Grammer Flashcards
Noun
Word/group of words that names a person, place, thing, or idea.
Common noun
general, not the particular name, name of person, place, or thing (e.g. Nurse, hospital, syringe)
Proper Noun
Official name of a person, place, or thing (e.g. Fred, Paris, Washington University). Proper nouns are capitalized.
Abstract noun
Name of a quality or a general idea (e.g. Persistence, democracy).
Collective noun
Noun that represents a group of persons, animals, or things (e.g. family, flock, furniture).
Pronoun
Word that takes place of noun, another pronoun, or group of words acting as a noun.
antecedent
group of words to which a pronoun refers
e. g. The students wanted their test papers graded and returned to them in a timely manner.
- The words STUDENTS is the antecedent of the nouns THEIR and THEM.
Personal Pronoun
refers to a specific person, place, thing, or idea by indicating the person speaking (first person), the person/people spoken to (second person), or any other person, place, thing, or idea being talked about (third person).
- can be singular/plural
- WE [first person plural] were going to ask YOU [second person singular] to give THEM [third person plural] a ride to the office.
Possessive pronoun
form of personal pronoun that shows possession/ownership. Doesn’t contain apostrophe.
- That is MY book
- That book is MINE
- That is HIS book
- That book is HIS
Adjective
Word, phrase, or clause that modifies a noun (the BIOLOGY book) or pronoun (he is NICE). It answers the question WHAT KIND (a hard test), WHICH ONE (an English test), HOW MANY (three tests), or HOW MUCH (Many tests).
-Precedes noun or noun phrase that they modify (e.g. the absent-minded professor)
Participle
A verb that functions as an adjective ending with -ing or -ed.
Verb
word/phrase that expresses an action/state of being.
adverb
word, phrase, or clause that modifies a verb, adjective, or another verb.
Preposition
Word that shows relationship of a noun or pronoun to some other word in the sentence.
compound preposition
preposition that is made up of more than one word
prepositional phrase
group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun, called the OBJECT or the preposition.
Conjunction
word that joins word, phrases, or clauses.
Correlative conjunctions
work in pairs to join words or phrases (e.g. NEITHER the pharmacist NOR her assistant could read the physician’s handwriting).
Interjection
Word or phrase that expresses emotion or exclamation. Doesn’t have any grammatical connection to the other words in the sentence (e.g. YIKES, that test was hard. Whew, that test was easy).
Clause
group of words that has a subject and predicate.
Independent clause
expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence (e.g. THE PROFESSOR DISTRIBUTED THE EXAMINATIONS as soon as the students were seated).
Dependent Clause
begins with a subordinating conjunction and doesn’t express a complete thought and therefore can’t stand alone as a sentence. AS SOON AS THE STUDENTS WERE SEATED doesn’t express a complete thought.
Direct object
Person/thing that is directly affected by the action or verb. Answers the question WHAT or WHOM.
(e.g.) The students watched the professor distribute the examinations.
THE PROFESSOR answers WHOM the students watched.
Indirect object
Person or thing that is indirectly affected by the action/verb. A sentence can have an indirect object only if it has a direct object. It answers the questions TO WHOM, FOR WHOM, TO WHAT, or FOR WHAT after an action verb. Come between the verb and direct object.
(e.g.) The professor gave his class the best results.
HIS CLASS is the indirect object. It comes between the verb GAVE and the direct object TEST RESULTS and it answers the question to WHOM.
Phrase
Group of two or more words that acts as a single part of speech in a sentence. Can be used as a noun, adjective, or adverb.
Predicate
Tells what the subject does or what’s done to the subject.
Predicate adjective
Follows a linking verb and helps explain the subject.
(e.g.) My professors are WONDERFUL.
Predicate nominative
Noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and helps to explain or rename the subject.
(e.g.) Professors are TEACHERS.
Declaritive Sentece
Makes a statement
Interrogative Sentence
Asks a question
Imperative sentence
Makes command/request
Exclamatory Senctence
Makes an exclamation
Compound Sentence
Sentence that has two or more independent clauses. Each independent clause has a subject and a predicate and can stand alone as a sentence.
Run-on sentence
Two or more complete sentences are written as though they are one.
Sentence fragments
Incomplete sentences
Misplaced Modifier
Words/Groups of words that aren’t located properly in relation to the words they modify.
(e.g.) I fear my teaching assistant may have discarded the test I was grading in the trash can.
CORRECT FORM: I fear the test I was grading may have been discarded in the trash can by my teaching assistant.
Participle phrase
Phrase formed by a participle, its object, and the object’s modifiers; the phrase functions as an adjective.
Euphemism
Mild, indirect, or vague term substituted for one that is considered harsh, blunt, or offensive.
