Recently Added Articles Page #58

primary auxiliary verb

We have roughly 16 auxiliary verbs in the English language. Three are called primary auxiliaries: to be, to have, and to do. These three words perform special functions.The verb to be forms the passive voice (The ball was hit by John) and the progres...

principal parts

Main verbs have four principal parts: (1) infinitive (to decide), (2) past tense (decided), (3) past participle (decided), and (4) present participle (deciding). A regular verb forms its past tense and past participle the same way, usually by add...

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...

pronoun

We have seven kinds of pronouns in the English language.A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. Personal pronouns (words like I, me, my, we, our, us, you, your, he, she, him, his, her, and on and on) exhibit case, gender, and number. The ...

proper noun

A proper noun names a specific person, place, time period, work of literature or art, and so on. It begins with a capital letter. Examples include: New York City Friday Shakespeare's play Hamlet Fred...

reciprocal pronoun

We have only two of these pronouns, and they come in pairs: each other and one another. We use them to show some sort of a relationship between two or more people or larger groups.In formal settings you should use each other to refer to two people or...

reflexive pronoun

These are the ‑self words, as in myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves. They are called reflexive and intensive pronouns and are used in two ways: (1) to reflect action back onto the actor in the sentence (reflexive pro...

regular verb

Verbs have four principal parts: (1) the infinitive, (2) the past, (3) the past participle, and (4) the present participle. A regular verb forms its past tense and past participle the same way, usually by adding -ed. Take the regular verb walk. T...

relative pronoun

We have five relative pronouns in the English language: that, which, who (whoever), whom (whomever), and whose. Note that the personal relative pronouns (who, whom, whose) exhibit case: who (subjective case), whom (objective case), and whose (possess...

restrictive clause

A restrictive clause is also called a defining clause. The great grammarian Henry Fowler coined the term defining clause. A restrictive clause looks to the noun (or pronoun) modified and singles it out among others that could exist in the context. A ...

run-on sentence

A run-on sentence happens when a semicolon is omitted between two independent clauses not joined by a coordinating or correlative conjunction. Sometimes a comma might appear, but that's incorrect punctuation. To join two independent clauses without a...

"-self" words

For a discussion of the -self words, as in myself, yourself, himself, herself, etc., see reflexive pronoun....

sentence

A grammatically complete sentence has a subject and a conjugated verb, as in Mary sang. A sentence is also an independent clause. If a group of words qualifies only as a dependent clause, it is not a sentence, as in Because we were tired. Many writer...

sentence adverb

A sentence adverb modifies an entire sentence or clause. According to top authorities, adverbs, including those ending in ‑ly, can modify entire sentences. Here are some examples drawn from reputable sources: Unhappily, there are times when violenc...

serial-comma rule

When you join three or more elements in a series, put a comma before the conjunction (usually and or or). Thus: red, white, and blue. This is the serial-comma rule. The comma is also referred to as the Oxford Comma. The top style manuals follow the s...

singular

Nouns and pronouns are either singular or plural. Nouns typically form their plurals by adding ‑s, (boys), ‑es (torches), or ‑ies (cities). Some plural words, like children and fish, do not use ‑s. Pronouns have special forms to show pluralit...

split infinitive

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. Infinitives appear in the language in three ways: (1) they appear alone to s...

subject

The grammatical subject of a sentence or clause is a noun, a group of words acting as a noun, or a pronoun. The subject names whatever is asserted by the verb. Usually, the subject precedes the verb, as in She walked to work. But when you ask a quest...

subjective case

No matter what type of writing you are working on, you will sooner or later face the need for proofreading and editing your piece since these are important stages of the entire writing process. Therefore, any author has to learn the difference betwee...

subjunctive 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...

subordinate clause

A subordinate clause is also called a dependent clause. A dependent clause cannot stand by itself as a sentence. It must attach to an independent clause to form what is called a complex sentence.Dependent clauses may act in three ways: (1) as nouns,...

subordination

Each sentence has three essential parts: (1) the subject, (2) the verb, and (3) the other stuff, which is governed by the kind of verb chosen. Writers then begin to add to this basic structure. They add one-word additions (adjectives, adverbs, nou...

subordinating conjunction

We have a long list of subordinating conjunctions. These words are used to start a subordinate clause, which can act as an adjective, adverb, or noun. Examples include after, although, as, as far as, as if, as long as, as though, because, before, how...

superlative state

Most adjectives and adverbs come in three states. The positive state describes the basic attribute (the hot plate, he ran quickly). The comparative state shows more of the attribute (the hotter plate, he ran more quickly). The superlative state shows...

switcheroo noun

I coined this term to describe two-word pairs. The two words are spelled and sometimes pronounced identically. One word acts as a noun, the other as a verb.A classic example is change. A nouny writer would always opt for the noun form and write: "I m...