Grammar Smart 3rd Edition - Princeton Review 2014

Part 7. Glossary

absolute adjectives: adjective that have no comparative or superlative forms because they express a quality you either have or you don’t. (full, perfect, dead)

active voice: use of a verb so that the subject acts directly, as oppose to being acted upon passively. (active: I smacked him. passive: He was smacked by me.)

adjective: a descriptive word that always modifies a noun or pronoun. (green, pretty, hard)

adverb: a descriptive word that always modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb. (quickly, often, sadly)

agreement: subjects and verbs must agree in person and in number. This just means the subject and verb must go together. (I laugh, he laughs.) A pronoun must agree with its antecedent. This just means that you must use a singular pronoun if you’re referring to a singular noun, and a plural pronoun if you’re referring to a plural noun.

apostrophe: a punctuation mark that shows ownership (Pinky’s puppy) or forms a contraction (don’t, wouldn’t).

appositive: a noun or pronoun, set off by commas, that interrupts the sentence and gives further explanation. (Ralph, my boss, was late.)

article: a short word that functions as an adjective to indicate which one. The is the definite article; a, an are indefinite articles.

case: a category that describes the function of a pronoun: subject, object, or possessive. He is the subjective case; him is the objective case; his is the possessive case.

clause: a group of words that has a subject and a verb. Independent clauses may stand alone as a sentence. (I sneezed today.) Dependent clauses cannot stand alone. (While I was walking downtown, I was hit by a bus.) Clauses can function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.

collective noun: think of it as a “group” noun. (committee, jury, family) Usually treated as singular.

colon: a punctuation mark that signals a list to follow, or an explanation. (Three things are needed: a bat, a ball, and a glove.)

comma: a punctuation mark used to break up the sentence, to make the reader pause.

conjunction: a word the joins words, phrases, or clauses together. Common conjunctions are and, but, because, yet.

continuous: the six tenses formed by using the -ing form of the verb with the regular six tenses. Used to express continuous action, rather than something that happened once and is now over. Also called the progressive tense.

correlative conjunction: also known as a seesaw conjunction, because it connects equal parts of a sentence together like a seesaw. Common correlative conjunctions are: not only/but also, either/or, both/and.

dangling participle: a participle that is placed incorrectly in the sentence, so that it modifies the wrong noun. (Sleeping soundly, the alarm woke us up.)

demonstrative pronoun: also known as pointing pronouns. They are used to indicate which thing you are talking about. (that, these, this, those)

dependent clause: same as subordinate clause. A dependent clause is a group of words that has a subject and a verb, but cannot stand alone as a sentence.

diction: correct word choice.

direct object: a noun receiving the action, not doing the action. (I want to throw socks.)

ellipsis: an omission, signaled by three dots. Used in quotations, when part of the quote is left out. (He wrote “Man is always attempting ... to prove himself.”)

expletive: a word used as filler or exclamation: It is cold out. Damn!

faulty comparison: an error of clarity. When making a comparison, be sure to compare verb to verb or noun to noun.

future: a tense used to describe events that haven’t happened yet. Think of it as the “tomorrow” tense. (I will eat turkey tomorrow.)

future perfect: a combination of a future and past tense, used to show that an action is finished before a specified time in the future. (I will have finished the project by next Tuesday.)

gender: applies to pronouns; specifies whether the antecedent is male or female.

gerund: -ing form of the verb, used as a noun. (Dancing is fun.)

hyphen: a punctuation mark used to form a compound adjective (blue-green, well-born).

idiom: a peculiarity of the language; no rules apply. Idioms include figurative language (raining cats and dogs) as well as preposition usage. (A slipper is different from a boot.)

imperative mood: a mood used to boss people around or to give directions. (Go now.)

indefinite pronoun: a pronoun that doesn’t stand in for a specific noun. Examples: each, either, few, none, plenty.

indicative mood: a mood used to state a fact or ask a question. Most sentences are indicative.

indirect object: a substitute for a prepositional phrase. Receiver of the direct object. (Give me the cupcake. Direct object = cupcake; indirect object = me.)

infinitive: a form of the verb beginning with to. (to sneeze, to bake)

interjection: an introductory word, often used to show emphasis. Yikes! No rules apply!

interrogative pronoun: also known as a question pronoun. A pronoun that is used simply to ask a question. What? Which? Who?

intransitive verb: the distinction between intransitive and transitive verbs is made in the dictionary: vi or vt, respectively. An intransitive verb doesn’t take a direct object. (I walked.) A transitive verb takes a direct object. (She hit the ball.)

linking conjunction: also known as a subordinate conjunction, this is a conjunction that links a subordinate clause to the rest of the sentence. (after, while, since, until, if)

linking verb: a verb that doesn’t express direct action, but a state of being. (any form of to be; seem, look, remain)

matchmaking conjunctions: our term for coordinating conjunctions. They connect nouns to nouns, phrases to phrases, and clauses to clauses. (and, but, or, so)

misplaced modifier: often a participial phrase, or any kind of description, that is placed incorrectly in the sentence, so that it appears to modify the wrong thing. Confusion ensues.

modify: describe.

mood: subjunctive, indicative, and imperative moods are used to describe different types of sentences. See Part 3, Section H for more information on each mood.

nominative case: same as subjective case. See case.

noun: a person, place, thing, quality, or idea. (toad, anxiety, glee)

number: singular or plural.

object: the object of a verb has an action done to it. (She hit the ball. She wanted me.) The object of a preposition is the noun that finishes the prepositional phrase. (to the lighthouse, after the lecture)

objective case: see case.

parallel construction: a consideration of syntax. When you make a list, express the elements in the list in similar form, whether they are nouns, phrases, or clauses. Also, when using seesaw (coordinating) conjunctions, express the elements on either side of the conjunction in similar form.

participle: the present participle is the -ing form of the verb, and goes with is (is asking). The past participle usually ends in -ed and goes with have (have asked). Without the linking verb (is, have) a participle acts as an adjective.

past tense: used to express actions that occurred in the past. (I slept.)

past perfect: a tense used in a sentence that already has a verb in the simple past tense, to express an action that happened even earlier. (Before I slept, I had eaten beef.)

person: used to categorize personal pronouns. First person: I, we. Second person: you. Third person: he, she, they.

phrase: a group of words that can function as a noun, adjective, or adverb. The four main kinds of phrases are prepositional phrases, infinitive phrases, participial phrases, and gerund phrases.

plural: more than one, as opposed to singular, which is only one. Applies to nouns, pronouns, and verbs.

pointing pronoun: our term for demonstrative pronoun. Used to indicate which thing you are talking about. (That is crazy.)

possessive pronoun: or ownership pronoun, shows ownership. (my, his, their)

predicate: the part of the sentence that is not the subject. Includes the verb and descriptive phrases.

preposition: a word showing a relationship of time or space, used to start prepositional phrases. (to the floor, after the fall)

present tense: for now, today. (I breathe, he walks)

present perfect: a tense used to express action that started in the past and continues into the present, or was finished at some earlier time but still affects the present situation. (She has slept for hours; I am upset because I have lost my mittens.)

principal parts: basic verb forms including present, past, present participle, and past participle.

progressive: -ing tense, same as continuous.

pronoun: a word that stands in for a noun. There are several classes of pronouns: personal (she, it); relative (that, which); interrogative or question (what, which); indefinite (both, each, any, many); demonstrative (these, those); reflexive or mirror (itself, yourself, themselves).

question pronoun: or interrogative pronoun, is used to ask a question: What? Who?

redundancy: saying the same thing twice; needless repetition. (close proximity)

reflexive pronoun: or mirror pronoun, is used to spin the action back at the subject (He loves only himself.), or for emphasis. (The candidate himself wrote the speech.)

relative clause: a subordinate, or dependent, clause that is introduced by a relative pronoun (which, that, who, what). A relative clause always acts as an adjective.

relative pronoun: introduces a relative clause. Examples: which, that, who. Indefinite relative pronouns have no antecedent. (what, which, whatever, whomever)

seesaw conjunction: our term for correlative conjunctions. Examples include: either/or, both/and, neither/nor, not only/but also. Parts on either side of a seesaw conjunction must be matched in form.

semicolon: a punctuation mark used to separate two independent clauses. (I ran; I fell.)

singular: used to describe nouns and pronouns when there is only one of them (bus, it) as opposed to plural, more than one. Also used to describe the verb form that matches the singular noun or pronoun (bus moves, it flies).

subject: the main noun of the sentence (the noun that does the action), along with any words or phrases that modify the main noun. (She walks.)

subjunctive mood: used in statements that are contrary to fact, or in that clauses of order or recommendation.

subordinate clause: also known as a dependent clause, this is a clause that can’t stand alone as a sentence. It will be introduced by a linking, or subordinate conjunction (after, while, if) or a relative pronoun (which, that, who).

subordinating conjunction: also known as linking conjunctions. They introduce a subordinate, or dependent, clause. Examples of subordinating conjunctions include: after, if, while.

tense: a form of the verb that tells what time the action happened. There are twelve tenses

altogether: present, present perfect, past, past perfect, future, future perfect; and the continuous (or progressive) forms of these six.

transitive verb: takes a direct object (She hit me) as opposed to an intransitive verb, which doesn’t (She swam). See intransitive verb.

verbal: a phrase that looks like a verb but performs a different function in the sentence. The three kinds of verbals are infinitives, gerunds, and participles. They can act as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.