Glossary of English Grammar Terms, Basic English Terms

Glossary of English Grammar Terms

Active Voice:
In the active voice, the subject of the verb does the action (eg They killed the President). See also Passive Voice.
Adjective:
A word like big, red, easy, French etc. An adjective describes a noun or pronoun.
Adverb:
A word like slowly, quietly, well, often etc. An adverb modifies a verb.
Article:
The "indefinite" articles are a and an. The "definite article" is the.
Auxiliary Verb:
A verb that is used with a main verb. Be, do and have are auxiliary verbs. Can, may, must etc are modal auxiliary verbs.
Clause:
A group of words containing a subject and its verb (for example: It was late when he arrived).
Conjunction:
A word used to connect words, phrases and clauses (for example: and, but, if).
Infinitive:
The basic form of a verb as in to work or work.
Interjection:
An exclamation inserted into an utterance without grammatical connection (for example: oh!, ah!, ouch!, well!).
Modal Verb:
An auxiliary verb like can, may, must etc that modifies the main verb and expresses possibility, probability etc. It is also called "modal auxiliary verb".
Noun:
A word like table, dog, teacher, America etc. A noun is the name of an object, concept, person or place. A "concrete noun" is something you can see or touch like a person or car. An "abstract noun" is something that you cannot see or touch like a decision or happiness. A "countable noun" is something that you can count (for example: bottle, song, dollar). An "uncountable noun" is something that you cannot count (for example: water, music, money).