Glossary

A

active verb

The subject does the action of the verb: Subject verb object
e.g., The boy hit the ball.

adjective

A word that modifies a noun (someone or something).
e.g., The little boy hit the big, blue, ball.

adjective clause

A dependent clause that modifies (describes) a noun. Another name is a relative clause.
e.g., The little boy I told you about hit the ball.

adjective phrase

A phrase that modifies a noun (someone or something).
e.g., The little boy running in the park hit the ball.

adverb

A word that describes a verb (action) and answers the questions when, where, how or in what circumstances.
e.g., The little boy hit the ball hard.

adverb clause

A dependent clause that describes an action and answers the questions when, where, how or in what circumstances.
e.g., When it was his turn, the little boy hit the ball.

adverb of degree

An adverb that answers the questions how much or to what extent.
e.g., The boy almost hit the ball out of the park.

adverb of frequency

An adverb that answers the question how often.
e.g., The boy usually hits the ball over the fence.

adverbial phrase

A phrase that modifies a verb (action).
e.g., Taking his turn, the little boy hit the ball.

antecedent

The preceding noun that a pronoun refers to.
e.g., Paul hit the ball. He hit it over the fence.

apostrophe

The punctuation mark ( ‘ ) that indicates:

a) possession, or
b) that a letter is missing in a contraction
e.g., Don't hit Paul's ball over the fence.

appositive

An adjective phrase in which a noun follows another noun
e.g., Paul, the boy next door, hit the ball.

article

A determiner, a, an, (indefinite articles) or the, (definite article) used before a noun.
e.g., Compare:

a) The boy hit a ball over the fence.
b) A boy hit the ball over a fence.

auxiliary verb

A verb that is used with a main verb to form a verb phrase.

a) forms of be and have are used to form verb tenses.
e.g., He has been hitting the ball over the fence.
b) a form of be is used to form the passive.
e.g., The ball was hit over the fence.
c) a form of do is used to form questions, negatives and to provide emphasis.
e.g., Did he hit the ball over the fence? (question)
He didn't hit the ball over the fence. (negative)
He did hit the ball over the fence. (emphasis)
d) modal verbs (see definition below)

B

base form of verb: Also known as the verb name or stem. The part of the verb that is used with to to form the infinitive.
e.g., hit, take, drive.

C

causative verb: The verbs make, have and get, when they are used to express the idea that something caused another event to happen.
e.g., His brother made him run for help.
His brother had him run for help.
His brother got him to run for help.
clause: A group of words containing a subject and a verb that are part of a larger sentence.
e.g., The boy hit the ball, and he made a home run.
clause marker: A word that is used to introduce certain clauses and that can be used to help identify clauses.
e.g., The boy hit the ball hard because he wanted a home run.
collective noun: A group of more than one individual: family, crowd, class. Depending on the way it is used, it may be singular or plural.
complement: An adjective or noun that places after a stative or link verb
e.g., The boy seemed happy to hit a home run.
complex sentence: A sentence that contains more than one clause.
compound word: Two or more words, most often nouns, combined to make one word.
e.g., The boy kicked the football. (foot + ball)
condition: An event that must occur for something else to happen.
e.g., When he is strong, he will hit the ball over the fence.
conditional: A sentence with an adverbial clause of condition.
e.g., If he is strong enough, he will hit the ball over the fence.
conjunction: A word that links other words or groups of words together.
e.g., He hit the ball and he made a home run.
connective: A word or words that provide a link between ideas in two different grammatical constructions.
e.g., He hit the ball. After that, he went home.
construction: A word or group of words that form a grammatical unit, e.g., a verb phrase, or a noun clause.
contraction: Two words that can be combined to make a shorter word by omitting one or more letters.
e.g., He didn't hit the ball over the fence. (did + not)
coordinating conjunction: A conjunction that links two independent clauses; the most common ones are and, but, nor, or, then, and yet.
count noun: Nouns that have both singular and plural forms because they can be counted.
e.g., one ball, two balls.

D

dangling modifier: An incorrect grammatical construction; a clause or phrase that modifies something incorrectly.
e.g., While making a home run, the ball went over the fence.
(The ball did not make a home run; someone made a home run.)
dependent clause: A clause that cannot form a separate sentence; there must be an independent clause for it to modify.
e.g., When he hit the ball over the fence, the boy made a home run.
determiner: A word or words used before a noun to indicate whether the noun is something specific or general. Articles are a type of determiner, as are quantifiers.
e.g., Many of the boys hit several balls.
direct object: The noun affected by the action of the verb. It usually places after the verb.
e.g., The boy hit the ball.
direct speech: Also called quoted speech as it is someone's actual words.
e.g., She said, "The boy hit the ball."

E

embedded question

A type of noun clause. It is a question that occurs within a longer sentence. Neither question word order nor question punctuation is used.
e.g., She asked why the boy hit the ball.

emphasis

A situation can be stressed or emphasized in several ways:

a) loudness of voice,
e.g., PAUL hit the ball.
b) Use of the verb do,
e.g., Paul did hit the ball.
c) Use of a reflexive pronoun,
e.g., Paul hit the ball himself.

expression

A group of words that have meaning as a whole and that do not mean the same as the individual words.

F

formal: A level of language; formal is usually the level needed for writing. Formal language is much more polite than informal language.
e.g., He did not hit the ball over the fence.
function: The particular use of a word or words within a sentence.
future perfect: A verb tense that indicates one event expected in the future will occur before another event happens. Use the future of have + past participle.
e.g., He will have hit the ball before the game ends.
future perfect progressive/ future perfect continuous: A verb tense that indicates that one event will be occurring over time, in the future, before another event happens. Use the future perfect of be + verb + ing.
e.g., They will have been playing ball for an hour when . . .
future progressive/ future continuous: A verb tense that indicates that something will happen over time in the future. Use the future of be + verb + ing.
e.g., They will be playing ball tomorrow all morning.

G

gender

An indication of whether a noun or pronoun is masculine or feminine: he/she, him/her.

generalization

A general statement of truth about a situation; it may not be 100% accurate but is true in most cases.

generic noun

A noun used to make generalizations. There are two main ways to do this:

a) a plural count noun, or a noncount noun, and no article.
e.g., Balls are round.
b) a singular count noun with a/an.
e.g., A ball is round.

gerund

A verb form with an -ing ending that functions as a noun.
e.g., Playing ball is fun.

group noun

Another name for a collective noun.

H

hyphen: A punctuation mark ( - ) used between compound adjectives and some other compound structures.
e.g., He is three-and-a-half years old.

I

idiom(atic)

An expression that has special meaning as a whole and which cannot be translated word by word.
e.g., They had a ball. (They had a very good time.)

if clause

The most common form of conditional clause; if event A occurs, then event B will happen.
e.g., If he hits the ball hard, it will go over the fence.

impersonal pronoun

A pronoun used to refer to a person or people in general. There are several choices depending on level of formality:

a) One should not hit the ball over the fence. (formal)
b) You shouldn't hit the ball over the fence. (informal)
c) They make good quality balls. (no stated antecedent)

indefinite pronoun

Refers to people or things not clearly defined, every, any, some, and no, used with -one, -body, and -thing.
e.g., Someone hit the ball over the fence.

independent clause

A clause that can be used alone as a sentence and that is not dependent on any other grammatical construction.
e.g., He hit the ball over the fence, and he made a home run.

indirect object

A person or thing that benefits from the action of the verb, or that receives something as a result of the action of the verb.
e.g., Paul hit the ball to Susan.

indirect speech

Also called reported speech, as the actual words are not quoted but reported.
e.g., She said that the boy hit the ball over the fence.

infinitive

The name or base form of the verb with to. Infinitives can be used as a noun.
e.g., His objective was to hit the ball over the fence.

informal

The level of speech most often used in conversation. Contractions are more often used in informal speech as well as other changes.
e.g., He didn't hit the ball over the fence.

information question

Also known as "wh questions" as they ask the questions, who, what, where, why, when and how.
e.g., Who hit the ball over the fence?

inseparable verb

A verb phrase or two-part verb, verb + preposition, or verb + adjective, in which the two parts must be used together.
e.g., Paul pointed to the ball he hit over the fence.

intransitive verb

A verb that does not take a direct object. Some verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively.

irregular verbs

Verbs that are irregular in the simple past and have an irregular past participle form.
e.g., He hit the ball over the fence.

M

main clause: An independent clause that the other clauses in the sentence depend on, or are related to.
e.g., He hit the ball over the fence when it was his turn to bat.
modal: A type of auxiliary verb that is always the first word(s) in a verb phrase. The most common modals are can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will and would.
e.g., He should hit the ball over the fence.
modal expression/ modal phrase: A modal that consists of more than one word; ought to, had better, be supposed to, have got to, be going to, and be able to.
e.g., He is able to hit the ball over the fence.
modifier: A word, phrase, or clause that modifies (gives more information about) another word, phrase, or clause, adjectives and adverbs, or adjective and adverb clauses.
modify: The action of providing more information to describe a word, phrase, or clause.

N

negative: A construction that includes not or some other negative word such as never, nothing, no one, etc.
noncount noun: A noun without separate singular and plural forms because it cannot be counted; therefore, you cannot use a/an with them.
e.g., He did homework all evening.
non-restrictive clause: A type of adjective clause that gives nonessential information about the preceding noun.
e.g., Paul, who lives next door, hit the ball over the fence.
noun: A word that identifies a person or thing.
e.g., Paul hit the ball over the fence.
noun clause: A clause that functions in the same way as a noun, that is, as a subject, a direct object or an indirect object.
e.g., Paul hit the ball where we could not find it.
noun phrase: A phrase that functions in the same way as a noun, that is, as a subject, a direct object or an indirect object.
e.g., Hitting the ball over the fence was his goal.
null subject: There used before be takes the subject position in the sentence and agrees with the noun it refers to.
e.g., There is the boy who hit the ball over the fence.
object: A noun or pronoun that places after the verb and is affected by the action of the verb.
e.g., He hit the ball (direct object) over the fence (indirect object).

P

paired conjunctions

Also called correlative conjunctions. They are pairs of conjunctions that must be used together, such as both and, not only but also, either or, and neither nor.
e.g., Both Paul and Susan hit the ball over the fence.

parallel structure

Two grammatical structures, similar in form and function, connected by a conjunction.
e.g., Paul hit the ball over the fence and the trees.

participial adjective

An adjective formed either from a present participle verb form and an ing ending, or a past participle verb form and an -ed ending.
e.g., The excited boy hit the spinning ball over the fence.

participle

A verb form, either the past participle ( -ed) ending used in forming perfect verb tenses, or the present participle ( ing) ending used in forming progressive verb tenses. On their own they can be used as adjectives.

passive verb

The object of the verb is more important than the subject, so the object takes the subject position in the sentence and the verb is formed by using be in the appropriate tense + the past participle of the main verb: Object + passive verb.
e.g., The ball was hit over the fence.

past participle

Regular verbs add an -ed ending; irregular verbs vary. The past participle is used with perfect verb tenses and on its own as an adjective.
e.g., He had hit the ball over the fence several times.

past perfect

A verb tense that indicates one action was finished in the past, before another was finished. Use the past tense of have + the past participle of the appropriate verb.
e.g., He had hit the ball over the fence before we arrived.

past perfect progressive/ past perfect continuous

A verb tense that indicates that one action was occurring over time in the past, before another action in the past. Use the past perfect of be + the present participle of the main verb.
e.g., He had been playing ball for over an hour before we arrived.

past progressive/ past continuous

A verb tense that indicates that something was occurring over time, in the past, and continued after a specified time. Use the simple past form of be + the present participle of the main verb.
e.g., He was playing ball when we arrived.

person

Indicates whether a noun or pronoun is first person ( I/we), second person ( you), or third person ( he/she/it/they). It is important for subject-verb agreement.

personal pronoun

A pronoun that is used to refer to a person.
e.g., Paul hit the ball. He hit it over the fence.

phrasal modal

The same as modal expression or modal phrase.

phrase

A group of words used together to express a concept, but unlike a clause, it does not contain both a subject and a verb.

plural

Indicates more than one of a noun. Pronouns can also be plural.
e.g., They hit the balls over the fence.

possessive

Indicates that something belongs to someone or something. The usual ways of expressing possession are:

a) a possessive pronoun, mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its or theirs.
e.g., Paul hit his ball further than yours.
b) a possessive pronoun, my, our, your, his, her, its, their + noun.
e.g., Paul hit his ball over our fence.
c) A possessive noun has an apostrophe s ('s).
e.g., Paul's ball went over the fence.
d) Using of.
e.g., The ball went over the fence of a neighbour.

predicate adjective

An adjective that follows be or a stative verb.
e.g., Paul is happy the ball went over the fence.

preposition

A word that often indicates time or place ( at, on, in, etc.), often before a noun group.
e.g., Paul hit the ball over the fence.

present perfect

A verb tense that indicates an action that occurred in the past and finished in the past, but the exact time of the action is not important. Use the present tense of have + the past participle of the main verb.
e.g., Paul has hit the ball over the fence many times.

present perfect progressive/ present perfect continuous

A verb tense that indicates an action that started in the past and continues up to the present. Use the present perfect tense of be + the present participle of the main verb.
e.g., Paul has been playing ball for over an hour.

present progressive/ present continuous

A verb tense that indicates an action is in progress now, that it started earlier and will continue into the future. Use the present tense of be + the present participle of the main verb.
e.g., He is playing ball right now.

pronoun

A word used instead of a noun or noun phrase.
e.g., Paul hit the ball. He hit it over the fence.

Q

quantifier: A specific type of determiner that gives an indication of quantity. They usually answer the question how much.
e.g., One of the boys hit all of the balls over the fence.
question words: The same as information words: who, what, where, when, why, how.
quotation marks: The punctuation (") used around the actual words that someone says.
e.g., Paul said, "I hit the ball over the fence."
quoted speech: The same as direct speech; the actual words that someone says.
e.g., Paul said, "I hit the ball over the fence."

R

referent: A pronoun that refers to a noun used previously in that sentence or in another sentence.
e.g., Paul hit the ball. He hit that ball over the fence.
reflexive pronoun: A pronoun that ends in -self or -selves. It provides emphasis.
e.g., Paul hit the ball himself.
relative clause: A type of subordinate clause usually introduced by one of the relative pronouns; who, whom, whose, that, or which.
e.g., Paul hit the ball which went over the fence.
relative pronoun: The pronoun that introduces a relative clause; who, whom, whose, that, or which.
e.g., Paul hit the ball which went over the fence.
reported speech: The same as indirect speech. It tells what someone said.
e.g., Paul said he had hit the ball over the fence.
restrictive clause: A type of relative clause also called a defining or identifying clause. It provides information needed to identify the noun it refers to.
e.g., The boy who lives next door hit the ball over the fence.

S

semi-colon: Punctuation ( ; ) used to separate two clauses that are connected, but which could be written as two sentences.
e.g., Paul hit the ball ; it went over the fence.
separable verb: Also called phrasal verbs or two-part verbs; a combination of verb + preposition, or verb + adjective. A noun or pronoun can place between the two parts of the verb.
e.g., Paul picked the ball up and hit it over the fence.
simple future: A verb tense that indicates an action that will happen at a particular time in the future. Use will + the base form of the main verb.
e.g., Paul will hit the ball over the fence when it is his turn.
simple past: A verb tense that indicates that an action happened at a particular time in the past. Regular verbs use the base form of the verb + ed.
e.g., He played ball with his friends.
simple present: A verb tense that indicates habitual actions in the present or general truths. Use the base form of the verb; for third person singular use the base form of the main verb + s.
e.g., He hits the ball over the fence regularly.
simple sentence: A sentence with only one clause and therefore only one verb or verb phrase.
e.g., Paul hit the ball over the fence.
singular: Indicates one of something. If a noun, it is a count noun and may be preceded by a/an/the pronouns can also be singular.
e.g., He hit a ball over the fence.
statement: A positive sentence with subject + verb + (object) word order.
e.g., He hit the ball over the fence.
stative verb: A verb that describes a state or condition of someone or something. Linking verbs are a type of stative verb.
e.g., Paul seems happy he hit the ball over the fence.
stem: The base or root form of a word; the part of a word to which prefixes and suffixes are added: sound less, walk ed, feel ing, unequal.
structure: A word or words that function as a grammatical unit: an adverb phrase, a relative clause, a verb tense, etc.
subject: The person or thing that performs the action of the verb. It is usually placed before the verb in a clause or sentence.
e.g., Paul hit the ball.
subjunctive: A verb form used within certain noun clauses and with unreal conditional clauses; the name form of the main verb is used. The verb does not have tense or agree with person.
e.g., We insisted that Paul play again.
subordinate clause: A clause that cannot be used on its own in a sentence. It must be used with a main clause that it modifies in some way.
e.g., Paul hit the ball over the fence when it was his turn to bat.
subordinating conjunction: A conjunction such as if, because, although, used to introduce a subordinate clause.
e.g., Paul hit the ball over the fence even though he was tired.

T

tense: Indicates the time frame for verb action, past, present, or future, and whether the action occurred at a point in time (a simple tense) over time (a progressive tense) or before another event (a perfect tense).
time clause: An adverbial clause that indicates when the action of the main clause occurred.
e.g., When it was his turn, Paul hit the ball over the fence.
time clue: A word or words that provide an indication of the verb tense needed in a particular construction, e.g., tomorrow indicates future time, yesterday indicates past time.
time diagram: A diagram such as the ones in the Student Book that indicate how a verb tense is used, or to diagram the action of a sentence to help indicate the verb tense needed.
time expression: A group of words or a phrase that provides information or a clue as to when an event occurred.
transition: A word or words used to connect one sentence to another, or one paragraph to another. Transitions help to maintain the flow of writing.
e.g., Paul hit the ball over the fence. As a result, he couldn't find it again.
transitive verb: A verb that has a direct object.
e.g., Paul hit the ball over the fence.

U

uncountable noun: The same as a noncount noun.

V

verb name

The base form of the verb.

verb phrase

A verb that consists of more than one word. A verb phrase can result from using:

a) a particular verb tense
e.g., Paul was hitting the ball over the fence.
b) an auxiliary
e.g., Paul didn't hit the ball over the fence.
c) a modal
e.g., Paul can hit the ball over the fence.
d) a phrasal verb
e.g., Paul picked up the ball.

verb tense

The same as tense.

W

wh word: The same as a question word: who, what, where, when, why, and how.
word form: A word stem may add prefixes and suffixes; the suffixes can determine if the word functions as a noun, verb, adjective or adverb: beauty, beautician (nouns), beautify (verb), beautiful (adjective), beautifully (adverb).

Y

yes/no question: A question that starts with a verb word and is answered with yes or no.
e.g., Did you hit the ball over the fence? Yes, I did./ No, I didn't.

Updated September 11, 2023 by Digital & Web Operations, University Relations (web_services@athabascau.ca)