ABSTRACT NOUN a word used to refer to a quality, idea, feeling or experience, rather than a physical object for example, size, reoson, hoppiness. Compare with concrete noun.
ADJECTIVE a ‘describing’ word that tells you more about a person or thing, such as their appearance, colour, size or other qualities, for example, pretty, blue, big.
ADVERB a word usually used with verbs, adjectives or other adverbs that gives more information about when, where, how or in what circumstances something happens, for example, quickly, happily now.
AGREE (to) to change word endings according to whether you are referring to masculine, feminine, singular or plural people or things.
AGREEMENT changing word endings according to whether you are referring to masculine, feminine, singular or plural people or things.
APOSTROPHE s an ending (‘s) added to a noun to show who or what someone or something belongs to, for example, Danielle’s dog, the doctor’s wife, the book’s cover.
ARTICLE a word like the, o and an, which is used in front of a noun. See also definite article, indefinite article and partitive article.
AUXILIARY VERB a verb such as be, hove and do when it is used with a main verb to form tenses, negatives and questions.
BASE FORM the form of the verb without any endings added to it, for example, wolk, have, be, go. Compare with infinitive.
CARDINAL NUMBER a number used in counting, for example, onet seven/ ninety. Compare with ordinal number.
CLAUSE a group of words containing a verb.
COMPARATIVE an adjective or adverb with -er on the end of it or more or /ess in front of it that is used to compare people, things or actions, for example, slower, less importont, more corefully.
COMPOUND NOUN a word for a living being, thing or idea, which is made up of two or more words, for example, tin-opener, roilway stotion.
CONCRETE NOUN a word that refers to an object you can touch with your hand, rather than to a quality or idea, for example, ball, map, opples. Compare with abstract noun.
CONDITIONAL a verb form used to talk about things that would happen or would be true under certain conditions, for example, I would help you if I could. lt is also used to say what you would like or need, for example, Could you give me the bill?
CONJUGATE (to) to give a verb different endings according to whether you are referring to I, you, they and so on, and according to whether you are referring to past present or future, for example, I hove, she had, they will hove.
CONFIGATION a group of verbs which have the same endings as each other or change according to the same pattern
CONJUNCTION a word such as and, becouse or but that links two words or phrases of a similar type or two parts of a sentence, for example, Diqne and I hove been friends for yeors.; I left because I was bored.
CONSONANT a letter of the alphabet which is not a vowel, for example, b, f, m, s, y etc. Compare with vowel.
CONSTRUCTION an arrangement of words together in a phrase or sentence.
DEFINITE ARTICLE the word the. Compare with indefinite article.
DEMONSTRATIVE ADTECTIVE one of the words this, thot, these and those used with a noun to point out a particular person or thing, for example, this woman, thot dog.
DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN one of the words this, thqt, these and those used instead of a noun to point out people or things, for example, Ihot looks fun.
DIRECT OBTECT a noun referring to the person or thing affected by the action described by a verb, for exampfe, She wrote her nome.; I shut the window. Compare with indirect object.
DIRECT OBTECT PRONOUN a word such as me, him, us and them which is used instead of a noun to stand in for the person or thing most directly affected by the action described by the verb. Compare with indirect object pronoun.
EMPHATIC PRONOUN a word used instead of a noun when you want to emphasize something, for example, ls this for me?; ‘Who broke the window?’ -‘He did.’ Also called stressed pronoun.
ENDING a form added to a verb, for example, go-> gogg and to adjectives and nouns depending on whether they refer to masculine, feminine, singular or plural things.
EXCLAMATION a word, phrase or sentence that you use to show you are surprised, shocked, angry and so on, for exampfe/ Wow!; How dore you!; What o surprise!
FEMININE a form of noun, pronoun or adjective that is used to refer to a living being, thing or idea that is not classed as masculine.
FUTURE a verb tense used to talk about something that will happen or will be true.
GENDER whether a noun, pronoun or adjective is feminine or masculine.
IMPEMTIVE the form of a verb used when giving orders and instructions, for example, Shut the door!; Sit down!; Dont go!
IMPERFECT one of the verb tenses used to talk about the pasf especially in descriptions, and to say what was happening or used to happen, for example, I used to walk to school; It was sunny at the weekend. Compare with perfect.
IMPERSONAL VERB one which does not refer to a real person or thing and where the subject is represented by it, for example, lt’s going to ioin; It’s 10 o’clock
INDEFINITE ADJECTIVE one of a small group of adjectives used to talk about people or things in a general way, without saying who or what they are, for example, several, oll, every
INDEFINITE ARTICLE the words o and an. Compare with definite article.
INDEFINITE PRONOUN a small group of pronouns such as everything, nobody and something, which are used to refer to people or things in a general way, without saying exactly who or what they are.
INDIRECT OBJECT a noun used with verbs that take two objects. For example, in I gove the carrot to the robbit, the rqbbitis the indirect object and carrot is the direct object. Compare with direct object.
INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUN when a verb has two objects (a direct one and an indirect one), the indirect object pronoun is used instead of a noun to show the person or the thing the action is intended to benefit or harm, for example, me in He gave me q book and Cqn you get me a towel? Compare with direct object pronoun.
INDIRECT QUESTION used to tell someone else about a question and introduced by a verb such as osk, tell or wonder, for example, He osked me whot the time wos; I wonder who he is.
INFINITIVE the form of the verb with fo in front of it and without any endings added, for example, to wolk, to hove, to be, to go. Compare with base form.
INTERROGATIVE ADIECTIVE a question word used with a noun to ask who?, whqfT or which? for example, Whqt instruments do you ploy?; Which shoes do you like?
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN one of the words who, whose, whom, what and which when they are used instead of a noun to ask questions, for example, Whsls hoppening?; Who’s coming?
INVARIABLE used to describe a form which does not change.
IRREGULAR VERB a verb whose forms do not follow a general pattern or the normal rules. Compare with regular verb.
MASCULINE a form of noun, pronoun or adjective that is used to refer to a living being, thing or idea that is not classed as feminine.
NEGATIVE a question or statement which contains a word such as not, never or nothing, and is used to say that something is not happening, is not true or is absenf for example, I never eat meot; Don’t you love me?
NOUN a’naming’word for a living being, thing or idea, for example, womary desk, hoppiness, Andrew.
NUMBER used to say how many things you are referring to or where something comes in a sequence. See also ordinal number and cardinal number.
OBJECT a noun or pronoun which refers to a person or thing that is affected by the action described by the verb. Compare with direct obiect, indirect object and subject.
OBJECT PRONOUN one of the set of pronouns including me, him and them, which are used instead of the noun as the object of a verb or preposition. Compare with subject pronoun.
ORDINAL NUMBER a number used to indicate where something comes in an order or sequence, for example, first, fifth, sixteenth. Compare with cardinal number.
PART OF SPEECH a word class, for example, noun, verb, objective, preposition, pronoun.
PARTITIVE ARTICLE: the words sorne or eny, used to refer to part of a thing but not all of it, for example, , Have you got Sny money?; l’m going to buy some breod.
PASSIVE a form of the verb that is used when the subject of the verb is the person or thing that is affected by the action, for example t we were told.
PAST PARTICIPLE a verb form which is used to form perfect and pluperfect tenses and passives, for example, wotched, swum. Some past participles are also used as adjectives, for exampfe, a broken watch.
PERFECT one of the verb tenses used to talk about the past especially about actions that took place and were completed in the past. Compare with imperfect.
PERSON one of the three classes: the first person (1, we), the second person (you singular and you plural), and the third person (he, she, it and they).
PERSONAL PRONOUN one of the group of words including l, you and they which are used to refer to yourself, the people you are talking to, or the people or things you are talking about.
PLUPERFECT one of the verb tenses used to describe something that had happened or had been true at a point in the past, for example, /’of forqotten to finish mv homework.
PLURAL the form of a word which is used to refer to more than one person or thing. Compare with singular.
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE one of the words m1q your, his, her, its, our or their, used with a noun to show that one person or thing belongs to another.
POSSESSIVE PRONOUN one of the words mine, yours, hers, his, ours or theirs, used instead of a noun to show that one person or thing belongs to another.
PREPOSITION is a word such as af, for; with, into or from, which is usually followed by a noun, pronoun or, in Engfish, a word ending in -ing. Prepositions show how people and things relate to the rest of the sentence, for example, She’s of home; a tool fel cutting gross; lt’s from Dovid.
PRESENT a verb form used to talk about what is true at the moment what happens regularly, and what is happening now, for example, /’m o student; I trqvel to college by train; l’m studvino lonauqses.
PRESENT PARTICIPLE a verb form ending in -ing which is used in English to form verb tenses, and which may be used as an adjective or a noun, for example, What ore you doing?; the setting sun; Swimming is easy! PRONOUN a word which you use instead of a noun, when you do not need or want to name someone or something directly, for example, lf, you, none.
PROPER NOUN the name of a person/ place, organization or thing. Proper nouns are always written with a capitaf letter, for example, Kevin, Glasgow, Europe, London Eye.
QUESTION WORD a word such as why, where, who, which or how which is used to ask a question.
REFLEXIVE PRONOUN a word ending in -self or -selves, such as myself or themselves, which refers back to the subject, for example, He hurt himself.; Toke care of ypunell.
REFLEXIVE VERB a verb where the subject and object are the same, and where the action ‘reflects back’ on the subject. A reflexive verb is used with a reflexive pronoun such as myself, yourself, herself, for example, I wqshed myself.; He shaved himself.
REGULAR VERB a verb whose forms follow a general pattern or the normal rules. Compare with irregular verb.
RELATIVE PRONOUN a word such as thot, who or which, when it is used to link two parts of a sentence together.
SENTENCE a group of words which usually has a verb and a subject. In writing, a sentence has a capital letter at the beginning and a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark at the end.
SINGULAR the form of a word which is used to refer to one person or thing. Compare with plural.
STEM the main part of a verb to which endings are added.
STRESSED PRONOUN used instead of a noun when you want to emphasize something, for example, ls this for me?; ‘Who broke the window?’ -‘Hs did.’ Also called emphatic pronoun.
SUBIECT the noun in a sentence or phrase that refers to the person or thing that does the action described by the verb or is in the state described by the verb, for example, My cqt doesn’t drink milk. Compare with object.
SUBTECT PRONOUN a word such as l, he, she and theywhich carries out the action described by the verb. Pronouns stand in for nouns when it is clear who is being talked about, for example, My brother isn’t here ot the moment. He’ll be back in an hour. Compare with object pronoun.
SUBTUNCTIVE a verb form used in certain circumstances to express some sort of feeling, or to show doubt about whether something will happen or whether something is true. lt is only used occasionally in modern English, for example, /f / were you, I wouldn’t bother.; So be it.
SUPERLATIVE an adlective or adverb with -esf on the end of it or mosf or /eosf in front of it that is used to compare people, things or actions, for example, thinnesL most quickly, leqst interesting.
SYLIABLE consonant+vowel units that make up the sounds of a word, for example, co-the-dral (3 sylloble), im-po-ssi-ble (4 syllobles).
TENSE the form of a verb which shows whether you are referring to the past, present or future.
VERB a ‘doing’word which describes what someone or something does, what someone or something is, or what happens to them, for example, be, sing, Iive.
VOWEL one of the letters o, e, i, o or u. Compare with consonant.
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