english grammar terminology
For example, in the unrevised version of OBLIVIOUS adj., uses such as ‘he was soon oblivious of this’ were described as ‘Const. A proper noun (or proper name) is a name used for an individual person, animal, organization, title, place etc. Any small group of words within a sentence or a clause. That-clauses often function as direct objects of verbs (e.g. 3 indefinite article: 4 countable noun: 5 uncountable noun: 6 personal pronoun: 7 possessive pronoun: In some grammars, the term determinative is used.]. Contrast with a predicative adjective. Conditional Clause A type of adverbial clause that states a hypothesis or condition, real or imagined. Entries or parts of entries revised since 2019 use descriptive wording, as for example at ANGEL n. C1c: “With other nouns, with the sense ‘that is both an angel and a — —’, as angel guardian, angel messanger, etc.”]. The first element is usually an adjective and the second element is usually a present participle relating to appearance or impression, e.g. For example, ‘Long live the Queen!’ has optative meaning, expressing the wish that the Queen will live for a long time. For example, the plural of, Entries for prepositions have the part-of-speech label, At STICK n.1 P20, the sticks is defined as ‘a remote, thinly populated, or rural area; the backwoods; the country. See also indirect passive, prepositional passive. They are also used alone in non-finite clauses (e.g. Superlative. In some inflected languages, the vocative case is used to indicate a person or thing being addressed, invoked, etc. In modern English, masculine forms are those which refer to males: the pronouns he, him, his, himself, and the possessive adjective his. A conjunction is a word used to connect other words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. The optative is a form used to express wish or desire. A privy, a lavatory.’, At SPORT n. C1c, ‘Designating clothing, shoes, etc., for informal or sporting wear’, compounds ‘With the first element in singular form’, as, The irregular singular forms of BE v. are specified in the Inflections section, as ‘Present indicative:..1st singular, Special uses of adjectives are treated in a separate section towards the end of an entry. In modern English, pronouns (and related possessive adjectives) have different forms according to person. A simple word, phrase, sentence, or grammatical construction is one that is not complex, or that is made up of only one element. – agrees grammatically with the verb. By clicking 'continue' or by continuing to use our In some inflected languages, the dative case is typically used to indicate nouns and pronouns (as well as adjectives used to modify them) which function as the indirect object of a verb. An example in (a) is ‘he prophecied fair weather’, where the direct object is the noun phrase fair weather. The quality of a verb that conveys the writer's attitude toward a subject. When the direct object of a verb is related to that verb in both form and meaning, it is a cognate object. In English, the indicative mood is used to make factual statements or pose questions, the imperative mood to express a request or command, and the (rarely used) subjunctive mood to show a wish, doubt, or anything else contrary to fact. out how Oxford University Press handles your personal information, and [In some unrevised OED entries, the term preterite is used instead of ‘past tense’.]. The two kinds of compliments are subject complements (which follow the verb be and other linking verbs) and object complements (which follow a direct object). Identifies, describes, limits or qualifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a group of words. The indicative is the most commonly used grammatical mood, used to express factual statements and beliefs (as opposed to commands, wishes, conditions, etc.). A type of determiner that precedes a noun: a, an, or the. Read the other chapters under the grammar tab to learn more about Dutch grammar. The subject of a sentence or clause is the part which: A stem is the root, base, or main part of a word to which other elements, such as prefixes or suffixes, may be added. A compound is a word or lexical unit formed by combining two or more words (a process called compounding). I am glad that you came. adjective. Each grammar definition contains an explanation and cross-references to other relevant grammar terms. A noun or phrase which modifies another noun or phrase may also be described as attributive . The category of prepositions is one of the parts of speech. The underlined clauses in the following are subordinate clauses: If a word is normally used with another grammatical element, a use of that word on its own may be described as ‘Without construction’. See also agreement. One of the two main parts of a sentence or clause, modifying the subject and including the verb, objects, or phrases governed by the verb. Happier is the related comparative adjective and happiest is the related superlative adjective. "100 Key Terms Used in the Study of Grammar." For some of the One of the examples given in which the. [In some unrevised OED entries, verbal nouns are referred to as verbal substantives. antecedent The word or word group that a pronoun refers to. Determiners include articles, demonstratives, and possessive pronouns. May 29th, 2013 in English Learning If you do not understand grammar terminology, you may have a tough time learning grammar. ; also, the term dependent clause is sometimes used instead of subordinate clause.]. The form of an alphabetical letter (such as A, B, C) used to begin a sentence or proper noun; an uppercase letter, in contrast to lower case. A characteristic of nouns and certain pronouns that express their relationship to other words in a sentence. Compare count noun. A verb is transitive when it takes a direct object: a noun, pronoun, phrase, or clause which typically refers to the person or thing affected by the action of the verb. T Tense of Verbs. An anaphoric word or phrase is one which refers back to a word or phrase previously used in a text or conversation. is a direct question because it is quoted. bookcase), adjective + noun (e.g. A personal pronoun is a pronoun denoting one of the three grammatical persons. With many compounds there is variation among these options. Intensifiers are often adverbs (e.g. This glossary of English grammar terms relates to the English language. An intensifier is a word, phrase, or prefix which gives force or emphasis. The time of a verb's action or state of being, such as past, present, and future. Language terminology. For example, I is a first person pronoun, you is a second person pronoun, and he, she, and it are third person pronouns. ‘. You can often convert an active sentence into a passive sentence, by making the direct object of the active verb the grammatical subject of the passive verb, and either expressing the subject in a phrase with by or omitting it altogether. Past participles are used to form the perfect (for example taken in they had taken the train) and the passive (for example denied in the allegations were denied). In English, nouns do not have case and therefore no reference to nouns is made in its definition here. This pair of objects may be referred to as a double object. – often denotes the person or thing that performs the action expressed by the verb; 1 preposition: 2 definite article: Where is the car? Grammatical agreement refers to the fact of two (or more) elements in a clause or sentence having the same grammatical person, number, gender, or case. Verbs which don't have an object are called intransitive. A verb, such as a form of be or seem, that joins the subject of a sentence to a complement. (See … There are two types of participle in English, past and present. ‘I like folk music.’, be coordinated with another main clause, e.g. In this section are verbs prefixed with, LIKE v.1 4c describes the sense ‘to enjoy, have a taste for, or take pleasure in (an action, activity, condition, etc. See also main clause, non-finite, relative clause, that-clause. A determiner is a word which precedes a noun and limits the application of that noun, for example the in ‘the park’, some in ‘some cheese’ and both in ‘both boys’. )’ as ‘with gerund or verbal noun as object’. An adjective that usually comes after a linking verb and not before a noun. In a sentence such as ‘It is nice to meet you’, it is the grammatical subject but stands in for or ‘anticipates’ the semantic subject, which is the clause ‘to meet you’: the sentence could be rephrased as ‘To meet you is nice’. A pair or group of words that are habitually juxtaposed is a collocation, or fixed collocation. with anticipatory it’. In modern English the subjunctive mood is distinctive only in the third person singular of the present tense (where the -s ending is absent) and in the verb to be (where the present subjunctive form is be and the past subjunctive form is were). If you see anything suspicious, report it to the police. See also auxiliary verb, copula, main verb, modal verb, phrasal verb. The part of speech that usually expresses emotion and is capable of standing alone. A finite verb form is one that is marked for tense. H I. For example, we say ‘I run’ for the first person singular but ‘she runs’ for the third person singular of run. Transitive Verbs. When a verb does not take a direct object it is intransitive. For a more detailed examination of the word forms and sentence structures introduced here, click on any of the terms to visit a glossary page, where you'll find numerous examples and expanded discussions. More generally, the base form of a word is the main part to which other elements (such as prefixes and suffixes) may be added. A possessive pronoun is a type of pronoun which indicates possession. Examples of common nouns in English include man, giraffe, countryside, mountain, automobile, time, beauty, and sadness. Often the meaning of a phrasal verb is not obvious from the meanings of the component words, as in the following examples (in which the underlined groups of words are phrasal verbs): I’ll take it up with the relevant authorities. We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. Passive infinitives often function as complement”complements of adjectives or objects of verbs, for example ‘It was strange to be questioned’ or ‘These apples need to be eaten.’. For example, "case" in some languages applies to pronouns and nouns. The verb form used in an active clause is called an active verb: for example, broke is active whereas was broken is passive. A word that does not change its form through inflection and does not easily fit into the established system of parts of speech. Such constructions commonly include the negative particle not or the contracted negative n't. Grammar: the set of rules one needs to know in order to competently form sentences in a language. (Technically, a grammatical phrase may consist of a single word – that is, Idiomatic phrases are often placed in a separate section (with the heading ‘Phrases’) towards the end of an entry. The part of speech (or word class) that describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being. In some contexts, a verb may take both a direct object and an indirect object. Abbreviations, initials and acronyms - English Grammar Today - a reference to written and spoken English grammar and usage - Cambridge Dictionary Subordinating Conjunction. Old English had four full cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative, as well as traces of instrumental and locative cases. In some unrevised OED entries, quasi- (meaning ‘having some but not all of the properties of’, ‘almost, virtually’) is used to modify grammatical terms. In the OED, a combining form carries full meaning on its own and typically functions like a noun or an adjective. Infinitives. Grammar AI that understands some rules are meant to be broken: You have a style and we get that. The unmarked genitive was common in Old English, but is now rare and mainly survives in archaic compounds such as sister-son and brother-son and in certain fixed expressions such as LADY DAY n. A verb is a word which typically describes what a person or thing does, or what happens: be, make, build, remember, occur, and seem are all examples of verbs in English. his, our) and in the ’s in, for example, John’s book, which is the modern equivalent of the old genitive case ending -es. It can also be used as a non-referential object, for example in the idiomatic phrase hold it! A preposition is a word which typically precedes a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun and expresses a relationship between it and another word in the sentence. In English, agent nouns are formed by adding the suffix –er or -or to a verb, for example teacher, fastener, editor, accelerator. he spoke quietly), degree (e.g. Noun: affixation. A case is an inflected form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective which expresses its grammatical relationship with other words. [In unrevised OED entries, predicative is usually abbreviated as pred.]. In English, the primary auxiliary verbs are be, have, and do; modal verbs such as can, must, etc., are also a type of auxiliary verb. A grammatical construction that contradicts (or negates) part or all of a sentence's meaning. By contrast, sadly is not a sentence adverb in ‘She smiled sadly’, where it modifies smiled and means ‘in a sad way’. English Grammar for Language Students (Stapled Booklet): Basic Grammatical Terminology Defined and Alphabetically Arranged [Braun, Frank X.] (Compare with sentences that make a statement, ask a question, or express an exclamation.). Fortunately, no one was injured. A set of words that display the same formal properties, especially their inflections and distribution. A modifier is a word, phrase or clause which limits or qualifies the meaning of another word, phrase, or clause. Grammatical terms and explanations © English Language Support Project for Post-Primary schools - www.elsp.ie 3 Term Explanation Example If clause A prefix is an element added to the beginning of a word or stem to form a new word. For this purpose, I have chosen as my default grammar framework the one to be found in the authori-tative reference grammar R. Quirk et al., A Comprehensive Grammar of the English … In the sentence ‘The teacher gave the children new books’, new books is the direct object of give, and the children is the indirect object. 9c, in the sense ‘very nearly, pretty much; more or less’, uses ‘modifying superlative adjectives’ are exemplified. In this case, there is no change in part of speech. A mass noun (also known as a non-count noun) is used only in the singular. A filler, or conversational filler, is a word or phrase used without lexical meaning, simply to fill in what might otherwise be an unwanted pause in an utterance or conversation. Understanding the Types of Verbs in English Grammar, Understanding the Types of Nouns in English Grammar, The 9 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples, Nominal: Definition and Examples in Grammar, Constituent: Definition and Examples in Grammar, How to Recognize and Use Clauses in English Grammar, The Difference Between Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives, Dependent Clause: Definition and Examples, Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia, M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester, B.A., English, State University of New York. Here, the progressive construction in, The use of tomfool ‘as a proper noun’ meaning ‘the type of a foolish, stupid, or half-witted person’ is treated at TOMFOOL n. 1a, where one of the examples given is ‘You talk like, BRUIN n., meaning ‘a bear’, is described as ‘formerly chiefly as a proper name, now more usually as a common noun’. In languages with grammatical gender, neuter nouns and related words often refer to inanimate objects but do not necessarily do so. Standard English. A nominal relative clause is a type of relative clause which functions in some ways like a noun phrase. adverb. Articles are either definite or indefinite. Other types of words may also introduce relative clauses. For example, in school trip, school premodifies trip; in just next to him, just premodifies next to; in all you can eat buffet, all you can eat premodifies buffet. A verb that does not take a direct object. A direct object typically refers to something or someone that is directly affected by the action denoted by the verb: for example all the cake in John ate all the cake. An example in (b) is ‘I prophesy that I shall die to-night’, where the direct object is the clause. A prepositional phrase is a group of words consisting of a preposition and its object (typically a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun). your rights to object to your personal information being used for They are often used in combination with finite verbs: for example, in ‘The children were eating’, the verb phrase were eating is made up of the finite verb were (which is the past tense plural form of be) and the non-finite verb eating (the present participle of eat). Pronouns are frequently used cataphorically: for example, in ‘If you see him, please tell Bob to call’, him is cataphoric, referring forward to Bob. Also known as a helping verb. The determiner an or an, which marks an unspecified count noun.