English Grammar Terms & Definitions
Active Voice
In the active voice, the subject of the verb does the action (eg They killed the President). See also Passive Voice.
Adjective
A word like big, red, easy, French, etc. An adjective describes a noun or pronoun.
Adverb
A word like slowly, quietly, well, often, etc. An adverb modifies a verb.
Article
The "indefinite" articles are a and an. The "definite article" is the.
Auxiliary Verb
A verb that is used with a main verb. Be, do and have are auxiliary verbs. Can, may, must, etc are modal auxiliary verbs.
Clause
A group of words containing a subject and its verb (for example It was late when he arrived).
Conjunction
A word used to connect words, phrases, and clauses (for example: and, but, if).
Infinitive
The basic form of a verb as in to work or work.
Interjection
An exclamation inserted into an utterance without grammatical connection (for example: oh! ah! ouch! well!).
Modal Verb
An auxiliary verb like can, may, must, etc that modifies the main verb and expresses possibility, probability, etc. It is also called a "modal auxiliary verb".
Noun
A word like table, dog, teacher, America, etc. A noun is the name of an object, concept, person, or place. A "concrete noun" is something you can see or touch like a person or car. An "abstract noun" is something that you cannot see or touch like a decision or happiness. A "countable noun" is something that you can count (for example bottle, song, dollar). An "uncountable noun" is something that you cannot count (for example water, music, money).
Object
In the active voice, a noun or its equivalent that receives the action of the verb. In the passive voice, a noun or its equivalent that does the action of the verb.
Participle
The -ing and -ed forms of verbs. The -ing form is called the "present participle". The -ed form is called the "past participle" (for irregular verbs, this is column 3).
Part Of Speech
One of the eight classes of word in English - noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.
Passive Voice
In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb (eg The President was killed). See also Active Voice.
Phrase
A group of words not containing a subject and its verb (eg on the table, the girl in a red dress).
Predicate
Each sentence contains (or implies) two parts: a subject and a predicate. A predicate is what is said about the subject.
Preposition
A word like at, to, in, over, etc. Prepositions usually come before a noun and give information about things like time, place, and direction.
Pronoun
A word like I, me, you, he, him, it, etc. A pronoun replaces a noun.
Sentence
A group of words that express a thought. A sentence conveys a statement, question, exclamation, or command. A sentence contains or implies a subject and a predicate. In simple terms, a sentence must contain a verb and (usually) a subject. A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (.), question mark (?), or exclamation mark (!).
Subject
Every sentence contains (or implies) two parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject is the main noun (or equivalent) in a sentence about which something is said.
Tense
The form of a verb that shows us when the action or state happens (past, present, or future). Note that the name of a tense is not always a guide to when the action happens. The "present continuous tense", for example, can be used to talk about the present or the future.
Verb
A word like (to) work, (to) love, (to) begin. A verb describes an action or state.
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