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Grammar Glossary
Useful
terminology for teachers and learners of English
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Parts of
Speech
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| Article |
Noun
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| Pronoun |
Verb
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| Adverb |
Adjective
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| Preposition |
Conjunction
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| Interjection |
Number
(Numeral)
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| Article |
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| Indefinite article |
There's a pen on the table. |
| Definite article |
The pen is
mine.
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| Zero
article |
Planning
is important.
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| Noun |
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| Singular noun |
boy, box, baby, child, antenna,
phenomenon |
| Plural noun |
boys,
boxes, babies, children, antennae,
phenomena |
| Countable noun |
one apple, two
apples |
| Uncountable noun |
some rice, some mayonnaise |
| Collective noun |
furniture, cutlery, equipment |
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Concrete noun |
apple,
computer |
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Abstract noun |
honesty, love,
fear, happiness |
| Compound noun |
bookshelf,
word-processor, post office |
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Common noun |
apple,
computer |
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Proper noun |
Linda
has a house in London. |
| Partitives,
units & quantity |
Partitives
express a part of a whole. They also enable us to quantify uncountable
nouns,
e.g. two rices, two bags
of rice |
| none
of the adults, some of the boys, all
of the girls, both of the brothers, neither
of the sisters, etc. (See also quantifiers.) |
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a
box of chocolates, a carton
of milk, a bottle of Scotch, a jar
of peanut butter, a can of soda, a tub
of ice cream, a cup of coffee, a piece
of cheesecake, a bag of peanuts, a packet
of chewing gum, a tube of toothpaste, a roll
of film, a tin of paint, a pack
of cards, a bunch of grapes, a whole
bunch of paparazzi, a company of
girl guides, a gang of thieves, a flock
of sheep, a herd of cows, a pack
of hounds, a school or shoal
of fish, a set of rules, a bouquet
of flowers, a swarm of mosquitoes, etc. |
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| Pronoun |
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Demonstrative
pronoun |
This
was fun. That was boring. |
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Indefinite
pronoun |
Some
were good. Nobody is there. Is there any? |
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Interrogative
pronoun |
What? Which? Who? Whom? |
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Personal
pronoun (subjective) |
I, you, he, she, it, we, you (pl.), they |
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Personal
pronoun (objective) |
me,
you, him, her, it, us, you (pl.), them |
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Possessive pronoun |
The car is mine/yours/his/hers/ours/theirs. |
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Reflexive
pronoun |
Bill
burned himself on the hot iron. |
| Emphasizing
pronoun |
The
Queen herself visited the disaster victims. |
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Relative pronoun |
The man who/that
won.
The prize which/that he won. |
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| Verb |
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| Finite
verb |
A
verb form the use of which which is limited by subject and tense, e.g. I
go, he goes,
she went, they have
gone. |
| Infinite
verb |
A
verb form the use of which is unrestricted by subject or tense. In
English this means the infinitive, the gerund and the participle. |
| Infinitive |
The
infinitive is the basic verb form you'll find listed in a dictionary. |
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Bare
infinitive |
She
can drink
coffee. |
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to-infinitive |
She
stopped to drink coffee. |
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Gerund |
She stopped drinking coffee. |
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Present
participle |
Charlie
is playing golf now. |
| Past
participle |
Emmy
has played already. |
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3rd person singular |
He likes cooking. She watches
TV. |
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Regular verb |
She
walks, she walked, she has walked |
| Irregular verb |
I swim,
I swam, I have swum |
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Auxiliary verb |
I have won! He is
eating. Do you smoke? |
Modal auxiliary verb
(+ bare infinitive) |
You must
(had
to) go. We can (could) drive. He may (might)
come. They will (would) win. I shall
(should) write to the manager. You ought
to complain. |
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Verb of
perception (+ adjective) |
She seems
reliable, appears confident and sounds
interesting. The food looks good, smells
superb and tastes delicious. |
| Action verb |
Action
verbs are used in both the simple and continuous tenses:
Jane plays chess. She is
playing chess now. |
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State (or stative) verb |
State
verbs are generally not used in the continuous tenses:
Jane belongs to the chess club. Membership costs
just $20 a year. Some people dislike
playing chess, while others love it. |
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Performative verb |
Performative
verbs are utterances that constitute an action: He admits
he made a mistake and promises not to do it
again. |
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Transitive verb |
The company raised
its prices. |
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Intransitive verb |
Prices
rose. |
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Passive voice |
Prices were raised. |
| Phrasal
verb |
His car broke down and his marriage broke
up. |
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| Adverb |
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Positive
adverb |
Jenny works hard and carefully. |
| Comparative
adverb |
Kate works even harder and more carefully
than Jenny. |
| Superlative
adverb |
Pam works (the) hardest and most
carefully. |
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Adverb of
degree |
Jack is quite short but rather
chubby. |
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Adverb of frequency |
I never smoke but I sometimes
drink alcohol. |
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Adverb of manner |
Anne drives slowly but safely. |
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Adverb of
place |
He ran away. She lives abroad. |
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Adverb of
time |
Today he is still
unwell. |
| Interrogative
adverb |
Why/when/where/how
did he go? |
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Relative
adverb |
The town where I was born. |
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Sentence
adverb |
Hopefully she'll come. She definitely
ought to. |
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| Adjective |
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| Correct
order of adjectives |
Opinion
size shape
age shade
color
pattern
origin material |
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I have a lovely large
round new bright
red and white striped
Spanish cotton
tablecloth. |
| Attributive
adjective |
The late
train (= scheduled later than others).
A heavy
drinker (= he drank a lot of alcohol). |
| Predicative
adjective |
The train was late
(= delayed).
The drinker was heavy
(= he
weighed a lot). |
| Positive
adjective |
Dick is kind
and generous. |
| Comparative
adjective |
Dan is even kinder and more
generous than Dick. |
| Superlative
adjective |
Dave is (the) kindest and most
generous. |
| Interrogative
adjective |
Whose party? Which
restaurant? What
time? |
| Demonstrative
adjective |
This/that book. These/those
pens. |
| Distributive
adjective |
Each/every/either/neither
girl. All/both boys. |
| Possessive
adjective |
My/your/his/her/its/our/their
eyes. |
| Determiner |
Word
used to narrow the scope of a noun,
such as a numeral, an article,
or the demonstrative, distributive and possessive adjectives
above. |
| Quantifier |
A
quantifier is either a distributive adjective
or some other single word or phrase used to define quantity,
e.g. "The old man had some CDs, a
few DVDs, a lot of video cassettes, one
hundred audio cassettes and half a
ton of LP records!" (See also partitives.) |
| Simile |
As
strong as a lion, as blind as a bat, as dead as a doornail, as good as
gold, as cool as a cucumber, as light as a feather, as heavy as lead, as
daft as a brush, etc. Although his wife has eyes like a hawk, he ate
like a horse, drank like a fish and then slept like a log. |
| Synonym |
big & large |
| Antonym |
big & small |
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| Preposition |
A
preposition governs (and usually precedes) a noun or pronoun in order to
define its relationship to other words. Here below some categories and
examples: |
| Preposition
of time |
For
two years, since 1999, I've worked from
nine to five. I've always arrived in
time for work and finished by 5 o'clock. I
used to work until/till midnight, but now I
can relax before
going to bed, at weekends after 12 noon on
Saturdays, and during
my long summer holiday in July. |
| Preposition
of location |
I
work in an office on
the 5th floor of the port authority building near
the River Thames. I sit at the back by
the window with a panoramic view over this
important shipping lane. My boss, the oldest among
us, sits in front of
me. His secretary works opposite him,
there's a junior clerk behind her and my
colleague Dan sits next to/beside me.
There's a filing cabinet between
the photocopier and the coffee machine, a clock above
the door and a wastepaper bin under each desk. The lunchroom is on the floor below ours. |
| Preposition
of movement |
I
got into my car and drove from
Wall Street through Midtown Manhattan and
then along the expressway to Long Island. I got out
of my car at Montvale Race Track, where I got
on/onto a horse. I didn't have to get off
the horse because I was thrown from the
saddle! |
| Preposition
of means |
You can go to
the Chinese restaurant by bus or on
foot, but you'll have to eat with
chopsticks! |
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| Conjunction |
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Coordinating conjunction |
Links two main
clauses or ideas of equal value: He's big and strong but
not so intelligent. She's both clever and
reliable. The weather is either too wet or
too windy. Frank is neither very rich nor
very poor. |
| Subordinating
conjunction |
Introduces a subordinate
clause, i.e. one that cannot stand alone without the support of a
main clause. |
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of time |
when,
whenever, while, as soon as, until, before, after, since |
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of reason |
because, as,
since, so |
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of result |
so...that,
such...that |
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of purpose |
so that |
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of condition |
if, in
case, unless,
as long as |
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of
contrast or concession |
although,
even though |
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| Interjection |
Oh dear! She's late again. Ah, here she is.
Ouch, that hurt! |
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| Number
(Numeral) |
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| Cardinal number/numeral |
One, two, three, four, five, six... |
| Ordinal number/numeral |
First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth... |
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Syntax
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| Letter |
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Small (lower case) |
abc...xyz |
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Capital (upper case) |
ABC...XYZ |
| Morpheme |
The
smallest element of language that can convey meaning. For example, the
word bricklayer is made up of three morphemes: brick,
lay and -er. |
| Affix |
An
element added to the beginning of a word (prefix) or end of a word
(suffix) to modify its meaning. |
| Prefix |
An unusual day. A disobedient
child. |
| Suffix |
The violinist played with the trumpeter. |
| Word |
The smallest meaningful element of
language. When written it stands alone with a space on either side of
it. (19 words) |
| Phrase |
Group of words forming a concept but not a sentence:
in a hurry; by
himself;
day by day. |
| Binomial
phrase |
There
are restaurants here and there where ladies
and gentlemen can wine and dine
their friends and pick and choose from this
and that on the menu. |
| Clause |
Part of a sentence
that includes a subject and predicate. |
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Main clause |
A
clause that could stand
independently and make sense on its own:
He apologized
because
he was late. |
| Subordinate clause |
A
clause that wouldn't make sense
without an accompanying main clause: He apologized because
he was late. |
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Relative clause
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Defining
relative clause |
The hotel (that) I stayed in was
rather old. |
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Non-defining relative
clause
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The hotel, which is quite famous, is going to close. |
| Antecedent |
The hotel
(that) you stayed in was more modern. |
| Sentence |
A sentence consists of at
least one clause,
i.e. a subject
(which is sometimes only implied) and
a predicate:
e.g. I walk. Go!
(=You go!) |
| Paragraph |
A paragraph
is a section in a piece of writing, usually highlighting a particular
point or topic. It always begins on a new line and usually with
indentation, and it consists of at least one sentence.
(This text constitutes a single paragraph.)
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| Subject |
He likes her. Going on vacation is fun. |
| Predicate |
Pamela paints.
John lives
in a house by the river. |
| Object |
She likes him although she thinks that he's
crazy. |
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Direct object |
They gave Tommy a present on his birthday. |
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Indirect object |
They gave Tommy a present on his birthday. |
| Complement |
He is a scientist. She seems amused. We
became tired. |
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| Speech |
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| Direct
speech |
"My
job is tough," she said. |
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Reported speech |
She said (that) her job was tough. |
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| Question |
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| Indirect question |
Ask him what his name is! |
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Direct question |
What's your name? |
| Tag question |
You keep fit, don't you? You don't smoke, do you? |
| Rhetorical
question |
Question used
to make a statement rather than get an answer:
Who
cares? (= No one cares.)
Why bother? (=
It's
a waste of time.) |
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The
Moods
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| Indicative mood |
The
earth is round (a simple statement of fact) |
| Imperative mood |
Save
$200 a year on haircuts! Shave your head! |
| Subjunctive mood |
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| Old
phrases and clichés still in common use |
Come
what may,... Be that
as it may,... God forbid!
Woe betide,...
Till death do us part,... |
Jussive
subjunctive
(In British English, the optional
inclusion of should makes it easier.) |
AmE
I suggested that she go early.
She insisted that something be done about his
snoring. |
BrE
I suggested that she (should) go early.
She insisted that something (should) be done
about his snoring. |
Hypothetical
subjunctive
(See type 2 conditional below!) |
If
I were you, I would see a doctor. |
| as
if/as though + past subjunctive |
He
acts as if he owned the company.
She speaks as though she knew everything. |
| it
is time + past subjunctive (unreal past) |
It
is time we were leaving. |
| Conditional mood |
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Type 1: probable
(real) conditional |
If I'm late I'll call you. |
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Type 2: improbable (unreal) conditional |
If I had the time, I'd write a novel. |
| Type 3: hypothetical
conditional |
If I had gone to Las Vegas, I'd have lost all my money. |
| Type 4: zero
conditional |
If she has a cold she goes to bed. |
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The
Tenses
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| Future
simple |
She
will sleep soon. |
| Future continuous |
She
will be sleeping at 11 PM. |
| Future perfect |
At 7 AM she
will have slept for 8 hours. |
| Future perfect continuous |
By 5 AM she
will have been sleeping for 6 hours. |
| Present
simple |
She sleeps well. |
| Present continuous |
She is
sleeping right now. |
| Present perfect |
She has slept well since she was a child. |
| Present perfect continuous |
Tonight she has been sleeping for two hours. |
| Past
simple |
She slept for ten hours
last night. |
| Past continuous |
She was
sleeping when her husband came home. |
| Past perfect |
This morning
he said she had
slept all night long. |
| Past perfect continuous |
She had been
sleeping when the alarm clock rang. |
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Pronunciation
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| Received pronunciation (RP) |
The clearly articulated
standard of British English that is prevalent among educated speakers in
southern England. |
| General American (GA) |
The standard,
non-regional form of U.S. English |
| Phonetics |
The written
classification of spoken sounds. |
| Phonetic symbol |
A symbol representing one
particular sound. |
| Phoneme |
The
smallest phonetic element of language that can convey a distinction in
meaning, e.g. the 'l' in late, the 'd' in date and the 'g' in gate. |
| Vowel |
a e i o u |
| Consonant |
b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x y z |
| Syllable |
Canada
has three syllables |
| Monophthong |
hat |
| Diphthong |
hate |
| Homonym |
A word with
the same sound (homophone) or spelling (homograph) as another but with a
different meaning. |
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Homophone |
I'll check
if the
Czech paid by cheque. |
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Homograph |
Everyone at the fair had fair hair. It's
not fair! |
| Intonation |
The rising and falling
of
your voice as you speak,
especially when this conveys added meaning. |
| Stress |
The
accentuation of one particular word or syllable. |
| Word stress |
She's
an English English teacher. |
| Syllable stress |
He's a photographer. |
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Style
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| Formal
style |
Your children must be collected from school. |
| Informal
style |
You have to pick your kids up from school. |
| Idiom |
The taxi driver
took me for a ride (=
tricked
me). |
| Slang |
The
cops are coming! (= police officers) |
| Dialect |
Language
variant spoken in a particular area, e.g. cockney in London's East
End or Geordie on Tyneside. |
| Vernacular |
The
most
widely-spoken non-formal regional language variant. |
| Jargon |
I
had to reboot my computer after it crashed. |
| Terminology |
He had her software on his hard
disk. |
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