active voice

the form of the verb which indicates that the subject is acting

Ablaut

a change of vowel

(alliteration)

accusative case

the object

(the thing the verb is done to)

adjective 

a word used to modify (describe) the a noun 

(sometimes a pronoun)

ex. the red car

adverb

a word used to modify (describe) a verb

ex. slowly

agreement

the required correspondence between words in number, case, gender, or person

analytic language

a language that depends on word order and function words to signal grammatical structure

(function word: is, at, be sould)

anomalous verb

a verb that deviates from regular patterns 

ex. by sharing the features of more than one class

antecedent

the noun that a pronoun stands for

apposition

ex. "susan, my sisters wife, lives next door"

appositive

the apposition phrase

ex. "my sister's wife"

article

a function word which acts like an adjective by signalling that the following noun is a particular individual

ex. the student

aspect

a category of verb inflection denoting that the task or occurance has been completed

ex. "was speaking to her"

auxiliary verb

a verb that accompanies the main verb

ex. "I would have left if I had known"

cardinal numeral 

one, two, three etc

case

the use of word form to indicate grammatical function of a noun, pronoun or adjective as well as word order

ex. He vs. Him

"he gave her his ball"

clause

a group of words containing a subject and a predicate

collocation

a fixed combination of words whose combined meaning may not be deriable from the meanings of the individual words

ex. "run through a rehersal"

comparative degree

an adjectival or adverbial form inidcating greater (or lesser) of two

adjectival: awfully funny

adverbial: yesterday, in june last year

complement

a word or phrase used after a verb of incomplete predication to complete the construction. 

conjugation

the systems of changes in verbs, (by means of suffixes, internal changes, and auxilaries) to indicate differences of person, tence, mood, voice etc

conjunction

a function word used to connect words, phrases or clauses

cordinating conjunction 

a word connecting words, phrases, or clauses of equal rank

(ex, and, but, or etc)

copula

a verb that connexts a subject with a subject complement

dative

various things, principally:

• indirect objects (he gave them names)
• words after a preposistion (he lived with giants)
• words taking the role of a preposition (the drove with their spurs)

declension

the system of changes in nouns, pronouns, or adjectiaves to indicate person, number or case

demonstrative

one of a small group of pronominal or adkectival function words that point to a particular person or thing

ex. "this is my book, that book is mine"

direct object

the person or thing directly affected by the action of the verb

function word

a word used primarily to indicate the relationships between (or functions) of other words

gender

a grammatical category loosely associated with sex

genitive case

a noun/pronoun in the genitive posesses another noun

ex. "his sword was black"

gerund

a present participle that functions as a noun

gradation

a change of vowel

assimilation

imperative mood

the mood of a verb expressing a command

imperative verb

a verb denoting an action by an unspecified aget, having no subject or the dummy subject it

indicative

the mood of a verb reporting a fact

indirect object

the person or thing indirectly affed by the action of a verb

infinitive phrase

a phrase comprising an infinitive, sometimes plus a complement

ex "miss class is to court failure"

infinitive

the form of a verb which is not inflected to indicate person, tence, mood etc. 

ex. see (is the infinitive of sees, seeing etc)

inflection

a variation in the form of a word to indicate a change in mearning or in grammatical relationships with other elements in the senteces. 

ex. -es, y etc

inflectional language

a language whose words change their forms to show grammatical function and connection

interjection

a word usually standing alone or insertedinto a sentence which expresses feeling

interrogative

questioning

intransitive verb

a verb which needs no complement to complete its meaning 

ex. (to meditiate

main clause  

a clause which can stand alone as a sentence

modifier 

a word or group of words which changes the meaning of another word 

morpheme

the smallest unit of meaning in a language

nominative case

the subject

(the thing that does the verb)

noun

a word which names a person place or thing

number

references if a noun, pronoun or verb is singular or plural

objective complement

a complement describing or identifying the object

ex. they made him president

ordinal number

first, second, third etc

part of speech

a class of words with the same or similar potential to enter into grammatical combination. 

participial phrase

a phrase comprising a participle, sometimes plus complement

ex. driving a car is dangerous

past participle

the blown fuse

past perfect tense

the form of the verb inicating an action prior to another action

personal endings

verb inflections to show whether the subject is the speaker, the addressee or someone or something else

(1st, 2nd and 3rd person)

phrase

a group of words which functions as a grammatical unit

pluperfect tense

predicate adjective

an adjectival subjective completion

ex. 

grapes become shrivelled in the sun

you seem tired today

predicate noun

a nominal subjective completion

ex. 

my son is a doctor

the children seemed excited about christmas

predicate

the word or words in a sentence which express what is said about a subject

prefix

a morpheme added at the beginning of a word

preposition

a function word often preceding a noun phrase relating to the other parts of the sentence

ex.

the man in the moon

the house down the street

present participle

 a verbal constructed by adding the endding ing to the present tense form of a verb

ex.

the blowing wind

the wind was blowing

principal part

one of the forms of a verb from which all the other inflected forms can be made regular changes.

ex.

sing sang sung

go went gone

progressive tense

a verbal form indicating that an action is onging whether in the present, past or future

prosody

the stress or pitch patterns that give a language its perceived rhythms

relative conjunction

a conjunction introducing a clause which depends on the main clause

ex. when. since, because etc

relative pronoun

a pronoun used to introduce a relative clause

ex. who whom what which

subordinate clause

a clause which cannot stand alone as a sentence

substantive

a noun, or another word or words that functions as a noun

suffix

a morpheme added at the end of a word

syntax

the part of grammar concerned with arranging words within constructions

verb

a word used to assert something a person, place or thing

part of speech

noun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction

grammatical subjects

the subject that agrees with the verb

case

 ex

dative plural

grammatical function

subject, subject compliment, direct obect, indirect object, object of preposition

object of preposition

Tammy left her shoes beside the pool

Were you sneaking around the corner?

middle voice

middle voice is a voice that indicates that is the actor and acts

• upon himself or herself reflexively, or
• for his or her own benefit.

subjunctive mood

a verb category indicating uncertainy, hope, desire, supposition etc

If I were you

Preterite Present Verbs

verbs in which the old strong past has become the present and a new weak present