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161 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Abstract Noun
A noun that names a quality or a concept, something that cannot be perceived by the senses: love, enjoyment, direction, emptiness. See p. 43.
Action Verb
As distinguished from Linking Verb, a verb that tells what the subject is doing: go, see, lose, repeat, etc. See p. 24.
Active Voice
The form of the verb used when the subject is thought of as acting rather than receiving an action. Compare Passive Voice. See p. 35.
Adjective
A word used to describe or limit a noun or a pronoun. See p. 59.
Adjective Clause
A subordinate clause used as an adjective. See p. 79.
Adjective Phrase
A prepositional phrase used as an adjective. See p. 70.
Adverb
A word used to describe or limit a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. See p. 64.
Adverb Clause
A subordinate clause used as an adverb. See p. 80.
Adverb Phrase
A prepositional phrase used as an adverb. See p. 70.
Adverbial Conjunction
A word or phrase functioning like an adverb which has an additional function as a connective between clauses, or between sentences
Adverbial Objective (or Adverbial Noun)
A noun used as an adverb, to modify a verb, an adjective, or an adverb: I saw him yesterday. Saul came home last night. We walked three miles.
Agreement
Grammatical correspondence between two parts of speech. A verb agrees with its subject in person and number. A pronoun agrees with its antecedent.
Antecedent
A noun or noun-equivalent to which a following pronoun refers. Certain personal, relative, and demonstrative pronouns have antecedents. See p. 48.
Apostrophe
The mark (’) used in contractions and possessive forms. See p. 46.
Appositive
An explanatory noun or pronoun, usually placed immediately after the noun or pronoun with which it is in apposition. See p. 57.
Article
A group term for the words a and an (indefinite articles) and the (definite article). They are usually considered a kind of subcategory of adjectives.
Auxiliary
Part of a verb used with another verb form in a verb phrase. See p. 11.
Being Verb

State of being verbs that do not express action and that link their subject to a predicate nominative or a predicate adjective.
Case
The property of a noun or a pronoun which indicates its relation to other words in the sentence, such as that of subject or object. See Nominative, Objective, Possessive.
Clause
A group of related words containing a subject and verb with their modifiers. See p. 76.
Close Appositive
An appositive so closely allied to the noun or pronoun with which it is in apposition that no comma is used between them: my brother Sam, the planet Mars.
Collective Noun
The name of a group of beings or things: crowd, family, collection.
Colloquial
A term applied to speech or writing that is informal.
Common Noun
As distinguished from Proper Noun, a name applied to a group or a member of a group, rather than to an individual: boy, dog, city, river.
Comparative Degree
The form of an adjective or adverb that expresses more of a quality, with the word more or the suffix -er: higher, slower, more charming, more quietly. See p. 60.
Comparison
The change in the form of an adjective or adverb to express a quality (Positive), more of a quality (Comparative), or most of a quality (Superlative). See p. 60.
Complement
That part of the predicate used after the verb to complete the meaning. See p. 15.
Complete Predicate
The verb plus all its modifiers and complements. See p. 9.
Complete Subject
The simple subject plus all its modifiers. See p. 9.
Complex Sentence
A sentence containing one main clause and at least one subordinate clause. See p. 77.
Compound-Complex Sentence
A sentence containing two or more main clauses and at least one subordinate clause. See p. 78.
Compound Personal Pronoun
A personal pronoun with the suffix -self or -selves. In use it is either Intensive or Reflexive. See p. 50.
Compound Predicate
A predicate composed of two or more verbs, usually joined by a coordinating conjunction. See p. 13.
Compound Preposition
A preposition consisting of two or more words: out of, according to.
Compound Sentence
A sentence composed of two or more main clauses. See p. 77.
Compound Subject
A subject composed of two or more nouns or pronouns, usually joined by a coordinating conjunction. See p. 13.
Concrete Noun
The name of a thing or class of things that can be perceived by the senses: calendar, man, flower, smile, hammer, jolt. See p. 43.
Conjugation
The inflectional forms of a verb used to indicate person, number, tense, voice, and mood.
Conjunction
A word used to join other words or groups of words. There are two principal kinds of conjunctions, Coordinating and Subordinating. See p. 72.
Conjunctive Adverb
An adverb which has an additional function as a connective between clauses, or between sentences: therefore, however, moreover, nevertheless, hence, consequently. It is often used after a semicolon.
Contraction
The shortening of a word or phrase by the omission of one or more letters in the middle. In writing, contraction is indicated by the apostrophe, as in don’t, can’t, it’s, you’re.
Coordinating Conjunction
A conjunction that connects two sentence elements of equal rank, as distinguished from the Subordinating Conjunction. See p. 72.
Copulative Verb
Another term for Linking Verb.
Correlative Conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions that are used in pairs: both . . . and, either . . . or, neither . . . nor. See p. 73.
Declarative Sentence
A sentence that makes a statement. See p. 6.
Declension
The inflectional forms of a noun or pronoun, to show case and number.
Definite Article

The word the usually considered a kind of subcategory of adjectives
Degree
See Comparative Degree, Superlative Degree.
Demonstrative Adjective
A type of limiting adjective that points out: this house, that corner, these apples. See p. 60.
Demonstrative Pronoun
A pronoun that points out: This is the boy. See p. 53.
Dependent Clause
Another term for Subordinate Clause.
Descriptive Adjective
An adjective that describes the noun it modifies, as opposed to a Limiting Adjective. See p. 59.
Direct Address (Nominative of Address)
A noun naming a person or persons addressed, not related grammatically to other elements in the sentence: Did you bring the flowers, Pamela? Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
Direct Object
A complement which occurs after a transitive verb, to complete the meaning. See p. 25.
Ellipsis (Elliptical Expression)
The omission of a word or words when the context makes the meaning clear: A chisel would work better than a plane (would work).
Emphatic Form
A name commonly used for the form of a verb with the auxiliaries do, does, or did: Do try a little harder. You may not believe us, but we did see him.
Exclamatory Sentence
A sentence which expresses strong feeling. It is often different in word order from the other kinds of sentences: What a beautiful day! How silly! See p. 6.
Expletive
It or there used merely to precede the verb where the real subject follows the verb. See pp. 10 and 82.
Finite Verb
Any complete verb form, as distinguished from a verbal.
Future Perfect Tense
The tense formed with the auxiliaries will have or shall have (passive will have been or shall have been). It is used to express an action preceding another action in the future.
Future Tense
The tense, formed with will or shall, used to express action in the future.
Gender
The grammatical expression of sex distinctions. In English it affects only the third person singular pronouns he, she, and it.
Gerund
A verbal ending in -ing, used as a noun. It is sometimes called a verbal noun or a noun participle. See p. 41.
Gerund Phrase
A gerund with any complement or modifiers.
Idiom
An expression peculiar to a language, depending on custom rather than logic: It’s raining. Can you tell time? I give up.
Imperative Mood
A form of a verb used for commands.
Imperative Sentence
A sentence in which the verb is in the imperative mood. The subject is usually you understood. See p. 6.
Impersonal “It”
A term used for the vague use of the pronoun it in such sentences as “It’s raining” or “It’s time to go.” See p. 50.
Indefinite Adjective
A word like some, both, any, many, either, several, used to modify a noun: Many hands make light work. Several books have disappeared. Have you any matches? See p. 60.
Indefinite Article

The words a and an usually considered a kind of subcategory of adjectives
Indefinite Pronoun
A word like some, both, any, many, either, several, used in a noun construction as subject, object, predicate nominative, etc.: Many are called, but few are chosen. Either will do. See p. 54.
Indefinite Relative Pronoun
A relative pronoun that introduces a noun clause and has no antecedent in the main clause. See p. 52.
Independent Clause
Another term for Main Clause.
Indicative Mood
A form of a verb used for statements or questions.
Indirect Object
A word that follows a verb and tells to or for whom something is done. It is in turn followed by a direct object, expressed or implied. See p. 26.
Infinitive
A verbal, usually preceded by to, and used as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. See p. 39.
Infinitive Phrase
An infinitive with complement and modifiers.
Inflection
Changes in the form of a word to indicate changes in meaning or in use. The inflection of nouns and pronouns is called declension. The inflection of verbs is called conjugation.
Intensive Pronoun
One type of Compound Personal Pronoun, in which the suffix -self is used to intensify the meaning: The principal himself congratulated me. She did it herself. See p. 51.
Interjection
An exclamatory word that has no grammatical relationship with the rest of the sentence: whoops, ouch, alas. See p. 21.
Interrogative Adjective
A word that introduces a question and also modifies a noun: Whose desk is it? Which club did you use? See p. 60.
Interrogative Adverb
A word that introduces a question and also modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb: When did he leave? Why are all the lights on?
Interrogative Pronoun
A word that introduces a question and also functions in place of a noun: Who is responsible for this? Which of them is more reliable? What did he say? See p. 52.
Interrogative Sentence
A sentence that asks a question. See p. 6.
Intransitive Verb
A verb that has no object: Wait for me. She has been studying hard. See p. 16.
Irregular Verb
A verb that forms its past tense or past participle other than by the simple addition of -d or -ed. Many of the common English verbs, like do, go, make, tell, write, speak, are irregular. See p. 28.
Limiting Adjective
An adjective that merely points to or identifies or limits its noun, instead of describing it. See p. 60.
Linking Verb
A verb that links its subject to a predicate nominative or a predicate adjective. The most common linking verb is be. Others are become, seem, appear, look, taste, etc. See p. 24.
Main Clause
A clause that is complete in itself, not subordinated to some other grammatical construction. In a simple sentence the main clause and the sentence are identical. See p. 76.
Modal Auxiliary
As distinguished from the common auxiliaries, which are usually forms of be or have, the modal auxiliaries add to the principal verb an idea such as necessity, obligation, permission, etc. The forms frequently used are can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would.
Modifier
Usually an adjective or an adverb. Any word or group of words used to describe or limit another word or group of words.
Mood
The attitude of the speaker toward the sentence, whether indicative (making a statement), imperative (giving a command), or subjunctive (posing an unreal or hypothetical situation).
Nominative
The case name for the subject of a sentence or a predicate nominative. See p. 49.
Nominative Absolute
A phrase consisting of a participle (or some equivalent construction) plus a subject of the participle: the dishes done, his face contorted with rage. It is called nominative because the subject is in the nominative case; and absolute because it has no clear grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence: His face contorted with rage, Mooney stalked out of the chamber. I being the elder, they all looked accusingly at me. Dinner being over, we had four empty hours ahead of us.
Nonrestrictive
A term for a modifier that describes but does not limit or identify the word it modifies. A nonrestrictive modifier, since it is parenthetical, is set off by commas. See Restrictive. My father, who was celebrating his birthday, was feeling very gay. The Steuben Library, which has its own system of cataloging, is not participating in the study. Kaufman, irritated by the delay, expressed himself forcibly. We finally tabled the motion, realizing that we could not agree.
Noun
A word used to name a person, a place, a thing, a quality, or an action. See p. 43.
Noun Clause
A subordinate clause used as a noun. See p. 82.
Number
A property of nouns, pronouns, and verbs, that indicates whether the reference is to one (singular) or more than one (plural).
Object
A noun or noun-equivalent that follows and is governed by a transitive verb or a preposition.
Objective
The case name for an object of a verb or a preposition. See p. 50.
Objective Complement
A noun or an adjective that follows an object and is necessary to complete its meaning: We painted the barn white. We made Charley the chairman. He finds physics difficult.
Parenthetical
A term applied to a word or expression appearing in a sentence but not necessary for the essential thought or the structure. It may be set off by parentheses, but commas or dashes are more usual: Our financial condition, however, has never been better. A swimming pool, you know, needs a lot of attention. Certain grammatical taboos—e.g., the split infinitive—are no longer so frightening.
Participle
A verbal used as an adjective. See Present Participle and Past Participle.
Participle (Participial) Phrase
A participle with its complement or modifiers.
Parts of Speech
The eight classes into which words are grouped according to function: verb, noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. See p. 21.
Passive Voice
The form of the verb that tells what is done to the subject rather than what the subject does. Compare Active Voice. See p. 35.
Past Participle
A verbal used as an adjective and expressing past time. In form it often ends in -ed, sometimes in -en; but there are several dozen verbs in which the form is quite irregular: talked, failed, suspected, taken, eaten, burnt, gone, caught. Also one of the Principal Parts of a verb, used with auxiliaries to form the passive voice and the perfect tenses. See pp. 28, 41.
Past Perfect Tense
A tense consisting, in its simple form, of the auxiliary had (passive voice had been) plus the past participle form of a verb. It is used to express time prior to some other past time. See p. 35.
Past Tense
The tense form commonly used to express action at some point in the past. The past tense is included as one of the principal parts of a verb. See p. 33.
Perfect Tense
One of three tenses (see Present Perfect, Past Perfect, Future Perfect) formed with a past participle preceded by the auxiliaries have or has, had, or will have.
Person
The grammatical property of verbs and personal pronouns which indicates whether a person is speaking (first person), spoken to (second person), or spoken about (third person). See p. 49.
Personal Pronoun
A pronoun with inflectional changes to indicate the three possible persons and singular or plural number. See p. 49.
Phrase
A group of related words, as Verb Phrase, Prepositional Phrase, Participle Phrase, Gerund Phrase, Infinitive Phrase.
Plural
The classification of number that indicates more than one. See Number.
Positive Degree
The basic form of an adjective or adverb. See Comparison.
Possessive
The case form of nouns and pronouns that indicates ownership or some equivalent association. See p. 45.
Possessive Adjective (Possessive Pronoun)
A personal pronoun used as a possessive modifier. See p. 50.
Predicate
The verb in a sentence, with all complements and modifiers. The predicate comprises what is said about the subject.
Predicate Adjective
An adjective used as a predicate complement after a linking verb, modifying the subject. See p. 26.
Predicate Complement
A noun, a pronoun, or an adjective used to complete the meaning of a linking verb and to identify or modify the subject. See p. 25.
Predicate Nominative
A noun or pronoun used as a predicate complement after a linking verb and identifying or representing the subject. See p. 25.
Predicate Noun
A word in the nominative case that completes a copulative verb, such as son in the sentence Charlie is my son.
Preposition
A word that relates a noun or pronoun (its object) to some other word in a sentence. See p. 69.
Prepositional Phrase
A preposition plus its object. Prepositional phrases commonly function as adjectives or adverbs. See p. 18.
Present Participle
A word made from a verb, ending in -ing, and functioning as a verbal modifier of a noun or pronoun; or, as one of the principal parts, it may be used with auxiliaries to form verb phrases. See pp. 28, 41.
Present Perfect Tense
A tense consisting, in its simple form, of the auxiliary have or has (passive voice have been or has been) plus the past participle. It is used generally to express time in a period in the past stretching up to the present. See p. 35.
Present Tense
The form of the verb used to express present time. See p. 33.
Principal Clause
Contains a subject and a verb as well as expressing a complete thought.
Principal Parts
The basic verb forms from which all other verb forms may be derived. In this book the parts listed are present, past, present participle, and past participle. See p. 28.
Progressive Tenses
Verb forms occurring in all six tenses, which show the action as going on at the time indicated. In the active voice the progressive tenses are formed by adding a part of the verb be to the present participle. See p. 32.
Pronominal Adjective
Pseudonym for Possessive Adjective. (Or as far as I care it is)
Pronoun
A word used instead of a noun in one of the noun functions (subject, object, etc.). See p. 48.
Proper Noun
The name of an individual person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are capitalized. See p. 43.
Reciprocal Pronoun
A pronoun that expresses mutual relationship: each other, one another. See p. 55.
Reflexive Pronoun
A term for an object that names the same person or thing as the subject: She blames herself. He hurt himself. See Compound Personal Pronoun.
Regular Verb
A verb that forms its past tense and past participle by the addition of -d or -ed: please/pleased, talk/talked, growl/ growled.
Relative Adjective
A word that introduces a subordinate (relative) clause and functions as an adjective within the clause: He looks like a man whose conscience is clear. See p. 60.
Relative Adverb
A word that introduces a subordinate (relative) clause and functions as an adverb within the clause: I know the shop where you bought that hat. See p. 80.
Relative Clause
A subordinate clause introduced by a relative pronoun, a relative adjective, or a relative adverb. See p. 79.
Relative Pronoun
A pronoun that introduces a subordinate clause and functions as a pronoun within the clause. The common forms are who, whom, which, that, what. See Indefinite Relative Pronoun; also p. 79.
Restrictive
A term for a modifier which is necessary for the meaning of the sentence. Such a modifier is generally not set off by commas. See Nonrestrictive. The only fan that works is in the bedroom. A man who can’t pull his weight is useless on this job. I can’t drink coffee without sugar.
Restrictive Appositive
Same as Close Appositive.
Retained Object
An object that is kept in its object position following the verb when the verb is put into a passive voice form: Active: They gave us a choice. Passive: We were given a choice. (choice is a retained object)
Sentence Modifier
An adverb used to modify the essential idea of a sentence rather than the verb: Fortunately, he died painlessly. Of course, you aren’t the only one.
Simple Sentence
A sentence containing a single main clause and no subordinate clause. See p. 77.
Singular
That classification of number which indicates only one. See Number.
Split Infinitive
A construction in which a word, usually an adverb, occurs between to and the verb form: to really succeed. See p. 40.
Subject
A word or group of words about which something is said by the predicate. See pp. 3 and 9.
Subjective Complement
Another term for Predicate Complement.
Subjunctive Mood
The mood of a verb used to express a wish or a condition contrary to fact. See p. 36.
Subordinate Clause
A clause functioning as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb, being thus dependent on or subordinate to something else in the sentence. See p. 76.
Subordinating Conjunction
A conjunction used to join a subordinate clause, except a relative clause, to a main clause. See p. 73.
Substantive
A term applied to any word or group of words used as a noun. It may be a noun, a pronoun, an infinitive, a gerund, or a clause.
Superlative Degree
The form of an adjective or adverb that expresses most of a quality, with the word most or the suffix -est: highest, prettiest, most ornate, most vigorously. See p. 60.
Tense
That property of a verb which indicates the time of the action. There are six tenses, in both simple and progressive forms: present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect. See p. 32.
Transitive Verb
A verb that has an object: Take this letter. I can’t see his face. See p. 16.
Verb
A word or a group of words that says something about the subject. See p. 9.
Verbal
A word made from a verb but functioning as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. A verbal may be a participle, a gerund, or an infinitive. See these terms; also p. 39.
Verb Phrase
A group of words used together as a single verb: was going, has seen, has been stolen, will be rested. See p. 10.
Voice
The form of a verb which indicates whether the subject acts (active voice) or is acted upon (passive voice). Harry painted that picture. (Active) That picture was painted by Harry. (Passive)

Finite Verb

Any complete verb form, as distinguished from a verbal.