| Adjective |
A word that gives more information about a noun
eg. brown; lovely; short; proven; soft; annoying |
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| Adverb |
A word that gives more information about a word other than a noun
eg. quietly; then; slowly; deeply; there; most words which end with ‘ly’ |
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| Articulation |
The orchestrated movement and positioning of the mouth and vocal organs required to produce intelligible speech |
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| Auxiliary |
A type of verb which is used to ‘help’ a participle or the infinitive of another verb to form a compound tense
eg. would; can; might |
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| Cardinal |
Standard numbering
eg. 1; 2; 3 (See Ordinal) |
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| Compound |
A type of verb tense which is made up of more than one word, and is formed using one or more auxiliary verbs
eg. had been; would have gone; could do |
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| Conditional |
The name of a mood in which the tenses require a condition to be met for the action of the verb to occur |
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| Conjugation |
Lit. ‘Joining Together’. In grammar, this word is used to refer to the act of joining different endings to the stem of a verb, or to differentiate the different endings of the infinitive forms of verbs.
eg. In Portuguese, ‘ar’ verbs are ‘first conjugation’; ‘er’ and ‘or’ verbs are ‘second conjugation’, and ‘ir’ verbs are ‘third conjugation’ |
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| Definite Article |
The |
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| Diacritic; Diacritical Mark |
An extra symbol that is placed above or below a letter to modify the pronunciation or clarify the meaning of a word |
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| Diphthong |
A pair of vowels which is pronounced as a single syllable |
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| Gerund |
See Present Participle |
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| Imperative |
The name of a mood and its tense in which the verb is issued as a command or request |
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| Imperfect Indicative |
The tense which deals with actions that took place in the past, but were ongoing for a period of time and where the time of completion of the action is not specified
eg. I was running; we were thinking; they were going; he was walking |
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| Impersonal |
Not relating to a ‘person’ (in the grammatical sense – see ‘person’) |
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| Impersonal Infinitive |
The basic form of a verb from which all other forms and tenses are derived. Usually simply referred to as ‘the infinitive’. |
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| Indefinite Article |
A, an, some |
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| Indicative |
The name of a mood in which all of the tenses imply certainty of action |
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| Infinitive |
The basic form of a verb from which all other forms and tenses are derived (also known as the impersonal infinitive). Also the name of a mood which contains the personal and impersonal infinitive tenses. |
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| Irregular Verb |
A verb which does not follow standard rules for conjugation |
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| Mood |
The category to which one or more tenses belong. All tenses that are categorized according to the same mood have certain characteristics in common.
eg. all tenses that belong to the ‘subjunctive’ mood, carry some degree of uncertainty |
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| Noun |
The name of an object, concept, or entity
eg. (a) walk; house; microphone; concept; thinker; proposition; (an) attack
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| Noun Phrase |
A noun made up of more than one word |
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| Ordinal |
Numbering according to order
eg. 1st; 2nd; 3rd (See Cardinal) |
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| Object |
The person or thing having the verb ‘done’ to/for/on them (whom). |
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| Participle |
A word which is formed from a verb, but can be used as an adjective, or noun |
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| Past Participle |
A word formed from a verb which can be used as an adjective to provide a completed or past description – usually derived by adding the letters ‘ed’ to the stem of a verb in English |
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| Past Tense |
See Preterite Indicative |
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| Person |
In grammar, this word is used to denote the party or parties who perform the action denoted by a verb.
ie. first person = I; we
second person = you
third person = he/she/it/they |
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| Preposition |
A word or group of words which place a noun or noun phrase in space or time
eg. in; at; on; in front of; with reference to
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| Present Indicative |
The tense which deals with actions being performed at the present time – either directly or as a general rule
eg. I run; we think; they go; he walks |
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| Present Participle |
A word formed from a verb which can be used as an adjective to provide a current or ongoing description, or as a noun – always derived by adding the letters ‘ing’ to the stem of a verb in English. Also known as the ‘gerund’. |
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| Present Tense |
See Present Indicative |
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| Preterite Indicative |
The tense which deals with actions that were performed directly in the past
eg. I ran; we thought; they went; he walked |
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| Pronoun |
A small word to replace a noun – usually to avoid repetition
eg. you, him, them, it, she, thou
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| Proper Noun |
An abstract name assignment
eg. Fred; Emily; Paris; Guinness
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| Radical Changing |
A type of verb whose stem can change in spelling or pronunciation, depending on person, plurality, or tense |
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| Reflexive |
Causing the subject and object to refer to the same individual |
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| Regular Verb |
A verb which follows standard rules for conjugation |
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| Simple |
A grammatical feature which is made up of a single word |
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| Stem |
The part of the basic form of a verb which characterizes all of its forms, and usually does not change in spelling or pronunciation (see ‘radical-changing’) |
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| Subject |
The person or thing ‘doing’ the verb (who) |
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| Subjunctive |
The name of a mood in which all of the tenses carry some degree of uncertainty |
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| Tense |
The placement of a verb in time or circumstance |
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| Triphthong |
A group of 3 vowels which are pronounced together as a single syllable |
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| Verb |
A word denoting an action or process being carried out
eg. to walk; to think; to love; to work; to go; to be
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