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Home
Grammar and usage
Grammar
Grammar A-Z

Grammar AZ
Some grammatical terms may be familiar to you, but others can be confusing or hard to remember. Clicking on any term
below will give you a quick and clear definition. Below the categorized section youll find all the terms listed from AZ,
so you can browse that way if you prefer.

Nouns
Noun
Abstract noun
Collective noun
Common noun
Concrete noun
Countable noun
Gerund
Mass noun
Proper noun
Uncountable noun
Verbal noun

Verbs
Verb
Active
Auxiliary verb
Infinitive
Intransitive
Irregular
Modal verb
Participle
Passive
Phrasal verb
Regular
Split infinitive
Transitive

Adjectives
Adjective
Attributive
Comparative
Postpositive

Predicative
Superlative

Pronouns
Pronoun
Personal pronoun
Possessive pronoun

Articles
Definite article
Indefinite article

Tenses and Moods

Conditional
Continuous
Future
Imperative
Indicative
Interrogative
Mood
Past
Present
Progressive
Subjunctive
Tense

Sentences
Sentence
Object
Subject
Syntax

Clauses
Clause
Conditional clause
Coordinate clause
Defining relative clause
Main clause
Non-restrictive relative clause
Relative clause
Restrictive relative clause

Subordinate clause

Speech
Direct speech
Indirect speech
Reported speech

Other parts of speech

Part of speech
Adverb
Conjunction
Determiner
Exclamation
Interjection
Preposition
Quantifier
Word class

Other useful terms

Affirmative
Complement
Compound
Consonant
Contraction
Corpus
First person
Formal
Inflection
Informal
Modifier
Morpheme
Negative
Phrase
Plural
Prefix
Second person
Slang
Standard English
Suffix
Syllable
Third person
Vowel

active
An active verb has a subject which is performing the action of the verb, for example:
John ate the apple.
The opposite of passive. Find out more about verbs.

abstract noun
A noun which refers to an idea, quality, or state (e.g. warmth, liberty, happiness), rather than a physical thing that can
be seen or touched. Compare with concrete noun.

adjective
A word, such as heavy, red, or sweet, that is used to describe (or modify) a noun. Learn more about adjectives.

adverb
A word, such as very, really or slowly, that is used to give more information about an adjective, verb, or other adverb.
Learn more about how to use adverbs.

affirmative
A word, sentence, or phrase that states that something is the case or which expresses agreement, for instance: whales
are mammals; thats correct. The opposite of negative.

attributive
An attributive adjective is used before the noun it describes, e.g. a red apple or a heavy bag. The opposite of
predicative.

auxiliary verb
Auxiliary verbs are used to form tenses or passive forms of other verbs. The main ones are be, do, and have. See also
modal verb. Learn more about verbs.

Back to top

clause
A group of words that contains a verb and either forms part of a sentence or is a complete sentence in itself. For
example:
I went to the bank and drew out some money.
[clause] [clause]
See also main clause, subordinate clause, relative clause, conditional clause, coordinate clause and examples of clauses.

collective noun
A noun which refers to a group of people or things, e.g. team, family, police, committee. Find out how to match verbs
to collective nouns.

common noun
Any noun which refers to a person, animal, or thing in general: woman, dog, and bed are all common nouns. Compare
with proper noun.

comparative
The comparative form of an adjective is used for comparing two people or things, to express the fact that one has a
higher degree of a quality than the other. For example: shes taller than me; hes happier today than yesterday;
theyre more popular than the Beatles. Compare with superlative. Find out more about comparing adjectives.

complement
A word or phrase, especially an adjective or a noun, that is used after linking verbs such as be, seem, and become, and
describes the subject of the verb, for example: she became a teacher; I was angry; they seemed very friendly.

compound
A word made up of two or more existing words, such as credit card, left-handed, or website. Learn more about
hyphens in compound words.

concrete noun
A noun which refers to a physical person or thing that can be seen, felt, heard, etc. For example, child, horse, and
house are all concrete nouns. Compare with abstract noun.

conditional
In grammar, conditional can mean two things. Firstly, the conditional form (mood) of a verb, which is made from
would (also should with I and we) plus the infinitive without to: he would see; should we stay or go? Secondly,
conditional is used to refer to a clause or sentence expressing the fact that something must happen before something
else can happen, for example: If I had more money, Id buy a bigger house. Should you change your mind, wed
be happy to help. See also conditional clause.

conditional clause
A clause which describes something that is possible or probable, depending on something else happening. Such clauses
usually begin with if or unless, for example:
If it rains, the match will be cancelled.
Im not going to the party unless she comes too.

conjunction
A word that is used to link other words or parts of a sentence, such as and, but, or if. Learn about the different types
of conjunctions.

consonant
A spoken sound made by completely or partially blocking the flow of air breathed out through the mouth. In English,
consonants are represented by the letters b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, and z. Compare with
vowel. See also is the letter Y a vowel or a consonant?

continuous
A verb tense used to describe an action that continues for a period of time. Continuous tenses are formed with the verb
to be plus the present participle, for example: Im watching the TV; it was snowing. Also called progressive. Learn
more about continuous tenses.

contraction

A shortened form of a word or group of words, e.g. theyre is a contraction of they are. Read more about
contractions.

coordinate clause
A clause that is linked to another clause by a conjunction such as and, or, or but. Coordinate clauses make separate
statements that have equal importance, for instance:
It was freezing cold but the sun was shining.
[coordinate clause] [coordinate clause]

corpus
In the context of dictionaries and linguistics, a corpus is a very large and diverse collection of written (or spoken)
material that is gathered into an electronic database and can be analysed to find out how people are really using
language. Find out more about the Oxford English Corpus.

countable noun
Also called count noun. A noun that refers to something that can be counted and has both singular and plural forms,
such as cat/cats, woman/women, family/families. The opposite of uncountable noun. Learn more about countable
and uncountable nouns.
Back to top

defining relative clause

Another term for restrictive relative clause.

definite article
A term for the determiner the. See also indefinite article.

determiner
A word that introduces a noun, such as the, a, every, and this. See also definite article, indefinite article, possessive
determiners.

direct speech
The actual words of a speaker quoted in writing, e.g. I dont believe you, said Nina. Compare with reported speech.
Learn about punctuation in direct speech.

exclamation
A sound, word, or phrase expressing an emotion or feeling such as anger, surprise, pleasure, or pain (e.g. Ow!; Thats
great!). Learn more about exclamations. Also called interjection.

first person
The pronouns, verb forms, and determiners which are used by a speaker to identify himself or herself, or to refer to a
group including himself or herself, for instance, I, we, my, we were, I went. Compare with second person, third person.

formal
Formal speaking and writing typically has more complex grammatical structures and more conservative or technical
vocabulary than everyday English. Its used in official communications and speeches, business reports, legal contexts,
academic books, etc. For example: The defendant was unable to give any alternative satisfactory explanation of
how he financed the purchase, apart from unspecified loans from individuals not available to give evidence.
Compare with informal, slang.

future
A verb tense used to refer to something that has not yet happened, for example: I shall arrive in Paris at midday;
Will it be sunny this weekend? Learn more about verb tenses.

gerund
Another term for verbal noun.
Back to top

imperative
The form (or mood) of a verb that expresses a command or instruction. For example: Come here! Add the onions to
the pan.

indefinite article
A term for the determiner a (or an). See also definite article.

indicative
The form (or mood) of a verb that expresses simple statements of fact. In the sentence Jo likes coffee, the verb like is
in the indicative mood. Find out more about the indicative and other types of verbs.

indirect speech
Another term for reported speech.

infinitive
The basic unchanged form of a verb, which usually occurs with the word to. For instance: to read; to be. See also
split infinitive.

inflection
A change in the form of a word (usually the ending) to show its grammatical function in a sentence, for example the tense
of a verb or the plural of a noun.

informal
Informal speaking and writing typically has fairly simple grammatical structures, doesnt always follow strict grammatical
rules, and uses non-specialist vocabulary. Its suitable for everyday communication with friends or other people you
know. For example: Coming out tonight? No chance, sorry!. Compare with formal, slang.
Back to top

interjection
Another term for exclamation.

interrogative
Used to describe a word used to ask a question, or to describe a sentence in the form of a question. For instance, how,
where, and who are interrogative words, and Why dont we meet for coffee? is an interrogative sentence (that is, a

question). The interrogative form (mood) of a verb is used to ask questions and in English its formed by an auxiliary
verb which is placed before the subject, for example: Are you going on holiday this year?

intransitive
An intransitive verb is not followed by an object. In the following sentences, talk and cry are intransitive verbs:
The baby was crying.
We talked for hours.
The opposite of transitive. See examples of intransitive and transitive verbs.

irregular
An irregular word, such as a noun or verb, has inflections that do not follow the normal rules. For example, the plural of
man is the irregular form men, and the past of the verb run is ran. The opposite of regular. Learn more about regular
and irregular verbs.

mass noun
A noun that refers to something that cant be counted, and which does not regularly have a plural form, for example
rain, darkness, happiness, or humour. Also called uncountable noun. The opposite of countable noun. Learn more
about countable and uncountable nouns.

main clause
A clause that makes sense on its own, or may form part of a longer sentence. For example:
Were waiting for the bus.
[main clause]
I went to a restaurant and I treated myself to lunch.
[main clause] [main clause]
See also clause, subordinate clause, relative clause, conditional clause, and examples of clauses.

modal verb
A modal verb is an auxiliary verb which is used with another verb to talk about possibility, probability, permission,
intention, etc. The main modal verbs are can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will, would. Also called

modal auxiliary verb.

modifier
A word or phrase that changes, restricts, or adds to the meaning of another word, often a noun or adjective used before
another noun. Adverbs can also act as modifiers, for example, in the following sentence, very [adverb], large
[adjective], and family [noun] are all being used as modifiers to give more information about the noun home: It was a
very large family home.

mood
A category or form of a verb which indicates whether the verb expresses a fact (the indicative mood), a command (the
imperative mood), a question (the interrogative mood), a condition (the conditional mood) or a wish or possibility (the
subjunctive mood).

morpheme
The smallest unit of meaning into which a word can be divided. You cannot break a morpheme down into anything
smaller that has a meaning. For example, the word never has one morpheme, while the word nevertheless has three
morphemes (never, the, and less). Read more about morphemes. Compare with syllable.
Back to top
negative
A word or phrase stating that something is not the case, such as never, nothing, no, or not. The opposite of
affirmative. See also double negatives.

non-restrictive relative clause

A clause which gives extra information that could be left out of a sentence without affecting the structure or meaning.
Non-restrictive relative clauses are normally introduced by which, who, or whose (but never by that) and you should
place a comma in front of them:
He held out the small bag, which Jane snatched eagerly.
[main clause] [non-restrictive relative clause]
Also called non-defining relative clause. See also clause, main clause, subordinate clause, restrictive relative clause,
conditional clause, and examples of clauses.

noun

A word that refers to a person or thing, for example book, John, country, London, or friendship. Different types of
noun include abstract, collective, countable/uncountable, concrete, gerund/verbal, mass, and proper. Find out more
about nouns.

object
The person or thing affected by a verb, for example:
He was eating a sandwich.
She loves animals.
Compare with subject. Read more about objects.
Back to top

part of speech
Another term for word class. Find out more about different parts of speech.

participle
The past participle is the form of a verb which is used to form:
certain past tenses, e.g. I have looked everywhere; we had decided to leave.
adjectives, e.g. broken glass; lost property.
The present participle is the form of a verb, ending in ing, that is used to form:
continuous tenses describing something that is still happening, e.g. I am thinking, she was talking.
adjectives, e.g. running water, the freezing rain.
verbal nouns, e.g. a woman of good breeding; no smoking allowed.
Here is some advice on avoiding dangling participles.

passive
A passive verb has a subject which is undergoing the action of the verb, rather than carrying it out, e.g.:
The apple was eaten.
The opposite of active. Find out more about types of verb.

past
A verb tense used to refer to something that happened before the present, for example: we went shopping last
Saturday; Did you go for a meal, too? Learn more about verb tenses.

personal pronoun
A word such as I, me, you, him, her, s, we, they, or them that is used in place of a noun that has already been
mentioned or that is already known. Compare with possessive pronoun. See when to use 'I' or 'me'.

phrasal verb
A verb that is made up of a main verb together with an adverb or a preposition (or both). Typically the meaning of a
phrasal verb is not obvious from the meanings of the component words, e.g. his car broke down; the idea didnt
catch on; youre putting me off. Find out more about other types of verb.

phrase
A small group of words that forms a meaningful unit within a clause, for example the red dress; in the city. A phrase is
also a group of words which have a specific meaning when used together, for example to let the cat out of the bag.
Learn more about phrases.

plural
The form of a noun that is used to refer to more than one person or thing, such as books or benches. For more
guidance see plurals of nouns.

possessive pronoun
A pronoun, such as mine, yours, hers, or ours, that refers to something owned by the speaker or by someone or
something previously referred to, for example: that book is mine; Johns eyes met hers; ours is a family farm.
Compare with personal pronoun.

postpositive
A postpositive adjective is placed after the word it relates to, for example galore in there were prizes galore. Learn
more about the different types of adjective.

predicative
A predicative adjective follows a verb such as be, become, grow, look, or seem. For example: the future looks
gloomy; they grew weary. The opposite of attributive.

prefix
A letter or group of letters placed at the beginning of an existing word to change its meaning, such as un- (as in unable,
unlock, or unhappy) or multi- (as in multimedia, multitask, or multicultural). Compare with suffix. See examples of
prefixes and suffixes.

preposition
A word that is used in front of a noun or pronoun to show place, time, direction, or method. For example:
She ran across the street.
The restaurant is not open during the day.
We went by train.
Find out more about prepositions and guidance on ending sentences with prepositions.

present
A verb tense used to refer to something that is happening or exists now or that happens or exists regularly, for example:
I love my parents; she goes swimming every week. Read more about verb tenses.

progressive
Another term for continuous.

pronoun
A word such as I, he, she, it, we, hers, us, your, or they that is used instead of a noun to indicate someone or
something that has already been mentioned, especially to avoid repeating the noun. For example:
Kate was tired so she went to bed.
Print out the leaflet and pass it round.
See when to use 'I' or 'me'. Read more about pronouns.

proper noun
A noun that identifies a particular person or thing, e.g. John, Italy, London, Monday, Windsor Castle. In written
English, proper nouns begin with capital letters. Compare with common noun. Find out about other types of noun.
Back to top

quantifier
A determiner or pronoun which is used to express quantity, for example: many, several, all, both.

regular
A regular word, such as a noun or a verb, has inflections that follow the normal rules. For instance, the noun cat has a
regular plural with -s (cats), and the verb to love forms its tenses in the normal way (loved; loving). The opposite of
irregular. Find out more about regular and irregular verbs.

relative clause
A clause which is connected to a main clause by a word such as that, which, who, whose, or where. For example:
I first saw her in Paris, where I lived in the early twenties.
[main clause] [relative clause]
See also examples of clauses. Learn more about relative clauses.

reported speech
The reporting of a speakers words, rather than quoting them directly, e.g. Nina said that she didnt believe him.
Compare with direct speech. Also called indirect speech.

restrictive relative clause

A clause which gives essential information about a noun that comes before it. Restrictive relative clauses can be
introduced by that, which, who, or whose. You should not place a comma in front of them. For example:
It reminded him of the house that/which he used to live in.
He's going out with a girl who used to go to my school.

[main clause] [restrictive relative clause]

Also called defining relative clause. See clause and compare with non-restrictive relative clause.
Back to top

second person
The pronouns, verb forms, and determiners which are used to speak to someone, for instance, you, your, you slept.
Compare with first person, third person.

sentence
A sentence is a group of words that makes complete sense, contains a main verb, begins with a capital letter, and ends
with a full stop, exclamation mark, or question mark. For example: Paul flew to New York last Monday; Whose turn
is it to do the washing up? Read more on sentences.

slang
Very informal words and expressions that are mainly found in speaking rather than writing. Slang is often used by a
particular group, such as young people or the armed forces. For example, in British teenage slang, bare means very or
a lot of (I was bare tired), while in military slang, a bandit is an enemy aircraft. Compare with formal, informal.

split infinitive
A split infinitive happens when an adverb is placed between to and a verb, e.g. She seems to really like him. Some
people object strongly to split infinitives. Although theres no real grammatical justification for this view, its best to avoid
them in formal writing. More on split infinitives.

standard English
The type of English that is suitable for use in every type of written or spoken situation (as opposed to informal language
or slang).

subject
The subject of a sentence is generally the person or thing that the sentence is about, often the person or thing that
performs the action of a verb. For example:
The restaurant was packed.

He was eating a sandwich.

Compare with object. Here's some help on matching subjects with verbs.

subjunctive
A special form (or mood) of a verb that expresses a wish or possibility instead of a fact. In the following sentences the
verbs face and were are in the subjunctive mood (the ordinary indicative forms would be faces and was):
The report recommends that he face a tribunal.
I wish I were more organized.

subordinate clause
A clause which depends on a main clause for its meaning. Together with a main clause, a subordinate clause forms part
of a longer sentence. A sentence may contain more than one subordinate clause. There are two main types of
subordinate clause: the relative clause and the conditional clause.

suffix
A group of letters placed at the end of an existing word to change its meaning, such as ish (as in childish or feverish)
or able (as in likeable or breakable). The opposite of prefix. See examples of prefixes and suffixes.

superlative
The superlative form of an adjective is used for comparing one person or thing with every other member of their group,
to express the fact that they have the highest or a very high degree of a quality. For example: shes the tallest girl in
the class; hes the happiest person I know; theyre the most popular band in the world. Compare with
comparative. See more examples of comparative and superlative adjectives.

syllable
A word or part of a word that contains one vowel sound, and usually one or more consonants before or after the vowel
sound. For example, speak has one syllable and speaker has two syllables (speak and -er). Compare with morpheme.

syntax
Syntax is the way in which words and phrases are put together to create well-formed sentences in a language. For
example, 'I went to the shops today' is correct English syntax, whereas 'Shops I went today the to' is not.

Back to top

tense
The form that a verb takes to show when a person did something, or when something existed or happened. In English
the main tenses are: present, past, and future. Learn more about verb tenses.

third person
The pronouns, verb forms, and determiners which are used by a speaker to refer to other people or things, for instance,
he, she, it, their, it has, they were. Compare with first person, second person.

transitive
A transitive verb is one that is used with an object. In the following sentences, admire and follow are transitive verbs: I
admire your courage. They followed him back to his house. The opposite of intransitive. See examples of transitive
and intransitive verbs.

uncountable noun
Another term for mass noun. Opposite of countable noun. Find out about other types of noun.
Back to top

verb
A word that describes what a person or thing does, or what happens, for example run, sing, grow, occur, seem. Learn
more about verbs.

verbal noun
The present participle of a verb when its used as a noun, e.g. 'smoking' in smoking is strictly forbidden. Also called
gerund.

vowel
A spoken sound made with the mouth open and without the tongue touching the roof of the mouth, teeth, etc. In English,
vowels are represented by the letters a, e, i, o, and u. Compare with consonant. See also is the letter Y a vowel or a
consonant?

word class
Word classes are the categories to which words belong according to the part they play in a sentence, e.g. noun, verb,
adjective, adverb, or pronoun. Also called part of speech.
Back to top

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Grammar and usage

Grammar
Grammar tips
Compound subjects
Double negatives
Dangling participles
Ending sentences with prepositions
Matching subjects and verbs
Personal pronouns
Matching verbs to collective nouns

Singular nouns treated as plural

Split infinitives
Grammar A-Z
Word classes (or parts of speech)
Adjectives
Adjuncts
Adverbs
Conjunctions
Determiners
Exclamations
Nouns
Countable and uncountable nouns
Prepositions
Pronouns
Verbs
Continuous tenses
Sentences, clauses, and phrases
Sentences
Clauses
Phrases
Spelling
Adding endings to words that end in -our
Adding endings to words that end in -y
Adding endings to words that end in a double l
Abbreviations
Acronyms
Contractions
Initialisms
Shortenings
Adding -ful or -fully
Adding -ly
Ante- or anti-?
Common misspellings
Comparative and superlative adjectives
Endings beginning with vowels
Words ending in -ance and -ence
Words ending in -ancy and -ency
Words spelled with -ae/-oe
Words ending in -ary, -ory, and -ery
Words ending in -ant and -ent
Words ending in -efy and -ify
Words ending in -ence/-ense
Nouns ending in -er, -or, and -ar
Words ending in -ious and -eous
Words ending in -ogue/-og
-ize, -ise, or -yse?
Words ending in -able or -ible
Nouns ending in -acy and -asy

English spelling changes

fore- or for-?
Forming adverbs
i before e except after c
Plurals of nouns
Prefixes and suffixes
Spelling differences and changes
Minuscule or miniscule?
Currying favour
Old and new forms
One word or two?
British and American spelling
Spelling rules and tips
Tracking the changes
Using capital letters
Verb tenses: adding -ed and -ing
Words containing the letter q
Words ending in a vowel plus l
Words ending in -cede, -ceed, and -sede
Words ending in -ch and -tch
Words ending in -re/-er
Words ending in -sion, -tion, and -cion
Words with misleading beginnings
Punctuation
Full stop (.)
Comma (,)
Semicolon (;)
Colon (:)
Apostrophe ()
Hyphen (-)
Dash ()
Brackets ( ) [ ]
Inverted commas
Exclamation mark (!)
Question mark (?)
Bullet points
Punctuation in direct speech
Punctuation in lists
Punctuation in abbreviations
Writing help
Applying for a job
Building a piece of writing
Structure
Cohesion
Business letters
General correspondence
Insurance claims
Invitations

Letters of complaint
Writing a CV/rsum
Writing job applications
Writing reports
Clichs and redundant expressions
Avoiding clichs
Avoiding redundant expressions
Usage
A historic event or an historic event?
Adverse or averse?
Affect or effect?
All right or alright?
Allude or elude?
Alternate or alternative?
Among or amongst?
Amoral or immoral?
Assume or presume?
Appraise or apprise?
Between you and me
Bored by, of, or with?
Bring or take?
British and American terms
Can or may?
Cannot or can not?
Censure or censor?
Climactic or climatic?
Commonly confused words
Complement or compliment?
Continual or continuous?
Could of or could have?
Denote or connote?
Dialect
Different from, than, or to?
Diffuse or defuse?
Discreet or discrete?
Disinterested or uninterested?
Enquire or inquire?
Ensure or insure?
Especially or specially?
Farther or further?
Flair or flare?
Flaunt or flout?
Formal language
Grizzly or grisly?
He or she versus they
Historic or historical?
Hopefully
I or me?

i.e. or e.g.?
Imply or infer?
Informal language
Irregardless
Its or its?
Laid or lain?
Learnt or learned?
Less or fewer?
Like
Literally
Literary language
Loose or lose?
May or might?
Neither and nor
Old-fashioned language
Onto or on to?
Phenomenon or phenomena?
Principal or principle?
Relative clauses
Shall or will?
Slang
Standard English
That or which?
Themselves or 'themself?
These or those?
To or too?
Tortuous or torturous?
Who or whom?

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