One of the reasons some language learners do not want to study
grammar is because of the loaded grammatical terminology. It is
however useful to have a glossary of grammatical terms that we can
refer to whenever necessary.
The aim of this leaflet is to list out some frequently used grammatical
terminology. Explanations given are mainly based on Collins Cobuild
English Usage, which contains a more exhaustive list. If you have
any constructive comments, please feel free to put them in the "Suggestion
Box" located at the SAC counter.
Grammatical term |
Meaning |
| Abstract noun |
A noun that refers to a quality, idea
or experience.
E.g. feeling; anxiety; excitement; love. |
Active voice
|
Verb groups where the subject is the
person or thing doing or responsible for the action.
E.g. He looks after his mother. (Contrast to the passive voice:
His mother is looked after by him.) |
| Adjectival clause |
Another name for relative clause. A subordinate
clause which gives more information about someone or something
mentioned in the main clause.
E.g. The singer, who is a Thai, sings sweetly. |
| Adjective |
A word used to give you more information
about a thing, such as its appearance, colour, size and type.
E.g. She is a beautiful girl. |
| Adverb |
A word used to modify the verb, giving
information about the circumstances or nature of an event
or state.
E.g. They enjoyed the play enormously. |
| Adverbial |
A word or phrase which gives information
about when, how, where, or in what circumstances something
happens. It can be an adverb, a group of words with an adverb
as a main word, or a prepositional phrase.
E.g. They looked passionately at each other.
She performed well at the Peninsula Hotel yesterday. |
| Agreement |
Another word for concord. The matching
relationship between the forms of different words being used
to refer to or talk about a person, thing, or group, which
show whether you are talking about one person or thing, or
more than one.
E.g. He has one book and they have three pencils. |
| Article |
There are two types of articles: definite
articles, a, an; indefinite articles, the. We use a and an
with singular count nouns. The second time we refer to the
same person or thing, we use the. |
| Clause |
A clause is a group of words containing
a verb. There is only one clause in a simple sentence. |
| Comparative |
An adjective or adverb with '-er' on
the end or 'more' in front of it.
E.g. prettier; stronger; more carefully; more systematically.
|
| Complement |
It is an adjective or noun group that
comes after a link verb be, and gives more information about
the subject of the clause.
E.g. She is tired. |
| Complex sentence |
A sentence consists of a main clause
and a subordinate clause.
E.g. They were unable to reach the destination on time because
they had an accident on the road. |
| Compound sentence |
A sentence consists of two or more main
clauses linked by a coordinating conjunction.
E.g. She went to the lunch meeting but she found nobody there. |
| Conjunction |
A word which links two clauses, groups
or words.
E.g. And, but, or, although, because, when?... |
| Demonstrative |
They are used as determiners and pronouns.
E.g. This, that, these, those?...
|
| Determiner |
They are used at the beginning of a
noun group.
E.g. The, a, some , my ... |
| Gerund |
An '-ing' form used as a noun. |
| Imperative |
We use an imperative clause when we
are giving commands, orders and instructions. It is also used
for making offers and suggestions.
E.g. Shut up! Mind your business please. |
| Indirect speech |
Another name for reported speech. Speech
which is reported using a report structure rather than the
exact words used by the speaker.
E.g. She said that he would visit Hong Kong next month. (Contrast
to the direct speech: He will visit Hong Kong next month.)
|
| Infinitive |
The base form of a verb, for example
get, fall, let, go. There are two kinds of infinitive. One
kind is called 'to'-infinitive. It is often used with 'to'
in front of it. E.g. He want to run away from work.The other
kind of infinitive is sometimes called the infinitive without
'to' or the bare infinitive. E.g. He helps me develop my expertise.
|
| Intransitive verb |
A verb which is used to talk about an
action or event that only involves the subject and so does
not have an object.
E.g. The king arrived. |
| Object |
It is a noun group which refers to the
person or thing that is involved in an action but does not
perform the action. The object comes immediately after the
verb; it is sometimes called the direct object.
E.g. They open the window.
Some sentences have two objects. The other object (different
from the direct object) is known as indirect object; it often
refers to the person who benefits from an action or receives
something as a result of it.
E.g. Mum gave me the necklace. |
| Participle |
A verb form used for making different
tenses. There are present and past participles. |
| Phrase |
A group of words which is not a complete
sentence or clause.
E.g. Thinking of her...; As long as I am young and beautiful...
|
| Predicate |
What is said about the subject or clause
|
| Pronouns |
Words we use when we do not need or want
to use a noun to refer to someone or something. Some examples
of pronouns are: he, she, they, it. Please refer to the Collins
Cobuild English Usage (1992) for detailed classifications
of pronouns. |
| Qualifier |
A word or group of words describing a
person or thing which comes after a noun or pronoun.
E.g. The man with a blue shirt. |
| Relative clause |
Another name for adjectival clause. A
subordinate clause which gives more information about someone
or something mentioned in the main clause.
E.g. The man, who wears a red shirt, is a famous comedian.
|
| Reported speech |
Another name for indirect speech. Speech
which is reported using a report structure rather than the
exact words used by the speaker.
E.g. He said that we should expect him to be late for dinner.
(Contrast to the direct speech: He will be late for dinner.)
|
| Subject |
It is a noun group and it always refers
to the person or thing that does the action indicated by the
verb, or that is in the state indicated by the verb.
E.g. He brings in new technology to this Centre. |
| Superlative |
An adjective or adverb with '-est' on
the end or 'most' in front of it.
E.g. Thinnest; cleverest; most desirable and most hardworking... |
| Tag |
A clause consisting of a pronoun and
an auxiliary, which is added to a reply. It is also used after
a question.
E.g. Do you like it? Yes, I do.
She is happy, isn't she? |
| Transitive verb |
A verb which is used to talk about an
action or event that involves more than one person or thing,
and therefore is followed by an object.
E.g. That child is reading my book. |
| Verb |
A word hich is used with a subject to
say what someone or something does, what they are, or what
happens to them.
E.g. She tries to write a book on the betterment of human
race.
Please refer to the Collins Cobuild English Usage (1992) for
detailed classifications of verbs. |
| Word |
One or more sounds which can be spoken
to represent an idea, object, action etc.. It is, so far,
the smallest unit of spoken language which has meaning and
can stand alone. |
And Now...
If you would like any help or advice, or just a chat about your
progress, please get in touch - we are here to support your
independent learning! To contact us:
This advice sheet is part of the Grammar series of leaflets supporting
independent learning, produced by the HKUST Language Center SAC
team. This leaflet was prepared by Jacqueline Lam Kam-mei, 2000.
Version 1. If you copy from this leaflet, please acknowledge the
source. Thanks.
