Glossary

A general term to express that somebody or something is doing something.

A part of speech that modifies, qualifies or restricts a noun or a pronoun. (It's a nice house. The apples are ripe. He's very talented.)

A part of speech that modifies a verb, adjective, adverb or conjunction. (I could hardly say a word. That car is incredibly expensive.)

A declarative sentence that indicates "yes"; also called a positive sentence. (Adam plays squash a lot.)

The doer of an action; the person or thing that is doing something. The agent is not necessarily the subject of the sentence. (Jim called you this morning. Hamlet was written by Shakespeare.)

Any of the words a, an and the, used to limit or give definiteness to a noun. A and an are indefinite articles, while the is a definite article. (A man was standing on the platform.)

A verbal category that relates an action to the passage of time. It can express duration (continuous/progressive aspect) or completion (perfect aspect).

A helping verb used with main verbs that expresses mood, voice or tense. (I can't swim. When were you born? They are working on it now. Have they left?)

The infinitive without to. It can be simple (write), continuous (be writing), perfect (have written) or perfect continuous (have been writing). The term 'bare infinitive' is often used to refer to the simple bare infinitive (write), which is identical to the base form of the verb.

The form of a verb to which inflections are added, e.g. go, meet and want. Inflected forms of these verbs include, e.g. goes, meeting and wanted. The base form is the one listed in dictionaries.

A group of related words with a subject and a verb. Sometimes the subject may not be mentioned explicitly in the clause itself but found in a nearby clause. (While walking through the park, Tom lost his keys.)

A word or phrase that comes after the verb and is required to make the sentence complete. (The weather was beautiful. Carol is a teacher.)

A period of time that has finished and does not include the time of speaking. (Lena didn't go skiing last year.)

A concept related to the perfect aspect that expresses that an action has finished. (He has finished university.)

A part of speech that connects words, clauses or sentences. (The room was dark and cold. Although everyone heard the news, no one seemed to care.)

The situation within which something exists or happens or an utterance is made.

The aspect that expresses duration, formed with be + verb-ing. (What are you doing?)

The sentence type used to make statements. A declarative sentence may be affirmative or negative. (Adam plays squash a lot. Tim has no friends.)

Pertaining to a specific person, thing, idea or time. (I know the guy you are talking about.)

The directly affected object of the verb. (Let's have a coffee. She told me her name.)

A verb that has two objects: a direct object and an indirect object. (She told me her name.)

A concept related to the continuous aspect that expresses that an action is in progress. (What are you doing?)

Special importance or attention given to something. (We do want to help you.)

A general term to express that somebody or something is doing something or that something is happening. (The lights turned red.)

A word or group of words used in a specific situation. (Good morning, at six and on the sofa)

The main or central point of attention or interest; what is emphasised. (It was János Irinyi who invented the non-explosive match in 1836.)

Not part of colloquial or everyday speech; official. (I shall be with you shortly.)

Unreal, imagined.

The sentence type used to express suggestions, directions or orders. (Take a seat, please.)

A period of time that includes the time of speaking. (I have known him for two years.)

Not pertaining to a specific person, thing, idea or time. (Somebody left you a message this morning.)

To or for whom the action of the verb is being done; the receiver of the action. (She told me her name.)

A change in or addition to the form of a word that shows a change in the way it is used in sentences. (He likes what you cooked.)

Part of colloquial or everyday speech. (I'll be with you in a sec.)

Something that the doer uses in performing the action. (She covered the child with a blanket.)

The sentence type used to express a direct question. (What are you doing?)

A verb that does not take a direct object. (How long have you been living here?)

A construction in which a verb or an auxiliary precedes the subject. (Here comes the bus. You don't work here, do you?)

A clause that could be a sentence in itself. (I wouldn't go there if I were you. When I called her, she was studying.)

A verb that can express an action or a state in itself; also called a lexical verb. (Adam plays squash a lot. This watch belonged to my grandfather.)

A declarative sentence that indicates "no". (Tim has no friends.)

A part of speech that names a person, place or thing. (The koala is a marsupial.)

A person or thing that is affected by the action of a verb or is involved in the result of an action. (Can you help me?)

A word that is joined to the verb in a phrasal verb. (He is looking after his ageing parents.)

The aspect that expresses completion, formed with have + past participle. (He has finished university.)

The length of time between two points of time. (He works from 8 to 4. We've been staying here for two weeks.)

A specific moment in time. (She came home at six. I was born in 1980.)

An action is said to be in progress when it is happening. (When I called her, she was studying.)

A part of speech that refers to or stands instead of a noun. (Who do you think I am?)

The use of special marks to structure and organise written language: full stop (.), comma (,), question mark (?), exclamation mark (!), apostrophe ('), quote ("), colon (:), semi-colon (;), hyphen (-), dash (–), parentheses (( )) and brackets ([ ]).

A word that introduces a wh-question. (What are you doing? How old are you?)

A point in time in relation to which an action takes place. (When I called her, she was studying. They had all arrived by 10 o'clock.)

A condition that exists at a specific time. (I was sick. He doesn't have your address.)

The way in which the parts of a sentence, clause or expression are arranged. (make + object + bare infinitive in the sentence The teacher made me rewrite the composition.)

The person or thing that performs the action of a verb or that is described by a verb. (You look pretty. The house was destroyed by fire.)

A clause that cannot be a sentence in itself and is linked to a main clause. (I wouldn't go there if I were you. When I called her, she was studying.)

A grammatical category that is marked by verb inflection. Tenses are used in order to express when an event or action is happening in time or when a state exists.

A concept related to our perception of reality; that part of existence which is measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks etc.

A verb or auxiliary that marks the reference point of a non-finite form. (The telephone is known to have been invented by Bell. He denied being in love with the suspect. They must have missed their flight.)

A point in time at which an utterance is made.

The infinitive with to. It can be simple (to write), continuous (to be writing), perfect (to have written) or perfect continuous (to have been writing).

A verb that takes a direct object. (I know him quite well.)

A verb form that expresses a hypothetical situation. (I wish you were here.)

Something that somebody says in a specific context.

A part of speech that expresses an action or a state. (What kind of music do you like?)

The form of the transitive verb (active or passive) that shows the relation of the subject of the sentence to the action of the verb. In an active sentence, the subject is the agent or doer of the action. (My mom made the cake.) With the passive voice, the subject is the recipient of the action. (The cake was made by my mom.)

A question that starts with a question word. (What are you doing? How old are you?)

A question without a question word; one to which the answer is "yes" or "no". (Are you old enough to enter?)