Grammar for an initial training course: an exemplified glossary
 |
Seeing the wood for the trees |
This is one of several glossaries on the site.
For the full list, use this link:
Glossaries
Index.
In 1586, William Bullokar published A Brief Grammar of
English and since then innumerable other grammars have appeared
and continue to appear. The following does not add
substantially (or at all) to an area of serious study that has been
in train for 450-odd years.
What it is intended to do is list the most important concepts
concerning English grammar which you are likely to encounter on an
initial training course in English Language Teaching and give you
examples of each area.
A shorter version of this forms part of A Candidate's
Guide to CELTA which is available free on this site from
this
link.
There is a much fuller glossary in the in-service section. You can access it here.
This is an alphabetic list with links to more detail
either in the initial-plus or in-service training sections of the
site.
The initial-plus guides focus on the essentials only of each area
and the in-service guides provide more detail. If only one
link is given, it is to either section.
The links will all open in a new tab.
|
* precedes a malformed or wrong example bold italic indicates the example of the form bold black indicates a cross reference |
Essential guides | In-service guides | |
| A | |||
| a-adjective | A special kind of adjective beginning with a-.
These adjectives are always used following the noun (see
predicative).
For example: The dog is asleep NOT *The asleep dog Other adjectives in this group include: ablaze, afire, afraid, aglow, alive, alone, awake, aware and more. |
Adjective essentials | Adjectives |
| abstract noun | A noun referring to an intangible concept.
For example: happiness, economics, love, embarrassment
etc. These nouns are often mass nouns, so we do not usually make them plural. It is not possible to have *happinesses etc. The term is often opposed to concrete nouns such as paper, beer, food etc. Many do not consider the distinction between concrete and abstract nouns is valid. |
Nouns essentials | Nouns |
| accent | a) a mark above or below a letter to show its pronunciation such as in naïve, façade or café. Such marks are also called diacritics. They are used in English on words imported from other languages. | Spelling | |
| b) the place in a word where the heaviest stress falls. Compare, e.g. export (verb) with export (noun). This is better referred to as word stress. | Pronunciation essentials | Word stress | |
| c) a particular way of pronouncing a language in a
geographical area or social class or the influence of a
first language in the pronunciation of a second. For
example, A Texan accent An upper-class accent An Italian accent etc. |
Variety | ||
| active voice | A verbal structure in which the
subject is the person or thing which performs the action or
is in the state. For example: John broke the window The window was filthy Compare passive voice |
Voice essentials | |
| adjective | A word which modifies a noun phrase.
There are two fundamental classifications: an attributive adjective comes immediately before (usually) or after a noun (rarely), for example The large dog The president elect a predicative adjective is linked to the noun with a copular verb as in: Mary was tired The door appeared unlocked |
Adjective essentials | Adjectives |
| adjective phrase | A group of words (a phrase) doing the work of an
adjective. For example: The children were well fed and happy She had an interesting, old book with her |
Adjective essentials | Adjectives |
| adverb | A word which modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a verb phrase. For example: She walked quickly The book was very expensive He drove idiotically fast He had usually driven to work |
Adverb essentials | Adverbs |
| adverb of degree | An adverb telling you to what extent. For example, I really enjoyed the book These are sometimes called adverbs of extent. |
||
| adverb of frequency | A subcategory of
adverbs of time. An adverb telling you how often (often included into the adverb of time category). There are two sorts: indefinite frequency and definite frequency. For example, He usually goes home at 6 (indefinite frequency) She delivers the papers daily (definite frequency) |
||
| adverb of manner | An adverb telling you the way something happens.
For example, It quickly became dark |
||
| adverb of place | An adverb telling you where or in
what direction an action happens or state
exists. For example, I came inside She was sitting there |
||
| adverb of time | An adverb telling you when something happens
or a state exists. For
example, She left then They stayed late |
||
| adverb phrase | A group of words doing the job of an adverb. For
example, They walked home slowly and sadly |
||
| adverbial | Any word, phrase or clause which modifies a verb phrase.
For example, He went into town (prepositional-phrase adverbial (adjunct) of place) I came to see if I can help (non-finite clause adverbial of purpose) I left when the rain started (finite clause adverbial of time) Honestly, I don’t know (adverb (disjunct)) Moreover, I don't think anyone knows (adverb (conjunct)) |
Adverbials essentials | Adverbials |
| agent | In
passive clauses, the causer or doer of the action.
For example, The window was broken by them I had the work done by the garage Agents are often linked with the preposition by. See patient |
Voice | Passive |
| article | A class of
determiners which modify noun phrases for number
or reference. There are three in English: a(n) (the indefinite
article), the (the definite article) and Ø,
the zero article. For example: She bought a house on the hill with Ø money from her father |
Articles: essentials | Articles |
| aspect | How an event or action is perceived relative to time (as
opposed to in time). For example, He lives in London (continuous aspect) He was working (progressive aspect) He has worked (perfect aspect) He used to work (habitual (past) aspect) There is not always a one-to-one relationship between aspect and form. See tense |
Tense and aspect essentials | Aspect |
| attributive | This describes an adjective which
comes directly before or after the noun and is not linked to
it by a copular verb.
For example, The green house The people responsible See predicative |
Adjective essentials | Adjectives |
| auxiliary verb | a) Primary auxiliary verb: A verb which has no meaning alone but works with main verbs to express aspect or voice. For example: I have finished He was cycling They were sold |
Primary auxiliary verbs | Aspect |
| b) Modal auxiliary verb: A verb which has no meaning alone but works with main verbs to express the speaker's perception of truth, necessity, obligation etc. For example, We should leave I must go home now She needn't have troubled |
Modal auxiliary verbs | Modality map | |
| BC | |||
| base form | The form of the verb from which other forms are derived.
For example, speak, write, open, decide etc. This term is also used to refer to the form of any word from which other words are derived. For example, long (base form) and longer (derived form) decide (base form) and decision (derived form) |
Verb essentials Word formation essentials |
Finite vs. non-finite Word formation |
| case | The form of nouns, pronouns and
adjectives which show the relationship to other items.
For example: She wants to go (subject or nominative case) I want to talk to them (object or accusative case) That is mine (possessive or genitive case) |
Subjects and objects | Case |
| clause | A group of words containing a verb form. The verb
may be finite
or non-finite.
For example, She came because she wanted to help (finite clause) I came hoping to help (non-finite clause) |
Sentence grammar | Clause structures |
| closed-class items | Words belonging to classes to which it is very rare to make additions and which can, therefore, in theory, be exhaustively listed: prepositions, determiners, pronouns and conjunctions | Word class map | |
| collective noun | A noun which refers to a group of things or people.
For example, The army is helping The jury are considering the verdict This expression is sometimes used also for assemblage nouns such as: A flock of sheep Collective nouns are often confused with partitives (q.v.) which have an opposite function. |
Nouns essentials | Nouns |
| collocation | The tendency of words to co-occur.
For example, He ran a risk She took a risk *She made a risk in which the verbs run and take collocate with risk and vice versa but the verb make does not. |
Collocation essentials | Collocation |
| comparative | The form which is used to show a greater or lesser
degree of a quality. There are two sorts. For example, A bigger house (inflected comparative) A more beautiful cat (periphrastic comparative) Comparatives may be made with adjectives or adverbs but most adverbs take the periphrastic forms. |
Adjective essentials | Adjectives |
| complement | A word or phrase which tells us something about the
subject or
object of
a clause. For example, They elected him chairman (a noun telling us about the object, him) She is happy (an adjective telling us about the subject, she) John is the manager (a noun telling us about the subject, John) He called me stupid (an adjective telling us about the object, me) That is mine (a pronoun telling us about the subject, that) The house is over the hill (a prepositional phrase telling us about the subject, the house) Complements are often linked with a copular verb |
Copular verbs | Verbs and clauses |
| conditional | A clause whose truth is contingent on the truth of
another clause. For example, Give me the money and I’ll buy it for you Come if you can spare the time Should you get lost, call me |
Conditional essentials | Condition and concession |
| conjunction | A word to join two ideas (clauses, verbs, nouns etc.).
There are three sorts. For example, She went home because she felt ill (subordinating) We ate bread and butter (coordinating) They not only cleaned but polished the car (correlating) |
Conjunction essentials | Conjunction |
| content word | A word which has meaning when standing alone (compare
function word). These are sometimes
called lexical words. For example, house, bring, pretty, usually, French etc. Content words are members open classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. |
Word class essentials | |
| continuous | An aspect of a verb tense to describe something on-going
or happening the background. For example, I was sleeping while she was at work She thinks I love her There is a technical difference between continuous and progressive aspects. |
Tense and aspect essentials | Time, tense and aspect |
| copular verb | A verb which joins together two nouns, a noun and an
adjective, a noun and its
complement or a noun and a prepositional phrase. These
are sometimes called linking verbs. For example, She became a teacher They grew tall She was in the garden |
Copular verbs | |
| count noun | A noun which can have a plural and take a plural verb.
For example, The cats are in the house These are distinguished from mass nouns |
Nouns essentials | Nouns |
| DE | |||
| demonstrative | A class of determiner telling us what noun we are
talking about. For example, This house That garden Those cars These people The same words can also be demonstrative pronouns, for example, Take this Pass me that What are those? Are these OK for you? |
Demonstratives essentials | Determiners |
| dependent clause | A subordinate clause which depends for its full meaning
on another, main, clause. For example. She had enough money although she wasn’t rich |
Essential sentence grammar | Coordination and subordination |
| determiner | A word which comes before a noun to say what we know
about it. For example, articles: I want to buy a house in the town demonstratives: I want to buy that house interrogatives: Which house do you want to buy? possessives: I want to buy his house quantifiers: I want to buy two houses |
Word class essentials | Determiners |
| direct object | The entity on which the verb acts. For example: I bought the house Compare indirect object |
Subjects and objects | Case |
| direct speech | The actual words spoken. For example, He said, “Hello, Mary.” |
Reported speech essentials | Indirect speech |
| dynamic | a) a use of the verb, distinguished from
stative as
in, for example, John is being silly She is thinking Kirstin is swimming Mary is paying attention |
Stative vs. dynamic verb use | Time, tense and aspect |
| b) a type of passive clause. For example, The garden gets invaded by cats This is distinguished from a stative passive such as: The garden was cleared |
Voice essentials | The passive voice | |
| exclamation | A phrase or clause expressing anger,
despair, surprise etc.
For example, What???!!! How silly of me! This is also called an interjection. |
Word class essentials | |
| FGI | |||
| finite | A form of a verb (or a clause) which is marked for
tense, number or person. For example, John plays tennis Mary lost the game They have been to America Finite forms may also be marked by a zero inflexion as in, for example, They walk Compare non-finite |
Verb essentials | Finite vs. non-finite |
| function words | Words which have no meaning when
standing alone but make the
grammar work. The main classes are prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns
and determiners.
For example, at, with, it, this |
Word class essentials | In-service lexis index |
| genitive | The possessive case. For example, The policy of the government My book The man's request The genitive does not only apply to possession, it can also apply to origin or description. |
Genitive | |
| gerund | A non-finite
verb form which
functions as a noun formed from a verb with the suffix -ing.
For example, I gave up smoking The form is the same as that of a present participle. |
Gerunds and infinitives | Catenative verbs |
| habit habitual |
An
aspect in English which refers to an
event or state which exists or existed (semi-)permanently.
For example, She used to be quite helpful We tend to eat quite early She is driving to work these days She teaches in this school They would take offence easily |
Essentials of tense and aspect | Semi-modal auxiliary verbs |
| idiom | A phrase or clause used as a single concept which usually cannot be
understood by understanding the words in it. For example, It’s turned up its toes (died / become useless) It's neither here nor there (unimportant) |
Idioms essentials | Idiomaticity |
| imperative | The form of the verb used to tell someone what to do or
make offers. For example, Go home Don’t tell her Have some more cake |
Verb essentials | Mood |
| Suasion | |||
| indirect object | When a verb has two objects, the indirect object usually
refers to a person who receives or benefits. For
example, She bought me lunch I read the child a story In English the indirect object usually precedes the direct object. Compare direct object |
Subjects and objects | Verb and clause types |
| indirect speech | Speech which is reported, not quoted directly. For
example, He told me to come She said she felt ill See direct speech |
Reported speech essentials | Indirect speech |
| infinitive | A non-finite
verb form often preceded by to. For example, I came to help We should go |
Infinitive essentials | Infinitives |
| inflexion (also inflection) | Changing the form of a word to show
grammatical function or other features such as tense,
person, case and aspect. In English, this is often
achieved by changes to the endings of words but can affect
the central vowels. For example: He plays (with the -s inflexion to show third person) She played (with the -ed inflexion to show past tense) They came (an inflexion on the central vowel ('o' to 'a')) The larger problem (inflecting the adjective to show comparative form) The houses were too expensive (with the -s inflexion to show a plural) Non-technically, inflexion may be applied to changes in tone, intonation and pitch in speech. |
Word formation essentials | Word formation |
| interjection | A word class signifying emotional state. For
example, Wow! Really! |
Word class essentials | |
| interrogative | A question form. For example, Do you know her? Don't you like it? Which do you want? That's him, isn't it? That's him?! |
Negation and questions essentials | Interrogatives |
| intransitive | Describing a verb which cannot have an
object. For
example, They arrived She talked He fell We cannot have: *They arrived the hotel *She talked the people *He fell the river |
Verb essentials | Verb and clause types |
| L | |||
| lexeme | The technical term, often used loosely for 'word' and
referring to a single unit of meaning. For example, the Houses of Parliament London re-establish don't |
Word class essentials | In-service lexis index |
| lexical verb | Also called a content or main verb. A verb that is
not an auxiliary and has meaning when standing alone.
For example, Go! She wept |
Lexical or main verb forms | In-service verbs index |
| lexical word | A word which carries significance rather than
performing a grammatical function. For example, She went to the post office The more usual term is content word. Compare function word |
Word class essentials | In-service lexis index |
| linking verb | See copular verb | ||
| M | |||
| mass noun | A noun which can have no plural and takes a singular verb.
For example, The milk is in the fridge All you need is love Money is important in life Reading takes up a lot of my time Compare count noun |
Countability | Nouns |
| modal auxiliary verb | A verb which tells us how the speaker feels
about the main verb. For example, I should talk to her (duty or obligation) It may rain again (possibility) That must be wrong (truth) Let me see (permission) |
Modal auxiliary verbs | Modality map |
| modification | Adding information to an element of
a sentence. For example: Dogs enjoy games has three unmodified elements but My mongrel dogs really enjoy games of fetch Has the same three elements modified in some way. |
Modification essentials | Modification overview |
| morpheme | The smallest meaningful unit of language. There
are two sorts. Bound morphemes always occur with
others but free morphemes can stand alone or form part of a
word. For example, protesting (one free (protest) and one bound (ing) morpheme) bookkeeper (two free (book and keep) and one bound (er) morpheme) |
Word formation essentials | Word formation |
| multi-word verb | A verb consisting of more than one word. There are
three sorts. For example, I give up (a phrasal verb) She complained about the service (a prepositional verb) She caught up with the class (a phrasal-prepositional verb) |
Multi-word verbs essentials | Multi-word verbs |
| N | |||
| negative / negation | A sentence or verb form which refers to something not
happening. For example, It didn't rain I refuse to come That's impossible She never comes on time |
Negation and questions | Negation |
| non-finite | A form of the verb not marked for tense, person or
number. For example, She wants to help I watched her enjoying the show Let me go Compare finite |
Verb essentials | Finite vs. non-finite |
| noun | A word for a person, place, thing, feeling or
characteristic. Nouns can be subjects or objects of
verbs and prepositions. For example, He went to the station London is my home Envy is an unpleasant emotion Peter broke his glasses |
Nouns essentials | Nouns |
| noun phrase | A group of words acting as a noun. For example, The old man sailed the fishing boat |
Modification essentials | In-service syntax index |
| OP | |||
| object | The entity the verb acts on. For example, She read a book (direct object) She told me a story (indirect object) I got the house painted |
Subjects and objects | Verb and clause types |
| open-class items | word which belong to classes which in theory are limitless and to which additions can be made when the need arises to express a new idea: nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs | Word class map | |
| passive voice | A clause in which the subject undergoes the action.
For example, They were arrested The house was painted by me Compare active voice |
Voice essentials | The passive voice |
| participles | A non-finite
form of the verb. There are two. For example, She was beaten (past participle) He is working today (present participle) Participles often act as adjectives. For example, She is delighted A falling rock hit the car |
Participles essentials | In-service verbs index |
| partitive | An expression which refers to part
of a larger amount. For example, A pile of books A can of beer A pane of glass Partitive expressions are often confused with collective nouns (q.v.) which have an opposite function. |
Partitives and classifiers | |
| patient | In a passive
voice
clause, the receiver of the action of the
agent.
For example, John was arrested by the police It was his car that was damaged by the bus |
Voice essentials | The passive voice |
| perfect | An
aspect of the verb describing its relationship to
another time. For example, He has arrived (setting the past in the present) He had arrived (setting the past in the past) He will have arrived (setting the past in the future) |
Tense and aspect essentials | Time, tense and aspect |
| person | A grammatical category which indicates who something is
about. For example, I came home (first person singular) She talked to me (first person singular) We were happy (first person plural) They helped us (first person plural) You didn't come (second person plural or singular) They needed you (second person plural or singular) She hated the film (third person singular) The film delighted him (third person singular) They broke the fence (third person plural) She gave them the bill (third person plural) |
Personal pronouns | |
| personal pronoun | A pronoun for a person or persons. For example, Give it to me (first-person object pronoun) Peter did it himself (third person reflexive pronoun) He came home (third person subject pronoun) They went to London (third person plural subject pronoun) That's not mine, it's his (first-and third-person possessive pronouns) |
||
| phrasal verb | See multi-word verb | ||
| phrase | A group of words with one grammatical function in a
sentence. For example, He went to the shops (prepositional phrase) The three boys left (noun phrase) They have opened the box (verb phrase) She was tired but happy (adjective phrase) They worked extremely hard (adverb phrase) |
Phrases | |
| possessive case | See genitive | ||
| possessive determiner | A type of
determiner which refers to origin,
possession or description. For example: His letter upset me That's my car over there The government has its problems |
Personal pronouns | Genitive |
| predicative | This describes an adjective which is
linked to the noun by a
copular verb. For example, The house is old She grew angry See attributive |
Adjective essentials | Adjectives |
| prefix | A morpheme
attached to the beginning of a word which, usually, changes
its meaning. For example, displeasure unhelpful semi-detached |
Word formation essentials | Word formation |
| preposition | A word which links the verb to a
noun or
adverbial.
For example, He walked across the park She arrived at six |
Prepositions essentials | Prepositional phrases |
| prepositional phrase | A group of words which includes the
preposition
and its complement (or object). For example, over the bridge under the river |
||
| primary auxiliary verb | An auxiliary verb which forms a
tense,
voice
or aspect with a main verb. For example, It was destroyed I got my car cleaned I have been to London |
Primary auxiliary verbs | |
| progressive | The
aspect of the verb which shows that something is
ongoing. For example, I am writing this sentence |
Tense and aspect essentials | Time, tense and aspect |
| pronoun | A word which stands for a
noun. For example, Give me it We talked among ourselves |
Personal pronouns | Pro-forms |
| proper noun | A noun for a person, place or job. For example, The President Mr Smith The Alps |
Nouns essentials | Nouns |
| QRS | |||
| quantifier | A type of
determiner which refers to quantity.
For example: Give me a few minutes We don't have a lot of money Would you like some cake? |
Word class essentials | Determiners |
| question tag | A phrase attached to the end of a positive or negative
sentence to make it a question. For example, You are coming, aren’t you? You aren’t going to eat that, are you? I don't believe she's coming, is she? |
Question tags | Interrogatives |
| relative pronoun | One of the following which refer to
the subject or object of a sentence or to possession:
who, whom, which, whose, that. For example, He is the man who told me the story (referring to the subject) He bought the car that he saw on the road (referring to the object) The rules for the use of relative pronouns are quite complicated. |
Relative clause essentials | Relative pronoun clauses |
| reported speech | See indirect speech | ||
| sentence stress | The syllable(s) or word(s) in a
sentence where the heaviest stress falls. This is
often, unless a special meaning is intended, on the
information towards the end of the utterance, e.g.: I went home I went home very late I went home by bus etc. |
Pronunciation essentials | Sentence stress |
| stative | Describing a state rather than an action. For
example, The house is on the hill He has been the manager for years She looks unhappy The door was broken Compare dynamic |
Stative vs. dynamic | Time, tense and aspect |
| structure words | See function words | ||
| style | The level of formality on a cline from very informal to
very formal with most language somewhere in between
(neutral). For example, Pass the salt (informal) I wonder if I could trouble you for the salt (formal) Please pass the salt (neutral) |
Style and register | |
| subject | The doer, animate or otherwise, of the verb. For
example, She came at six The wind howled My car has broken down |
Subjects and objects | |
| subordinate clause | See dependent clause | ||
| subordinator | A type of conjunction which introduces a
dependent
clause. For example, She came because I invited her If you ask me, of course I'll help |
conjunctions: the essentials | In-service syntax index |
| suffix | A morpheme
added to the end of a word which usually affects its
word class.
For example, resentment (a noun from a verb) slowly (an adverb from an adjective nationalise (a verb from an adjective) |
Word formation essentials | Word formation |
| superlative | The form of an adjective or adverb which means the most
or least. For example, The tallest boy in the class The most expensively dressed man The least important point See comparative |
Adjective essentials | Adjectives |
| TUVW | |||
| tense | The form of the verb marked for time or aspect.
For example, He walked (simple past) She has been walking (present perfect progressive) |
Tenses map | Time, tense and aspect |
| transitive | Describing a verb which can take one or more objects.
For example, She smoked cigars He threw me the book Compare intransitive |
Verb essentials | |
| uncountable | See mass noun | ||
| verb | A word class referring to an event, action or state.
For example: Peter arrived Jill was unhappy It continued raining |
Verb essentials | |
| verb phrase | A group of words acting as a verb. For example, She has taken the car home |
Verb essentials | In-service syntax index |
| voice | A form of the verb or clause showing the relationship
between the subject and the
object (active voice). For
example, John (subject) opened the letter (object) or the agent and the patient (passive voice). For example, The letter (patient) had been written in haste by the manager (agent) |
Voice essentials | The passive |
| wh-word | The words what, who(m), when, where, why, how
and which that act in a variety of grammatical
functions. For example, Where is your car? (adverbial function) Who told you? (pronoun function) When did she go? (adverbial function) That's the man who told me the story (relative pronoun function) |
wh-questions | Interrogatives |
| word class | What used to be called parts of
speech to classify words by their grammatical function.
There are two main categories: a) closed-class words to which we can rarely if ever make additions: prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions and determiners. See function words b) open-class items to which we can add new members to refer to new or unusual concepts: nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. See content words |
Word class essentials | In-service lexis index |
| word stress | The place in a word where the heaviest stress falls. Compare, e.g. export (verb) with export (noun). This is sometimes referred to as accent. | Pronunciation essentials | Word stress |
There is a 25-item grammar quiz which tests some of the above, linked from the CELTA index page.