English Fundamentals • 100-Term Cheat Sheet

A complete 100-term vocabulary flashcard set covering grammar basics, parts of speech, phrases, clauses, sentence types, agreement, verb forms, voice, modals, punctuation, and mechanics.

Grammar

The system of rules that explains how words are formed, arranged, and used in a language.

Syntax

The rules for arranging words into phrases, clauses, and sentences.

Semantics

The study of meaning in words, phrases, and sentences.

Vocabulary

The set of words a person knows or uses.

Part of speech

A category that describes a word's grammatical job in a sentence.

Noun

A word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.

Common noun

A general name for a person, place, thing, or idea; usually not capitalized.

Proper noun

The specific name of a person, place, organization, or thing; begins with a capital letter.

Concrete noun

A noun that names something experienced through the senses.

Abstract noun

A noun that names an idea, quality, state, or feeling.

Collective noun

A noun that names a group considered as one unit.

Count noun

A noun that can be counted and has singular and plural forms.

Noncount noun

A noun that is not normally counted individually and usually has no plural form.

Pronoun

A word used in place of a noun or noun phrase.

Personal pronoun

A pronoun that refers to a speaker, listener, or other person or thing (I, you, she, it, they).

Subject pronoun

A personal pronoun used as the subject of a clause (I, he, she, we, they).

Object pronoun

A personal pronoun used as the object of a verb or preposition (me, him, her, us, them).

Possessive pronoun

A pronoun that shows ownership and stands independently (mine, yours, hers, ours, theirs).

Reflexive pronoun

A pronoun ending in -self or -selves that refers back to the subject (myself, themselves).

Demonstrative pronoun

A pronoun that points to a specific person or thing (this, that, these, those).

Relative pronoun

A pronoun that introduces a relative clause (who, whom, whose, which, that).

Indefinite pronoun

A pronoun that refers to a person or thing generally or non-specifically (someone, anything, few).

Verb

A word that expresses an action, event, or state of being.

Action verb

A verb that expresses a physical or mental action (run, write, consider).

Linking verb

A verb that connects the subject to a word describing or identifying it (be, seem, become).

Helping verb

A verb used with a main verb to form tense, voice, or mood (is, have, will, can).

Transitive verb

A verb that takes a direct object (She opened the door).

Intransitive verb

A verb that does not take a direct object (The baby slept).

Adjective

A word that describes or limits a noun or pronoun.

Comparative adjective

An adjective form used to compare two people or things (taller, more useful).

Superlative adjective

An adjective form used to compare three or more and show the highest or lowest degree (tallest, most useful).

Adverb

A word that modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, or sometimes a whole sentence.

Adverb of frequency

An adverb that tells how often something happens (always, often, rarely).

Preposition

A word that shows a relationship, often of place, time, direction, or manner, between a noun/pronoun and other words.

Prepositional phrase

A group beginning with a preposition and ending with its object, plus any modifiers (under the old table).

Conjunction

A word that connects words, phrases, or clauses.

Coordinating conjunction

A conjunction that joins grammatically equal elements (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

Subordinating conjunction

A conjunction that introduces a dependent clause (because, although, when, if).

Correlative conjunction

A paired conjunction used together (either/or, neither/nor, both/and, not only/but also).

Interjection

A word or short expression that shows a sudden feeling or reaction (Oh! Wow!).

Article

A determiner used before a noun: a, an, or the.

Definite article

The word 'the', used for a specific or identifiable noun.

Indefinite article

The words 'a' and 'an', used for a nonspecific singular count noun.

Determiner

A word placed before a noun to identify, quantify, or limit it (the, my, some, each).

Phrase

A group of related words that functions as a unit but does not contain a complete subject–predicate combination.

Clause

A group of words containing a subject and a verb.

Independent clause

A clause that expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence.

Dependent clause

A clause that has a subject and verb but cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.

Subject

The part of a clause that tells who or what the sentence is about.

Predicate

The part of a clause that says something about the subject; it contains the verb.

Direct object

A noun or pronoun that directly receives the action of a transitive verb.

Indirect object

A noun or pronoun that tells to whom or for whom an action is done.

Subject complement

A word or phrase after a linking verb that identifies or describes the subject.

Object complement

A word or phrase that identifies or describes the direct object.

Sentence

A group of words expressing a complete thought, normally containing a subject and a predicate.

Declarative sentence

A sentence that makes a statement and usually ends with a period.

Interrogative sentence

A sentence that asks a question and ends with a question mark.

Imperative sentence

A sentence that gives a command, instruction, request, or advice.

Exclamatory sentence

A sentence that expresses strong emotion and usually ends with an exclamation mark.

Simple sentence

A sentence with one independent clause.

Compound sentence

A sentence with two or more independent clauses.

Complex sentence

A sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

Compound-complex sentence

A sentence with at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

Fragment

An incomplete sentence presented as though it were complete.

Run-on sentence

Two or more independent clauses joined incorrectly or without proper punctuation.

Comma splice

A run-on error in which two independent clauses are joined with only a comma.

Subject–verb agreement

The rule that a verb must match its subject in person and number.

Pronoun–antecedent agreement

The rule that a pronoun must agree with the noun or pronoun it refers to.

Antecedent

The noun or noun phrase that a pronoun refers to.

Verb tense

The form of a verb that indicates the time of an action or state.

Present tense

A verb form commonly used for current facts, habits, and general truths.

Past tense

A verb form used for actions or states completed in the past.

Future tense

A verb construction used to refer to events expected after the present, often with 'will' or 'be going to'.

Present progressive

A form using am/is/are + verb-ing for an action happening now or around now.

Past progressive

A form using was/were + verb-ing for an action ongoing at a past time.

Present perfect

A form using has/have + past participle for past events connected to the present.

Past perfect

A form using had + past participle for an event completed before another past event or time.

Future perfect

A form using will have + past participle for an event completed before a future time.

Regular verb

A verb that forms its past tense and past participle by adding -d or -ed.

Irregular verb

A verb whose past tense or past participle does not follow the usual -d/-ed pattern.

Base form

The basic form of a verb, without tense or subject endings (go, write, play).

Infinitive

The base form of a verb, often preceded by 'to' (to read, to learn).

Gerund

The -ing form of a verb used as a noun (Swimming is fun).

Participle

A verb form used in verb phrases or as an adjective; common forms are -ing and past participles.

Active voice

A sentence structure in which the subject performs the action.

Passive voice

A sentence structure in which the subject receives the action, often formed with be + past participle.

Modal verb

A helping verb that expresses ability, possibility, permission, obligation, or advice (can, may, must, should).

Punctuation

Marks used in writing to clarify meaning and show pauses or sentence boundaries.

Period

A punctuation mark used to end most statements and commands.

Comma

A punctuation mark used to separate items, introductory elements, and parts of sentences.

Semicolon

A punctuation mark that can join closely related independent clauses or separate complex list items.

Colon

A punctuation mark that introduces an explanation, example, quotation, or list.

Apostrophe

A punctuation mark used mainly to show possession or missing letters in contractions.

Quotation marks

Punctuation marks used to enclose direct speech or quoted words.

Capitalization

The use of uppercase letters at the beginning of sentences and in proper names and certain titles.

Contraction

A shortened form of words in which letters are omitted and usually replaced by an apostrophe (don't, they're).

Synonym

A word with the same or nearly the same meaning as another word.

Antonym

A word with the opposite meaning of another word.

Homophone

A word that sounds like another word but has a different meaning and often a different spelling (there/their).

Context clues

Words or information around an unfamiliar word that help a reader infer its meaning.