The following is a grammar "hit list" of general terms, words and common grammatical errors. It is intended to serve as a quick reference guide. Please see my individual blogs for more detailed information about any of the topics, definitions, or descriptions listed below.
a.
abbreviation: a shortened form of a word or phrase, e.g., doc for doctor; or Vet. Sci., for Veterinary Science.
abstract: a specialized summary that concentrates on research findings and conclusions.
alliteration: the repition of the same consonant sounds, e.g., World Wide Web. The idea is to give a pleasing tone to the sentence.
annotation: a summary with a twist. An annotation describes the written work in a way that helps someone decide whether to read the book or article, etc. or not.
aposiopesis: signifies a break in a sentence or thought with either an em dash (—) or an ellipses (…).
appositive: a noun or noun phrase, often with modifiers, that names another noun right beside it. Jenny’s friend Karen was afraid to go inside the haunted house. An appositive often follows the word it describes, but it can also precede it. Karen, Jenny’s friend, was afraid to go into the house.
abstract: a specialized summary that concentrates on research findings and conclusions.
alliteration: the repition of the same consonant sounds, e.g., World Wide Web. The idea is to give a pleasing tone to the sentence.
annotation: a summary with a twist. An annotation describes the written work in a way that helps someone decide whether to read the book or article, etc. or not.
aposiopesis: signifies a break in a sentence or thought with either an em dash (—) or an ellipses (…).
appositive: a noun or noun phrase, often with modifiers, that names another noun right beside it. Jenny’s friend Karen was afraid to go inside the haunted house. An appositive often follows the word it describes, but it can also precede it. Karen, Jenny’s friend, was afraid to go into the house.
article: a, an, and the, always appear before a noun because they control a noun in some way. Also known as determiners because they determine the noun. There are two types of articles, definite and indefinite:
- Definite article the specifies one or more subjects such as: the dog or the people.
- Indefinite articles a and an identifies the generic brand: a dog, or, an apple.
* asterisk: used to highlight a footnote.
@ at sign: used to designate location.
b.
blog: short for web log
book report: a summary on steroids. A book report summarizes written text and includes details such as; background information, plot, setting, climax, and main characters.
{ } braces: uncommonly used to contain listed items or multiple lines of text to indicate that they are considered one unit.
[ ] brackets: used in matched pairs within text, to set apart or interject other text.
c.
@ at sign: used to designate location.
b.
blog: short for web log
book report: a summary on steroids. A book report summarizes written text and includes details such as; background information, plot, setting, climax, and main characters.
{ } braces: uncommonly used to contain listed items or multiple lines of text to indicate that they are considered one unit.
[ ] brackets: used in matched pairs within text, to set apart or interject other text.
c.
capital/capitol: Capital refers to the city. Capitol refers to the building. MEMORY TIP: Think old building. Remember the "o" in "old" and the "o" in capitol.
CFDA: Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance; a government-wide compendium of federal programs, projects, services, and activities that provide assistance. Programs listed therein are given a CFDA Number.
collocation: similar to a cliche, a collocation is a string of two or more words that are familiar to most English speakers and make sense when used together, e.g., horse sense, two peas in a pod, or iron will.
clause: Think of a clause as a mini sentence. A clause is simply a group of words with a subject and a predicate.
collocation: similar to a cliche, a collocation is a string of two or more words that are familiar to most English speakers and make sense when used together, e.g., horse sense, two peas in a pod, or iron will.
clause: Think of a clause as a mini sentence. A clause is simply a group of words with a subject and a predicate.
cliché: a trite, overused, boring expression, e.g., When all’s said and done or At the end of the day. Avoid overuse—or any use—of clichés in your writing if you can. Instead, opt for fresh, new, and creative expressions that come from your heart rather than someone else’s.
collective noun: A noun that refers to a group of people or things, e.g., team, family, police, committee.
colon: works as a regulator. The details that follow a colon either prove, explain, or list elements of what was expressed before the colon. Please believe me: No matter how long it takes, I'll pay back every dime that I owe you.
conjunction: indicates the relationship between similar grammatical constructions and ideas. The most commonly used conjunctions are; and, but, and, nor, and yet. Notice where it says "...construction and ideas" in my definition. The word "and" is a conjunction.
conjunctive adverb: a adverbial that looks like a conjunction, but functions like an adverb. *See my blogs: Wake up your Mojo, and Conjunction functions for more detail.
d.
determiner: A word that introduces a noun and determines specificity, e.g., the, a, an, every, and this.
device: n. machine, tool, gadget, contraption / devise: v. create, plan, formulate
direct speech: The actual words of a speaker quoted in writing, e.g., "I don’t believe you," said Nina. "I don't believe you," is what Nina actually said.
e.
e-mail: Not email or E-mail.
etc.: from the Latin words et cetera, which mean "and so forth"
et al. from the Latin words et alii which mean "and others". ensure/insure: Use ensure unless referring to insurance.
g.
genre: refers to a particular literary style such as: legal, erotica, saga, adventure, crime, historical, political, fantasy, scientific, horror, urban, satire, romance, philosophical, scientific, documentary and comedy.
gerund: a noun that looks like a verb, e.g., swimming, talking, loving.
h.
heteronym: a word (or words) that are spelled the same but differ in pronunciation and meaning, e.g., tear (rip) and tear (result of crying).
homonym: one of a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings, e.g., fair (county fair) and fair (reasonable).
homograph: a word (or words) that are spelled alike, but differ in origin, meaning, and sometimes pronunciation, e.g., bow (ribbon in a girl's har) and bow (to bow down, bend over).
homophone: a word (or words) that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning and sometimes also has different spelling, e.g., cite (quote) and sight (vision).
hyphen: a source of many grammatical errors. The hyphen is used to join words and also to separate syllables of a single word. Think of the hyphen as the "short straw." Not only does it have different functions as other dash marks such as the em dash or minus sign, it is the shortest of them all. Compare my use of the em dash in my definition of "cliche" to my use of the hyphen in my definition of "syntax."
i.
idiom: a word, phrase, or expression that means something different than what it actually says, e.g., Kicked the bucket, is an expression for the word died. For more idiomatic expressions, see my blog titled Laughing My Ass Off.
i.e.: from the Latin words id est which mean "that is"
infinitive: The basic unchanged form of a verb, which usually occurs with the word to. For example, "Do you want to go to the party?"
m.
May I... or Can I...: May I asks for permission (May I kiss you?) Can I indicates ability (Can I complete this project on time?) modifier: a word, clause or phrase, e.g., an adjective, adverbial clause, or prepositional phrase, that adds oomph! to a sentence. You might think of words, clauses, and phrases as the building blocks in a sentence, and modifiers as the illustrators. A good modifier is always optional, never boring. The basic premise is that a modifier adds descriptive information—or color—to an element within the same sentence. A modifier should makes the sentence more interesting and fun to read.
n.
negative: A word or phrase stating that something is not the case, such as never, nothing, or not. For example, You and me get married? Never gonna happen.
noun: A word that names a person, place, thing, quality, or idea.
p.
participle: a verbal that is used as an adjective and modifies a noun; indicates state of mind or being. If that sounds confusing, think about a word that looks like a verb (verbal), works like an adjective, and tells you something about the noun in the sentence. Still no? My blog entitled Playing with Participles, should help.
parts of speech: see word classes
plural: The form of a noun that refers to more than one person or thing, e.g., books or benches.
prepositon: a word that shows how nouns or other pronouns relate to other words in a sentence.
r.
reported speech: The reporting of a speaker’s dialogue, rather than quoting the speaker word-for-word; also called indirect speech, e.g., Nina said that she didn’t believe him.
rhetoric: The art of using language effectively and persuasively.
s.
satire: a literary genre that includes strong irony or sarcasm. Although intended to be humorous (using wit as a weapon), the underlying purpose is to shame individuals or society into improvement by highlighting abuses, shortcomings and corrupt activities with tongue in cheek writing. Comedians use a lot of satire to describe celebrities and politicians whose private lives are much different then what their public personas might suggest.
seasons: lowercase all seasons (fall, winter, spring, summer).
semi-colon: used to join two independent clauses instead of using a conjunction such as; and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so. Also used to connect adverbial clauses (see my blog entitles Wake up your mojo for more detail on how to punctuate adverbial clauses and phrases).
sentence: a group of words that makes complete sense; contains a main verb; begins with a capital letter; and ends with a period, exclamation point, or question mark.
simile: a word that shows a similarity between two things using the word like to compare them, e.g., slippery like a snake.
speechifying: see rhetoric.
split infinitive: A split infinitive happens when an adverb is placed between to and a verb, e.g., She seems to really like him. Some think it’s bad grammar to split infinitives. Although there’s no real grammatical reasoning for this view, it’s best to try to avoid them in formal writing.
suffix: a group of letters placed at the end of an existing word to change its meaning, e.g. curious + ity = curiousity; end + ing = ending; do + able=doable.
syntax: the way in which words and phrases are put together to create well-formed sentences in a language.
t.
tense: the form that a verb takes to show when a person did something, or when something existed or happened. In English, the main tenses are; present, past, and future.
through: adj. finished, done, complete, concluded
threw: v. past tense of throw
thru: slang for through - not appropriate in standard writing
v.
verb: a word that describes what a person or thing does, or what happens, e.g., run, sing, grow, occur, or seem.
verbal: a verb imposter that carries the idea of a verb, but actually functions as a different part of speech. In other words, it looks like a duck, but it doesn't quack like one. The three verbal forms are:
collective noun: A noun that refers to a group of people or things, e.g., team, family, police, committee.
colon: works as a regulator. The details that follow a colon either prove, explain, or list elements of what was expressed before the colon. Please believe me: No matter how long it takes, I'll pay back every dime that I owe you.
conjunction: indicates the relationship between similar grammatical constructions and ideas. The most commonly used conjunctions are; and, but, and, nor, and yet. Notice where it says "...construction and ideas" in my definition. The word "and" is a conjunction.
conjunctive adverb: a adverbial that looks like a conjunction, but functions like an adverb. *See my blogs: Wake up your Mojo, and Conjunction functions for more detail.
d.
determiner: A word that introduces a noun and determines specificity, e.g., the, a, an, every, and this.
device: n. machine, tool, gadget, contraption / devise: v. create, plan, formulate
direct speech: The actual words of a speaker quoted in writing, e.g., "I don’t believe you," said Nina. "I don't believe you," is what Nina actually said.
e.
e-mail: Not email or E-mail.
etc.: from the Latin words et cetera, which mean "and so forth"
et al. from the Latin words et alii which mean "and others". ensure/insure: Use ensure unless referring to insurance.
g.
genre: refers to a particular literary style such as: legal, erotica, saga, adventure, crime, historical, political, fantasy, scientific, horror, urban, satire, romance, philosophical, scientific, documentary and comedy.
gerund: a noun that looks like a verb, e.g., swimming, talking, loving.
h.
heteronym: a word (or words) that are spelled the same but differ in pronunciation and meaning, e.g., tear (rip) and tear (result of crying).
homonym: one of a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings, e.g., fair (county fair) and fair (reasonable).
homograph: a word (or words) that are spelled alike, but differ in origin, meaning, and sometimes pronunciation, e.g., bow (ribbon in a girl's har) and bow (to bow down, bend over).
homophone: a word (or words) that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning and sometimes also has different spelling, e.g., cite (quote) and sight (vision).
hyphen: a source of many grammatical errors. The hyphen is used to join words and also to separate syllables of a single word. Think of the hyphen as the "short straw." Not only does it have different functions as other dash marks such as the em dash or minus sign, it is the shortest of them all. Compare my use of the em dash in my definition of "cliche" to my use of the hyphen in my definition of "syntax."
i.
idiom: a word, phrase, or expression that means something different than what it actually says, e.g., Kicked the bucket, is an expression for the word died. For more idiomatic expressions, see my blog titled Laughing My Ass Off.
i.e.: from the Latin words id est which mean "that is"
infinitive: The basic unchanged form of a verb, which usually occurs with the word to. For example, "Do you want to go to the party?"
m.
May I... or Can I...: May I asks for permission (May I kiss you?) Can I indicates ability (Can I complete this project on time?) modifier: a word, clause or phrase, e.g., an adjective, adverbial clause, or prepositional phrase, that adds oomph! to a sentence. You might think of words, clauses, and phrases as the building blocks in a sentence, and modifiers as the illustrators. A good modifier is always optional, never boring. The basic premise is that a modifier adds descriptive information—or color—to an element within the same sentence. A modifier should makes the sentence more interesting and fun to read.
n.
negative: A word or phrase stating that something is not the case, such as never, nothing, or not. For example, You and me get married? Never gonna happen.
noun: A word that names a person, place, thing, quality, or idea.
p.
participle: a verbal that is used as an adjective and modifies a noun; indicates state of mind or being. If that sounds confusing, think about a word that looks like a verb (verbal), works like an adjective, and tells you something about the noun in the sentence. Still no? My blog entitled Playing with Participles, should help.
parts of speech: see word classes
plural: The form of a noun that refers to more than one person or thing, e.g., books or benches.
prepositon: a word that shows how nouns or other pronouns relate to other words in a sentence.
r.
reported speech: The reporting of a speaker’s dialogue, rather than quoting the speaker word-for-word; also called indirect speech, e.g., Nina said that she didn’t believe him.
rhetoric: The art of using language effectively and persuasively.
s.
satire: a literary genre that includes strong irony or sarcasm. Although intended to be humorous (using wit as a weapon), the underlying purpose is to shame individuals or society into improvement by highlighting abuses, shortcomings and corrupt activities with tongue in cheek writing. Comedians use a lot of satire to describe celebrities and politicians whose private lives are much different then what their public personas might suggest.
seasons: lowercase all seasons (fall, winter, spring, summer).
semi-colon: used to join two independent clauses instead of using a conjunction such as; and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so. Also used to connect adverbial clauses (see my blog entitles Wake up your mojo for more detail on how to punctuate adverbial clauses and phrases).
sentence: a group of words that makes complete sense; contains a main verb; begins with a capital letter; and ends with a period, exclamation point, or question mark.
simile: a word that shows a similarity between two things using the word like to compare them, e.g., slippery like a snake.
speechifying: see rhetoric.
split infinitive: A split infinitive happens when an adverb is placed between to and a verb, e.g., She seems to really like him. Some think it’s bad grammar to split infinitives. Although there’s no real grammatical reasoning for this view, it’s best to try to avoid them in formal writing.
suffix: a group of letters placed at the end of an existing word to change its meaning, e.g. curious + ity = curiousity; end + ing = ending; do + able=doable.
syntax: the way in which words and phrases are put together to create well-formed sentences in a language.
t.
tense: the form that a verb takes to show when a person did something, or when something existed or happened. In English, the main tenses are; present, past, and future.
through: adj. finished, done, complete, concluded
threw: v. past tense of throw
thru: slang for through - not appropriate in standard writing
v.
verb: a word that describes what a person or thing does, or what happens, e.g., run, sing, grow, occur, or seem.
verbal: a verb imposter that carries the idea of a verb, but actually functions as a different part of speech. In other words, it looks like a duck, but it doesn't quack like one. The three verbal forms are:
- infinitive (to run)
- gerund (verb + ing=noun, e.g. talking)
- participle (broken)
verbal irony: a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant, e.g., Yea, right, when the speaker really means to say, No, wrong.
verbal noun: Also called a gerund, a verbal noun is the present participle of a verb when it’s used as a noun, e.g., Smoking is strictly forbidden.
w.
w.
word class: one of the eight basic parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, preposition, and
Feel free to submit your individual grammar or punctuation questions anytime. I will do my best to respond to you within 24 hours.
Until then, keep on writin’ it right dear friends.
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