Definition: The part of speech (or word class) that is used to name or identify a person, place, thing, quality,

or action. Adjective: nominal. Most nouns have both a singular and plural form, can be preceded by an article and/or one or more adjectives, and can serve as the head of a noun phrase. A noun or noun phrase can function as a subject, direct object, indirect object, complement, appositive, or object of a preposition. In addition, nouns sometimes modify other nouns to form compound nouns. See "Observations," below.

Verb, an action hero on the children's TV series Schoolhouse Rock! (1974) Definition: The part of speech (or word class) that describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being. There are two main classes of verbs: (1) the large open class of lexical verbs (also known as main verbs or full verbs--that is, verbs that aren't dependent on other verbs); and (2) the small closed class of auxiliary verbs (also called helping verbs). The two subtypes of auxiliaries are the primary auxiliaries (be, have, and do), which can also act as lexical verbs, and the modal auxiliaries (can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will, and would). Verbs and verb phrases usually function as predicates. They can display differences in tense, mood, aspect, number, person, and voice. See "Observations," below.

Definition: The part of speech (or word class) that modifies a noun or a pronoun. Adjective: adjectival. In addition to their basic (or positive) forms, most descriptive adjectives have two other forms: comparative and superlative.

Definition: The part of speech (or word class) that is primarily used to modify a verb, adjective, or other adverb. Adverbs can also modify prepositional phrases, subordinate clauses, and complete sentences. Adjective: adverbial. Positions of an Adverb: An adverb that modifies an adjective ("quite sad") or another adverb ("very carelessly") appears immediately in front of the word it modifies. An adverb that modifies a verb is generally more flexible: it may appear before or after the verb it modifies ("softly sang" or "sang softly"), or it may appear at the beginning of the sentence ("Softly she sang to the baby"). The position of the adverb may have an effect on the meaning of the sentence. Functions of an Adverb: Adverbs typically add information about time (rarely, frequently, tomorrow), manner (slowly, quickly, willingly), or place (here, there, everywhere). Forms of an Adverb: Many adverbs--especially adverbs of manner--are formed from adjectives by the addition of the ending -ly (easily, dependably). But many common adverbs (just, still, almost, not) do not end in -ly, and not all words that end in -ly (friendly, neighborly) are adverbs. See "Observations," below.

GERUND:
Definition: A traditional grammatical term for a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun. Adjective: gerundial. A gerund with its objects, complements, and modifiers is called a gerund phrase or simply a noun phrase.

infinitive
Definition: A verbal--usually preceded by the particle to--that can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. Adjective: infinitival.

present participle

Examples of present participles in a sentence by N. Scott Momaday (House Made of Dawn, 1968) Definition: A verb form--made by adding -ing to the base form--that functions as an adjective. Present participles are the only verb forms that are completely regular. The present participle is used with a form of the auxiliary be to express the progressive aspect.

past participle

Two examples of past participles Definition: The third principal part of a verb, created by adding -ed, -d, or -t to the base form of a regular verb. (The past participle forms of regular verbs--such as looked, worked, and wished--are identical to the past tense.) The past participle forms of irregular verbs have various endings, including -d (said), -t (slept), and -n (broken). The past participle is used with the auxiliary has, have, or had to express the perfect aspect. In addition, the past participle is used with the auxiliary be to express the passive voice.

conjunction

A mnemonic for the common coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so Definition: The part of speech (or word class) that serves to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. The common conjunctions--and, but, for, or, nor, yet, and so--join the elements of a coordinate structure. A sentence style that employs many coordinate conjunctions is called polysyndeton. A sentence style that omits conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses is called asyndeton. In contrast to coordinating conjunctions, which connect words, phrases, and clauses of equal rank, subordinating conjunctions connect clauses of unequal rank.

Definition: A word (one of the parts of speech and a member of a closed word class) that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. The combination of a preposition and a noun phrase is called a prepositional phrase. A word group (such as in front of or on top of) that functions like a simple, one-word preposition is called a complex preposition. Prepositions convey the following relationships: agency (by); comparison (like, as . . . as); direction (to, toward, through); place (at, by, on); possession (of); purpose (for); source (from, out of); and time (at, before, on). See "Observations," below.

tense
Definition: The time of a verb's action or state of being, such as past, present, or future. See also:

aspect

Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English by Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geoffrey Leech (Longman, 2002) Definition: The verb form that indicates completion, duration, or repetition of an action. (Compare with tense.) The two aspects in English are perfect and progressive. In English, aspect is expressed by means of particles, separate verbs, and verb phrases.

Etymology:From the Latin, "how [something] looks"

vocabulary

Evelyn Waugh (Diaries, Dec. 25, 1962) Definition: All the words of a language, or the words used by a particular person or group. See also:

grammar
Definition: 1. The systematic study and description of a language.

2. A set of rules and examples dealing with the syntax and word structures (morphology) of a language. Adjective: grammatical.

lexis

Rules, Patterns and Words: Grammar and Lexis in English Language Teaching by Dave Willis (Cambridge University Press, 2004) Definition: A term in linguistics for the vocabulary of a language. Adjective: lexical.

syntax

Analysing English Sentences: A Minimalist Approach by Andrew Radford (Cambridge University Press, 2009) Definition: (1) In linguistics, the study of the rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. Syntax is one of the major components of grammar. (2) The arrangement of words in a sentence. Adjective: syntactic.

subject

Definition: The part of a sentence or clause that commonly indicates (a) what it is about, or (b) who or what performs the action (that is, the agent). The subject is typically a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun. In a declarative sentence, the subject usually appears before the verb ("Gus never smiles"). In an interrogative sentence, the subject usually follows the first part of a verb ("Does Gus ever smile?"). As discussed below, there are exceptions to this traditional definition of a subject.

object
Definition: A word or group of words, functioning as a noun or a pronoun, that is influenced by a verb (direct object), a verbal (indirect object), or a preposition (object of a preposition).

Etymology:
From the Latin, "to throw"

indirect object
Definition: A noun or pronoun that indicates to whom or for whom the action of a verb in a sentence is performed. With verbs that can be followed by two objects, the indirect object typically comes immediately after the verb and before the direct object.

direct object
Definition: A noun or pronoun in a sentence that receives the action of a transitive verb.

complement
Definition: A word or word group that completes the predicate in a sentence. The two kinds of complements are subject complements (which follow the verb be and other linking verbs) and object complements (which follow a direct object). If it identifies the subject, the complement is a noun or pronoun; if it describes the subject, the complement is an adjective. Complements are required to complete the verb, in contrast to modifiers, which are optional.

syllable
Definition: One or more letters representing a unit of spoken language consisting of a single uninterrupted sound. Adjective: syllabic. A syllable is made up of either a single vowel sound (as in the pronunciation of oh) or a combination of vowel and consonant(s) (as in no and not). A syllable that stands alone is called a monosyllable. A word containing two or more syllables is called a polysyllable.

word
Definition: A speech sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or a combination of morphemes.

phrase
Definition: Any small group of words within a sentence or a clause. A phrase functions as a unit and includes a head (or headword), which determines the type or nature of the phrase.

adjective phrase
Definition: A word group with an adjective as its head. This adjective may be accompanied by modifiers, determiners, and/or qualifiers. Adjective phrases modify nouns. They may be attributive (appearing before the noun) or predicative (appearing after a linking verb), but not all adjectives can be used in both positions.

adverb phrase

An adverb phrase (also called an adverbial phrase) usually answers one of these questions. Definition: A word group with an adverb as its head. This adverb may be accompanied by modifiers or qualifiers. An adverb phrase can modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, and it can appear in a number of different positions in a sentence.

noun phrase (NP)

Definition: A word group with a noun or pronoun as its head. The noun head can be accompanied by modifiers, determiners (such as the, a, her), and/or complements. A noun phrase (often abbreviated as NP) most commonly functions as a subject, object, or complement.

prepositional phrase

There are four prepositional phrases in the opening sentence of The Cricket in Times Square (1960), a children's book by George Selden. Definition: A group of words made up of a preposition, its object, and any of the object's modifiers.

verb phrase
Definition: (1) In traditional grammar, a word group that includes a main verb and its auxiliaries. (2) In generative grammar, a predicate: that is, a lexical verb and all the words governed by that verb except a subject.

clause
Definition: A group of words that contains a subject and a predicate. A clause may be either a sentence (an independent clause) or a sentence-like construction within another sentence (a dependent clause).

independent clause

Definition: A group of words made up of a subject and a predicate. An independent clause (unlike a dependent clause) can stand alone as a sentence. By itself, an independent clause (also known as a main clause) is a simple sentence.

dependent clause
Definition: A group of words that has both a subject and a verb but (unlike an independent clause) cannot stand alone as a sentence. Also known as a subordinate clause. Dependent clauses include adverb clauses, adjective clauses, and noun clauses.

sentence

Four functional types of sentences: (1) declarative, (2) interrogative, (3) imperative, and (4) exclamatory Definition: The largest independent unit of grammar: it begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point. Adjective: sentential. The sentence is traditionally (and inadequately) defined as a word or group of words that expresses a complete idea and that includes a subject and a verb. The four basic sentence structures are the simple sentence, the compound sentence, the complex sentence, and the compound-complex sentence.

simple sentence

A simple sentence from Jack Nicholson as Colonel Jessup in A Few Good Men (1992) Definition: A sentence with only one independent clause (also known as a main clause).

compound sentence

A compound sentence from the movie Braveheart (1995) Definition: A sentence that contains at least two independent clauses. Compound sentences can be formed in three ways: (1) using coordinating conjunctions; (2) using the semicolon, either with or without conjunctive adverbs; (3) on occasion, using the colon.

complex sentence

A complex sentence from Henry David Thoreau Definition: A sentence that contains an independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

compound-complex sentence

A compound-complex sentence from Judy Garland as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939) Definition: A sentence with two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

paragraph

Don Marquis, quoted by E. Anthony in O Rare Don Marquis (1962) Definition: A group of closely related sentences that develop a central idea. Adjective: paragraphic.

essay

Phillip Lopate, The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology From the Classical Era to the Present by Phillip Lopate (Anchor, 1994) Definition: A short work of nonfiction. A writer of essays is an essayist. In an essay, an authorial voice typically invites an implied reader to accept as authentic a certain textual mode of experience.

PAPER:
article in a journal

article (composition)

The Everything Guide to Writing Nonfiction: All You Need to Write and Sell Exceptional Nonfiction Books, Articles, Essays, Reviews, and Memoirs, by Richard D. Bank (Adams Media, 2009) Definition: In composition studies, a short work of nonfiction that typically appears in a magazine, newspaper, or book. Unlike essays, which often highlight the subjective impressions of the author (or narrator), articles are usually written from an objective point of view. Articles include news items, feature stories, reports, profiles, instructions, product descriptions, and other informative pieces of writing.

Dissertation
Definition: A graduate thesis pertaining to a specific study within your field. The thesis is based on an individual research conducted by you and supervised by your advisor.

thesis
Definition: 1) The main idea of an essay, report, speech, or research paper, sometimes written as a single declarative sentence. A thesis may be implied rather than stated directly. 2) In the progymnasmata, an exercise that requires a student to argue a case for one side or the other.