Go Back Definitions

grammar

a way of thinking about language

the four levels of traditional grammar

parts of speech, parts of sentence, phrases, and clauses

parts of speech

the eight kinds of words in the English language

noun

the name of a person, place, thing, or idea

pronoun

a word that takes the place of a noun

subject pronouns

pronouns used for subjects of verbs and subject complements

list the subject pronouns

I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they

object pronouns

pronouns used as direct objects, indirect objects, or objects of prepositions

list the object pronouns

me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them

adjective

a word that modifies a noun or pronoun

article

the three adjectives, a, an, and the

definite article

the adjective the

indefinite article

the adjectives a and an

three degrees of adjectives

positive, comparative, superlative

verb

a word that shows action, being, or links a subject to a subject complement

adverb

a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb

conjunction

a word that joins two words or two groups of words

coordinating conjunctions

and, but, so, yet, or, nor, for

subordinating conjunctions

as, if, since, when, because

correlative conjunction sets

either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also

preposition

a word that shows the relationship between its object and another word in the sentence

interjection

a word that shows emotion but has no grammatical function

sentence

a group of words that has a subject and its predicate and makes a complete thought

sentence fragment

an incomplete thought

subject

the noun or subject pronoun that the sentence is about

predicate

the simple predicate is the verb; the complete predicate is the verb and all the words and phrases that belong to it

direct object

the noun or object pronoun that receives the action of the action verb

indirect object

the noun or object pronoun that is located between the verb and the direct object and is indirectly affected by the action of the action verb

subject complement

the noun, subject pronoun, or adjective that is linked to the subject by a linking verb, and that tells more about the subject

predicate nominative

a subject complement that is a noun or subject pronoun

predicate adjective

a subject complement that is an adjective

object complement

a noun, object pronoun, or adjective that completes the meaning of the direct object