg slower, more important, more See Unit 41 carefully. See Units 35-36 adverbial of manner an adverbial which indicates the way in which something happens or is done; eg She complement a noun group or adjective, which comes watched carefully. after a link verb such as 'be: and gives more information. See Unit 39 about the subject of the clause; eg She is a teacher... She is tired. adverbial of place an adverbial which gives more See Units 1-3, 73 information about position or direction; eg Theyare upstairs... Move closer. complex sentence a sentence consisting of a main. See Unit 44 4S clause and a subordinate clause; eg She wasn't thinking adverbial of probability an adverbial which gives more very quickly because she was tired. information about how sure you are about something; See Unit 1 eg I realized I'd probably lost it compound sentence a sentence consisting of two or. SeeUnit41 more main clauses linked by'and:'or' or 'but'; eg They adverbial of time an adverbial which gives more picked her up and took her straight into the house. information about when something happens; eg I saw See Unit 1 her yesterday. conditional clause a subordinate clause, usually starting. See Unit 40 with 'if' or 'unless: which is used to talk about possible adverb phrase two adverbs used together; eg She spoke situations and their results; eg They would be rich if they very quietly... He did not play well enough to win. had taken my advice... We'll go to the pork, unless it rains. See Unit 38 See Units 66-67 XI  GLOSSARY OF GRAMMAR TERMS conjunction a word such as 'and;'because: or 'nor: that ditransitive verb another name for a verb with two links two clauses, groups, or word s. objects, such as 'give:'take: or 'sell'; eg She gave me a kiss. See Units 1, 97, 102 See Unit 52 continuous tense a tense which contains a form of the double-transitive verb another name for a ditransitive verb 'be' and a present participle; eg She was laughing... verb. They had been playing badminton. See tense. ' -ed' adjective an adjective which has the same form as See Unit 60 the '-ed' form of a regular verb, or the past participle of contrast clause a subordinate clause, usually introduced an irregular verb; eg... boiled potatoes.... Q broken wing. by 'although' or 'in spite of the fact that: which contrasts See Unit 34 with a main clause; eg Although I like her, f find her hard '-ed' form the form of a regular verb used for the past to ralk roo simple and for the past participle. See Unit 99 See Units 3, 57, 94 coordinating conjunction a conjunction such as 'and; ellipsis the leaving out of words when they are obvious 'but; or 'or: which links two main clauses. from the context. See Unit 102 emphasizing adverb an adverb such as 'absolutely' or countable noun another name for count noun. 'utterly; which modifies adjectives that express extreme count noun a noun which has both singular and plural qualities, such as 'astonishing' and 'wonderful'; eg You forms; eg dog/ dogs, foot/feet lemon/lemons. were absolutely wonderful. See Units 13, 24, 26-27, 29-30 See Unit 43 declarative another name for affirmative. ergative verb a verb which is both transitive and intransitive in the same mean ing. The object of the defining relative clause a relative clause which transit ive use is the subject of the intransitive use; eg He identifies the person or thing that is being talked about; boiled a kettle... The kettle boiled. eg... the lady who lives next door... I wrote down See Unit 55 everything that she said. Compare with non-defining relative clause. first person see person. See Unit 92 future tense see tense. definite article the determiner 'the: gerund another name for the '-ing' form when it is used See Units 24-25 as a noun. delexical verb a common verb such as 'give; 'have; 'make: See Units 69, 71-72 or 'take: which has very little meaning in itself and is used 'if'-clause see conditional clause. with a noun as object that describes the action; eg She imperative the form of a verb used when giving orders gave a small cry... I've just had a bath. and commands, which is the same as its base form; eg See Unit 56 Come here... Take two tablets every four hours... Enjoy demonstrative one of the words 'this; 'that: these: and yourself. 'those'; e9... this woman.... that tree... That looks See Units 4, 8, 12, 66 interesting... This is fun. impersonal 'it' 'it ' used as an impersonal subject to See Unit 19 introduce new information; eg It's raining... It's ten descriptive adjective an adjective which describes a o'clock. person or thing, for example indicating their size, age, See Units 16- 17,33, 47, 73, 76, 96, 101 shape, or colour, rather than expressing your opinion of indefinite adverb a small group of adverbs including that person or thing. Compare with opinion adjective. 'anywhere' and 'somewhere' which are used to indicate See Unit 32 place in a general way. determiner one of a group of words including 'the: 'a: See Unit 21 'some; and 'my; which are used at the beginning of a indefinite article the determiners 'a' and 'an: noun group. See Unit 26 See Units 2, 13-14,23-30 indefinite pronoun a small group of pronouns including direct object a noun group referring to the person or 'someone' and 'anything' which are used to refer to thing affected by an action, in a clause with a verb in the people or things without saying exactly who or what active voice; eg She wrote her name... I shut the windows. they are. See Units 16,20,51-53 See Units 21 , 94- 95 direct speech the actual words spoken by someone. indirect object an object used with verbs that take two See Units 74- 77 objects. For example, in 'I gave him the pen' and 'I gave XII  GLOSSARY OF GRAMMAR TERMS the pen to him: 'him' is the indirect object and 'pen'is the base form of a verb. Modals are used to express direct object. Compare with direct object requests, offers, suggestions, wishes, intentions,.. See Units 16,20,52 politeness, possibility, probability, certainty, obligation, indirect question a question used to ask for information and so on. or help; eg Do you know where Jane is?.. I wonder which.. 5ee Units 7-8, 18, 60-61 , 64, 67, 79-91, 97 hotel it was. mood the mood of a clause is the way in which the verb.. See Unit 9 forms are used to show whether the clause is a indirect speech the words you use to report what statement, command, or question. someone has said, rather than using their actual words. negative a negative clause, question, sentence, or Also called reported speech. statement is one which has a negative word such as.. See Units 74-77 'not: and indicates the absence or opposite of infinitive the base form of a verb; eg I wanted to go,.. She something, or is used to say that something is not the helped me dig the garden. The infinitive is the form you case; eg I don't know you... I'll never forget Compare with look up in a dictionary. positive. See Units 11 , 33-34,65,70,73,76-77,79,82,91,95, 5ee Units 4, 11 - 12, 57, 80 97-98 negative word a word such as 'never: 'no:'not; 'nothing; ··jng' adjective an adjective which has the same form as or 'nowhere: which makes a clause, question, sentence, or the present participle of a verb; eg... a smiling face.... a statement negative. winning streak. See Units 3-4,7- 8, 10- 12, 21,23, 27,30,80.. See Unit 34 non-defining relative clause a relative clause which '-ing' form a verb form ending in '-ing'which is used to gives more information about someone or something, form verb tenses, and as an adjective or a noun. Also but which is not needed to identify them because we called the present participle. already know who or what they are; eg That's Mary; who was at university with me. Compare with defining.. See Units 3,34,69,71-72, 94 relative clause. interrogative pronoun one of the pronouns 'who: See Unit 93 'whose: 'whom: 'what: and 'which: when they are used to non-finite clause a 'to'-infinitive clause, '-ed' clause, or ask questions. '-ing' clause... See Unit 6 See Units 69-73,94 interrogative sentence a sentence in the form of a " noun a word which refers to people, things, ideas, feelings, question. or qualities; eg woman, Harry, gUilt... See Unit 5.. See Units 2, 13- 15,23-31,48,56,94-95 intransitive verb a verb which does not take an object; noun group a group of words which acts as the subject, eg She arrived... I was yawning. Compare with complement, or object of a verb, or as the object of a transitive verb. preposition... See Unit 51.. See Units 1-2, 38-40,44 irregular verb a verb that has three or five forms, or object a noun group which refers to a person or thing whose forms do not follow the normal rules. that is affected by the action described by a verb or.. See Unit 3 and appendix of verb tables preposition. Compare with subject link verb a verb which takes a complement rather than See Units 16, 20, 51 - 56 an object; eg be, become, seem, appear. object pronoun one of a set of pronouns including 'me;.. See Unit 73 'him: and 'them: which are used as the object of a verb or main clause a clause which does not depend on another preposition. Object pronouns are also used as clause, and is not part of another clause. complements after 'be'; eg I hit him... It's me... See Unit 1. SeeUnit16 main verb all verbs which are not auxiliaries or modals. opinion adjective an adjective which you use to express.. See Units 3,5,57 your opinion of a person or thing, rather than just manner clause a subordinate clause which describes the describing them. Compare with descriptive adjective. way in which something is done, usually introduced with See Unit 32 'as' or'like'; eg She talks like her mother used to. ordinal number a number used to indicate where.. See Units 68, 100 something comes in an order or sequence; eg first, fifth, modal a verb such as 'can:'might: or 'will: which is always tenth, hundredth. the first word in a verb group and is followed by the participle a verb form used for making different tenses. XIII  GLOSSARY OF TERMS Verbs have two participles, a present participle and a possessive adjective another name for possessive. past participle. See Units 22-23 ,." ,.. See Units 3,34,57.69,71-72.94 possessive pronoun one of the pronouns mme, yours, particle an adverb or preposition which combines with 'hers; 'his; 'ours; or 'theirs: verbs to form phrasal verbs. See Units 22, 37.. See Unit 50 preposition a word such as 'by;'with' or 'from; which is passive voice verb groups such as 'was given: 'were always followed by a noun group. taken; 'had been made: which are used when the subject See Units 5, 16, 20, 44-50, 52, 54, 92 of the verb is the person or thing that is affected by the prepositional phrase a structure consisting of a action. Compare with active voice. preposition followed by a noun group as its object; eg on.. See Units 70, 78 the table, by the sea. past form the form of a verb, often ending in '-ed; which See Units 22, 34, 36, 38-40, 43, 46-49, 97 is used for the past simple tense. present participle see '-ing' form... See Units 3, 59 present tense see tense. past participle a verb form which is used to form perfect progressive tense another name for continuous tense. tenses and passives. Some past participles are also used See Unit 60 as adjectives; eg watched, broken. pronoun a word which you use instead of a noun, when.. See Units 3,57,70.94 you do not need or want to name someone or past tense see tense. something directly; e9 it,you, none. perfect tense see tense. See Units 6, 16-17, 19-22,37,92-95,102 person one of the three classes of people who can be proper noun a noun which is the name of a particular involved in something that is said.The person or people person, place,organization, or building. Proper nouns are who are speaking or writing are called the first person ('I; always written with a capital letter; e9 Nigel, Edinburgh, 'we'). The person or people who are listening or reading the United Nations, Christmas. are called the second person ('youl The person, people See Unit 25 or things that are being talked about are called the third purpose clause a subordinate clause which is used to person ('he; 'she; 'it: 'they'). talk about the intention that someone has when they do personal pronoun one of the group of words including something; e9 I came here in order to ask you out to 'I;'you; and 'me; which are used to refer back to yourself, dinner. the people you are talking to, or the people or things you See Unit 97 are talking about. See also object pronoun and qualifier a word or group of words, such as an adjective, subject pronoun. prepositional phrase, or relative clause, which comes See Units 16, 102 after a noun and gives more information about it; e9 phrasal verb a combination of a verb and a particle,... the person involved.... a book with a blue cover.... the which together have a different meaning to the verb on shop that I went into. its own; e9 back down. hand over, look forward to. See Units 22,92-94 See Units 50,69 question a sentence which normally has the verb in front plural the form of a count noun or verb, which is used to of the subject, and which is used to ask someone about refer to or talk about more than one person or thing; e9 something; e9 Have you any money? Dogs have ears... The women were outside. See Units 5-10, 11, 58, 75,80 See Units 2, 13-14 question tag an auxiliary or modal with a pronoun, which plural noun a noun which is normally used only in the is used to turn a statement into a question. eg He's very plural form; eg trousers, scissors. friendly, isn't he?.. I can come, can't I? See Unit 14 See Units 7-8 positive a positive clause, question, sentence, or reason clause a subordinate clause, usually introduced statement is one which does not contain a negative by 'because;'since; or'as; which is used to explain why word such as 'not: Compare with negative. something happens or is done; e9 Since you're here, we'll See Units 21, 29-30, 41-42 starr. possessive one of the determiners 'my; 'your; 'his; 'her; 'its; See Unit 97 'our; or 'their; which is used to show that one person or reciprocal verb a verb which describes an action which thing belongs to another; e9...yourcor. involves two people doing the same thing to each other; See Units 22-23 e9 I met you at the dance... We've met one another XIV  GLOSSARY OF GRAMMAR TERMS before... They met in the street. semi-modal a term used by some grammars to refer to.. See Unit 54 the verbs 'dare; 'need; and 'used to; which behave like reflexive pronoun a pronoun ending in '-self' or '-selves: modals in some structures. such as 'myself' or'themselves; which you use as the See Units 63, 72, 90 object of a verb when you want to say that the object is sentence a group of words which express a statement, the same person or thing as the subject of the verb in question, or command. A sentence usually has a verb and the same clause; eg He hurt himself. a subject, and may be a simple sentence with one clause, +- See Unit 20 or a compound or complex sentence with two or more reflexive verb a verb which is normally used with a clauses. In writing, a sentence has a capital letter at the reflexive pronoun as object; eg He contented himself with beginning and a full-stop, question mark, or exclamation the thought that he had the only set of keys to the car. mark at the end... See Unit 53 See Units 1,66,92-93,96-102 regular verb a verb that has four forms, and follows the short form a form in which one or more letters are omitted and two words are joined together, for example normal rules. an auxiliary or modal and 'not; or a subject pronoun and +- See Unit 3 an auxiliary or modal; eg Qren't, couldn't, he'd, I'm, it's, she's. relative clause a subordinate clause which gives more. See Unit 11 information about someone or something mentioned in simple tense a present or past tense formed without the main clause. See also defining relative clause and using an auxiliary verb; eg... 1wait....she sQng. See non-defining relative clause. tense. See Units 92-93,95 See Units 58-63, 65 relative pronoun 'that' or a 'wh'-word such as 'who' or singular the form of a count noun or verb which is used 'which: when it is used to introduce a relative clause; to refer to or talk about one person or thing; eg A dog eg... the girl who was carrying the bQg. was in the CQr... ThQt woman;s my mother. See Units 92-93. SeeUnits13-14 reported clause the clause in a report structure which singular noun a noun which is normally used only in the indicates what someone has said; eg She said that I singular form; eg the sun, a bath. couldn't see her.. See Unit 14 See Units 74-77 strong verb another name for irregular verb. reported question a question which is reported using a subject the noun group in a clause that refers to the report structure rather than the exact words used by the person or thing who does the action expressed by speaker. See also indirect question. the verb; eg We were going shopping. Compare with See Unit 75 object reported speech the words you use to report what. SeeUnits 1.3,5,9-10,13,15-18,21,25,38,53,55, someone has said, rather than using their actual words. 69-71,75-77,80,102 Also called indirect speech. subject pronoun one of the set of pronouns including 'I: See Units 74-77 'she: and 'they: which are used as the subject of a verb. reporting clause the clause in a report structure which. SeeUnit16 contains the reporting verb. subordinate clause a clause which must be used with a See Units 74, 76 main clause and is not usually used alone, for example a reporting verb a verb which describes what people say time clause, conditional clause, relative clause, or result or think; eg suggest, say, wonder. clause, and which begins with a subordinating See Units 74, 76-77 conjunction such as 'because' or'while: report structure a structure which is used to report what See Units 1,66-68,92-93,96-100,102 someone says or thinks, rather than repeating their exact subordinating conjunction a conjunction such as words; eg She told me she'd be late. 'although: 'as if: 'because' or 'while; which you use to See Units 74-77 begin a subordinate clause; eg He laughed as if he'd said result clause a subordinate clause introduced by'so: something funny. 'so... that; or 'such... (that): which indicates the result of. See Unit 102 an action or situation; eg 1don't think there's Qny more superlative an adjective or adverb with '-est' on the end news, so I'll finish. or 'most' in front of it; eg thinnest, quickest, most beautiful.. See Unit 98 See Units 32, 35-36, 70 second person see person. tag question a statement to which a question tag has xv  GLOSSARY OF GRAMMAR TERMS been added; eg She's quiet. isn't she?.. You've got a car... See Units 58,60-61,63 haven't you? 'that'-clause a clause starting with 'that: used mainly.. See Units 7-8 when reporting what someone has said; eg She said that tense the form of a verb which shows whether you are she'd wash up for me. referring to the past, present. or future... See Units 33-34, 76-77, 95.. See Units 57-65 third person see person. future 'will' or'shall'with the base form of the verb, used time clause a subordinate clause which indicates the to refer to future events; eg She will come tomorrow.. , I time of an event; eg /'II phone you when I get back. shall ask her as soon as I see her... See Unit 96 See Unit 64 time expression a noun group used as an adverbial of future continuous 'will' or 'shall' with 'be' and a present participle, used to refer to future events; eg She will be time; eg last night. the day aher tomorrow, the next time. going soon... See Unit 40.. See Units 60, 64 'to'-infinitive the base form of a verb preceded by 'to'; eg future perfect 'will' or 'shall' with 'have' and a past to go, to have, to jump. participle, used to refer to future events; eg I shall have.. See Units 11,33-34,65,70-73,76-77,79,82,91,95, finished by tomorrow. 97-98 See Units 61,64 transitive verb a verb which takes an object; eg She's future perfect continuous 'will' or 'shall' with 'have wasting her money. Compare with intransitive verb. been' and a present participle, used to refer to future.. 5ee Unit 51 events; eg J will have been walking for three hours by then. uncountable noun another name for uncount noun. See Units 60-61,64 uncount noun a noun which has only one form, takes a past simple the past form of a verb, used to refer to past singular verb, and is not used with 'a' or numbers. events; eg They waited. Uncount nouns often refer to substances, qualities, See Units 59,63,74 feelings, activities, and abstract ideas; eg coal, courage, past continuous 'was' or 'were'with a present participle, anger, help, fun. usually used to refer to past events; eg They were.. See Units 15,24,27,29-30 worrying about it all day yesterday... See Units 59-60,63 verb a word which is used with a subject to say what someone or something does, or what happens to them; past perfect 'had'with a past participle, used to refer to eg sing, spill, die. past events; eg She had finished her meal... See Units 3-4, 10,49-65,69-78.. See Units 59, 61, 63 past perfect continuous 'had been'with a present verb group a main verb, or a main verb with one or more participle, used to refer to past events; eg He had been auxiliaries, a modal, or a modal and an auxiliary, which is waiting for hours. used with a subject to say what someone does, or what.. See Units 59-61,63 happens to them; eg I'll show them... She's been sick... See Units 1,3,5,11-12,57,79 present simple the base form and the third person singular form of a verb, usually used to refer to present 'wh'-question a question which expects the answer to events; eg I like bananas... My sister hates them. give more information than just 'yes' or 'no'; eg What.. See Units 58, 62, 65, 74 happened next?.. Where did he go? Compare with present continuous the present simple of'be'with a 'yes/no' ·question. present participle, usually used to refer to present events;.. See Units 5-6, 9, 75 eg Things are improving... She;s working. 'wh'-word one of a group of words starting with 'wh-:.. See Units 58,60,62,65 such as 'what; 'when' or 'who; which are used in present perfect 'have' or 'has' with a past participle, 'wh'-questions. 'How' is also called a 'wh'-word because used to refer to past events which exist in the present; eg it behaves like the other 'wh'-words. She has loved him for over ten years... See Units 5-6, 70, 75, 77, 92-93.. See Units 58,61,63,65 'yes/no'-question a question which can be answered by present perfect continuous 'have been' or 'has been' just 'yes' or'no: without giving any more information; eg with a present participle, used to refer to past events Would you like some more tea? Compare with 'wh'- which continue in the present; eg We have been sitting question. here for hours... See Units 5, 7, 10,75 XVI