Recently Added Articles Page #53

elliptical clause

A useful power structure is the elliptical clause, also called a truncated clause. The structure consists of a subordinating conjunction (if, though, although, when, while, and many others) and one of six structures: (1) present participle, (2) pas...

elliptical expression

An elliptical expression is a group of words with certain understood words omitted. Good writers routinely use elliptical expressions. You may punctuate elliptical expressions in two ways: (1) begin the expression with a semicolon, and then insert a...

finite verb

A finite verb is a conjugated verb, which shows tense, person, number, and mood. The opposite of a finite verb is the infinitive, which does not show tense, person, number, or mood. Here's a finite verb: He wrote the best-selling novel. Here's an inf...

fragment

A sentence fragment is a single word or a group of words that does not qualify as a complete grammatical sentence. It might be a dependent clause written as a complete sentence. Or it might simply be a group of words with no verb at all. Many writers...

fused participle

The great grammarian Henry Fowler coined the term fused participle. The structure consists of a noun or pronoun followed by a present participle, that is, an ‑ing verb. The entire unit (noun or pronoun plus ‑ing verb) then enters the sentence and...

future-perfect progressive tense

There are six progressive tenses. Some grammarians refer to the progressive tense as the progressive aspect of a verb. The progressive tense shows an “ongoingness” of the action denoted by the verb.The progressive tense is formed by using the ver...

future-perfect tense

The perfect tenses are formed by using the auxiliary verb to have and adding the past participle of the main verb. Thus, the future perfect is formed by taking the future tense of to have (will have) and adding the past participle of the main verb. T...

future-progressive tense

There are six progressive tenses. Some grammarians refer to the progressive tense as the progressive aspect of a verb. The progressive tense shows an “ongoingness” of the action denoted by the verb.The progressive tense is formed by using the ver...

future tense

The future tense shows actions or states of being that will occur in the future. Please note, however, that we can show futurity in other ways as well. The simple present tense can show futurity: The game begins tonight.We form the future tense by co...

gender

Gender is a grammatical concept, though most people today use gender when they mean sex. In other languages, various endings indicate whether a noun or pronoun is a masculine, feminine, or neuter entity. But in English, gender has pretty much disappe...

gerund

A gerund is a present participle (-ing verb) used as a noun. If the ‑ing verb acts as an adjective, it is not a gerund but a participial adjective. Thus, the expression a winning hand is not a gerund. It is simply a present participle (winning) use...

group noun

 See collective noun....

helping verb

A helping verb is an auxiliary verb.For a brief discussion, see auxiliary verb.For a thorough discussion, consult the section on Verbs in Parts of Speech on Grammar.com. Click here for the beginning of that discussion....

homograph

The following discussion from The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (1993) aptly describes homographs, homonyms, and homophones: Homographs are words spelled alike but with different meanings and usually with different pronunciations (lead,...

homonym

 See homograph....

homophone

 See homograph....

imperative mood

The mood of verbs shows how the speaker regards the utterance. The speaker might regard the utterance as a statement: that's the indicative mood. The speaker might ask a question: that's the interrogative mood. The speaker might issue a command: that...

imperative mood

The mood of verbs shows how the speaker regards the utterance. The speaker might regard the utterance as a statement: that's the indicative mood. The speaker might ask a question: that's the interrogative mood. The speaker might issue a command: that...

imperfect tense, progressive tense

The progressive tense (also called the progressive aspect) is sometimes referred to as the imperfect tense.There are six progressive tenses: present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect. Some grammarians refer to the progr...

indefinite article

We have three articles in the English language: a, an, and the. The words a and an are the indefinite articles. The word the is the definite article.Indefinite articles—a and an—are used only with singular nouns. These words denote a single unspe...

indefinite pronoun

Indefinite pronouns enable us to refer to any one, any two, several, or all in a group or class of persons or things or ideas. Examples include: all, another, anyone, each, someone, everybody, none, others. Some of the pronouns have possessive forms ...

independent clause

A clause is a group of words with a conjugated verb in it. We have two kinds of clauses: independent and dependent. An independent clause is a complete sentence. It begins with a capital letter and ends with a period or other terminal punctuation mar...

indicative mood

First, understand this: The word mood has nothing to do with frame of mind, as in happy or sad. It actually refers to mode, which is the attribute of a verb suggesting the speaker's attitude toward the action expressed.The mood of verbs shows how the...

indirect object

The indirect object is a person or thing secondarily affected by the action of the verb, the direct object being primarily affected. The indirect object appears in the sentence as a noun (or pronoun) unconnected by a preposition. It is positioned bet...

infinitive phrase

Every verb has a base infinitive form. We think of the infinitive as the verb with the preposition to in front of it, as in to have, to hold, to love, to honor, to cherish. Infinitive phrases can act as (1) nouns, (2) adjectives, or (3) adverbs. T...