Grammar Glossary

1. Grammar Glossary A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

2. Grammar Glossary Abbreviation Adverb Antecedent Action verb Adverb clause Apostrophe Active voice Appositive Adverb phrase Adjective Appositive phrase Adjective clause Agreement Article Ambiguous reference Adjective phrase

3. Grammar Glossary Bad, badly Base form Brackets

4. Grammar Glossary Capitalization Comma splice Compound-complex sentence Case of pronouns Comparison of modifiers Compound sentence Clause Complement Colon Complex sentence Conjunction Comma Contraction

5. Grammar Glossary Dangling modifier Double comparison Double negative Dash Declarative sentence Double subject Direct object

6. Grammar Glossary Elliptical construction Exclamatory sentence End marks Essential clause/ essential phrase

7. Grammar Glossary Faulty coordination Fused sentence

8. Grammar Glossary General reference Gerund Gerund phrase Good/well

9. Grammar Glossary Hyphen

10. Grammar Glossary Imperative mood Indicative mood Interrogative sentence Imperative sentence Indirect object Intransitive verb Irregular verb Indefinite reference Infinitive Infinitive phrase Italics Independent clause Its, it’s Interjection

11. Grammar Glossary Lie, lay Linking verb

12. Grammar Glossary Misplaced modifier Modifier Mood

13. Grammar Glossary Nonessential clause/ nonessential phrase Noun Noun clause Number

14. Grammar Glossary Objective complement Object of a preposition

15. Grammar Glossary Parallel structure Phrase Preposition Predicate Prepositional phrase Parentheses Predicate adjective Participial phrase Pronoun Predicate nominative Participle Passive voice Prefix

16. Grammar Glossary Quotation marks

17. Grammar Glossary Regular verb Rise, raise Run-on sentence

18. Grammar Glossary Semicolon Slow, slowly Suffix Subject Sentence Subject complement Sentence fragment Subjunctive mood Simple sentence Subordinate clause Sit, set

19. Grammar Glossary Tense of verbs Transitive verb

20. Grammar Glossary Underlining (Italics)

21. Grammar Glossary Verb Verbal Verbal phrase Verb phrase Voice

22. Grammar Glossary Weak reference Who, whom Wordiness

23. Grammar Glossary Abbreviation—An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or a phrase. Examples: Mr. (Mister) Ave. (Avenue) Inc. (Incorporated) TX (Texas)

24. Grammar Glossary Action verb—An action verb expresses physical or mental activity. verb Uncle Jim drives a school bus. Drivesis an activity.

25. Grammar Glossary Active voice—Active voice is the voice a verb is in when it expresses an action done by its subject. subject verb The dog chased the squirrel across the yard. The subject, dog, is performing the action of chasing.

26. Grammar Glossary Adjective—An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun. Do you see that beautiful house over there? Do you see that beautiful house over there? The adjective that modifies the noun house. The adjective beautiful also modifies the noun house.

27. Grammar Glossary Adjective clause—An adjective clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun or a pronoun. We saw a car that had aluminum wheels. The adjective clause that had aluminum wheels modifies the noun car.

28. Grammar Glossary Adjective phrase—A prepositional phrase that modifies a noun or pronoun is called an adjective phrase. Dana prefers the backpack with large pockets. The adjective phrase with large pockets modifies the noun backpack.

29. Grammar Glossary Adverb—An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Mom and Dad often drive us to the lake on weekends. The adverb often modifies the verb drive.

30. Grammar Glossary Adverb clause—An adverb clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb. Trudy’s grades have improved since she cut back her TV viewing. The adverb clause since she cut back her TV viewing modifies the verb have improved.

31. Grammar Glossary Adverb phrase—A prepositional phrase that modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb is called an adverb phrase. After dark, the carol singers went from house to house. The adverb phrase after dark modifies the verb went.

32. Grammar Glossary Agreement—Agreement is the correspondence, or match, between grammatical forms. Grammatical forms agree when they have the same number and gender. • of pronouns and antecedents • of subjects and verb

33. Grammar Glossary Ambiguous reference—Ambiguous reference occurs when a pronoun incorrectly refers to either of two antecedents. Ambiguous: A tortoise is different from a turtle only in that it lives on land, not in water. Which lives on land—the turtle or the tortoise? A tortoise is different from a turtle only in that a tortoise lives on land, not in water. Clear:

34. Grammar Glossary Antecedent—An antecedent is the word or words that a pronoun stands for. antecedent pronoun Tim doesn’t know when he will finish the essay. The pronoun he refers to the proper noun Tim.

35. Grammar Glossary Apostrophe • contractions wouldn’t I’ll • plurals of letters, numerals and words used as words A’s and B’s and’s instead of &’s player’s uniform • possession someone’s backpack

36. Grammar Glossary Appositive—An appositive is a noun or pronoun placed beside another noun to identify or describe it. My friendDesiree recently moved to a new house. Desiree is an appositive that identifies friend.

37. Grammar Glossary Appositive phrase—An appositive phrase consists of an appositive and its modifiers. I think this coat belongs to Stanley, the gray-haired man with a mustache. The gray-haired man with a mustache is an appositive phrase that describes Stanley.

38. Grammar Glossary Article—The articles, a, an, and the, are the most frequently used adjectives. A sudden gust of wind and loud rumbling in the distance were the first signs of animpending storm.

39. Grammar Glossary Bad, badly Bad is an adjective. In most uses, badly is an adverb. A word that modifies the subject of a verb should be in adjective form. • nonstandard This chicken soup tastes badly. • standard This chicken soup tastes bad.

40. Grammar Glossary Base form—The base form, or infinitive, is one of the four principal parts of a verb. base form We heard Suzising the national anthem last night.

41. Grammar Glossary Brackets The movie critic wrote, “The leading man’s performance was a tour de force”[an unusually skillful performance].

42. Grammar Glossary Capitalization • of abbreviations and acronyms Blvd. M.B.A. The cat sat still. Dear Dr. Nunez: • of first words • of proper nouns and proper adjectives NorthAmerica Mexican • of titles Uncle Cesare Consumers Digest

43. Grammar Glossary Case of pronouns—Case is the form a pronoun takes to show how it is used in a sentence. She and I are taking karate lessons. • nominative • objective Is Kate going with them to the movies? • possessive Her speech was interesting.

44. Grammar Glossary Clause—A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb and is used as part of a sentence. subject verb Independent clause shearrives at one o’clock subject verb Subordinate clause unless the trainis late She arrives at one o’clock unless the train is late. Complete sentence

45. Grammar Glossary Colon To assemble the bookcase, you will need the following tools: a crescent wrench, a small hammer, and a Phillips screwdriver. • before lists • in conventional situations 7:30 p.m. Dear Sir:

46. Grammar Glossary Comma • in a series • in compound sentences • with nonessential phrases and clauses • with introductory elements • with interrupters • in conventional situations

47. Grammar Glossary Comma splice—A comma splice is a run-on sentence in which only a comma separates two complete sentences. Comma splice On our first night in New York City, we went to Times Square, the next day, we went to Central Park. REVISED

48. Grammar Glossary Comparison of modifiers • comparison of adjectives and adverbs • comparing two • comparing more than two

49. Grammar Glossary Complement—A complement is a word or word group that completes the meaning of a verb. verb complement All of Mrs. Lozano’s students admireher. The complement her tells us whom the students admire.

50. Grammar Glossary Complex sentence—A complex sentence has one independent clause and at least one subordinate clause. My favorite animated film was Cinderella, until I saw Jungle Book. Independent clause My favorite animated film was Cinderella Subordinate clause until I saw Jungle Book