Below are several grammar terms this book mentions often, so it’s important to know them when you see them referred to in the text. You might know a lot of these terms already, but if you don’t, it’s not important to spend extra time memorizing them. You won’t ever be tested on the terms themselves.
active voice—when the grammatical subject of a sentence performs the action of a sentence (Example: I threw the ball is written in the active voice, but The ball was thrown by me is in the passive voice.)
adjective—a word used to modify (or describe) a noun or pronoun
adverb—a word usually used to modify a verb and sometimes to modify an adjective or another adverb
antecedent—the noun to which a pronoun refers
appositive—a modifying phrase set in the middle of a sentence and set off by commas
auxiliary verb—a second verb that appears with the main verb of a sentence, often to change its tense (Example: I go to the store is in the present tense, but I will go to the store, which uses the auxiliary verb will, is in the future tense.)
article—A and an are indefinite articles, and the is the definite article
clause—a group of words that contains a subject and a verb (see independent clause, dependent clause, subordinate clause, and phrase)
comparative—used when comparing two things (see superlative)
conjugation—the systematic arrangement of all forms of a verb
conjunction—a word used to join other words or groups of words, such as and, but, and or.
dependent clause—a clause that is not a complete sentence and needs to be attached to an independent clause in order for it to be part of a sentence
direct object—a noun that receives the action of a sentence
gerund—the result of adding -ing to a verb, thus creating a term used as a noun (Example: Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.)
independent clause—a group of words that expresses a complete thought and can exist alone as a simple sentence
indirect object—the object for which something else is done. (Example: Carl gave the book to his sister. Book is the direct object, and sister is the indirect object.)
modifier—a descriptive word or phrase
noun—a person, place, thing, quality, or action
participle—a verb form that is used as an adjective (Example: This movie is exciting.)
passive voice—when the grammatical subject of a sentence receives the action of a sentence (Example: I threw the ball is written in the active voice, but The ball was thrown by me is in the passive voice.)
phrase—a group of words that lacks either a noun or verb, and thus is not a clause or a sentence (see also: clause)
preposition—a word that shows the relation between its object and some other word in the sentence (Example: George is perplexed by all the tax regulations. By is the preposition, which idiomatically goes with perplexed.)
prepositional phrase—a modifying phrase containing a preposition and an object (Example: My dog ran on the beach. On the beach describes where the dog ran; on is the preposition, and beach is the object of that preposition.)
pronoun—a word used in place of a noun for the sake of brevity
proper noun—a noun (such as a name) that designates a particular person, place, or thing; usually begins with a capital letter.
run-on sentence—a sentence in which two independent clauses are linked together without a conjunction or proper punctuation between them (Example: My teacher gives me too much homework, I usually stay up all night doing it.)
split infinitive—an improper verb usage in which the infinitive form is interrupted by another word. (Example: To boldly go where no one has gone before.)
subject—the noun of a sentence that drives the action
subordinate clause—a clause (also known as a dependent clause) that cannot serve as a sentence by itself and needs to be linked to a main clause
superlative—used when comparing three or more things (see comparative)
verb—the word that denotes the action of a sentence