Glossary of Terms

Question 1

Agent

Answer 1

Refers to the doer of the action of a sentence. In an ACTIVE VOICE sentence, the subject is an agent. In a PASSIVE VOICE sentence, agent is no longer the subject:

May was seen “by John.” obj of pp

Question 2

Antecedent

Answer 2

Third-person pronouns and reflexive pronouns get their meaning from some previously mention noun. That noun is the antecedent.

Ralph got an urgent call. HE returned the call immediately. The antecedent of the third-person pronoun HE is Ralph.

Question 3

Cardinal Numbers

Answer 3

The cardinal numbers are one, two, three, four, etc. The other kind of number (first, second, third) are called ordinal number (order).

Question 4

Causative Verbs

Answer 4

show that somebody/something is indirectly responsible for an action. The subject doesn’t perform the action itself, but causes someone/something else to do it instead. For example:
- Yesterday I had my hair cut.
I didn’t cut my own hair, but I made someone else do it for me instead - I “caused” them to cut my hair.

Question 5

Dangling Modifier

Answer 5

are noun modifiers, usually participial phrases, that don’t actually modify the nouns they were meant to modify.

X Damaged beyond repair, Ruth had to trash her hard drive.

Question 6

Definite Article

Answer 6

The

Question 7

Emphatic pronoun

Answer 7

Emphatic pronoun is also known as a reflexive pronoun. Emphatic pronouns, like interjection, can be deleted from their sentences without damaging the grammar of the sentence. (They play no grammatical role in a sentence.)

Question 8

Fused Participle

Answer 8

A term used to describe a special kind of apostrophe error involving gerund phrases. If the original subject ot the sentence is retained in the gerun phrase, that subject (also know as subject of the gerund) must be in the possessive form.

X Dancer telling Santa Clause jokes amused all the elves.
Dancer’s telling Santa Clause . . .

Question 9

Historical Present

Answer 9

refers to the use of the present tense for stories and other narrations, which are normally presented in the past tense.

The guy goes into a bar and sees a polar bear drinking a gin and tonic. . .

Question 10

Indirect Quotation

Answer 10

are paraphrases of what someone actually said. Usually introduced with “that.”

The reporter said that she would call back tomorrow, the indirect quotation is “she would call back tomorrow.”

Question 11

Intensifier

Answer 11

are small group of adverbs that are used to intensify the meaning of verbs. Ex.:very

Question 12

Modal Verbs

Answer 12

used in modern grammar to describe an important group of helping verbs: can, may, must, shall, and will. Modal verbs are always followed by a verb in the base form.

Susan “must” finish her homework; We “will” see; You “can” go.

Question 13

Phrasal Prepositions

Answer 13

Also called compound prepositions: as soon as, up to, in spite of.

Question 14

Phrasal Verbs

Answer 14

Are compound verbs (often with idiomatic meanings) formed from verbs and prepositions: shut up, turn down, depend on.

Some phrasal can be split up: John turned the offer down.

Question 15

Quantifiers

Answer 15

A subclass of determiners: few, many, several, some: a few beers, many children, much confusion.

Note these same words can be used alone as pronouns.

Question 16

Squinting Modifier

Answer 16

are modifiers that can be interpreted as modifying two different things.

Students who practice writing OFTEN will benefit, the reader cannot tell is often modifies practice writing or if often modifies will benefit.

Question 17

Tense Shifting

Answer 17

refers to a change (or shift) from one tense to another (usually from present tense to past, or vice versa) within a single passage or even within a single sentence.

We ATE at an old restaurant that IS on the lake.

Question 18

Vague Pronoun

Answer 18

pronouns that do not have antecedents to give the pronouns meaning.

They should do something about airport security. (They is a vague pronoun.)

Question 19

Infinitive

Answer 19

To plus verb base form: to act, to run, to sleep.

Question 20

Indefinite article

Answer 20

are a and an. Use an before words beginning with a vowel or vowel sound: an honor, a uniform.

Question 21

Case

Answer 21

The term case refers to the grammatical role and form of nouns and pronouns. There are three cases: subject, object, possessive.