Daily Grammar - Glossary of Grammar Terms

Abstract nouns name ideas, characteristics, or qualities, such as courage, pride, goodness, and success. Lesson 19 Action verbs are verbs that show action. Action verbs are the most common verbs. Lessons 1, 3, 5, 10, & 15 Adjective prepositional phrase - a prepositional phrase that is used as an adjective telling, which or what kind, and modifying a noun or pronoun. An adjective prepositional phrase will come right after the noun or pronoun that it modifies. If there are two adjective prepositional phrases together, one will follow the other. Only adjective prepositional phrases modify the object of the preposition in another prepositional phrase. Lessons 176, 177, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, & 185 Adjective clause - a dependent clause that is used to modify a noun or a pronoun. It will begin with a relative pronoun (who, whose, whom, which, and that) or a subordinate conjunction (when and where). Those are the only words that can be used to introduce an adjective clause. The introductory word will always rename the word that it follows and modifies except when used with a preposition, which will come between the introductory word and the word it renames. Lessons 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, & 260 Adjective infinitive - an infinitive that is an adjective. They modify nouns or pronouns. Examples: to be, to see, to be seen, to be eaten. Lessons 224 & 225 Adjectives modify or affect the meaning of nouns and pronouns and tell us which, whose, what kind, and how many about the nouns or pronouns they modify. They generally come before the noun or pronoun they modify, but there are exceptions to that rule. There are seven (7) words in the English language that are always adjectives. They are the articles a, an, and the and the possessives my, our, your, and their (the possessives are from the possessive pronoun list, but are always used with nouns as adjectives). Lessons 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 151, 152, 153, 154, & 155 Adverb clause - a dependent clause that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb. It usually modifies the verb. Adverb clauses are introduced by subordinate conjunctions including after, although, as, as if, before, because, if, since, so that, than, though, unless, until, when, where, and while. (These are just some of the more common adverb clauses.) Lessons 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, & 270 Adverb infinitives are infinitives that are used to modify verbs. They usually tell why. Adverb infinitives are also used to modify predicate adjectives. They may also be compound. Lessons 231, 232, 233, 234, & 235 Adverb prepositional phrase - a prepositional phrase used as an adverb telling how, when, where, how much, and why and modifying the verb and sometimes an adjective. Adverb prepositional phrases can come anywhere in the sentence and can be moved within the sentence without changing the meaning. Lessons 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, & 185 Adverbial nouns (adverbial objectives) are nouns used as adverbs. They usually tell amount, weight, time, distance, direction, or value. They can have adjectives modifying them. Example: He waited two days. Lesson 164 Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They tell how (manner), when (time), where (place), how much (degree), and why (cause). Why is a common one-word adverb that tells why. Adverbs that tell us how, when, where, and why always modify the verb. Adverbs that tell us how much modify adjectives or other adverbs (these adverbs must come before the word they modify). Examples: He kicked the ball solidly. (how); He kicked the ball immediately. (when); He kicked the ball forward. (where); He kicked the ball too hard. (how much). Lessons 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, & 170 Antecedent - the word for which the pronoun stands. An example would be: The boy threw the football. He threw it over the fence. Boy is the antecedent for he, and football is the antecedent for it. A pronoun can also be an antecedent for another pronoun. For example: He likes his new car. He is the antecedent for his. The antecedent always comes before the pronoun for which it is the antecedent. Lesson 22 Appositive a word, or group of words, that identifies or renames the noun or pronoun that it follows. Commas set off an appositive, unless it is closely tied to the word that it identifies or renames. ("Closely tied" means that it is needed to identify the word.) Examples: My son Carl is a medical technician. (no commas) Badger, our dog with a missing leg, has a love for cats. (commas needed) Appositives should not be confused with predicate nominatives. A verb will separate the subject from the predicate nominative. An appositive can follow any noun or pronoun including the subject, direct object, or predicate nominative. Lessons 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 134, & 135 Articles are the adjectives a, an, and the. Lessons 41 & 42 Case means that a different form of a pronoun is used for different parts of the sentence. There are three cases: nominative, objective, and possessive. Lessons 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, & 145 Clause - a group of words having a subject and a verb (predicate). Lessons 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, & 295 Co-ordinate conjunctions join words, phrases, or clauses of equal rank. There are two kinds: simple and correlative. Simple co-ordinate conjunctions will be referred to as co-ordinate conjunctions in our lessons. The co-ordinate conjunctions are the following: and, but, or, nor, for, and yet. (For and yet can only join clauses.) Lessons 76, 77, 78, 79, 201, 202, 203, 204, & 205 Collective nouns name groups, such as team, class, and choir. Lesson 20 Comparative form compares two things or persons. Examples: newer, more careless, better. Lessons 56, 57, & 58 Complex sentence - a sentence made up of an independent clause and a dependent clause. Example: The television was playing (independent clause which can stand alone and make sense) as I left the room (dependent clause which must be attached to the independent clause to make sense). There are three kinds of dependent clauses: adjective, adverb, and noun. Lessons 251, 294, & 295 Compound nouns are made up of more than one word, such as dining room, Bill of Rights, Jeff Hansen, and homerun. Compound nouns can also be concrete or abstract. Lesson 19 Compound sentence - a combination of two or more independent clauses. Commas separate the clauses of a compound sentence. (A short sentence joined by and is sometimes combined without a comma.) Example: She talks and he listens. A semicolon can take the place of the conjunction and comma. Only clauses closely related in thought should be joined to make a compound sentence. Lessons 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, & 295 Compound verb - when two or more verbs are in a sentence. A compound verb is joined by either a co-ordinate conjunction or a correlative conjunction. Example: The bell rang and rang. Lesson 98 Back to top

Concrete nouns name things that exist physically as sidewalk, bird, toy, hair, and rain. Lesson 19 Conjunction - a word that joins other words, phrases (groups of words), or clauses (groups of words with a subject and verb). Lessons 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 201, 202, 203, 204, & 205 Correlative conjunctions are co-ordinate conjunctions and are always in pairs. They are either-or, neither-nor, both-and, not only-but also, and whether-or. Lessons 76, 80, 81, 82, 83, 201, 202, 203, 204, & 205 Count nouns are nouns that can be counted. You can use a, an, many, or a number before count nouns. Examples include: one boy, six sheep, and many days. Lesson 20 Declarative sentence - a sentence that makes a statement. Example: The assignment is due tomorrow. Lesson 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 331, & 335 Demonstrative pronouns are pronouns that point out. They include: this, that, these, and those. For example: That is my hat. I like these not those. Lessons 27 & 30 Dependent clause - a clause that is always used as some part of speech. It can be an adjective, adverb, or noun and cannot stand alone as a sentence. Lessons 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, & 295 Direct object - receives the action performed by the subject. The verb used with a direct object is always an action verb. Example: The car hit the tree. To find the direct object, say the subject and verb followed by whom or what. The car hit whom or what? Tree answers the question so tree is the direct object. The direct object must be a noun or pronoun. A direct object will never be in a prepositional phrase. The direct object will not equal the subject as the predicate nominative, nor does it have a linking verb as a predicate nominative sentences does. Lessons 106, 107, 108, 109, & 110 Elliptical clauses - an adverb clause that uses than and as to introduce the clause. That means they have some of their parts understood but not stated. Example: You are smarter than I. (am smart.) They always modify the comparative word (smarter). Lessons 263, 264, 265, & 270 Exclamatory sentence - a sentence that shows strong feeling. Declarative, imperative, or interrogative sentences can be made into exclamatory sentences by punctuating them with an exclamation point. Examples: The assignment is due tomorrow! Stop! Do you know that man! Lesson 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 334, & 335 First person pronouns are when a pronoun refers to the speaker or speakers. First person pronouns include: I, my, mine, me, myself, we, our, ours, us, ourselves. They are also considered personal pronouns. Lessons 21 Gerund - a verbal that always ends in ing and is used as a noun. Example: Eating is fun. The gerund can be a subject (Eating is fun.); a direct object (I like eating.); a predicate nominative (A fun time is eating.); an appositive (A fun time, eating, takes much time.); an indirect object (I give eating too much time.); or an object of a preposition (I give much time to eating.) Lessons 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 236, 237, 238, 239, & 240 Gerund phrase - a phrase that is made up of direct objects, predicate nominatives, predicate adjectives, or modifiers. Example: Eating solid foods is hard for babies. Eating is the gerund used as the subject of the verb is. It has its own direct object foods with the adjective solid, which together make up the gerund phrase eating solid foods serving as the subject of the sentence. Lessons 212, 213, 214, 215, 236, 237, 238, 239, & 240 Helping verbs are verbs used to make verb phrases. Lessons 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, & 15. There are twenty-three (23) helping verbs that should be memorized since they are used so often. They are usually grouped in the following five groups:
      Group 1: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been
      Group 2: has, have, had
      Group 3: do, does, did
      Group 4: shall, will, should, would
      Group 5: may, might, must, can, could Imperative sentence - a sentence that gives a command or makes a request. Examples: Hand it in now. Stop. Lessons 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 332, & 335 Indefinite pronouns point out generally, instead of pointing out specifically. Indefinite pronouns include such words as another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, many, neither, nobody, none, no one, one, other, others, some, somebody, and someone. Lessons 28 & 30 Independent clause - a clause that can stand alone as a sentence. Lessons 246, 247, 248, 249, & 250 Indirect object - an object that is really part of a prepositional phrase in which the preposition to or for is not stated but understood. It tells to whom or for whom something is done. The indirect object always comes between the verb and the direct object. Example: She gave me a gift. The indirect object always modifies the verb. It may have modifiers and be compound. It is used with verbs such as give, tell, send, get, buy, show, build, do, make, save, and read. Example: She sent the man and me a gift. Lessons 191, 192, 193, & 194 Infinitive - a verbal that is to plus a verb form. It can be a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. Examples: to be, to see, to be seen, to be eaten. Lessons 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 224, 225, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, & 240 Infinitive phrase - a phrase that is made up of an infinitive and any complements (direct objects, predicate nominatives, predicate adjectives, or modifiers). An infinitive phrase that comes at the beginning of the sentence is always followed by a comma and modifies the subject of the sentence. Example: To eat solid foods is hard for babies. To eat is the noun infinitive used as the subject of the verb is, and it has its own direct object foods with the adjective solid, which together make up the infinitive phrase to eat solid foods serving as the subject of the sentence. Lessons 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 224, 225, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, & 240 Intensive pronouns are the personal pronouns myself, yourself, yourselves, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, and themselves. An example would be: Carl, himself, won the race. Lesson 25 Interjection - a word or word group that shows feeling. A comma follows a mild interjection; a strong interjection is followed by an exclamation mark. Interjections do not fit grammatically with the rest of the sentence. They are never the subject and they come at the beginning of a sentence. Examples: Well, we will soon be home. Oh! I didn't know he had died. Lessons 85 & 97 Back to top

Interrogative pronouns ask questions. Who, whom, whose, which, and what are interrogative pronouns. Lessons 29 & 30 Interrogative sentence - a sentence that asks a question. Example: Do you know that man? Lessons 91, 94, 333, & 335 Intransitive complete are all the verbs that don't fit one of the other kinds of transitive or intransitive verbs. Examples: The bell rang suddenly. The girl knitted all evening (there is no receiver of the action). They were here (no action or predicate nominative or predicate adjective). Lessons 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, & 125 Intransitive linking are sentences with a predicate nominative or predicate adjective. Examples: The girl is Mary (predicate nominative). The girl is cute (predicate adjective). Lessons 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, & 125 Intransitive verbs have no receiver of the action. They are classified as intransitive complete or intransitive linking. Lessons 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, & 125 Introductory there - to be an introductory there, it must meet these rules: 1) It must be the first word of a sentence (Sometimes a prepositional phrase out of its normal order can come before it.); 2) It cannot mean where; 3) It must be with a state of being verb; and 4) The subject will always come after the verb in such a sentence. The introductory there doesn't fit grammatically with the rest of the sentence, as we will find most other words do. Lessons 96 & 97 Linking verbs (state of being verbs) show that something exists; they do not show action. Some common linking verbs include: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been, seem, look, feel, and become. Lessons 2, 3, 5, 10, & 15 Mass nouns are nouns that are not countable and include words like gasoline, water, and dirt. Lesson 20 Nominative case pronouns are I, she, he, we, they, and who. They are used as subjects, predicate nominatives, and appositives when used with a subject or predicate nominative. Lessons 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, & 145 Noun - a word that names a person, place, or thing. Examples of nouns include: man, city, book, and courage. Nouns often follow words like a, an, and the. Lessons 16, 17, 18, 19, & 20 Noun adjuncts - nouns used as adjective or nouns used to describe another noun,. They tell us whose or what kind. Lesson 33 Noun clause - a dependent clause that can be used in the same way as a noun or pronoun. It can be a subject, predicate nominative, direct object, appositive, indirect object, or object of the preposition. Some of the words that introduce noun clauses are that, whether, who, why, whom, what, how, when, whoever, where, and whomever. Notice that some of these words also introduce adjective and adverb clauses. (To check a noun clause substitute the pronoun it or the proper form of the pronouns he or she for the noun clause.) Examples: I know who said that. (I know it.) Whoever said it is wrong. (He is wrong.) Sometimes a noun clause is used without the introductory word. Example: I know that he is here. (I know he is here.) Lessons 271, 272, 273, 274, & 275 Noun infinitive - an infinitive that is a noun. Noun infinitives can be a subject (To eat is fun.); a direct object (I like to eat.); a predicate nominative (A fun thing is to eat.); an appositive (My hope, to travel, never happened.); an object of a preposition (I want nothing but to save.) Lessons 216, 217, 218, 219, & 220 Nouns of address (nominatives of address) are the persons or things to which you are speaking. They are set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma or commas, may have modifiers, and are not related to the rest of the sentence grammatically. If they are removed, a complete sentence remains. They may be first, last, or in the middle of the sentence. Examples: John, where are you going? Where are you going, John? Where, John, are you going? Lessons 131, 132, 133, 134, & 135 Object of the preposition - a noun or noun equivalent in a prepositional phrase. Lesson 71 Objective case pronouns are me, her, him, us, them, and whom. They are used as direct objects, indirect objects, objects of the preposition, and appositives when used with one of the objects. (You and it are both nominative and objective case.) Lessons 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, & 145 Objective complement - a noun or an adjective, which follows the direct object renaming or modifying it. It is used with verbs like make, name, call, choose, elect, and appoint. It is not set off with commas as an appositive is. Example: I call my dog Badger. A verb that has an objective complement in the active voice may, in the passive voice, have a predicate nominative or a predicate adjective. Examples: My dog is called Badger by me. I consider my dog smart. My dog is considered smart by me. Lessons 196, 197, 198, 199, & 200 Participial adjectives are verb forms used as adjectives. Examples: the lost mine, the howling wolf. Lesson 34 Participial phrase - a phrase that is made up of a participle and any complements (direct objects, predicate nominatives, predicate adjectives, or modifiers). A participial phrase that comes at the beginning of the sentence is always followed by a comma and modifies the subject of the sentence. Lessons 221, 222, 223, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 286, 287, 288, 289, & 290 Participle - a verbal that is an adjective and ends various ways. A present participle always ends with ing as does the gerund, but remember that it is an adjective. A past participle ends with ed, n, or irregularly. Examples: played, broken, brought, sung, seeing, having seen, being seen, seen, having been seen. Participles modify nouns and pronouns and can precede or follow the word modified. Lessons 221, 222, 223, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 236, 237, 238, 239, & 240 Personal pronouns refer to three types of people: the speaker or speakers, those spoken to, and those spoken about. Personal pronouns can be singular (one) or plural (two or more), just as verbs and nouns. Lessons 23, 24, 25, & 30 Phrase - a group of words used as a sentence part. It does not have a subject and a verb. It can be a noun, adjective, or adverb. Some common phrases are prepositional, gerund, participial, and infinitive. Lesson 246 Back to top

Positive comparison states a quality of one thing or person. Examples: new, careless, good. Lesson 36 Possessive case pronouns are my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, your, yours, their, and theirs. They are used to show ownership. Lessons 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, & 145 Possessive pronouns are personal pronouns that show whose something is. Possessive pronouns include: my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, and theirs. An example would be: The money is mine. Mine tells whose money it is. Possessive pronouns never have apostrophes, but possessive nouns do. Do not confuse the possessive personal pronouns its, your, and their with the contractions it's (it is, it has), you're (you are), and they're (they are). Lesson 23 Possessives are the adjectives my, our, your, and their (the possessives are from the possessive pronoun list, but are always used with nouns as adjectives). Lesson 31 Predicate adjective - an adjective which comes after a linking verb and modifies the subject (most adjectives come before the noun or pronoun they modify). Lesson 155 Predicate nominative (predicate noun) - a word that completes a linking verb and renames the subject. It is a complement or completer, because it completes the verb. Predicate nominatives complete only linking verbs. The linking verbs include the following: the helping verbs is, am, are, was, were, be, being, and been; the sense verbs look, taste, smell, feel, and sound; and verbs like become, seem, appear, grow, continue, stay, and turn. The word equals can always replace the verb in a sentence having a predicate nominative. Example: Mr. Johanson is a teacher. Mr. Johanson equals a teacher. Lessons 101, 102, 103, 104, & 105 Preposition - a word that begins a prepositional phrase and shows the relationship between its object and another word in the sentence. Words are prepositions if they have an object to complete them. To decide if the word in question is a preposition, say the preposition followed by whom or what. If a noun or a pronoun answers the question, the word is a preposition. If there is no noun or pronoun to complete the sentence, the word is not a preposition. Lessons 71, 72, & 75 Prepositional phrase - a phrase that starts with a preposition, ends with an object, and may have modifiers between the preposition and object of the preposition. Lessons 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, & 185 Pronominal adjectives are pronouns used as adjectives. Lesson 32 Pronoun - a word that replaces a noun, or a group of words used as nouns. Lessons 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, & 145 Proper nouns name a special person, place, or thing and begin with capital letters. Nouns are grouped into two general classifications: proper and common. All nouns that begin with small letters and are considered common. Lesson 18 Qualifiers are adverbs that strengthen or weaken the words they modify. Lessons 46 & 61 Relative pronouns join dependent clauses to independent clauses. Relative pronouns include: who, whose, whom, which, and that. Example: He found his money that he had lost. That joins the two clauses together into one sentence. Lessons 26 & 30 Reflexive pronouns - The personal pronouns myself, yourself, yourselves, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, and themselves are compound personal pronouns, combining the personal pronoun with self or selves. For example: Carl hurt himself. Lesson 24 State of being verbs (linking verbs) show that something exists; they do not show action. Some common linking verbs include: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been, seem, look, feel, and become. Lessons 2, 3, 5, 10, & 15 Second person pronouns are when the pronoun refers to people who are spoken to. Second person pronouns include: you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves. They are also considered personal pronouns. Lessons 21 Sentence - a group of words expressing a complete thought, and it must have a subject and a verb (predicate - some grammar books use the word predicate, but we will use verb). A verb shows action or state of being. Examples: The bell rang. The boy is here. The subject tells who or what about the verb. Examples: The bell rang. The boy is here. There are four kinds of sentences: declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory. Lessons 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, & 295 Subject - a word that tells who or what about the verb. When finding the subject and the verb in a sentence, always find the verb first and then say who or what followed by the verb. Example: The bell rang. Find the verb - rang. Now say who or what rang? The bell rang. Bell is the subject. Lessons 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, & 110 Subordinate conjunctions join dependent clauses to independent clauses. Some common subordinate conjunctions are after, although, as, as if, because, before, if, since, so that, than, unless, until, when, where, and while. Lessons 76 & 84 Superlative form compares more than two things or persons. Examples: newest, most careless, best. Lessons 56, 57, & 58 Third person pronouns are when the pronoun refers to those spoken about. Third person pronouns include: he, his, him, himself, she, her, hers, herself, it, its, itself, they, their, theirs, them, themselves. They are also considered personal pronouns. Lessons 21 Transitive active verbs are the verbs in sentences with a direct object. Example: The boy kicked the ball. The subject is the doer and the direct object is the receiver of the action. Lessons 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, & 125 Transitive passive verbs have the subject receiving the action with the doer in a prepositional phrase or omitted in the sentence. Examples: The ball was kicked by the boy. The ball was kicked hard. The verb in the transitive passive voice always has is, am, are, was, were, be, being, or been as an auxiliary or helping verb. Lessons 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, & 125 Transitive verbs are verbs that have subjects or objects that receive an action. They are either active voice or passive voice. Lessons 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, & 125 Verb phrase is when a verb is more than one word. Using auxiliary or helping verbs makes verb phrases. Lessons 4, 6, & 15 Verbal - a verb form used as some other part of speech. There are three kinds of verbals: gerunds, participles, and infinitives. Lessons 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, & 240 Verbs show action or state of being. Most verbs are action words, but a few verbs indicate state of being or existence. Lessons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 286, 287, 288, 289, & 290 Back to top