Grammatical Terms
Terms
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- absolute phrase
- a phrase that is related to a sentence in meaning although it has no grammatical relationship to the sentence
- abstract noun
- a noun that names a quality or mental concept; something intangible that exists only in our minds
- active voice sentence
- a sentence where the subject performs the action
- adjective
- a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun
- adjective clause
- a clause that functions as an adjective and usually begins with a relative pronoun that is often omitted
- antecedent
- a noun, usually before the pronoun, that the pronoun replaces
- case
- groupings of nouns and pronouns that tell how the words in question are related to the other words used with them
- clause
- a group of related words containing both a subject and a predicate
- collective noun
- a noun that describes a group of people or things that are considered a single unit
- comma splice
- an incorrect sentence construction in which two independent clauses are fused together with a comma
- common noun
- a noun that does not name a specific person, place, thing, or idea
- comparative adjective
- compares two persons, places, things, or ideas
- complement
- a word often used to complete the meaning of an intransitive verb without receiving the intransitive verb's action and with copulative (linking) verbs to describe state of being
- compound sentence
- a sentence with at least two verbs and two subjects
- concrete noun
- a noun that names a member of a class; a group of people, places, or things that is physical, visible, and tangible
- conjunction
- a word that connects other words to each other
- countable noun
- a noun that can be made plural via changing the ending, ususally by adding "s"
- declarative statement
- a sentence that makes a statement
- demonstrative pronoun
- a pronoun that points to or identifies a noun without explicitly naming it
- dependent clause
- a group of connected words that have both a predicate and a subject but still cannot stand alone
- direct object
- a word that receives a direct action from the subject of a sentence
- elliptical clause
- an instance in which clause elements are omitted if the context makes clear what is being indicated
- exclamatory statement
- a sentence that communicates a strong emotion or surprise
- first person
- indicates an "I" or "we" as the subject of the sentence
- future tense
- an expression of action that takes place in a time to follow the present
- idiom
- an expression that is characteristic of a particular language
- imperative
- a verb used as a command
- indefinite pronoun
- a pronoun that has an unknown or ambiguous antecedent
- independent (main) clause
- a clause that can stand by itself as a simple sentence
- indicative mood
- a verb used to state a fact or ask a question
- indirect object
- a word that receives the action of the subject of the sentence indirectly
- infinitive
- the basic form of the verb, usually preceded by the preposition "to"
- interjection
- used to express strong emotion or surprise
- interrogative pronoun
- a pronoun that poses as a question
- interrogative statement
- a sentence that asks a question
- intransitive verb
- a verb that does not take an object
- misplaced modifier
- a modifier that is not placed near the word it modifies
- mood
- indicates the tone of a verb
- "nominal" of a sentence
- a word or group of words that can function as a noun
- nominative case
- when a noun or pronoun is the subject of the verb
- noncountable verb
- a noun that cannot be made plural via changing the ending, usually by adding "s"
- noun
- a person, place, thing, animal, action, or quality
- noun compound
- a group of words (usually two) that functions as a single part of speech
- object of the preposition
- the noun after the preposition
- objective case
- when a noun or pronoun is used as the direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition
- participal phrase
- a phrase that contains a participle and its modifiers, which is used as an adjective to modify a noun or pronoun
- passive voice sentence
- a sentence in which the subject receives the action
- past tense
- an expression of action that is completed at a definite moment before the present
- person
- indicates who is speaking and whether the subject is singular or plural
- personal pronoun
- a pronoun that refers to beings and objects; the basic ones are: I, you, he, she, we, they
- phrase
- a group of connected words without a subject or predicate
- positive adjective
- describes a noun or pronoun on its own terms, without comparing it to anything else
- possessive case
- a noun or pronoun used to show ownership
- predicate
- the action of the sentence or what is said about the subject
- preposition
- a word that demonstrates the relationship between its object and another word in the sentence
- prepositional phrase
- a phrase that beings with a preposition and contains a noun and its modifiers
- present tense
- an expression of action that goes on in the current time or with regularity
- pronoun
- a word that replaces a noun
- proper noun
- the official name of a particular person, place, or thing
- regular verb
- a verb that forms the past tense by adding "ed" to the basic verb
- relative pronoun
- a pronoun that relates to one part of a sentence to a word in another part of the sentence
- run-on sentence
- two complete sentences totally fused
- second person
- indicates a "you" singular or "you" plural as the subject of the sentence
- sentence
- a group of words that contain a subject and predicate and ends with a period, exclaimation point, or question mark
- sentence fragment
- part of a sentence; usually missing a predicate or a subject
- split infinitive
- an instance in which the words that make up an infinitive are separated by one or more words
- subject of the sentence
- the part of a sentence about which something is said
- subjunctive
- an uncommon construction used to express with exactitude how a verb usage is to be interpreted
- superlative
- compares three or more persons, places, or things
- third person
- indicates "he," "she," "it," or they as the subject of the sentence
- transitive verb
- a verb that takes an object to complete its meaning
- verb
- a word showing action or state of being