A-Z Grammar Terms

Tag question: A short question added at the end of a sentence.

Example: "You like coffee, don’t you?"

Temporal adverb/adverbial (see time adverb/adverbial): Words that show time.

Example: "Yesterday, I went to school."

Temporal conjunction (see time conjunction): Words that show time relationships.

Example: "I left after he arrived."

Tense: The form of a verb that shows time.

Example: "She runs (present)." "She ran (past)."

Tensed, tenseless (see finite, non-finite): "Tensed" verbs show time, "tenseless" verbs do not.

Example: "He goes to school" (tensed).
"To go to school is important" (tenseless).

That-clause: A clause that starts with "that" and acts like a noun.

Example: "She said that she was happy."

Third conditional (see conditional clause): Talks about an unreal past situation.

Example: "If I had studied, I would have passed."

Third person: Talking about someone other than the speaker or listener.

Example: "He/she/it is happy."

Time adverb/adverbial: A word that tells when something happens.

Example: "Now, let's start."

Time conjunction (see adverbial clause): A word that connects clauses and shows time.

Example: "We went inside when it started raining."

To-infinitive: "To" + base verb.

Example: "I like to read."

To-infinitive clause (see infinitive; non-finite clause): A clause that starts with a to-infinitive.

Example: "To win the race is my goal."

Transferred negation: The negative word moves to the main verb.

Example: "I don’t think he is coming." (Not: "I think he isn’t coming.")

Transitive verb: A verb that needs an object.

Example: "She bought a book." (The verb "bought" needs an object, "a book.")

Tree diagram: A diagram that shows sentence structure.

Sentence: She eats an apple.

├── Subject: She
├── Verb: eats
└── Object: an apple

Unbounded dependency: A situation where a word is far from what it depends on in a sentence.

Example: "What do you think he said?" ("What" depends on "said" but is far away.)

Uncountable noun (see non-count noun): A noun that cannot be counted.

Example: "Water" (You cannot say "two waters," but you can say "a glass of water.")

Universal conditional clause: A conditional sentence that applies to all situations.

Example: "If you heat ice, it melts."

Unmarked (see marked and unmarked): The normal or basic form of a word.

Example: "Walk" (basic form) vs. "Walked" (marked for past tense).

Untensed (Another term for non-finite): A verb that does not show tense.

Example: "I want to eat." ("To eat" does not show tense.)

Valency: The number of objects a verb needs.

Example: "She gave me a book." ("Give" needs a subject, an indirect object, and a direct object.)

Verb: A word that shows an action or state.

Example: "Run, eat, is, have."

Verb complementation (see verb pattern; complement(2)): The words needed to complete a verb’s meaning.

Example: "She is happy." ("Happy" completes "is.")

Verb construction (see construction; modality; aspect; passive): The way verbs are used in a sentence.

Example: "She has been studying for hours." (Perfect continuous construction)

Verb phrase: A group of words that work as a verb.

Example: "Has been sleeping all day."

Verb pattern (also called ‘clause pattern’): The way verbs fit into sentence structures.

Example: "She gave him a gift." (Verb + indirect object + direct object)

Verbal group (Another term for verb phrase): Another way to say "verb phrase."

Example: "Will be going tomorrow."

Verbless clause/construction: A clause without a verb.

Example: "If necessary, call me."

Verbless sentence: A sentence without a verb.

Example: "No problem."

Vocative: A word used to call or address someone.

Example: "John, come here!"

Voice: The way a sentence shows who does an action.

Example: "The boy kicks the ball." (Active) → "The ball is kicked by the boy." (Passive)

Were-subjunctive (see subjunctive): "Were" used for unreal situations.

Example: "If I were rich, I would travel."

Wh-clause: A clause that starts with a wh-word.

Example: "I don’t know where she went."

Wh-element: A wh-word in a sentence.

Example: "Who called you?"

Wh-ever word: A wh-word with "-ever" added.

Example: "Whatever you do, be careful."

Wh-interrogative clause (see nominal clause; reported speech; wh-clause; wh-question): A question clause that starts with a wh-word.

Example: "Can you tell me where she is?"

Wh-question: A question starting with a wh-word.

Example: "What is your name?"

Wh-word: A word used for questions or clauses.

Example: "Who, what, where, when, why, how."

Word: A single unit of language with meaning.

Example: "Apple, run, happy."

Word class (traditional term: ‘part of speech’): The category of a word (noun, verb, adjective, etc.).

Example: "Dog (noun), run (verb), happy (adjective)."

Word order: The way words are arranged in a sentence.

Example: "She eats cake." (Correct) vs. "Eats she cake." (Incorrect)

Yes-no interrogative, yes-no question: A question answered with "yes" or "no."

Example: "Do you like ice cream?"

Zero: Something missing but understood in grammar.

Example: "(You) Come here!" (The subject "you" is missing but understood.)

Zero article: No "a" or "the" before a noun.

Example: "I like music." (No "the" before "music.")

Zero plural: A noun that looks singular but is plural.

Example: "Sheep" (One sheep, two sheep).

Zero relative clause (see relative clause; cleft, cleft construction): A relative clause without a pronoun.

Example: "The book (that) I read was great." ("That" is missing but understood.)

Zero relative pronoun (see relative clause; relative pronoun): A missing relative pronoun.

Example: "The person (who) I met was nice." ("Who" is missing but understood.)