English Grammar - Basics

noun

a naming word; a word or group of words that represent a person, a place, a thing or activity, or a quality or idea

verb

a word or group of words that describes an action, experience, or state

adverb

a word that adds to the meaning of a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a whole sentence

adjective

a word that describes a noun or pronoun

pronoun

a word that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase

subject

a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that usually comes before a main verb and represents the person or thing that performs the action of the verb, or about which something is stated

direct object

the person or thing that is affected by the action of a transitive verb

common noun

any noun that is not the name of a particular person, place, or thing

count noun

a noun that has both a singular and plural form and can be used with 'a' or 'an'

proper noun

a noun that is the name of one particular thing; always written with an initial capital letter

singular

noun, verb, form etc that is used when writing or speaking about one person or thing

plural

shows you are talking about more than one thing, person etc.

phrasal verb

a group of words that is used like a verb and consists of a verb with an adverb or preposition after it

preposition

a word that is used before a noun, pronoun, or gerund to show place, time, direction etc.

gerund

a noun that is created from the ~ing form of a verb

auxiliary verb

a verb that is used with another verb to show its tense, person, mood, etc. In English they are 'be', 'do', and 'have'

modal verb

one of these verb forms: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought to, used to, need, had better, and dare. They are all used with other verbs to express ideas such as possibility, permission, or intention

indirect object

an object of a verb that refers to the person that something is given to, said to, made for, etc

complement

a word or phrase that follows a verb and describes the subject of the verb

transitive verb

a type of verb that must have an object

intransitive verb

a verb that has a subject but no object