Appendix I

A Glossary of Grammatical Terms

active verb (or active voice) A verb form that indicates the subject is the performer of the action, as in “Everyone in our department read the book.” In contrast, a passive verb indicates the subject is the receiver of the action, as in “The book was read by everyone in our department.”

adjective A word that modifies a noun or a pronoun, as in “The book was wonderful” and “It was a complex problem.”

adverb A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a whole phrase, clause, or sentence, as in “I read the book quickly” and “It was a very complex problem.”

article A type of adjective. The is the definite article. A and an are indefinite articles.

clause A group of words that has a subject and a verb. See phrase, independent clause, and dependent clause.

comma splice The incorrect joining of two complete sentences or main clauses with a comma alone, as in “I don’t mean to insult you, however, I do want to make a suggestion.”

conjunction A word that connects and shows the relation between words, phrases, and clauses, as in “A word that connects and shows the relation between words, phrases, and clauses.” A subordinating conjunction (such as when, while, if, although, and because) introduces dependent clauses and connects them to main clauses, as in “Although you missed your plane, you can still make it in time for the opening of the conference.”

dangling modifier A modifying phrase or clause that does not sensibly connect to any word in a sentence, as in “After reading your reports, it is recommended that you take a writing class.” See misplaced modifier.

dependent clause (also called a subordinate clause) A clause that is not a sentence, does not stand alone, and must be joined to a main clause to form a grammatically complete sentence, as in “Although I wrote an angry response, I decided not to send it.” See independent clause or main clause.

independent clause (also called a main clause) A grammatically complete sentence, one that contains a subject and a verb and that expresses a complete thought. See dependent clause or subordinate clause.

misplaced modifier A modifier positioned incorrectly in a sentence, as in “When well stewed, you add the tomatoes to the pot.” See dangling modifier.

noun A word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. A proper noun names a particular person, place, or thing, as in “the Lincoln Center” and “the Department of Human Resources.”

parallelism (or parallel structure or parallel construction; sentences with parallel construction are sometimes called balanced sentences). The principle that words, phrases, or clauses presented in a pair or in a series must be of the same kind or formation, as in “Our government is of the people, by the people, and for the people” and “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” An example of nonparallel structure is “Our guidelines were found to be inaccurate, inconsistent, and not complete.”

passive verb (or passive voice) The verb form that indicates the subject is the receiver of the action, as in “The book was read by everyone in our department.” In contrast, an active verb indicates the subject is the performer of the action, as in “Everyone in our department read the book.”

phrase A group of words that lacks a subject and a verb, as in “We found the report in the top drawer.” See clause.

predicate The verb part of a sentence. It tells what the subject did or how it was acted upon, as in “He stomped out of the meeting” and “She sought his advice.”

preposition A connecting word such as in, on, of, and with. Prepositional phrases are prepositions and their objects, as in “in the drawer,” “on the floor,” and “with malice.”

pronoun A word that takes the place of a noun, as in “She wrote the proposal” and “It was excellent.”

sentence fragment A dependent clause (one that does not stand alone) that is incorrectly punctuated as though it were a main clause (or a complete sentence), as in “Although I disagree.”

verb A word that expresses action or a state of being, as in “She questioned the logic behind the proposal.”