Grammar Terms

Term Definition Example

Syllables Beats in a word Syl | a | ble
Synonym A word that means the Fast = quick
same as another
Contraction Shortening a word Do not – don’t
Homophone Word that sounds the Naval - navel
same but has different
meaning and spelling
Singular Only one Girl, cat, dog, fox
Plural More than one Woman- women
Dog – dogs
Fox - foxes
Prefix Something that comes Unwell
before or at the beginning Preheat
of a word replay
Noun Person, place or thing pencil, teacher, name
Proper noun Name of a specific person Spain, Sally, Hopetoun
place or thing
Noun phrase or A noun with describing The black dog
noun group words attached The little girl
Pronoun A word that refers to who He, she, him, her, they,
or what we are already them, us, it, that
discussing
Apostrophe Punctuation symbol- Ownership- Sally’s bag
Contraction- can not- can’t
 Term Definition Example
Adjective Describing word Short, tall, happy,
beautiful exciting
Comma , Punctuation for a pause We ate apples, pears, and
mango.
Abstract Noun A noun that you can’t Knowledge, kindness,
touch friendship, algorithm,
emotions
Comparative Used to compare two This pencil is shorter than
adjective objects that one.
Superlative Used to describe an object That is the shortest pencil.
adjective at the upper or lower limit He is the tallest dog.
of a quantity She is the quickest runner.
Antonym A word that means the Go – stop
opposite of another word Fast - slow
Suffix Something that comes Swim – swimming
after or at the end of a Wash – washed
word Tall- tallest
Count noun A noun that can be Apple, carrot, fork
counted
Non-count noun A noun that cannot be Wheat, hair, water
counted
Verb A doing word Jump, jumping, skip
writing, talking, swim
Direct speech Direct speech is a sentence in “Can we have ice cream
which the exact words spoken for dinner?” said Johnny.
are reproduced in speech
marks
Collective noun A word to describe a A class of students
group of something A galaxy of stars
A choir of singers
 Term Definition Example
A relative pronoun is used to Who or whose
Relative pronoun connect a clause or phrase to a noun
or pronoun.
A word that describes a verb Luckily, happily, gladly, sadly, quickly
Adverb
Auxillary Verb An auxiliary verb (or a helping verb as Am is are was were being been will be
it's also called) is used with a main verb
to help express the main verb's tense,
mood, or voice
Modal verbs change or affect other can/could, may/might, will/would,
Modal verb verbs in a sentence.  shall/should and must.
Adverbials are words that we use
Adverbial to give more information about a
During the week,
verb. They can be one word or surprisingly well, angrily,
phrases and often say how, where,
when or how often something at home, in a few hours
happens or is done, though they can
also have other uses.
Verb group A verb following a modal Walked, can see, had been
or one or more auxiliaries waiting
Determiner Helps to clarify what a ‘this’ ‘that’ ‘the’ ‘an’
noun is referring to ‘some’
Conjunction A word used to connect And, but, if, for, or, yet,
clauses after, just, so
Quantifiers are
Quantifier also determiners which modify a
A few, a lot, any, all, much,
noun to indicate its quantity most, some
Preposition A preposition is a word or In, at, on, of, to
group of words used before a
noun, pronoun, or noun
phrase to show direction,
time, place, location, spatial
relationships, or to introduce
an object.