Grammar Glossary For Parents

Active

– sentences where the subject of the sentence does the action of the verb

Adjective

– a word that describes a noun (e.g. big house, wet day)

Adverb

– a word that describes a verb, an adjective or other adverbs

Adverbial

– A word, or group of words that behaves like an adverb. It gives more information about a verb or clause (e.g. Later that day…)

Antonyms

– Words that mean the opposite (e.g. tall and short)

Clause

– Part of a sentence that contains a subject and verb

Conjunction

–A word that joins two clauses or sentences (e.g. and, but)

Determiner

– A word that tells you if a noun is general or specific (e.g. the, a, an)

Main clause

– A clause that makes sense on its own (e.g. I stayed inside because it was raining. I stayed inside is the main clause because it makes sense on its own)

Modal verb

– A verb that shows how likely something is (e.g. could, would)

Noun

– A word that names something e.g. Tom, cat, London, cup)

Object

– The part of the sentence that the action of the verb is being done to (e.g. Max kicked the ball. The ball is the object because it is what is being kicked)

Passive

– Sentences where the subject has something done to it (e.g. Mum read the book in one day – active. The book was read by Mum in one day – passive)

Phrase

– A small part of a sentence, usually without a verb

Possessive Pronoun

– A pronoun which shows who owns something (e.g. mine, his)

Prefix

– Letters that are put in front of a word to change its meaning (e.g. untie, disappear)

Preposition

– A word that tells you how things are related (e.g. in, above, before)

Pronoun

– Words that can be used instead of nouns (e.g. I, you, she, it)

Relative Clause

– A type of subordinate clause that tells you more about a noun. A relative clause often begins with a relative pronoun (e.g. He is the boy who likes rugby)

Relative Pronoun

– a pronoun that indicates a relative clause (e.g. who, that, which)

 Subject

– The person or thing doing the action of the verb

Subordinate Clause

–A clause which doesn’t make sense on its own (e.g. While you were at school, I went shopping.)

Suffix

– Letters that can be put at the end of a word to change its meaning (e.g. helpful)

Synonyms

– Words that mean the same (e.g. big and large)

Verb

– A doing word or a being word (e.g. run, skip, are, is)