FOUNDATIONAL GRAMMAR TERMS
adjective: a word that modifies or describes a noun or pronoun; a word or phrase that clarifies or specifies the nature, quality, or quantity of a noun or pronoun
adverb: a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb; a word or phrase that clarifies or specifies the time, place, manner, degree, or affirmation or negation of a verb, adjective or other adverb
antecedent: the noun to which a pronoun refers
appositive: a noun or noun phrase that provides additional information about the noun it immediately follows
clause: any group of words that serves a common function in a sentence and contains a subject and verb
- dependent clause: a clause that, grammatically, cannot stand alone as a complete sentence
- independent clause: a clause that, grammatically, can stand alone as a complete sentence
- main clause: an independent clause that contains the most important information in a sentence
- subordinate clause: a dependent clause that contains additional or supplementary information
conjunction: a word that connects two or more words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence
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- coordinating conjunction: a word that connects two items of equal importance
- subordinating conjunction: a word that connects one clause of lesser importance to one of greater importance
direct object: the noun or noun phrase in a sentence that is acted upon by the subject
indirect object: the noun or noun phrase that is the recipient or beneficiary of the action of that sentence
interjection: a word or phrase that provides an exclamation of emotion
noun: a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea; the word that identifies the performer of an action in a sentence (subject), the person or thing acted upon (direct object), or the recipient or beneficiary of the action (indirect object); a noun can also be the object of prepositional phrase
noun phrase: a phrase that fulfils one of the functions of a noun in a sentence
object of the preposition: the noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that follows a preposition and completes the information communicated in the prepositional phrase
phrase: a group of words that does not contain a subject and a verb and that serves a single function in a sentence
possessive case: the form of a noun or pronoun that indicates ownership of or the quality of belonging to
predicate: the part of the sentence that is not the subject, usually the verb and everything else
predicate adjective: an adjective located in the predicate of a sentence that modifies the noun or pronoun that is the subject
predicate noun: a noun or pronoun located in the predicate of a sentence that defines or renames the noun or pronoun in the subject
preposition: a word that suggests a relationship (often time or place) to further clarify a noun, adjective, or verb
prepositional phrase: a phrase consisting of a preposition, its object, and any modifiers of its object
pronoun: a word that represents a noun and prevents the repetition of a noun which preceded it in a previous sentence
run-on-sentence: an unclear and incorrect sentence that is the result of merging two or more independent clauses without the appropriate punctuation or capitalization
sentence: one or more clauses that communicate a complete thought
complex sentence: a sentence consisting of an independent clause and at least one dependent clause
compound sentence: a sentence consisting of at least two independent clauses
compound-complex sentence: a sentence consisting of at least two independent clauses and one dependent clause
simple sentence: a sentence consisting of a single independent clause
sentence fragment: a part of a sentence that is written as if it were a complete sentence
subject: the part of the sentence that specifies who or what the sentence is about
tense: the form of verb that describes time (past, present, or future)
verb: the word or words that identify the action or state of being of a sentence
verb phrase: a phrase that fulfils a function of a verb in a sentence