Learn grammar the easy way.

Language Terminology

English grammar at a glance for admission test and job exams.

Word: A word is a group of letters that has meaning.
Parts of Speech: Parts of speech are the different roles words play in a sentence, like nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
Noun: A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.
Types of Noun: Types of nouns include proper, common, abstract, concrete, countable, and uncountable nouns.
Proper Noun: A proper noun names a specific person, place, or thing and starts with a capital letter.
Common Noun: A common noun names any general person, place, or thing.
Abstract Noun: An abstract noun names something you cannot touch, like an idea or feeling.
Concrete Noun: A concrete noun names something you can see, touch, or hear.
Countable Noun: A countable noun is something you can count, like "apple" or "book."
Non-countable Noun: A non-countable noun is something you cannot count, like "water" or "sand."
Collective Noun: A collective noun names a group of people, animals, or things, like "team."
Compound Noun: A compound noun is made of two or more words combined to form a single noun, like "toothbrush."
Adjectives Used as Nouns: Sometimes adjectives can be used as nouns to refer to a group, like "the rich" or "the elderly."
Number: Number refers to whether a noun is singular or plural.
Singular Number: A singular noun refers to one person, place, or thing.
Plural Number: A plural noun refers to more than one person, place, or thing.
Gender: Gender in grammar refers to the classification of nouns as masculine, feminine, common, or neuter.
Pronoun: A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun in a sentence, like "he" or "they."
Subject Pronouns: Subject pronouns are used as the subject of a sentence, like "I," "you," or "she."
Object Pronouns: Object pronouns receive the action in a sentence, like "me," "him," or "us."
Possessive Pronouns: Possessive pronouns show ownership, like "mine," "yours," or "theirs."
Reflexive Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject, like "myself" or "themselves."
Intensive Pronouns: Intensive pronouns emphasize the subject, like "myself" in "I myself did it."
Relative Pronouns: Relative pronouns connect clauses and refer to nouns, like "who," "which," or "that."
Demonstrative Pronouns: Demonstrative pronouns point to specific things, like "this," "that," "these," and "those."
Interrogative Pronouns: Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions, like "who" or "what."
Adjective: An adjective describes a noun or pronoun, giving more information about it.
Descriptive Adjectives: Descriptive adjectives describe qualities, like "happy," "blue," or "tall."
Quantitative Adjectives: Quantitative adjectives show the quantity of something, like "some," "many," or "few."
Proper Adjectives: Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns and start with a capital letter, like "French" in "French food."
Demonstrative Adjectives: Demonstrative adjectives point to specific nouns, like "this," "that," "these," and "those."
Possessive Adjectives: Possessive adjectives show ownership and modify a noun, like "my," "your," or "their."
Interrogative Adjectives: Interrogative adjectives are used in questions and modify nouns, like "which" or "what."
Indefinite Adjectives: Indefinite adjectives refer to an unspecified amount or thing, like "all," "any," or "several."
Articles: Articles are words that define a noun as specific or unspecific, like "a," "an," or "the."
Compound Adjectives: Compound adjectives are made up of two or more words joined by a hyphen, like "well-known."
Degree of Adjectives: The degree of adjectives shows comparison, using positive, comparative, and superlative forms.
Position of Adjectives: The position of adjectives refers to where they appear in a sentence, either before a noun or after a linking verb.
Verb: A verb is a word that shows an action or a state of being.
Verb Types: Types of verbs include action, linking, auxiliary, transitive, and intransitive verbs.
Finite Verbs: Finite verbs show tense and agree with the subject in number and person.
Non-finite Verbs: Non-finite verbs do not show tense and do not change with the subject.
Action Verbs: Action verbs describe physical or mental actions, like "run" or "think."
Stative Verb: Stative verbs describe states, feelings, or conditions, like "know" or "believe."
Linking Verb: A linking verb connects the subject to a word that describes it, like "is" or "seems."
Auxiliary Verbs: Auxiliary verbs help the main verb form tenses, moods, or voices, like "be," "do," or "have."
Primary Auxiliary: Primary auxiliaries are "be," "do," and "have," which help form tenses and questions.
Principal Verb: The principal verb is the main verb in a sentence.
Lexical Verb: A lexical verb is the main verb that carries the core meaning of a sentence.
Intransitive Verb: An intransitive verb does not take a direct object, like "sleep" or "cry."
Transitive Verb: A transitive verb requires a direct object, like "eat" or "write."
Mono-transitive Verb: A mono-transitive verb takes one direct object, like "read a book."
Di-transitive Verb: A di-transitive verb takes a direct object and an indirect object, like "give her a gift."
Ambi-transitive Verb: An ambi-transitive verb can be used with or without a direct object, like "sing."
Factitive Verb: A factitive verb takes two objects, indicating the result of an action, like "make her happy."
Cognate Verb: A cognate verb is followed by a noun that is related in meaning, like "dream a dream."
Causative Verb: A causative verb indicates that the subject causes someone else to do something, like "let" or "make."
Phrasal Verb: A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and a preposition or adverb, like "give up."
Modal Verbs: Modal verbs show possibility, ability, or necessity, like "can," "must," or "should."
Forms of Verbs: Forms of verbs include base, past, past participle, and present participle.
Past Form of Verb: The past form shows an action that happened in the past, like "played."
Present Form of Verb: The present form shows an action happening now, like "play."
Past Participle of Verb: The past participle is used in perfect tenses and passive voice, like "eaten."
Present Participle: The present participle ends in "-ing" and is used in continuous tenses, like "eating."
Infinitive: The infinitive is the base form of a verb, often with "to," like "to eat."
Bare Infinitive: The bare infinitive is the base form of a verb without "to," like "run."
Full Infinitive: The full infinitive is the base form with "to," like "to swim."
Noun Infinitive: A noun infinitive acts as a noun, like "To read is fun."
Gerund: A gerund is a verb form ending in "-ing" that functions as a noun, like "swimming."
Verb - Person and Number: Verbs change form based on the subject’s person (first, second, third) and number (singular, plural).
Regular Verbs: Regular verbs form their past tense by adding "-ed," like "walk" to "walked."
Irregular Verbs: Irregular verbs do not follow the regular pattern for forming past tense, like "go" to "went."
Adverb: An adverb describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb, showing how, when, where, or to what degree something happens.
Adverb Types: Types of adverbs include adverbs of time, place, degree, manner, and frequency.
Conjunctive Adverbs: Conjunctive adverbs link two independent clauses, like "however" or "therefore."
Sentence Adverbs: Sentence adverbs modify the whole sentence, expressing the speaker's attitude, like "fortunately" or "frankly."
Adverbs of Time/Frequency: These adverbs show when or how often something happens, like "today" or "often."
Adverbs of Place/Direction: These adverbs show where or in what direction something happens, like "here" or "upstairs."
Degree of Adverbs: Degree of adverbs refers to their comparative forms, like "fast," "faster," and "fastest."
Position of Adverbs: Adverbs can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence, depending on what they modify.
Preposition: A preposition shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and other words, like "in" or "on."
Preposition Types: Types of prepositions include those of time, place, direction, and agents or things.
Prepositions of Time: These prepositions show when something happens, like "at," "on," or "during."
Prepositions of Place and Direction: These prepositions show location or movement, like "under," "into," or "behind."
Prepositions of Agents or Things: These prepositions indicate relationships with people or objects, like "by" or "with."
Phrasal Prepositions: Phrasal prepositions are groups of words acting as a preposition, like "in front of."
Use of Prepositions: Prepositions link nouns or pronouns to other words to show their relationship in a sentence.
Conjunction: A conjunction is a word that joins words, phrases, or clauses, like "and," "but," or "because."
Conjunction Types: Types of conjunctions include coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions.
Co-ordinating Conjunctions: These conjunctions join words or clauses of equal importance, like "for," "and," or "but."
Correlative Conjunctions: These conjunctions work in pairs, like "either...or" and "neither...nor."
Subordinating Conjunctions: These conjunctions connect a dependent clause to an independent clause, like "because" or "although."
Interjection: An interjection is a word or phrase that expresses strong emotion, like "Wow!" or "Oh no!"
Interjection Types: Types of interjections include those expressing emotions, greetings, or calls for attention, like "Ouch!" or "Hello!"
Article: An article is a word that defines a noun as specific or unspecific.
Article Types: There are two types of articles: definite ("the") and indefinite ("a" and "an").
Use of Indefinite Article: Indefinite articles ("a" and "an") refer to any one of a group of things or people.
Use of Definite Article: The definite article ("the") refers to a specific person, place, or thing.
Sentence: A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought.
Sentence Types: Sentences are classified based on meaning (assertive, interrogative, imperative, optative, exclamatory) or structure (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex).
Subject and Predicate: A subject is who or what the sentence is about, and the predicate tells something about the subject.
Affirmative & Negative: An affirmative sentence states something positively, while a negative sentence states the opposite or denies something.
Sentence—According to Meanings: Sentences based on meaning include assertive, interrogative, imperative, optative, and exclamatory types.
Assertive: An assertive sentence states a fact or opinion, like "The sky is blue."
Interrogative: An interrogative sentence asks a question, like "What is your name?"
Imperative: An imperative sentence gives a command or request, like "Please sit down."
Optative: An optative sentence expresses a wish or prayer, like "May you succeed!"
Exclamatory: An exclamatory sentence expresses strong emotion, like "What a beautiful day!"
Sentence—According to Structures: Sentences based on structure include simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.
Simple sentence: A simple sentence has one independent clause, like "She runs fast."
Compound sentence: A compound sentence has two or more independent clauses joined by a conjunction, like "I was tired, but I kept working."
Complex sentence: A complex sentence has one independent clause and at least one dependent clause, like "She left because it was late."
Compound-complex sentence: A compound-complex sentence has at least two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses, like "Although it rained, we went hiking, and we enjoyed it."
Phrases: A phrase is a group of words without a subject-verb combination, acting as a single part of speech.
Phrase Types: Types of phrases include noun, adjective, adverbial, prepositional, and verb phrases.
Noun Phrase: A noun phrase acts as a noun and includes a noun and its modifiers, like "the tall man."
Adjective Phrase: An adjective phrase describes a noun or pronoun, like "full of excitement."
Adverbial Phrase: An adverbial phrase describes how, when, or where an action happens, like "in the morning."
Prepositional Phrase: A prepositional phrase starts with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun, like "on the table."
Verb Phrase: A verb phrase consists of a main verb and its auxiliary verbs, like "is running."
Phrasal Verb: A phrasal verb combines a verb with a preposition or adverb, like "give up."
Group Verb: A group verb refers to a verb phrase where a verb and particles function as a single unit, like "look after."
Clauses: A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb, which can be independent or dependent.
Types of Clause: Clauses are classified as independent or dependent.
Independent Clause: An independent clause can stand alone as a complete sentence, like "She sings beautifully."
Dependent Clause: A dependent clause cannot stand alone and needs an independent clause, like "because she was tired."
Subordinate Clause: A subordinate clause is another term for a dependent clause.
Noun Clause: A noun clause acts as a noun, like "What he said is true."
Adjective Clause: An adjective clause describes a noun, like "The book that you gave me is interesting."
Adverbial Clause: An adverbial clause describes how, when, where, or why something happens, like "She left when it started raining."
Conditional Clause: A conditional clause expresses a condition, often starting with "if" or "unless," like "If it rains, we will stay home."
Conditionals: Conditionals are sentences expressing "if" situations and their outcomes.
Conditionals - Structure: Conditional sentences usually consist of a condition (if-clause) and a result (main clause).
Types of Conditionals: There are four main types: zero, first, second, and third conditionals.
Real Conditionals: Real conditionals describe possible or likely situations, like "If it rains, I will go inside."
Zero Conditionals: Zero conditionals describe general truths, like "If you heat water, it boils."
Unreal Conditionals: Unreal conditionals describe imaginary or unlikely situations, like "If I were rich, I would travel."
First Conditionals: First conditionals describe real and possible future situations, like "If she calls, I will answer."
Second Conditionals: Second conditionals describe unreal or hypothetical present situations, like "If I had a car, I would drive."
Third Conditionals: Third conditionals describe unreal past situations, like "If I had known, I would have helped."