Terms and definitions
- adjective
- Describes things.
- adverb
- Describes actions.
- article
- Points to or modifies a noun or pronoun. Articles specify the definiteness, indefiniteness, or quantity of the noun they modify. There are two main types: definite and indefinite.
- complement
- Completes the meaning of a verb by providing additional information about the subject or object.
- complex transitive verb
- Not common. A verb that has both an object and an object predicative.
- conjunction
- Word that connects clauses or sentences or coordinates words in the same clause.
- copular verb
- Also called a linking verb, a verb that refers back to the subject. A word that follows does not receive the action of the verb.
Main copular verbs include the following:
- be
- verbs of seeming
- verbs of becoming
- the seven senses.
Jack became jealous.
- determiner
- a word that introduces a noun and provides information about its reference in terms of definiteness, quantity, possession, or other aspects. Determiners help clarify which noun is being referred to and specify details about the noun. They precede nouns and are essential in forming clear and specific noun phrases.
- direct object
- Takes or accepts the action of a transitive verb.
John makes pies.
- ditransitive verb
- A verb that takes a direct object and indirect object.
- independent clause
- Contain a subject and a conjugated verb that form the core of the sentence.
- indirect object
- A prepositional phrase with the preposition removed, and the remainder moved directly preceding the direct object.
You can rewrite the sentence “Jane sang John a love song” as “Jane sang a love song to John”. The omitted prepositional phrase is commonly to or for.
- intransitive verb
- A verb that does not take a direct object.
Sara smiled.
- monotransitive verb
- A verb that takes only the direct object.
- noun
- A person, place, or thing.
- object predicative
- Describes the object of the verb, not the subject of the verb. Can be an adjective or a noun:
- I thought the concert was exciting.
- Stan makes guitars.
- participle
- A form of a verb that is used to create verb tenses, adjectives, or to form a part of verb phrases. In English, there are two types of participles: present participles and past participles.
- Present: add -ing
- Past: add -ed
- predicate
- Tells what the subject does or is. It includes the main verb and any objects, complements, or modifiers related to the action or state.
- preposition
- Shows or describes spatial relationships. They shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun (the object of the preposition) and other words in a sentence. Prepositions often indicate relationships involving time, place, direction, cause, manner, and possession.
- subject predicative
- Also known as a subject complement, is a grammatical component that follows a linking/copular verb that appears in the predicate and provides additional information about the subject of the sentence.
The subject predicative does not receive the action of the verb, it is commonly an adjective phrase or a noun phrase.
- Rick is a fisherman.
- Steve is the cleanup batter.
- Betty is very nice.
- transitive verb
- A verb that needs a direct object. The direct object is a noun phrase that receives the action of the verb. In other words, it is acted upon by the verb.
Jack wrote [letters].
- verb
- Conveys an action or being.