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used to describe the words and functions of the English language

A thematic glossary of grammar terms, the words commonly used to describe points of grammar in
English. The four lists below cover units of meaning, parts of speech, structural elements and general
grammar terms. The object of these lists is to explain with sufficient detail, yet as succinctly and clearly
as possible, the essential vocabulary or "metalanguage" of English grammar.

Page Units of meaning Parts of speech Elements of a sentence A-Z of other grammar terms
Index :

1. Units of meaning (from big to small)

Document - A document is a written, or sometimes oral, presentation of facts, fiction, ideas or opinions.
It is or can be considered as complete and comprehensible in its own right.

Paragraph - Paragraphs are the principal sub-divisions of documents. In standard descriptive or

declarative documents, a paragraph is a group of sentences with the same theme. Though there is no
rule, grammarians tend to agree that a paragraph will normally have between two and eight
sentences, with an optimal length of 3 to 5 sentences. Longer documents may be divided into larger
subdivisions such as chapters or sections or even books.

Sentence - A sentence is the basic unit that constitutes a declarative or interrogative statement. With the
exception of single-word imperatives or interrogations (such as or ) or single-word answers
(such as ), a sentence contains at least two words and consists of a subject and a predicate. A
simple sentence contains a single clause. A compound sentence contains more than one clause.

Single word sentences can usually be considered as ellipses, i.e. the contraction of a longer
sentences. For instance really means something like or
Clause - A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a predicate. We can distinguish main
clauses, which can stand as sentences in their own right, and subordinate clauses which cannot.
Examples:
Free-standing main clause:
Two coordinated main clauses:
A main clause and a subordinate clause:

Phrase - A phrase is a group of words which form a single unit of meaning. Examples:
is a phrase, but so is on its own.

Word - a word is the smallest complete free-standing unit of meaning in a language. Words come into
several different categories which we call "parts of speech". These are detailed below.

Morpheme - a morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in language. A word may be made up of a
single lexical morpheme:
Examples:
or of a combination of morphemes, at least one of which must be lexical.
Examples:
In the last example, , we can see four morphemes: is a
lexical morpheme or lexeme, and are functional morphemes that cannot exist on their own ,
but when attached to the lexeme serve to change its meaning or function.
A morpheme is not the same as a syllable. the word is one morpheme but two syllables

2. Parts of speech or grammatical categories

These descriptions are deliberately brief. Each of these parts of speech is defined and described in
greater detail, with more examples, on its own page. Follow the links.

Adjective - An ►adjective is a word that describes or modifies a noun, or occasionally a pronoun.

Examples: Examples:

Adverb - An ►adverb is a word that describes of modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or
occasionally a whole sentence.
Examples:

Article - An ►article is a type of determiner which comes before a noun. In English we distinguish two
sorts of articles, the definite article , and the inderfinite articles and . Some grammar-books
also include the word as an indefinite article.

Conjunction - A ►conjunction is a word that is used to link sentences, clauses, phrases or words. The
main examples : . See Coordination

Noun - A ►noun is a word that describes an entity (person, item, substance etc) or a process. It is
usually preceded by a determiner (article or other determiner) and may be qualified or modified by one
or more adjectives, by prepositional phrases, or by another noun. Nouns are divided into two main
categories, count or ►countable nouns , that can be counted, and non-count or uncountable nouns
that cannot.
Examples:

Preposition - A ►preposition is a short functional word that serves to relate two other words in terms of
space, time, manner or other relation. Prepositions are essentially used to introduce a prepositional
phrase (like ), or to inflect the meaning of a verb (like .
Examples:

Pronoun - A ►pronoun is a (usually) short word that allows a speaker or writer to refer back to an
 already-mentioned (or implied) noun, or to a statement, without repeating it. The main groups of
pronouns are personal pronouns ( .. and their object forms or possessive
forms, .. and ), demonstrative pronouns ( etc) and relative and
interrogative pronouns ( etc.).
Examples: being a previously mentioned, or implied, male person
or being a previously mentioned, or implied, object such as event such
as or sentence such as

Verb - A ►verb is a word that describes an action or a state of being. The verb is the key word in a
sentence, and no sentence can exist without one. The shortest of all sentences contsist of a single
verb used in the imperative form. Example:
There are two sorts of verbs: describe actions or changes of state: examples

Stative verbs describe a condition or state of being: examples

3. Structural elements of a sentence

Subject : The subject is the main actor or the main topic of a sentence. In a basic declarative sentence,
the subject comes before the verb. The subject may be just a single pronoun or noun, such as He or
The cat ; but in many sentences it is may be quite a bit more, including adjectives, prepositional
phrases, relative clauses or more. In this example, all the words in red make up the subject
Example:

Verb : See Verb above

Predicate : Everything in a sentence that is not the subject. The predicate includes the verb, or verbs,
plus any other elements that may be present, notably objects or adverb phrases

Direct Object : The direct object is the entity (person, thing, process) that is directly concerned by the
action expressed through the verb, or is the entity that explains the action or process. It is the
complement of a transitive verb. It can be a pronoun, a noun, a noun phrase, or more than one of
these.
Examples:

Indirect object : The indirect object is the person or entity that is the recipient of the action, or for
whom the action is done. When the indirect object follows the direct object, it is introduced with the
preposition ; but if it precedes the direct object, is omitted.
Examples:

Main clause The main clause is the principal clause in a sentence. There can be one main clause or
more in a sentence; if this is the case, the main clauses will be separated by a semli-colon (;), or by a
coordinating conjunction such as and, but or yet.

Subordinate clause: A subordinate or dependent clause cannot exist without a main clause. It is
normally introduced by a subordinating conjunction, such as or or by a
relative pronoun such as or
Examples:

4. Other grammatical terms A-Z

Active : In English, most statements are made using the active voice. In an active statement, the
is the doer of the action expressed by means of the verb. For example
.

Apposition : Normally a direct sequence of two nouns, with no intervening preposition, which both refer
to the same entity :
Examples:

In English, except in titles (such as ), the second or "apposed" noun requires a

determiner, normally an article. Apposition should not be confused with compound nouns, in which
two nouns placed next to each other refer to different things; for example

Aspect : In English, verbs can be expressed in two aspects, the simple aspect (such as ) or the
progressive aspect (such as ).

Attributive : An adjective that is attributive is one that is placed in front of the noun it qualifies (as in
) .Contrast with adjectives following a copular verb such as , which are called
predicative adjectives (as in .

Auxiliary : A verb that comes before a main verb to designate a tense, a modality or the passive voice.
The basic auxiliaries are and : modal auxiliaries are
and their other forms.

Catenative verbs or consecutive verbs. Verbs that can be followed directly by a second verb, with no
intervening noun or pronoun (as in ). See ► Consecutive verbs

Communication : the object of speech or writing. Communication cannot be successful unless the
producer (speaker, writer) and the receiver (listener, reader) are using the same language code.
The code consists of two elements : vocabulary (words) and grammar (how those words are
organised).

Comparative : a particular meaning that is given to an adjective or adverb either by adding to the
end of an adjective, or by adding before an adjective or adverb.

Complement : the main element of the predicate after the verb. See object above.

Conjunctive adverb : A type of connector, a type of used to express a particular

relationship between a first clause and a second clause that follows. Examples:
.
See ►Conjunctive adverbs

Connector : a word that links two similar items (words, phrases, clauses) . Connectors are either
conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs. See ►conjunctions

Coordination : linking two or more elements with similar status in the sentence.

Copular verb : a verb whose complement is not an object, but a description of the subject. Examples:

Declarative : A declarative sentence is a normal sentence, which is neither an interrogative sentence

(question), nor an exclamation, nor an imperative . A declarative sentence can be affirmative or
negative.
Examples: and are both
declarative statements.

Determiner : Determiners are used at the start of a ► noun phrase. The most common determiners
 are ►articles; but determiners also include ►demonstratives, ►numerals, or ►possessive
determiners. All nouns or noun phrases require a determiner unless they are used as generalisations.
Examples: and
No determiner is required before , which is used as a generalisation. For more on this,
see ►count and non-count nouns

Ellipsis : a statement that is reduced to a minimum number of words, by the elimination of words whose
meaning can be implied or inferred. For example the " can be understood as
an ellipsis of Or the simple expression can exist as an
elliptical sentence in reply to the question the elliptical sentence implying the
meaning

Endings : Also called suffixes, endings are grammatical or functional morphemes that are added to the
end of word to inflect or change its meaning. Compared to many languages, English has relatively few
endings. There are actually only three common endings in English that are used to make inflected
forms of a word, without changing its category. These are and for verbs, and for
nouns. Other endings are used to change the grammatical category of a word, for example or
that form nouns from adjectives, or that form adjectives from nouns.

Gerund : a Gerund is a type of . To distinguish gerunds from present participles, see

►Gerunds.

Gradable : adjectives are called gradable if they can be modified by an intensifier such as
. Most adjectives are gradable, but some are not. For example we can say
or , but we cannot say
A car is electric, or it is not electric. It cannot be , or . Sometimes people
use intensifiers to modify adjectives that are in theory ungradable: this is usually done for emphasis. In
theory one cannot grade the adjective . Something is either , or it is not
; yet people often qualify the adjective with adverbs such as or
.

Grammar : The corpus of rules and principles that describe how a language is used or should be used.
Grammar can be prescriptive (telling people what is correct and what is not) , or descriptive
(describing what how people actually use language). Grammar is constantly evolving, but it does so
more slowly that vocabulary. As well as traditional grammar, linguists have developed other types of
grammar to better analyse language, such as transformational grammar or generative grammar.

Imperative : the form of the verb that we use when we give an order or a command. See ►Imperative.

Indicative : In English, almost all verbs are used in the indicative mood. The subjunctive, the other
principal mood, is rare

Intensifier : a type of adverb that is used to give extra force to the meaning of an adjective. Examples:

Metalanguage : in linguistics, the words and expressions used to describe language itself. The
expressions explained on this page are the essential terms used to describe language in English.

Modal verb : Modal verbs, or modal auxiliaries, such as or , are used to express possibility,
obligation, probability or futurity. See ►Modals of obligation, ►Modals of possibility
, ►expressing the future.

Modify : in grammar, the word most commonly means to give a specific meaning to a noun or
verb. Modifiers include adjectives, adverbs and prepositional phrases

Mood : In English there are two moods, the indicative and the subjunctive. The subjunctive is very rarely
 used.

Passive : A passive sentence is one in which the subject is the topic of the action, not the actor or agent.
See ► Passive.
Example: In this example, the actor or agent of the action is
.

Predicate : one of the two essential constituents of a sentence, the other one being the subject. The
predicate is made up of everything in the sentence that is not contained in the subject. In a normal
affirmative sentence, it follows the subject. It must contain a verb.

Punctuation : an aspect of syntax, punctuation consists of a small number of symbols that are used to
delimit, when necessary, words, phrases or sentences. See ►punctuation

Quantifier : A quantifier is a type of determiner that expresses an imprecise or undefined quantity; it can
be contrasted with a number that expresses a precise quantity. Quantifiers include words such as
See ►quantifiers

Relative : A relative clause is a clause introduced by a relative pronoun such as

etc.

Subject : the actor or topic of a sentence. In a simple sentence, the subject comes first, before the
predicate.

Subordination : see subordinate clause above.

Suffix : a morpheme (element of meaning) added to the end of a word. See endings above.

Style : the manner in which ideas are expressed as words. Style can be anything from formal to
informal, or oral to written. See ►style in English.

Superlative : the highest degree of an adjective or adverb. Superlatives are formed either by adding
to an ►adjective, or by adding the word before an adjective or an ►adverb.

Syllable : in phonetics, a unit of sound. Some words are monosyllables, with just one unit of sound, for
example ; other words are made up of two or more syllables, for example
.

Syntax : an aspect of grammar, syntax deals with the way in which words are organised and ordered. It
includes word order and punctuation.

Tense : tenses are specific forms of verbs which are used to situate an action in time. According to the
current convention in modern linguistics, English just has two tenses, the present tense and the past
tense; but this is just one way of classifying tenses in English, and not necessarily the most logical
way.
For purposes of simplicity and clarity, many books and language teachers use the word tense in a
much broader sense, to describe each of the different forms of a verb used to denote a different time
frame – as is accepted practice for languages like French Spanish or Russian.
It is important to understand that there is no absolute truth. Saying that there are two tenses in
English is not any more accurate, nor more exact, than saying there are six tenses, or even twelve
tenses. It depends on the criteria used to define the notion of "tense".
English verbs come in different forms and different aspects, so for example in the
the English present tense is a single tense with four forms, the present simple and the present
progressive, the present perfect simple and the present perfect progressive. In the
these are six different tenses, each with two aspects; and in the , there are twelve
tenses..
 See ►verbs.

Transitive : Verbs are either transitive or intransitive. Some verbs are always one or the other, some
verbs can be either depending on their use. A transitive verb is a verb that must have a direct object.
Example:
In the first example, is intransitive. It cannot take an object. In the second example, is
used transitively, because there is an object . The verb can also be used intransitively, i.e.
with no object, as in :
See ►verbs.

Voice : A key factor describing the way in which a verb is used. There are two voices, the active and the
passive. See ►verbs.

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Verbs

Verbs: the present tense

Verbs : the future

Past tenses

Phrasal & prepositional verbs

Gerunds, participles and -ing forms

The infinitive

Irregular verb tables

Nouns, pronouns, adjectives

Noun phrases

Articles

Pronouns

Adjective order in English

The possessive

Sentences & clauses

Relative clauses in English

Conditional clauses in English

Word order in English

Reported questions in English

Miscellaneous

Language and style

Word stress in English

The short story of English

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