Active Voice

The use of a verb phrase where the agent of the verb is the subject of the sentence.

Adjectival

Refers to a word, phrase, or clause that functions like an adjective phrase.

Adjective

A form-class word that serves as a modifier of nouns or noun phrases.

Adverb

A form-class word that serves as a modifier of verbs or verb phrases. Adverbs may also modify adjectives.

Adverbial Complement

An adverbial phrase that completes the meaning of a linking verb.

Adverbial

Refers to a word, phrase, or clause that functions like an adverb phrase.

Affix

A generic term for a bound morpheme that is not a base. An affix which occurs before the base of a word is called a prefix. An affix which occurs after the base of a word is called a suffix. An affix which occurs within the base of a word is called an infix.

Affricate

A consonant produced by cutting off the air flow and releasing it gradually.

Allomorph

A form of a morpheme which has multiple forms for the same meaning.

Allomorphy

The existence of multiple allomorphs (variant forms) for a single morpheme.

Alveolar

Refers to consonants produced by restricting the air flow by placing the tongue on the hard plate (alveolum) behind the top front teeth.

Antecedent

The noun phrase to which a pronoun refers.

Article

A determiner that refers to the specificity of the noun it modifies. Articles may be indefinitie (a/an) or definite (the).

Aspect

Refers to continuing action (progressive aspect), indicated by the use of the present participle and completed action (perfect or perfective aspect), indicated by the use of the past participle.

Assimilation

A process whereby a sound coming into contact with another sound changes so that it more closely resembles that sound in terms of voicing, place of articulation, or other qualities.

Auxiliary Be

The verb be used as an auxiliary.

Auxiliary Do

The verb do used as an auxiliary. It is generally found in negative and interrogative sentences but also sometimes indicates emphasis.

Auxiliary Have

The verb have used as an auxiliary.

Auxiliary

Historically a prototypical verb which has become a structure-class word. Also called an auxiliary verb or helping verb. Auxiliaries can be modals, auxiliary have, auxiliary be, or auxiliary do.

Back

Refers to a vowel produced with the tongue in the back of the mouth.

Base

the part of the word that carries its principal meaning. A base can be a free morpheme or a bound morpheme.

Bound Morpheme

A morpheme that cannot stand alone as a word but must be attached to another morpheme.

Cardinal Number

A number representable by a numeral (1, 2, 3, etc.).

Case

Refers to whether a word functions as a subject or an object in a sentence. Pronouns often change their form depending on their function and so may appear in the subjective (nominative) case, used where the pronoun functions as the subject of the sentence, or the objective (accusative) case, used where the pronoun functions as the subject of the sentence or prepositional phrase.

Central

Refers to a vowel produced with the tongue in between the positions used to produce front and back vowels.

Clause

A grammatical structure that requires a subject noun phrase and a verb.

Comma Fault

When a phrase interrupts the sequence of subject and predicate it is set off by commas on both sides. If one or both of these commas is omitted, the punctuation error is called a comma fault.

Comma Splice

Two independent clauses incorrectly punctuated with a comma separating them. To correct a comma splice, replace the comma with a period or semicolon, or place a coordinate conjunction after the comma.

Common Nouns

Nouns that are not proper nouns.

Comparative

An inflection found on adjectives and adverbs which generally indicates that the quality indicated by the adjective or adverb is greater than if the word did not possess the comparative inflection (compare bold and bolder).

Complement

A noun phrase, adjective phrase, or adverb phrase that completes the meaning of the verb.

Complex Sentence

A sentence in which structure class words join an independent clause with a dependent clause (the clause introduced by structure-class word).

Complex Words

Words consisting of either two bound morphemes or a free morpheme and one or more bound morphemes.

Compound Sentence

Two sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction.

Compound Words

Words consisting of two free morphemes.

Conjunctions

Structure-class words that join together grammatical structures.

Conjunctive Adverbs

Coordinating conjunctions used only to signal relationships between two sentences. They are like adverbs in that they express the kinds of meaning normally carried by adverbs (e.g. contrast, addition, cause and effect, example or restatement, and time).

Consonants

Sounds produced by restricting and then releasing the flow of air in three ways: vibrating the vocal cords, changing the part of the anatomy which restricts the air flow, and changing the extent to which the air flow is restricted.

Coordinating (or Coordinate) Conjunctions

Conjunctions that join grammatical structures of similar form.

Copular/Copulative Verbs

See Linking Verbs.

Correlative Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions paired with other words that extend the meaning of the first (both this... and that..., either this... or that..., neither this... nor that..., not only this...but also that...).

Count Nouns

Nouns that we generally think of as being countable and which generally occur with the plural inflection.

Definite Article

The article the, used when the speaker has a particular example of the entity referred to in mind.

Demonstrative

A determiner that refers to the specificity of the noun it modifies. The demonstratives this and these indicate that the entity is proximate. The demonstratives that and those indicate that the entity is distant.

Dental

Refers to consonants produced by restricting the air flow with the teeth.

Derivational Morpheme

An affix which has the effect of creating a new word which may or may not have a meaning closely related to the word or morpheme to which it is added. Derivational morphemes are always prefixes or suffixes in English.

Determiner

A structure-class word that precedes and modifies a noun.

Diphthong

A vowel produced in two contrasting parts of the mouth.

Direct Object

A noun phrase that which completes a transitive verb. It refers to an entity other than the subject of the verb.

Ellipsis

The omission of a word which would normally be expected in a phrase because the audience can infer its meaning from information given earlier. The word is said to be "elided".

Etymology

The historical origin of a word. Good dictionaries will contain etymologies for the words they define.

Form

The morphological make up (base and/or affixes) of a word. Generally, word forms can be assigned to different parts of speech.

Form-class words

Words which can change their form through the addition of derivational or inflectional affixes, generally nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Frame Sentence

A sentence used to test whether a word belongs to a particular part of speech. The sentence is designed to contain words surrounding a blank in pattern where only words of one type of speech will fit into the blank to produce a grammatical sentence. The meanings of the words in frame sentences may have to be adjusted in some cases (as long as the parts of speech remain the same) in order to produce sentences with meanings that we would actually intend.

Free Morpheme

A morpheme that can stand alone as a word.

Fricative

A consonant produced by releasing the air flow gradually.

Front

Refers to a vowel produced with the tongue in the front of the mouth.

Function Words

Another name for Structure-Class Words.

Function

The function of a word or phrase in a sentence. Generally words or phrases function like common parts of speech.

Functional Shift

When a word categorisable as one part of speech functions as another part of speech in a sentence.

Gender

Refers to the sex of the entity to which a third person personal pronoun refers. The masculine pronoun is he. The feminine pronoun is she. If the pronoun does not refer to an entity characterisable by sex the neuter pronoun it is used. When an individual whose sex is not known is referred to the historical form he is used. However, some speakers interpret this as meaning male individuals only and often select other forms such as he or she, he/she, she, or they, depending upon their notions of political and grammatical correctness.

Gerund

A verb with the past participle inflection which has a nominal function in an individual phrase or clause.

Glide

A consonant produced by only partially restricting the air flow (these sounds are often called semi-vowels). All glides are voiced.

Glottal

Refers to consonants produced by restricting the air flow by tightening the folds in the vocal cords (glottis)..

Headword

The word in a phrase which determines the phrases function.

Helping Verb

See Auxiliary.

High

Refers to a vowel produced with the tongue high in the mouth (which is relatively closed).

Hypercorrection

A grammatical form which is incorrect in Standard English that has been produced by a speaker attempting to correct a perceived grammatical error.

Indefinite Article

The article a or an, used when the speaker has no particular example of the entity referred to in mind.

Indefinite Pronouns

Generally indefinite determiners functioning nominally, they have no specific referent and therefore no antecedent.

Indefinite

A determiner that does not indicate a specific example of the entity to which the speaker refers.

Indirect Object

The entity which is the recipient of the direct object of a sentence.

Infix

An affix which occurs within the base of a word.

Inflectional Affix (also called an inflection)

A morpheme which supplements the meaning of the base with information about the grammatical significance of the word in a particular sentence. It does not change the meaning of the word. In English, almost all inflectional affixes are suffixes, although there are a few inflectional infixes.

Intensifier

See Qualifier.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

An internationally recognised alphabet for representing sounds. In the study of phonetics, IPA symbols are placed in between square brackets ("[]") and represent distinct sounds. In the study of phonology, IPA symbols are placed between slashes ("/") and represent distinct phonemes.

Interrogatives

Pronouns or adverbs that introduce interrogative clauses or sentences (clauses or sentences that answer or ask a question). Often called question words or wh-words because the frequently occur in questions and almost exclusively begin with wh-: who, whom, whose, which, what, where, why, when, and how.

Intransitive Verbs

Verbs that can stand alone as the whole predicate, although they may also have adverbial modifiers

Labial

Refers to consonants produced by restricting the air flow with the lips.

Labiodental

Refers to consonants produced by restricting the air flow with the top teeth on the bottom lip (if both lips are used the sound is called bilabial).

Lax

Refers to a vowel produced with the mouth relatively more open. English has high and mid lax vowels.

Linking Verbs (also called Copular/Copulative Verbs)

Verbs that are completed by a phrase which describes the subject of the sentence. This phrase is a subject complement.

Liquid

A consonant produced by channelling the air flow around the sides of the tongue. All liquids are voiced.

Low

Refers to a vowel produced with the tongue low in the mouth (which is relatively open).

Main Verb Phrase

a verb and any auxiliaries attached to it, at least one of which must be in the present or past tense.

Main Verb

The headword of a verb phrase which may be preceded by one or more auxiliaries.

Mass Nouns

Another name for Noncount Nouns.

Mid

Refers to a vowel produced with the tongue in between the positions used to produce high and low vowels.

Modal (or Modal Auxiliary)

One of the following auxiliaries can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, and must. Modals are the present or past tense forms of older verbs, but they no longer indicate present or past time. Instead, they have a variety of meanings such as future time, conditionality, necessity, etc. to which refer to the state or activity of the main verb which follows the modal auxiliary.

Modifier

A word which forms part of a phrase with another word and indicates something specific about that word.

Monophthong

A vowel produced in a single part of the mouth.

Morphemes are distinct grammatical units from which words are formed. Morphemes can be identified by three criteria

(a) the unit is a word or part of a word that has meaning, (b) the unit cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts without violation of its meaning or without meaningless remainders, (c) the unit recurs in differing word environments with a relatively stable meaning. Morphemes are represented with the most common English spelling for the unit of meaning placed in curly brackets ("{}"). If the English spelling is not sufficiently clear enough to indicate the meaning, other notations may also be placed in the brackets in order to make the meaning clear.

Morphemic Transcription

The method of representing morphemes by placing common English spellings for their meanings in curly brackets ("{}"). If the English spelling is not sufficiently clear enough to indicate the meaning, other notations may also be placed in the brackets in order to make the meaning clear.

The study of the ways in which words are formed and the functions of the parts that make up the whole of the word.

Nasal

A consonant produced by channelling the air flow through the nasal cavity. All nasals are voiced.

Nominal

Refers to a word, phrase, or clause that functions like a noun phrase.

Noncount Nouns (also called Mass Nouns)

Nouns that we generally think of as not being countable and which generally do not occur with the plural inflection.

Noun phrase

Any word or group of words for which a noun can be substituted

Noun

A word which can take the inflections associated with nouns and/or follows the common word-order patterns of prototypical nouns.

Number

Refers to whether a pronoun or other word refers to one entity (singular) or more than one entity (plural).

Object Complement

A nominal or adjectival phrase that refers to or modifies a direct object.

Objective Case

See Case.

Ordinal Number

A number referred to by its place in a sequence (first, second, third, last, etc.)

Palatal

Refers to consonants produced by restricting the air flow by placing the tongue on the soft palate behind the alveolum.

Particle

See Verb Particle.

Parts of Speech

Categories into which words with common behaviours such as affixes or word orders may be assigned.

Passive Voice

The use of auxiliary be and the main verb in the past participle form to make the patient the subject of the sentence.

Past Participle

An inflection found on verbs indicating that the verb is nonfinite (i.e. it has no tense) and that the activity or state indicated by the verb is complete or has been completed.

Past Tense

An inflection found on verbs, generally indicating that the activity or state indicated by the verb took place in the past time. In some cases, verbs with the past tense inflection may have historically ceased to indicate past time (e.g. would, which indicates conditionality).

Perfective (or Perfect) Aspect

Refers to con completed tinuing action, indicated by the use of the past participle.

Peripheral Case

An instance in which an individual word does not behave in all ways like a particular part of speech or may sometimes function as another part of speech.

Person

The quality of personal pronouns which refers to who the agent of the verb is in relation to the speaker. The first person pronouns I and we refer to the speaker. The second person pronoun you (older thou and ye) refers to the person whom the speaker addresses, and the third person pronouns he, she, it, and they refer to entities who are not the speaker or the person whom the speaker addresses.

Personal Pronoun

One of a number of pronouns characterised by the qualities of person, number, gender, and case.

Phoneme

a sound which is perceived by speakers of an individual language as distinct and capable of indicating some grammatical significance.

Phonemic Awareness

The ability to perceive the phonemic content of a word without reference to its spelling.

Phonemic Transcription

A representation of the pronunciation of a sound, word, or words using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to represent each phoneme. The IPA symbols are placed between slashes ("//").

Phonetic Transcription

A representation of the pronunciation of a sound, word, or words using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to represent each sound. The IPA symbols are placed between square brackets ("[]").

Phonetics

The study of linguistic sounds.

Phonics

A method of teaching reading and writing using sounds.

Phonology

The study of systems of sounds, often the sound system of a particular language.

Phrase

A word or a group of words that has a particular function in a sentence. A phrase consists of a headword and all of its modifiers.

Plural

An inflection found on nouns indicating that there are more than one of the entity indicated by the noun.

Possessive

A determiner that indicates who possesses the entity to which the speaker refers.

Possessive

An inflection found on nouns indicating that the entity indicated by the noun possesses something.

Predicate Adjective

See Subject Complement.

Predicate Nominative

See Subject Complement.

Predicate

A verb phrase plus a complement, if present. The predicate generally (but not always) comes after the subject.

Prefix

An affix which occurs before the base of a word.

Preposition

A structure-class word that signals that a noun phrase called the object of the preposition follows.

Prepositional Phrase

A preposition followed by a noun phrase called the object of the preposition.

Prescritivism

The view that certain grammatical forms are "right" and other grammatical forms are "wrong" and must be avoided. There are varying types of prescriptivism with some people applying prescriptive principles only in certain circumstances.

Present Participle

An inflection found on verbs indicating that the verb is nonfinite (i.e. it has no tense) and that the activity or state indicated by the verb is ongoing, repetitive, or habitual.

Present Tense

An inflection found on verbs, generally indicating that the activity or state indicated by the verb takes place in the present time. In some cases, verbs with the present tense inflection may have historically ceased to indicate present time (e.g. will, which indicates future time). In English the 3^rd person form of the present tense inflection is generally –s; otherwise it is generally a zero-morpheme (that is, it is not pronounced).

Principle Parts

The five main forms of the verb infinitive, present tense, past tense, present participle, and past participle.

Progressive Aspect

Refers to continuing action, repetitive, or habitual action, indicated by the use of the present participle.

Pronoun

A word that can be substituted for a noun phrase.

Proper Nouns

Nouns that are the names of specific places, persons, or events.

Prototypical Case

An instance in which an individual word behaves in all ways like a particular part of speech.

Qualifier

A structure-class word that usually precedes adjectives or adverbs, increasing or decreasing the quality signified by they words they modify. Also called an intensifier.

Reciprocal Pronoun

The phrasal pronouns each other and one another, used to refer to actions between groups.

Reflexive Pronoun

A pronoun followed by –self or –selves which is used where the object of the verb is the same as the subject or to emphasise a preceding noun phrase.

Relative Adverb

An adverb that introduces a relative clause.

Relative Clause

A dependent clause with an adjectival function modifying an entity (the antecedent) in the main clause.

Relative Pronoun

A pronoun that introduces a relative clause.

Relatives

Pronouns or adverbs that introduce relative clauses.

Rounded

Refers to a sound (usually a vowel) produced with the lips rounded.

Run-On Sentence

Two independent clauses incorrectly written with no punctuation between them. To correct a run-on sentence, place a period or semicolon between the clauses, add a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction between them, add a period or semicolon followed by a conjunctive adverb and a comma between them, or make one of the independent clauses a subordinate clause.

Schwa

A mid central vowel which frequently occurs in unstressed syllables in English.

Simple Sentence

A sentence consisting of a single independent clause.

Simple Words

Words consisting of a single free morpheme.

Stop

A consonant produced by cutting off the air flow and releasing it quickly.

Stress

A relatively greater prominence given to an individual syllable by a combination of higher pitch and louder volume.

Structure-class words (also called Function Words)

Words which are incapable of changing through inflexion or derivation such as prepositions, conjunctions, and the like.

Subject Complement

A nominal or adjectival phrase that completes the meaning of a linking verb by describing the subject of the verb. A nominal subject complement is often called a predicate nominative. An adjectival subject complement is often called a predicate adjective.

Subject

A noun phrase that performs the action of the verb or precedes the verb be.

Subjective Case

See Case.

Subordinate Clause

A dependent clause introduced by a subordinating conjunction. Some grammars use the term subordinate clause to mean any dependent clause. Subordinate clauses at the beginnings of sentences are always followed by a comma.

Suffix

An affix which occurs after the base of a word.

Superlative

An inflection found on adjectives and adverbs which generally indicates an extreme version of the quality indicated by the adjective or adverb (compare bold and boldest).

Syllable

A division of a word consisting of at least one vowel sound. Syllables are often divided by consonants. When there is one consonant in between two vowels, the syllable division comes before the consonant. When there are two consonants in between the vowels, the syllable division comes between the consonants.

Tense

Refers to a vowel produced with the mouth relatively more closed. English has high and mid tense vowels.

Transitive Verb

A verb which has a direct object as its complement (i.e. that is completed by a noun phrase which refers to an entity other than the subject of the verb).

Velar

Refers to consonants produced by restricting the air flow by placing the tongue far back in the mouth.

Verb Particle

A structure-class word following a verb which forms part of its meaning. Verb particles often look like prepositions or adverbs.

Verb Phrase

A verb plus its associated auxiliaries and/or modifiers.

Verb

A word which can take the inflections associated with verbs and/or follows the common word-order patterns of prototypical verbs.

Verbal

Refers to a word, phrase, or clause that functions like a verb phrase.

Voice

See Active Voice and Passive Voice.

Voiced

Refers to sounds produced with relatively more vibration of the vocal cords. All vowels are voiced.

Voiceless

Refers to sounds produced with relatively little vibration of the vocal cords.

Vowel

A sound produced by directing the flow of air into different parts of the mouth. Vowel sounds can be adjusted by changing the position of the tongue, by rounding of the lips, and by the degree of opening of the mouth. All vowels are voiced.

Zero Morpheme

A morpheme that is not pronounced.