| English Language Glossary |
Adjective: an adjective modifies - tells more about - a noun.
They live in a brown house.
The house they live in is brown.
Often, verbs are changed to adjectives by adding the suffixes -ed -en, and -ing.
He tends to worry; he is a worried man.
Dora broke her arm; she has a broken arm.
The news excited the children; it was exciting news.
Notice that the first two examples are the past tense and past participle of the regular verbs. The
past participle of irregular is also used to make adjectives as in a worn spot and a sworn oath.
Some common adjective suffixes are -able, -ic, -ful, and -less as in lovable, manic, cheerful, and
listless. (See more adjective suffixes.)
Adverb: adverbs are words that tell why, how, how often, and to what extent something occurs.
Because of, quickly, often, and completely are examples of adverbs.
Adverbs can modify - tell more about - both verbs and adjectives. Used with verbs, they tell how,
how often, and to what extent something is done.
Omar laughed happily.
Omar laughs frequently.
Omar laughed until he almost cried.
Used with adjectives, adverbs tell how often and to what extent something is a certain way.
Chica is generally prepared for exams.
On her last exam, she achieved a nearly perfect score.
Many adverbs are created by adding the suffix -ly to an adjective - slowly, sadly, interminably.
Affixes: affixes are groups of letters added to a word (or word root) that change the meaning of
the original word or change it into another form of that word - for example change a verb to an
adjective or an adjective to an adverb. There are two types of affixes: prefixes and suffixes.
Prefixes are groups of letters added to the beginning of a word. The word prefix was created by
adding the prefix pre-, which means before, to the word affix. Some other prefixes are un- which
means 'not' (unreliable, unopened, unrelated), re-, which means 'again' (relearn, reinsert, reenlist),
and sub-, which means 'under' (submarine, substandard, subnormal).
Prefixes are not used to change the form of a word.
Suffixes are groups of letters that are added to the end of a word or word root. There are two
types of suffixes.
Inflectional suffixes change the form of a word without changing its meaning. There are eight
inflectional suffixes:
1) -ed creates past tense in regular verbs as in started, lasted, and painted. The past tense of a
verb is often used as an adjective - married woman, faded jeans, and relieved parents.
2) -en added to a regular verb stem (the infinitive without 'to') creates the past participle, which is
used in the perfect tenses. Past participles are often used as adjectives as in fallen leaves, broken
window, and hidden meaning.
3) -er creates the comparative form: faster, longer, and older.
4) -est creates the superlative form as in fastest, longest, and oldest.
5) -ing added to a verb creates the present participle which is used in the progressive tenses. Ex.
Everyone was laughing; they have been laughing since the beginning or the show; they will have
been laughing for two hours by the time the show ends.
The present participle can be used as a noun, in which case it is called a gerund. An example -
Dancing is good exercise.
6) -s is added to a verb to create the third person singular present tense - she acts, he drives, it
works.
7) -s added to a noun makes it plural as in words, flowers, and elephants.
8) 's added to a noun makes it possessive: Ivan's, bird's, winter's.
Derivational suffixes change the meaning of a word. For example, to be a child is to be a young
person; however, to be childless is to have no children and to be childlike is to possess the
qualities of a child.
Antecedent: the noun to which a pronoun refers. To put it another way, the antecedent is the
noun that a pronoun has replaced. In this sentence - The truck is not working; it has a broken
axle. - 'truck' is the antecedent.
Antonyms: words that mean the opposite of each other: tall/short, old/new, over/under.
Apposition: using a word or phrase later in a sentence than another word or phrase that has the
same meaning. The second word or phrase is called the appositive.
The following words in red are appositives.
The librarian, the woman stamping our books, is in a bad mood today.
Elsa's best friend, Zaina, is traveling to Uganda.
Article: the (definite article), a/an (indefinite article), some/and (often used as the plural of the
indefinite article). These words are used to show whether the thing being discussed is know to the
listener or whether a specific or general thing is being discussed).
Please bring me a blanket (general).
Please bring me some blankets (general plural).
Please bring me the blue blanket (specific).
Please bring me the blanket (the listener knows which one).
Capitalization: capitalize:
1) the first word in a sentence
2) proper nouns - Vilma, Mercy Hospital, The University of Southern Maine
3) I (as in me)
4) names of the months and days of the week - December, Thursday
5) the names of groups - Portland Players, New York Yankees, the Associated Press
6) the names of deities - Buddha, Jehovah, Thor
7) the names of countries and nationalities - Libya/ Libyan, Japan/Japanese
8) names of regions - the Midwest, the Eastern Seaboard
9) people's titles - Prince Charles, Queen Beatrice, Doctor Spock
10) the important words in a book, movie, song etc. title - The Last of the Mohicans
11) historical events and holidays - Fourth of July, World War I, the Holocaust
Case: the form of a noun or pronoun, which changes according to the noun's relation to other
words in a sentence. Nouns and pronouns can be used as subjects, possessives and objects.
Nouns are the same in the subject and object case (Steve [subject] says the cat is his; the cat
belongs to Steve [object].)
To change a noun to the possessive case add 's or, if the noun ends with an 's', add an
apostrophe. (The cat is Steve's. The cat is Steve Ross'.)
The subject pronouns are: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they, everybody, who, and whoever.
The possessive pronouns are: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs, and everybody's.
The object pronouns are: my, your, him, her, it, us, your, them, everybody, whom, and whomever.
Clause: a group of words that has both a subject and a predicate.
An independent clause is a complete sentence; it can stand alone as in It is raining.
A dependent clause is not a complete sentence, even though it has both a subject and a
predicate. Ex: Because it is raining....
A relative clause tells something more about a noun. There are two kinds of relative clauses:
restrictive and non-restrictive.
Restrictive clauses add information that is essential to the sentence, as in The waiter who dropped
a tray of food is thinking of changing jobs. In this sentence, the clause who dropped the tray of
food is essential information; it tells the reader which waiter might change jobs.
Non-restrictive clauses add non-essential, though often interesting, details to a sentence. Consider
this sentence: The waiter, who dropped a tray of food, is thinking of changing jobs. In this
sentence the clause who dropped a tray of food is not essential information; it does not tell the
reader which waiter is being discussed, it merely adds a detail about the waiter.
What's the difference between the first and second example sentences? The commas around the
relative clause in the second sentence signal a reader that this is non-essential information; in
spoken English, brief pauses before and after the clause would let a listener know that this is
merely extra information.
Comparison: there are two forms of comparison - the comparative and the superlative.
The comparative is used to compare two things. It is formed by adding -er to most one-syllable
adjectives, as in bolder, faster, and smoother. It is possible to add -er to most two-syllable
adjectives ending in y (happier, nastier, healthier - notice that the 'y' is changed to 'i'); likewise, -er
is sometimes added to two-syllable adjectives which are accented on the first syllable - narrower,
simpler, cleverer.
The word 'more' is used to make the comparative in longer adjectives and those ending in the
suffixes -ic, -ing, -ed, ful, and -less, as in more photogenic, more interesting, more hated, more
careful, and more thoughtless. It is possible to use more with two-syllable adjectives that accept
-er as in more narrow, more simple, and more clever; however, it is not possible to combine
'more' and '-er'.
There are four irregular comparatives: good/better, bad/worse, ill/worse, and far/farther or further.
In formal English, the word 'old', when used to describe a person, is irregular; its comparative
form is elder.
The superlative is used to compare three or more things. The rules for forming the superlative
are the same as for the comparative except that -est is used instead of -er (boldest, happiest,
narrowest) or most is used instead of more (most photogenic, most
thoughtless, and most simple.
There are tree irregular superlative forms: good/best, bad/worst, and far/farthest or furthest. As in
the comparative form, the formal superlative used for the word 'old' when describing a person is
eldest.
Conjugation: refers to the way verbs are changed (inflected) to agree with their subjects, or
indicate tense. For example, in the simple present, an 's' is added to the third-person verb as in he
reads, it works, and she walks. The simple past conjugation of the verb 'to be' is I was, you
were, he/it/she was, we were, you were, they were.
Declension: the changes (inflections) made to nouns to indicate gender, number or case.
Gender - while gender-specific language should be avoided in formal writing, there are English
words that indicate gender such as actor (masculine)/actress (feminine), aviator
(masculine)/aviatrix(feminine), and major(masculine)/majorette(feminine).
Number - many English nouns are made plural by the addition of -s or -es: hats, books, dishes,
potatoes. In words that end in 'f' or 'fe', the 'f' is changed to 'v' before the -s or
-es is added as in life/lives and leaf/leaves.
Irregular declensions include woman/women, child/children, mouse/mice, curriculum/curricula,
cactus/cacti, thesis/theses, and criterion/criteria.
Case - refers to the way pronouns are changed in relation to other words in a sentence (ex. I, me,
my, mine). See above for a full discussion.
Etymology: the history of a word. For example, the English word 'penguin' comes from the
Welsh words pen, meaning head, and gwyn, white.
Gender: refers to words that indicate whether a noun is female, male, or neuter (having no
gender). The third-person singular pronouns indicate gender (he, she, it, his, hers, its etc.) as do
certain nouns (king, queen) and noun endings (actor/actress, aviator/aviatrix, major/majorette)
Remember to avoid gender-specific language (words that imply a noun is masculine or feminine
when speaking generally) in formal writing.
Homonyms: words that are spelled and pronounced the same but have different spellings and
meanings: bear - an animal; bear - to carry.
Idiom (figurative language): words and phrases that are not intended literally but instead have
specialized meaning. As examples, to be over the hill means to be old, to dangle a carrot means
to offer incentive, and to fly off the handle means to become very angry.
Infinitive: the simple or basic form of the verb, often used with to, as in (to) eat,( to) be, and (to)
care. It can be used four ways.
The infinitive is used to show purpose. Ex: I'm going to the store to get milk. Bruno went to the
lounge to meet his sister.
It is used after do and modal auxiliary verbs: Did you study? Does she live here? He might be
there. You shouldn't worry.
The infinitive can also be used as the subject or object of a clause - To worry is useless. It is
useless to worry. She tries not to worry her children.
Finally, it can be used as the object of a noun, adjective, or verb as in these sentences: We need
permission to hold the protest. They were happy to receive our call. Brittany wants to go home.
Inflection: changes in words that change that part of speech but not the root meaning of a word.
See affixes.
Inflectional Endings (Inflectional Suffixes): see affixes.
Interjection: a word or words inserted into a sentence to show emotion or for emphasis.
Ex. The car hit the truck - bam! - right in its tail-light.
The school dance, I'm sorry to say, has been canceled.
Modals: words that indicate possibility, probability, or suggestions: can, could, may, might, must,
ought, shall, and should.
Morphology: the study of the structure of words forms. Affixes, roots, and inflection are part of
morphology.
Multiple-meaning Words: words that have more than one meaning. Bat as a noun can mean
either a winged mammal or a club used to hit baseballs; to bat as a verb means to hit a baseball
with a bat. A watch (noun) is a portable timepiece or an amount of time spent on duty.
Noun: a word that indicates a person, place, or thing.
Proper nouns indicate the names of people and specific places, works of art, and documents.
They are always capitalized. Vilma, Dr. Spock, Argentina, the Mona Lisa, and the Declaration of
Independence are examples of proper nouns.
Common nouns are used to speak generally and are only capitalized when the come at the
beginning of a sentence. Woman, pediatrician, country, painting, and manuscript are examples of
common nouns.
Orthography: the study of correct spelling.
Paragraph: a group of sentences related to a single topic. A well-written paragraph includes a
topic sentence, which states the main idea of the paragraph, and other sentences giving details
and/or or support for the main idea.
Participle: a form of the verb used in certain tenses.
The present participle is the -ing form of the verb. It is used in the progressive, also called
continuous, tenses as in she is acting, they had been celebrating, and I should have been working.
The present participle can be used as an adjective: enlightening conversation, infuriating remark,
this subject is interesting.
The past participle, often called the third form of the verb, is used for the simple past and perfect
tenses. Ex. he waited, we asked, you had gone, I have lived, they should have been seated, we
must have seen.
The past participle can be used as an adjective as in grilled fish, imported silk, she was burnt.
Person: the forms of verbs and pronouns used to designate the speaker , the person/people being
spoken to and the person/people being spoken about. There are three categories - the first,
second and third person - and each of the categories has a singular and a plural.
Pronouns: The first person is the speaker - I, we, me, us, my, our, mine, ours. The second person
includes those being spoken to - you, your, yours. The third person indicates those being spoken
about - he, it, she, they, him, it, her, them, his, its, her, their, his, its, hers, theirs.
Verbs: in English regular verbs, only the third person singular is affected by person; an -s is added
to the end of the verb: she laughs, it creates, he imagines.
Prefixes: groups of letters added to the beginning of a word. The word prefix was created by
adding the prefix pre-, which means before, to the word 'affix'. Some other prefixes are un- which
means 'not' (unreliable, unopened, unrelated), re-, which means 'again' (relearn, reinsert, reenlist),
and sub-, which means 'under' (submarine, substandard, subnormal).
Prefixes are not used to change the form of a word.
Phrase: a word or group of words that does not contain both a subject and predicate. There are
many kinds of phrases.
Participial phrases are phrases that begin with a participle such as buried in the sand, filled to
the top, singing like a bird, and brimming with energy.
Prepositional phrases begin with a proposition: beyond his expectations, near the city, without
another thought.
Appositive phrases are those that mean the same as a word or phrase used earlier in the
sentence. Ex. He grabbed his favorite tool, a roll of duct tape, and started to repair the broken
window. My oldest friend, Kelly, loves to garden.
Predicate: the parts of the sentence related to the verb; the verb, object, and all phrases
connected to the verb are included in the predicate.
Serena's good friend and colleague Eduardo is giving her a party. After the lecture, the students,
tired and hungry, went to the cafeteria.
Preposition: a word that indicates relationship to a noun or pronoun. There are prepositions that
indicate position (on, in, by, beneath), direction (up, through, toward, away [from], back) and
association/connection (by, with, about).
Pronoun: a word that takes the place of a noun (I, you, that, him, whose, its, hers etc.).
Root: the part of the word that carries its basic meaning; roots tend to come from different
languages such as French, German, Greek, and Latin.
The root of the word 'revert' is -vert-, which means 'to turn'; to revert is to turn back to earlier
habits. Other words made from this root are invert - to turn upside-down - and avert - to turn
away.
Some words have more than one root. For example, 'manufacture' is made from -manu-, which
means 'hand', and -fact-, 'to make'. 'Photography' comes from -photo-, 'light', and -graph-, 'to
write'.
Sentence: A group of words that expresses a complete thought, feeling, or idea.
A declarative sentence is a statement. This sentence is a declarative sentence.
An imperative sentence gives an order, for example, Wash your hands. The subject of an
imperative sentence is always 'you', either singular or plural, but the 'you' is not always spoken or
written - it is simply understood.
Many imperative sentences have only one word, the verb, as in Stop.
An interrogatory sentence is a question and ends with a question mark.. Do you understand?
Are you busy?
An exclamatory sentence show surprise or another emotion; it ends with an exclamation point.
Look at this mess! I can't believe what I'm seeing!
Semantics: the study of meaning in language.
Subject: the actor in a sentence; who or what the sentence is about. The subject can be a single
noun, a noun phrase, or a combination of these. The birds are singing. My friend Alex, whom you
met the other day, has left town.
Suffixes: groups of letters that are added to the end of a word or word root.
See affixes.
Syntax: the way words are grouped together; the grammatical combining and order of words.
Tense: the way verbs show action and states of being in relation to time.
Verb: a word that indicates action or a state of being.
Stative verbs are words like be, need, hate, believe, see and hear. These verbs indicate states
that occur involuntarily - without any conscious physical activity on the part of a person.
Action verbs are words like listen, type, dance, watch, create, and eat. They require physical
activity.
Voice: like verbs in general, voice indicates action or state of being. Voice adds an extra layer -
deliberate action and/or responsibility on the part of the subject or the state of being acted upon.
The active voice indicates a subject's deliberate action and/or responsibility. John gave some
flowers to Almira. The truck slammed into the tree.
The passive voice indicates that the subject was somehow acted upon - the subject essentially
does nothing, as in Amira was given some flowers. Amira did not perform the action in this
sentence, even though she is the subject of the sentence. The same is true for this sentence: The
tree was slammed into by the truck.
They live in a brown house.
The house they live in is brown.
Often, verbs are changed to adjectives by adding the suffixes -ed -en, and -ing.
He tends to worry; he is a worried man.
Dora broke her arm; she has a broken arm.
The news excited the children; it was exciting news.
Notice that the first two examples are the past tense and past participle of the regular verbs. The
past participle of irregular is also used to make adjectives as in a worn spot and a sworn oath.
Some common adjective suffixes are -able, -ic, -ful, and -less as in lovable, manic, cheerful, and
listless. (See more adjective suffixes.)
Adverb: adverbs are words that tell why, how, how often, and to what extent something occurs.
Because of, quickly, often, and completely are examples of adverbs.
Adverbs can modify - tell more about - both verbs and adjectives. Used with verbs, they tell how,
how often, and to what extent something is done.
Omar laughed happily.
Omar laughs frequently.
Omar laughed until he almost cried.
Used with adjectives, adverbs tell how often and to what extent something is a certain way.
Chica is generally prepared for exams.
On her last exam, she achieved a nearly perfect score.
Many adverbs are created by adding the suffix -ly to an adjective - slowly, sadly, interminably.
Affixes: affixes are groups of letters added to a word (or word root) that change the meaning of
the original word or change it into another form of that word - for example change a verb to an
adjective or an adjective to an adverb. There are two types of affixes: prefixes and suffixes.
Prefixes are groups of letters added to the beginning of a word. The word prefix was created by
adding the prefix pre-, which means before, to the word affix. Some other prefixes are un- which
means 'not' (unreliable, unopened, unrelated), re-, which means 'again' (relearn, reinsert, reenlist),
and sub-, which means 'under' (submarine, substandard, subnormal).
Prefixes are not used to change the form of a word.
Suffixes are groups of letters that are added to the end of a word or word root. There are two
types of suffixes.
Inflectional suffixes change the form of a word without changing its meaning. There are eight
inflectional suffixes:
1) -ed creates past tense in regular verbs as in started, lasted, and painted. The past tense of a
verb is often used as an adjective - married woman, faded jeans, and relieved parents.
2) -en added to a regular verb stem (the infinitive without 'to') creates the past participle, which is
used in the perfect tenses. Past participles are often used as adjectives as in fallen leaves, broken
window, and hidden meaning.
3) -er creates the comparative form: faster, longer, and older.
4) -est creates the superlative form as in fastest, longest, and oldest.
5) -ing added to a verb creates the present participle which is used in the progressive tenses. Ex.
Everyone was laughing; they have been laughing since the beginning or the show; they will have
been laughing for two hours by the time the show ends.
The present participle can be used as a noun, in which case it is called a gerund. An example -
Dancing is good exercise.
6) -s is added to a verb to create the third person singular present tense - she acts, he drives, it
works.
7) -s added to a noun makes it plural as in words, flowers, and elephants.
8) 's added to a noun makes it possessive: Ivan's, bird's, winter's.
Derivational suffixes change the meaning of a word. For example, to be a child is to be a young
person; however, to be childless is to have no children and to be childlike is to possess the
qualities of a child.
Antecedent: the noun to which a pronoun refers. To put it another way, the antecedent is the
noun that a pronoun has replaced. In this sentence - The truck is not working; it has a broken
axle. - 'truck' is the antecedent.
Antonyms: words that mean the opposite of each other: tall/short, old/new, over/under.
Apposition: using a word or phrase later in a sentence than another word or phrase that has the
same meaning. The second word or phrase is called the appositive.
The following words in red are appositives.
The librarian, the woman stamping our books, is in a bad mood today.
Elsa's best friend, Zaina, is traveling to Uganda.
Article: the (definite article), a/an (indefinite article), some/and (often used as the plural of the
indefinite article). These words are used to show whether the thing being discussed is know to the
listener or whether a specific or general thing is being discussed).
Please bring me a blanket (general).
Please bring me some blankets (general plural).
Please bring me the blue blanket (specific).
Please bring me the blanket (the listener knows which one).
Capitalization: capitalize:
1) the first word in a sentence
2) proper nouns - Vilma, Mercy Hospital, The University of Southern Maine
3) I (as in me)
4) names of the months and days of the week - December, Thursday
5) the names of groups - Portland Players, New York Yankees, the Associated Press
6) the names of deities - Buddha, Jehovah, Thor
7) the names of countries and nationalities - Libya/ Libyan, Japan/Japanese
8) names of regions - the Midwest, the Eastern Seaboard
9) people's titles - Prince Charles, Queen Beatrice, Doctor Spock
10) the important words in a book, movie, song etc. title - The Last of the Mohicans
11) historical events and holidays - Fourth of July, World War I, the Holocaust
Case: the form of a noun or pronoun, which changes according to the noun's relation to other
words in a sentence. Nouns and pronouns can be used as subjects, possessives and objects.
Nouns are the same in the subject and object case (Steve [subject] says the cat is his; the cat
belongs to Steve [object].)
To change a noun to the possessive case add 's or, if the noun ends with an 's', add an
apostrophe. (The cat is Steve's. The cat is Steve Ross'.)
The subject pronouns are: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they, everybody, who, and whoever.
The possessive pronouns are: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs, and everybody's.
The object pronouns are: my, your, him, her, it, us, your, them, everybody, whom, and whomever.
Clause: a group of words that has both a subject and a predicate.
An independent clause is a complete sentence; it can stand alone as in It is raining.
A dependent clause is not a complete sentence, even though it has both a subject and a
predicate. Ex: Because it is raining....
A relative clause tells something more about a noun. There are two kinds of relative clauses:
restrictive and non-restrictive.
Restrictive clauses add information that is essential to the sentence, as in The waiter who dropped
a tray of food is thinking of changing jobs. In this sentence, the clause who dropped the tray of
food is essential information; it tells the reader which waiter might change jobs.
Non-restrictive clauses add non-essential, though often interesting, details to a sentence. Consider
this sentence: The waiter, who dropped a tray of food, is thinking of changing jobs. In this
sentence the clause who dropped a tray of food is not essential information; it does not tell the
reader which waiter is being discussed, it merely adds a detail about the waiter.
What's the difference between the first and second example sentences? The commas around the
relative clause in the second sentence signal a reader that this is non-essential information; in
spoken English, brief pauses before and after the clause would let a listener know that this is
merely extra information.
Comparison: there are two forms of comparison - the comparative and the superlative.
The comparative is used to compare two things. It is formed by adding -er to most one-syllable
adjectives, as in bolder, faster, and smoother. It is possible to add -er to most two-syllable
adjectives ending in y (happier, nastier, healthier - notice that the 'y' is changed to 'i'); likewise, -er
is sometimes added to two-syllable adjectives which are accented on the first syllable - narrower,
simpler, cleverer.
The word 'more' is used to make the comparative in longer adjectives and those ending in the
suffixes -ic, -ing, -ed, ful, and -less, as in more photogenic, more interesting, more hated, more
careful, and more thoughtless. It is possible to use more with two-syllable adjectives that accept
-er as in more narrow, more simple, and more clever; however, it is not possible to combine
'more' and '-er'.
There are four irregular comparatives: good/better, bad/worse, ill/worse, and far/farther or further.
In formal English, the word 'old', when used to describe a person, is irregular; its comparative
form is elder.
The superlative is used to compare three or more things. The rules for forming the superlative
are the same as for the comparative except that -est is used instead of -er (boldest, happiest,
narrowest) or most is used instead of more (most photogenic, most
thoughtless, and most simple.
There are tree irregular superlative forms: good/best, bad/worst, and far/farthest or furthest. As in
the comparative form, the formal superlative used for the word 'old' when describing a person is
eldest.
Conjugation: refers to the way verbs are changed (inflected) to agree with their subjects, or
indicate tense. For example, in the simple present, an 's' is added to the third-person verb as in he
reads, it works, and she walks. The simple past conjugation of the verb 'to be' is I was, you
were, he/it/she was, we were, you were, they were.
Declension: the changes (inflections) made to nouns to indicate gender, number or case.
Gender - while gender-specific language should be avoided in formal writing, there are English
words that indicate gender such as actor (masculine)/actress (feminine), aviator
(masculine)/aviatrix(feminine), and major(masculine)/majorette(feminine).
Number - many English nouns are made plural by the addition of -s or -es: hats, books, dishes,
potatoes. In words that end in 'f' or 'fe', the 'f' is changed to 'v' before the -s or
-es is added as in life/lives and leaf/leaves.
Irregular declensions include woman/women, child/children, mouse/mice, curriculum/curricula,
cactus/cacti, thesis/theses, and criterion/criteria.
Case - refers to the way pronouns are changed in relation to other words in a sentence (ex. I, me,
my, mine). See above for a full discussion.
Etymology: the history of a word. For example, the English word 'penguin' comes from the
Welsh words pen, meaning head, and gwyn, white.
Gender: refers to words that indicate whether a noun is female, male, or neuter (having no
gender). The third-person singular pronouns indicate gender (he, she, it, his, hers, its etc.) as do
certain nouns (king, queen) and noun endings (actor/actress, aviator/aviatrix, major/majorette)
Remember to avoid gender-specific language (words that imply a noun is masculine or feminine
when speaking generally) in formal writing.
Homonyms: words that are spelled and pronounced the same but have different spellings and
meanings: bear - an animal; bear - to carry.
Idiom (figurative language): words and phrases that are not intended literally but instead have
specialized meaning. As examples, to be over the hill means to be old, to dangle a carrot means
to offer incentive, and to fly off the handle means to become very angry.
Infinitive: the simple or basic form of the verb, often used with to, as in (to) eat,( to) be, and (to)
care. It can be used four ways.
The infinitive is used to show purpose. Ex: I'm going to the store to get milk. Bruno went to the
lounge to meet his sister.
It is used after do and modal auxiliary verbs: Did you study? Does she live here? He might be
there. You shouldn't worry.
The infinitive can also be used as the subject or object of a clause - To worry is useless. It is
useless to worry. She tries not to worry her children.
Finally, it can be used as the object of a noun, adjective, or verb as in these sentences: We need
permission to hold the protest. They were happy to receive our call. Brittany wants to go home.
Inflection: changes in words that change that part of speech but not the root meaning of a word.
See affixes.
Inflectional Endings (Inflectional Suffixes): see affixes.
Interjection: a word or words inserted into a sentence to show emotion or for emphasis.
Ex. The car hit the truck - bam! - right in its tail-light.
The school dance, I'm sorry to say, has been canceled.
Modals: words that indicate possibility, probability, or suggestions: can, could, may, might, must,
ought, shall, and should.
Morphology: the study of the structure of words forms. Affixes, roots, and inflection are part of
morphology.
Multiple-meaning Words: words that have more than one meaning. Bat as a noun can mean
either a winged mammal or a club used to hit baseballs; to bat as a verb means to hit a baseball
with a bat. A watch (noun) is a portable timepiece or an amount of time spent on duty.
Noun: a word that indicates a person, place, or thing.
Proper nouns indicate the names of people and specific places, works of art, and documents.
They are always capitalized. Vilma, Dr. Spock, Argentina, the Mona Lisa, and the Declaration of
Independence are examples of proper nouns.
Common nouns are used to speak generally and are only capitalized when the come at the
beginning of a sentence. Woman, pediatrician, country, painting, and manuscript are examples of
common nouns.
Orthography: the study of correct spelling.
Paragraph: a group of sentences related to a single topic. A well-written paragraph includes a
topic sentence, which states the main idea of the paragraph, and other sentences giving details
and/or or support for the main idea.
Participle: a form of the verb used in certain tenses.
The present participle is the -ing form of the verb. It is used in the progressive, also called
continuous, tenses as in she is acting, they had been celebrating, and I should have been working.
The present participle can be used as an adjective: enlightening conversation, infuriating remark,
this subject is interesting.
The past participle, often called the third form of the verb, is used for the simple past and perfect
tenses. Ex. he waited, we asked, you had gone, I have lived, they should have been seated, we
must have seen.
The past participle can be used as an adjective as in grilled fish, imported silk, she was burnt.
Person: the forms of verbs and pronouns used to designate the speaker , the person/people being
spoken to and the person/people being spoken about. There are three categories - the first,
second and third person - and each of the categories has a singular and a plural.
Pronouns: The first person is the speaker - I, we, me, us, my, our, mine, ours. The second person
includes those being spoken to - you, your, yours. The third person indicates those being spoken
about - he, it, she, they, him, it, her, them, his, its, her, their, his, its, hers, theirs.
Verbs: in English regular verbs, only the third person singular is affected by person; an -s is added
to the end of the verb: she laughs, it creates, he imagines.
Prefixes: groups of letters added to the beginning of a word. The word prefix was created by
adding the prefix pre-, which means before, to the word 'affix'. Some other prefixes are un- which
means 'not' (unreliable, unopened, unrelated), re-, which means 'again' (relearn, reinsert, reenlist),
and sub-, which means 'under' (submarine, substandard, subnormal).
Prefixes are not used to change the form of a word.
Phrase: a word or group of words that does not contain both a subject and predicate. There are
many kinds of phrases.
Participial phrases are phrases that begin with a participle such as buried in the sand, filled to
the top, singing like a bird, and brimming with energy.
Prepositional phrases begin with a proposition: beyond his expectations, near the city, without
another thought.
Appositive phrases are those that mean the same as a word or phrase used earlier in the
sentence. Ex. He grabbed his favorite tool, a roll of duct tape, and started to repair the broken
window. My oldest friend, Kelly, loves to garden.
Predicate: the parts of the sentence related to the verb; the verb, object, and all phrases
connected to the verb are included in the predicate.
Serena's good friend and colleague Eduardo is giving her a party. After the lecture, the students,
tired and hungry, went to the cafeteria.
Preposition: a word that indicates relationship to a noun or pronoun. There are prepositions that
indicate position (on, in, by, beneath), direction (up, through, toward, away [from], back) and
association/connection (by, with, about).
Pronoun: a word that takes the place of a noun (I, you, that, him, whose, its, hers etc.).
Root: the part of the word that carries its basic meaning; roots tend to come from different
languages such as French, German, Greek, and Latin.
The root of the word 'revert' is -vert-, which means 'to turn'; to revert is to turn back to earlier
habits. Other words made from this root are invert - to turn upside-down - and avert - to turn
away.
Some words have more than one root. For example, 'manufacture' is made from -manu-, which
means 'hand', and -fact-, 'to make'. 'Photography' comes from -photo-, 'light', and -graph-, 'to
write'.
Sentence: A group of words that expresses a complete thought, feeling, or idea.
A declarative sentence is a statement. This sentence is a declarative sentence.
An imperative sentence gives an order, for example, Wash your hands. The subject of an
imperative sentence is always 'you', either singular or plural, but the 'you' is not always spoken or
written - it is simply understood.
Many imperative sentences have only one word, the verb, as in Stop.
An interrogatory sentence is a question and ends with a question mark.. Do you understand?
Are you busy?
An exclamatory sentence show surprise or another emotion; it ends with an exclamation point.
Look at this mess! I can't believe what I'm seeing!
Semantics: the study of meaning in language.
Subject: the actor in a sentence; who or what the sentence is about. The subject can be a single
noun, a noun phrase, or a combination of these. The birds are singing. My friend Alex, whom you
met the other day, has left town.
Suffixes: groups of letters that are added to the end of a word or word root.
See affixes.
Syntax: the way words are grouped together; the grammatical combining and order of words.
Tense: the way verbs show action and states of being in relation to time.
Verb: a word that indicates action or a state of being.
Stative verbs are words like be, need, hate, believe, see and hear. These verbs indicate states
that occur involuntarily - without any conscious physical activity on the part of a person.
Action verbs are words like listen, type, dance, watch, create, and eat. They require physical
activity.
Voice: like verbs in general, voice indicates action or state of being. Voice adds an extra layer -
deliberate action and/or responsibility on the part of the subject or the state of being acted upon.
The active voice indicates a subject's deliberate action and/or responsibility. John gave some
flowers to Almira. The truck slammed into the tree.
The passive voice indicates that the subject was somehow acted upon - the subject essentially
does nothing, as in Amira was given some flowers. Amira did not perform the action in this
sentence, even though she is the subject of the sentence. The same is true for this sentence: The
tree was slammed into by the truck.
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