English Grammar Terms

Aiden (Australia)
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. person
    a human being
  2. case
    an occurrence of something
  3. subject
    some situation or event that is thought about
  4. article
    one of a class of artifacts
  5. series
    similar things placed in order or one after another
  6. sentence
    a string of words satisfying grammatical rules of a language
  7. formal
    in accord with established conventions and requirements
  8. singular
    being a single and separate person or thing
  9. mood
    a characteristic state of feeling
  10. phrase
    an expression consisting of one or more words
  11. fragment
    a piece broken off or cut off of something else
  12. modify
    cause to change; make different
  13. compound
    a whole formed by a union of two or more elements or parts
  14. negative
    characterized by denial or opposition or resistance
  15. irony
    incongruity between what might be expected and what occurs
  16. exclamation
    an abrupt excited utterance
  17. clause
    a separate section of a legal document
  18. syllable
    a unit of spoken language larger than a phoneme
  19. noun
    a content word referring to a person, place, thing or action
  20. adjective
    the word class that qualifies nouns
  21. verbal
    of or relating to or formed from words in general
  22. conjunction
    the state of being joined together
  23. plural
    of a grammatical category referring to two or more items
  24. informal
    not in accord with established conventions and requirements
  25. ambiguous
    having more than one possible meaning
  26. complement
    something added to embellish or make perfect
  27. contraction
    the act of decreasing in size or volume or quantity or scope
  28. antecedent
    a preceding occurrence or cause or event
  29. pronoun
    a function word that is used in place of a noun
  30. capitalize
    write in large alphabetic characters
  31. jargon
    technical terminology characteristic of a particular subject
  32. predicate
    involve as a necessary condition or consequence
  33. punctuation
    the use of marks to clarify meaning of written material
  34. superlative
    highest in quality
  35. demonstrative
    a pronoun that points out an intended referent
  36. redundant
    more than is needed, desired, or required
  37. participle
    a form of the verb used as an adjective
  38. adverb
    a word that modifies something other than a noun
  39. abbreviation
    shortening something by omitting parts of it
  40. preposition
    a word before a noun or pronoun connecting to another word
  41. nomenclature
    a system of words used to name things in a discipline
  42. infinitive
    the uninflected form of the verb
  43. cliche
    a trite or obvious remark
  44. wordy
    using or containing too many words
  45. interjection
    an abrupt emphatic exclamation expressing emotion
  46. capital letter
    one of the large alphabetic characters used as the first letter in writing or printing proper names and sometimes for emphasis
  47. stilted
    artificially formal or stiff
  48. ligature
    the act of tying or binding things together
  49. part of speech
    a class of words distinguished by its function in a sentence
  50. ellipsis
    a mark indicating that words have been omitted
  51. acronym
    a word formed from the initial letters of several words
  52. objective case
    the case of nouns serving as the direct object of a verb
  53. modifier
    a content word that qualifies the meaning of a noun or verb
  54. possessive case
    the case expressing ownership
  55. nominative case
    the category of nouns serving as the grammatical subject of a verb
  56. gerund
    a noun formed from a verb
  57. relative pronoun
    a pronoun (as `that' or `which' or `who') that introduces a relative clause referring to some antecedent
  58. direct object
    the object that receives the direct action of the verb
  59. transitive verb
    a verb that requires an object in order to be grammatical
  60. transitive verb
    a verb that requires an object in order to be grammatical
  61. subjunctive mood
    a mood that represents an act or state (not as a fact but) as contingent or possible
  62. proper noun
    a word that denotes a particular person, place, or thing
  63. passive voice
    when the subject of a sentence is a recipient of the action
  64. auxiliary verb
    a verb that combines with another verb in a verb phrase to help form tense, mood, voice, or condition of the verb it combines with
  65. indicative mood
    a mood that represents the act or state as an objective fact
  66. imperative mood
    a mood that expresses an intention to influence the listener's behavior
  67. intransitive verb
    a verb (or verb construction) that does not take an object
  68. direct quotation
    a report of the exact words used in a discourse
  69. clam chowder
    chowder containing clams
  70. compound sentence
    a sentence composed of at least two coordinate independent clauses
  71. onomatopoeia
    using words that imitate the sound they denote
  72. comparative degree
    the comparative form of an adjective or adverb
  73. subordinate clause
    a section in a complex sentence that cannot stand alone
  74. dependent clause
    a section in a complex sentence that cannot stand alone
  75. imperfect tense
    a tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going
  76. wordiness
    boring verbosity
  77. complex sentence
    a sentence composed of at least one main clause and one subordinate clause
  78. independent clause
    a section in a complex sentence that can stand alone
  79. declarative sentence
    a sentence (in the indicative mood) that makes a declaration
  80. indirect object
    the object that is the recipient or beneficiary of the action of the verb
  81. positive degree
    the primary form of an adjective or adverb
  82. nonstandard
    varying from or not adhering to a standard
  83. prepositional phrase
    a phrase beginning with a preposition
  84. interrogative sentence
    a sentence of inquiry that asks for a reply
  85. main clause
    a section in a complex sentence that can stand alone
  86. appositive
    relating to or being in apposition
  87. reflexive pronoun
    a personal pronoun compounded with -self to show the agent's action affects the agent
  88. parenthetical expression
    an expression in parentheses
  89. schwa
    a neutral middle vowel that occurs in unstressed syllables
  90. dangling modifier
    a word or phrase unclearly or illogically describing a noun
  91. misplaced modifier
    a word or phrase apparently modifying an unintended word because of its placement in a sentence: e.g., `when young' in `when young, circuses appeal to all of us'
  92. subordinating conjunction
    a conjunction that introduces a dependent clause
  93. run-on sentence
    an ungrammatical sentence in which two or more independent clauses are conjoined without a conjunction
  94. linking verb
    an equating verb (such as `be' or `become') that links the subject with the complement of a sentence
Created on Tue Aug 21 00:56:14 EDT 2012 (updated Tue Aug 21 00:57:45 EDT 2012)

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