A DICTIONARY OF GRAMMATICAL TERMS. 2016 BDL
Active Voice The subject of the sentence is doing or being: the object is having it done to them/it. Adjective A word that describes a noun Adverb A word that tells us more about a verb (or an adjective) Adverbial An adverb that tells us when, where or how often something happens. Alliteration Repetition of the initial letters of words next to each other Ambiguity Having more than one meaning Antonym A word that means the opposite to another word Apostrophe A punctuation used to show omission (contraction) or possession Assonance Repetition of vowel sounds inside words Bias Supporting one point of view over another Blurb A brief overview of the book Body language Using your body to get your point across or get the audience's attention Brackets Can show parenthesis Bullet Points Used to draw attention to items in a list By-line Tells the reader the name of the person who has written the report
Capital letters Letters in uppercase, used at the start of sentences and for proper nouns. Caption Short description under a picture to explain what it is Chronological In the order that something happens Clause Contains a verb and can act as a sentence. It can be a main clause or subordinate clause Cohesion When your whole piece of writing fits together clearly so that it makes sense Colon Introduces a clause that gives detail or introduces a list, a quotation or speech on a play script Comma Punctuation mark used to separate items in a list, in direct speech, show a brief pause, separate a main clause from a subordinate clause or indicate parenthesis Command A sentence that gives an instruction Common Nouns Nouns for people, animals and objects Conjunction Links two words, phrases or clauses Context The situation in which something happens Contraction A word that has been made shorter by squashing the words together where a letter is missing there should be an apostrophe Dash A single dash shows a break or pause in a sentence (Dashes don t hold) Dashes Can show parenthsis (Dashes don't) Definite article The word 'the'
Determiner A word that introduces a noun such as 'the', 'a', 'an', 'some', 'those' Dialogue A conversation between two or more people Direct Speech A sentence in inverted commas (speech marks) showing the exact words spoken by someone Ellipsis To show missing text Emotive language Emotional language used to express feelings Empathise To understand and share the feelings of someone else Emphasis To stress something Exclamation A forceful sentence that can express surprise, shock, strong emotion, pain or a warning. Exclamation mark Punctuation at the end of an exclamation or a command Expanded Noun Phrase A phrase with a noun as its main word with other words that tell us more about that noun Fact A piece of information that is true Fiction Made-up stories Figurative language The descriptive language used to create imagery Formal Speech Speaking and writing using correct grammar and vocabulary Fronted adverbials An adverbial that comes at the front, or start, of a sentence
Full stops Punctuation at the end of every sentence (question marks and exclamation marks have a full stop at the bottom.) Future A verb tense saying what is going to happen Genre Type, style or kind of writing Gesticulate To use gestures to emphasise your point Homonyms Words that sound the same and are spelled the same but have different meanings Homophones Words that sound the same but have a different spelling and a different meaning Hook It's what grabs the reader's attention Hyphen A punctuation mark that links words to make some compound words, to join prefixes to some words or to show a word break at the end of a line. (Hyphens hold) Hyphenated compound words Two words combined with a hyphen to make one new word Imagery The use of figurative language to help the reader visualise what is being described Indefinite article The words 'a', and 'an' Informal speech Relaxed, chatty way of speaking and writing used with family and friends Inverted commas The punctuation at the start of end of speech or a quotation Main clause A clause that can make sense as a sentence Metaphor A comparison between two things, where the object that is being compared actually is the things it's compared to
Modal verbs Verbs that show possibility or likelihood Non-fiction Factual information Noun phrase A phrase where the noun is the main word Nouns Naming words for people, places, animals and things Object A noun, pronoun or noun phrase Omission Leaving a letter or letters out Onomatopoeia Words that sound like the thing they are describing Opinion What you personally think about something Parentheses The plural form of parenthesis-it can also mean the punctuation marks themselves Parenthesis Keeping a word, phrase or clause separate Passive voice When the subject isn't carrying out the action but is being acted upon by someone or something Past A verb tense saying what has happened Personification Giving human characteristics to a non-human thing Personal pronoun A word to show ownership Phrase A group of words that work together as if they are one word
Possession Ownership Possessive pronoun A word to show ownership Prefix A string of letters added to the start of a word to change its meaning Preposition Shows the relationship between the noun or pronoun and other words in the clause or sentence Present A verb tense saying what is happening now Pronoun A word that replaces a noun Proofreading Checking your writing for errors and ways to improve it Proper Nouns Nouns that name particular things. They begin with a capital letter. Pun A type of word play where the word can have more than one meaning Punctuation marks Signposts' to help us understand text Question A sentence that asks something Question mark Punctuation mark at the end of a question Quote Direct speech by a source or witness Recount Report retelling an event that has happened Relative clause A subordinate clause introduced by a relative pronoun
Relative pronoun The words 'who', 'which', 'that' and 'whose', which introduce a relative clause Rhetorical question A question used for effect and with no answer expected Root word A word in its own right, without a prefix or suffix Scan A quick reading technique to help you find specific words, phrases and clauses in a text Semi-colon Links two closely related sentences or separates items in a list where some items might be longer than one or two words Silent letter A letter that was once pronounced, but now isn't Simile A comparison of two things with like/similar characteristics Skim read A quick reading technique to help you get the main idea of a text Slang Very informal language used when speaking to friends Source Someone who gives the journalist information about the events being reported Standard English Using the rules of English correctly Statement A sentence that gives information Stress When you either increase the vowel length or loudness of the syllable, or both Subject The person or thing that is doing or being something in the sentence Subjunctive A verb form that shows a wish or an imaginary state
Subordinate clause A clause which depends on the main clause to make sense Suffix A string of letters added to the end of a root word to change or add to its meaning Syllable A single, unbroken sound Synonym A word that means the same or almost the same as another word Thesaurus A book of words and their synonyms Verb A word for an action or state of being