Glossary of English Grammar Terms

This glossary of English grammar terms relates to the English language. Some terms here may have additional or extended meanings when applied to other languages. For example, "case" in some languages applies to pronouns and nouns. In English, nouns do not have case and therefore no reference to nouns is made in its definition here.
 
TermDefinition
active voiceone of two voices in English; a direct form of expression where the subject performs or "acts" the verb; see also passive voice
eg: "Many people eat rice"
adjectivepart of speech that typically describes or "modifies" a noun
eg: "It was a big dog."
adjective clauseseldom-used term for relative clause
adjunctword or phrase that adds information to a sentence and that can be removed from the sentence without making the sentence ungrammatical
eg: I met John at school.
adverbword that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb
eg: quickly, really, very
adverbial clausedependent clause that acts like an adverb and indicates such things as time, place or reason
eg: Although we are getting older, we grow more beautiful each day.
affirmativestatement that expresses (or claims to express) a truth or "yes" meaning; opposite of negative
eg: The sun is hot.
affixlanguage unit (morpheme) that occurs before or after (or sometimes within) the root or stem of a word
eg: un- in unhappy (prefix), -ness in happiness (suffix)
agreement
(also known as "concord")
logical (in a grammatical sense) links between words based on tense, case or number
eg: this phone, these phones
antecedentword, phrase or clause that is replaced by a pronoun (or other substitute) when mentioned subsequently (in the same sentence or later)
eg: "Emily is nice because she brings me flowers."
appositivenoun phrase that re-identifies or describes its neighbouring noun
eg: "Canada, a multicultural country, is recognized by its maple leaf flag."
articledeterminer that introduces a noun phrase as definite (the) or indefinite (a/an)
aspectfeature of some verb forms that relates to duration or completion of time; verbs can have no aspect (simple), or can have continuous or progressive aspect (expressing duration), or have perfect or perfective aspect (expressing completion)
auxiliary verb
(also called "helping verb")
verb used with the main verb to help indicate something such as tense or voice
eg: I do not like you. She has finished. He can swim.