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Technical terms

abstract noun: a noun that refers to a quality

or a concept, e.g. security. active: the form of the verb where the subject

is a person or thing doing the action: John made some coffee. adjective: a word that

describes a person,

thing or event: a tall man, a big room. adverb: a word or phrase that tells us how,

when, where, etc., something happens: He walked slowly towards me. adverb of

degree: words like altogether and

enough that answer the question To what extent?: The film was quite good. adverb

of duration: a word or phrase that

refers to a period of time: since July. adverb of frequency: a word or phrase like

always, every day that answers the question How often? adverb of manner:

words often ending in -ly

like carefully that answer the question

How?

affirmative: not negative: John lives here.

AmE: American English. apostrophe: a

mark (') used to show a

contraction {haven't) or possession (Tim's). article: the words a/an, which are indefinite:

a book, an envelope; or the, which is

definite: It's on the shelf. BrE: British English. causative: forms with have or

get which

show that we 'cause' someone else to do a service for us: / had my car serviced.

clause: a group of words, often part of a

sentence, containing a subject and a verb:

While she was at college, she wrote a novel. collective noun: a noun that

refers to a

group: a flock of sheep, an audience.

colloquial: very informal language of everyday speech: loo for lavatory.

common noun: a noun that is not the name

of a particular person, place or thing: a book, clothing, courage. comparative:

adjectives or adverbs formed

with -er: bigger, faster. compound

noun: a noun with two parts:

drinking water, a car key. concrete noun: a noun that refers to people

or things that have physical existence: a girl, a desk, an army. conditional: a clause,

often introduced by if.

If you miss the bus, take a taxi. conjunction: conjunctions are 'joining words'

like and, but, since, when. consonant: any letter (b, c, d) in the alphabet

except the vowels a, e, i, o, u. continuity verb: verbs like lie, live, rain,

which naturally express continuity: / live/I'm living in London.

countable noun: a noun we use with a/an (a book) and which has a plural (books).

direct object: what comes immediately after a transitive verb: He annoys me. double

genitive: the use of 's in a phrase

with of. a friend of my father's. dynamic

verb: a verb which can be used in progressive tenses: I'm reading. -ed form:

the form of a verb or adjective that

ends in -(e)d: annoyed, surprised. empty subject: usually, the pronoun it,

which doesn't refer to something in particular: It's hot today. figurative:

referring to an abstract rather than

literal meaning: She can't stomach him. (= has a strong feeling of dislike for)

formal style: speech or writing which is careful, correct and polite. full stop: a mark

(.) which is used to end a

sentence or show an abbreviation: etc. gender: the way nouns or pronouns may be

classified to show whether they are masculine, feminine or neuter: he is

masculine; she is feminine. gerund: a noun, formed from a verb, which

ends in -ing: I'm tired of waiting. gradable: usually applied to adjectives

which can be used with very/too and can have -er/-est forms: very big; bigger.

idiom: a phrase which does not have a literal

meaning: He hit the ceiling. (= became angry) imperative: the form of a verb we

use for

commands, warnings, etc.: Stand up!

indefinite pronoun: pronouns like anyone, everyone, someone which don't refer to

anyone in particular. indirect

question: one that follows a

reporting verb like ask: He asked (me) if I

was ready. indirect speech: the act of reporting what

someone else says: The boss told me/said

he was busy. infinitive: the basic form of a verb which

may be with or without to: to go, go. informal style: speech or writing used

among friends. -ing form: any word ending in -ing, which

may be part of a verb (I'm reading.), a

noun or gerund (Reading is taught early.) or an adjective (He told me a frightening

story.). intensifier: an adverb which stengthens (or

'intensifies') another word: very slowly, I

entirely agree. intransitive: this refers to a verb not

followed by an object: My head aches.

inversion: changing round the normal word order: Seldom have we received so many

complaints.

irregular: often applied to a plural noun

(children) or verb (go - went) which doesn't follow the usual pattern. jargon:

referring to words and/or phrases

used in special or technical ways. main verb: the verb in the most important

clause in a sentence. You always ring when I'm out. modal verb: modals are verbs like

can or

may which we use for giving or receiving

advice, permission, etc. negative: the opposite of affirmative:

anything that says or means 'no'. negative adverb: adverbs like never, seldom,

rarely, hardly ever. negative imperative: the imperative with

Don't: Don't forget what I told you. negative question: a question beginning with

a negative form like Can't or Don't: Can't

you wait a moment? noun: a word that tells us what someone or

something is called (a doctor, a book, fear, water); also the name of a person (John) or

a place (London). noun modifier: the first of two nouns in a

compound noun: car key, kitchen table.

noun phrase: a combination of words that includes a noun: the man next door.

object: usually a noun or pronoun that comes after a verb: Ask a question. participle: the

present -ing form of a verb

(waiting) or the past -ed form (seated): While waiting for a bus ...; Seated in the

back of a taxi, .... passive: the form of the verb where the

action is done to the subject: Our house has been decorated. past participle: the

third part of a verb: act -

acted -acted; be - was - been. person(s): grammatical persons: 1st: I/we;

2nd: you; 3rd: he, she, it, they. plural: more than one; plural noun: cats;

plural form of verb: they have. point of

time: exact time reference in the past: yesterday, this morning, etc.

possessive adjective: my, your, his, etc. possessive case: possession shown by 's/s': a

boy's jacket; a girls' school. possessive pronoun: mine, yours, his, etc. prefix: un-,

in-, over-, etc., added to an

adjective: uninterested, overdone. preposition: words like across, at, in, used

in front of nouns, etc., to show relationships: across the road.

prepositional phrase: a phrase introduced

by a preposition: in doubt, on time. present perfect tense: have been, have done,

have eaten, etc. present tense: simple present (/ eat); present

progressive (I'm eating).

progressive: a tense which shows that an action is or was in progress: He is eating.

He was eating. pronoun: a word like he or she that can be

used in place of a noun or noun phrase. proper noun: the name of a person or place,

spelt with a capital letter: John, London.

quantifier: a word or phrase like any, some,

(a) few which describes how many things

or how much of something. questionword: How?, or a word beginning

with Wh-: When?, Why?, etc.

reflexive pronoun: words like myself, yourself, himself, herself. reflexive verb: a

verb which can be followed

by a reflexive pronoun: enjoy yourself .

regular: anything that follows the same pattern as most other words in the same

class: regular plural: boys. relative

pronoun: words that refer to people

(who, whom, that) or things (which, that).

reporting verb: a verb like say or tell (me) which introduces indirect speech.

sentence: a complete unit of meaning, which

in writing begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. short response:

a short answer e.g. to a

question: Is he here? - Yes, he is. singular: the grammatical form that

describes one person or thing: a pen.

slang: very informal language which is not used in serious speech or writing. stative:

a verb that is not normally used in

the progressive: It belongs to me. subject: usually a noun or pronoun that goes

before a verb: Joe works, I work. superlative: an adjective or adverb formed

with -est: the quickest, or with most: the most interesting. tag: a short question after

a statement: He's

gone, hasn't he? or a short 'Yes/No'

answer: Yes, he has. (that)-clause: a clause introduced by (that)

used after a reporting verb: He said (that) he would be home late. transitive: this

refers to a verb that is always

followed by an object: / like it, I enjoyed the film. uncountable noun: a noun which

we don't

normally use after a/an and which doesn't

normally have a plural: sugar. verb: a word (love) or phrase (look at) which

describes a state or an action. verb of

perception: a stative verb that refers

to the senses: see, hear, etc. vowel: a, e, i,

o, u. word order: this refers to the order of words

in a normal English sentence: subject/verb/object/manner/place/time.