Grammatical Patterns Glossary
Explore the operation of words and the rules that govern what structures can follow them or combine with them.
Structural Patterns of Verbs
Grammatical Patterns Glossary

This glossary is made specifically to help users get a clear understanding of the vocabulary used in describing the grammatical patterns highlighted in our dictionary. It defines these terms in a fairly broad and traditional way and is aimed toward learners and teachers. Click on any term to see a fuller explanation of each.

adjective
An adjective is a type of word in a language that is used to describe things or people.
adverb
An adverb is a type of word that adds information to the meaning of verbs, adjectives, adverbs, phrases, or to whole statements.
auxiliary verb
An auxiliary verb (such as “do,” “be,” or “have”) is a verb that combines with a main verb (e.g., “did go,” “is waiting,” “have lived,”) and conveys additional, mainly grammatical, information.
bare infinitive
A “bare infinitive” is an infinitive without the the word “to” in front of it
clause
Clauses are the large building blocks of sentences.
conjunction
A conjunction is a type of word that connects individual words or parts of sentences.
direct object
The direct object is an element in a sentence that provides information that completes the idea introduced by certain verbs.
gerund
A gerund is a word that contains the idea of a verb but functions in a sentence as a noun.
indicative
The term “indicative” refers to one of the grammatical “moods” that a verb can express in a clause. “Indicative mood” contrasts with “subjunctive mood” and others. The indicative mood can be described as the typical, reality-based mood expressed in most statements.
indirect object
When there are two objects in a clause (e.g., “I showed him my collection”), the first is typically called the indirect object (“him”) and the second is the direct object (“my collection”).
infinitive
The infinitive in English is the form that we use to refer to a verb generally, the form that we use to name a verb or in making a list of verbs.
intransitive verb
When a verb is called “intransitive,” it means that no stated object follows it.
modal auxiliary
Words like “will,” “would,” “must,” “may,” “might,” “can,” and “could” are modal auxiliaries.
noun
A noun is a type of word in a language. A word that is a noun is always a thing or a person (or things or persons).
object
An object is a noun or noun equivalent that functions as a receiver of the action of the verb in a sentence (e.g., The dog bit my leg; I sent her a text).
past participle
The past participle is a verb part. The words “done,” “gone,” “lost,” and “forgotten” are examples of past participles.
possessive adjectives
Some very important words in English are the possessive adjectives that are related to personal pronouns. These are the words “my,” “his,” “her,” “their,” “your,” “our,” “its,” and “whose.”
phrase
A “phrase,” in one sense of the term as it is used in grammar, is a group of words that forms part of a sentence but does not contain a subject and verb that operate together grammatically.
predicate
A predicate is the part of a sentence or clause that contains the verb and elements attached to it.
preposition
A preposition is a word that makes a connection or shows a relationship between a noun and the element that comes before it in a particular sentence.
present participle
The present participle is a verb part. It is formed with the ending “-ing” and looks exactly like a gerund (e.g., “going,” “walking,” “sitting,” “dancing,” “eating”).
pronoun
A pronoun is a word that functions as a noun and that can substitute for another noun or noun phrase in a sentence.
sentence
A sentence is a statement or question that consists, at least, of a subject and a verb. In addition, to qualify as a full sentence, the verb must reflect time (past or non-past) or contain a modal auxiliary (e.g., “must,” “can,” or “will”).
subject
A subject of a sentence is a noun or noun equivalent that is one of the two main components of a sentence: subject and verb. The subject of a sentence is often the doer of the action of the verb.
subjunctive
The term “subjunctive” refers to one of the grammatical “moods” of a verb in a clause. The use of the subjunctive mood indicates that the action or state described by the verb is hypothetical or counter to reality.
tense
The word “tense” refers to time. It refers to how verbs show time by their form.
transitive verb
When a verb is called “transitive,” it means that a stated direct object follows it in a sentence.
verb
A verb is generally described as a word that represents an action (e.g., “go,” “run,” “fly”); however, some verbs describe states (“be,” “stay,” “seem”).
WH-word
“WH-word” is a term used in linguistics and education to make it simple to refer to any of the question words that begin with the letters “wh” as well as the question word “how.” The word “whether” is also sometimes included in this set of words.