Common Grammatical Terms

Mary Dietrich

Fort Collins High School

AP Language

Appositive• An appositive is a noun or

pronoun -- often with modifiers -- set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it. Here are some examples of appositives.

• Your friend, Bill, is in trouble.• My brother’s car, a sporty red

convertible with bucket seats, is the envy of everyone.

• An appositive phrase usually

follows the word it explains or identifies, but it may also precede it.

• Punctuation of appositives• In some cases, the noun being

explained is too general without the appositive;

• the information is essential to the meaning of the sentence. When this is the case, do not place commas around the appositive; just leave it alone.

• If the sentence would be clear and complete without the appositive – non-essential -, then commas are necessary; place one before and one after the appositive.

• My daughter, Sue, is headed for trouble.

• My daughter Sue is headed for trouble.

Verbals - Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives

• Present Participle (-ing) – commonly seen as Participial adjective - used as an adjective – Swimming contests can lead to drowning.

• Part participles can also be used as adjectives – the thrown ball or tossed salad.

• Participial phrase – Arriving tomorrow, they will be met at the airport.

• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_verbals.html

• Gerund – present participle form of a verb that can be used as a noun.

• Reading can lead to intelligence!

Infinitive, infinitive phrase

• – Look for the “to” with a verb” “To side with truth is noble”

• To live; to be living, to have been living –

• Sometimes the “to” is eliminated:

• Ask me to do it…Let me do it; He was made to confess…They made him confess.

To comma or not to comma• Restrictive clause –

essential to the meaning of the sentence –

– The people who sat in the balcony paid less for their seats.

• Non-restrictive clause – not necessary for the meaning of the sentence.

– The class, which sat in the balcony, enjoyed the play.

Adverbial Phrase

• a group of words – usually including a preposition – that modifies a verb. – He was running for

his life.

Antecedent

• the “nominal” (noun) that a pronoun represents.– Summer is

here; it will last until Fall.

Reference of / Antecedent…

• This is sometimes used IN PLACE of antecedent, but may also refer to the word that an indefinite noun or article refers to:

• The theory of relativity relies on gravity. This idea …..

• “This idea” refers to the theory of relativity.

Subject Complement

-the noun or adjective that follows a “helping verb” and defines or modifies it. Also known as ‘predicate nominal’ or ‘predicate adjective’

He is pretty and sweet because he has long hair (Remember “Real men”?)

He is NOT a real man.

Object Complement

• the adjective that follows a DIRECT OBJECT and defines it.

• We find this music most pleasant.

Clauses

• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_clause.html

• Independent• Dependent• And fragments thereof…

Case:• Nominative – she

She can fly• Objective – her

The pig is flown by her.

• Possessive – hersThat flying pig is hers.

Antithetical phrase or clause• (or antithesis)• He is a man of the world,

not the punk you take him for.

• The soon the better. The more the merrier.

• Closely related to paradox

Know…

• Parts of Speech• Prepositional Phrases

Parallel Structure• Parallel structure means

using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. This can happen at the word, phrase, or clause level. The usual way to join parallel structures is with the use of coordinating conjunctions such as "and" or "or."

• He is snoring, and the sea is approaching

• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_parallel.html

Active and Passive Voice• Verbs in the active voice show

the subject acting. Verbs in the passive voice show something else acting on the subject. Most writers consider the active voice more forceful and tend to stay away from passives unless they really need them.

• ACTIVE: Tim killed the chicken hawk.PASSIVE: The chicken hawk was killed by Tim.

Phrasal Verbs• Many verbs in English are followed by an adverb

or a preposition (also called a particle), and these two-part verbs, also called phrasal verbs, are different from verbs with helpers. The particle that follows the verb changes the meaning of the phrasal verb in idiomatic ways:

» Bill’s car didn’t “take off” like he thought it would…

• VERB MEANING

drop off decline graduallyExample: The hill dropped off near the river.

drop off(2) fall asleep

While doing his homework, he dropped off.

drop off(3) stop and give something to someone

Would you drop this off at the post office?

drop out cease to participate

After two laps,

the runner dropped out.