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Spelling
Common misspellings British and American spellings More rules and tips
Punctuation
How to use commas How to punctuate abbreviations More punctuation guidance
Usage
Commonly confused words British and American terms More English usage help from Oxford
Writing help
Writing job applications Putting together an impressive CV More practical writing help
Grammar A-Z
Brush up on your grammar using our handy glossary Go to Grammar A-Z
Professional reference works
New Hart’s Rules: The Oxford Style Guide New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage Pocket Fowler’s Modern English Usage More
OxfordWords blog
10 medical words you thought you knew A day in the life of an OED researcher Elephants in the English language More blog articles
Wordlists
Two-letter words Weird and wonderful words More wordlists
Your language questions
How many words are there in the English language? What is the longest English word? More language questions
Games and quizzes
The Oxford Dictionaries Apostrophe Challenge Which Charles Dickens character are you? Can you identify these classic last lines? More games and quizzes
Word origins
What is the origin of the word ‘snob’? What is the origin of the word ‘quiz’? Pirate phrases and their origins More word origins
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Some grammatical terms may be familiar to you, but others can be confusing or hard to remember. Clicking on any term below will give you a quick and clear definition. Below the categorized section you’ll find all the terms listed from A–Z, so you can browse that way if you prefer. Nouns
Noun Abstract noun Collective noun Common noun Concrete noun Countable noun Gerund Mass noun Proper noun Uncountable noun Verbal noun Verbs
Verb Active Auxiliary verb Infinitive Intransitive Irregular Modal verb Participle Passive Phrasal verb Regular Split infinitive Transitive Adjectives
Adjective Attributive Comparative Postpositive Predicative Superlative Pronouns
Pronoun Personal pronoun Possessive pronoun Articles
Definite article Indefinite article Tenses and Moods
Conditional Continuous Future Imperative Indicative Interrogative Mood Past Present Progressive Subjunctive Tense Sentences
Sentence Object Subject Syntax Clauses
Clause Conditional clause Coordinate clause Defining relative clause Main clause Non-restrictive relative clause Relative clause Restrictive relative clause Subordinate clause Speech
Direct speech Indirect speech Reported speech Other parts of speech
Part of speech Adverb Conjunction Determiner Exclamation Interjection Preposition Quantifier Word class Other useful terms
Affirmative Complement Compound Consonant Contraction Corpus First person Formal Inflection Informal Modifier Morpheme Negative Phrase Plural Prefix Second person Slang Standard English Suffix Syllable Third person Vowel
active
An active verb has a subject which is performing the action of the verb, for example:
John ate the apple.
The opposite of passive. Find out more about verbs.
abstract noun
A noun which refers to an idea, quality, or state (e.g. warmth, liberty, happiness), rather than a physical thing that can be seen or touched. Compare with concrete noun.
A word, such as heavy, red, or sweet, that is used to describe (or modify) a noun. Learn more about adjectives.
adverb
A word, such as very, really or slowly, that is used to give more information about an adjective, verb, or other adverb. Learn more about how to use adverbs.
affirmative
A word, sentence, or phrase that states that something is the case or which expresses agreement, for instance: whales are mammals; that’s correct. The opposite of negative.
attributive
An attributive adjective is used before the noun it describes, e.g. a red apple or a heavy bag. The opposite of predicative.
Auxiliary verbs are used to form tenses or passive forms of other verbs. The main ones are be, do, and have. See also modal verb. Learn more about verbs. Back to top
clause
A group of words that contains a verb and either forms part of a sentence or is a complete sentence in itself. For example:
I went to the bank and drew out some money.
[clause] [clause]
See also main clause, subordinate clause, relative clause, conditional clause, coordinate clause and examples of clauses.
collective noun
A noun which refers to a group of people or things, e.g. team, family, police, committee. Find out how to match verbs to collective nouns.
common noun
Any noun which refers to a person, animal, or thing in general: woman, dog, and bed are all common nouns. Compare with proper noun.
comparative
The comparative form of an adjective is used for comparing two people or things, to express the fact that one has a higher degree of a quality than the other. For example: she’s taller than me; he’s happier today than yesterday; they’re more popular than the Beatles. Compare with superlative. Find out more about comparing adjectives.
complement
A word or phrase, especially an adjective or a noun, that is used after linking verbs such as be, seem, and become, and describes the subject of the verb, for example: she became a teacher; I was angry; they seemed very friendly.
compound
A word made up of two or more existing words, such as credit card, left-handed, or website. Learn more about hyphens in compound words.
concrete noun
A noun which refers to a physical person or thing that can be seen, felt, heard, etc. For example, child, horse, and house are all concrete nouns. Compare with abstract noun.
conditional
In grammar, conditional can mean two things. Firstly, the conditional form (mood) of a verb, which is made from would (also should with ‘I’ and ‘we’) plus the infinitive without ‘to’: he would see; should we stay or go? Secondly, conditional is used to refer to a clause or sentence expressing the fact that something must happen before something else can happen, for example: If I had more money, I’d buy a bigger house. Should you change your mind, we’d be happy to help. See also conditional clause.
conditional clause
A clause which describes something that is possible or probable, depending on something else happening. Such clauses usually begin with if or unless, for example:
If it rains, the match will be cancelled.
I’m not going to the party unless she comes too.
conjunction
A word that is used to link other words or parts of a sentence, such as and, but, or if. Learn about the different types of conjunctions.
consonant
A spoken sound made by completely or partially blocking the flow of air breathed out through the mouth. In English, consonants are represented by the letters b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, and z. Compare with vowel. See also is the letter Y a vowel or a consonant?
continuous
A verb tense used to describe an action that continues for a period of time. Continuous tenses are formed with the verb to be plus the present participle, for example: I’m watching the TV; it was snowing. Also called progressive. Learn more about continuous tenses.
contraction A shortened form of a word or group of words, e.g. they’re is a contraction of they are. Read more about contractions.
coordinate clause
A clause that is linked to another clause by a conjunction such as and, or, or but. Coordinate clauses make separate statements that have equal importance, for instance:
It was freezing cold but the sun was shining.
[coordinate clause] [coordinate clause]
corpus
In the context of dictionaries and linguistics, a corpus is a very large and diverse collection of written (or spoken) material that is gathered into an electronic database and can be analysed to find out how people are really using language. Find out more about the Oxford English Corpus.
countable noun
Also called count noun. A noun that refers to something that can be counted and has both singular and plural forms, such as cat/cats, woman/women, family/families. The opposite of uncountable noun. Learn more about countable and uncountable nouns.
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defining relative clause
Another term for restrictive relative clause.
definite article
A term for the determiner the. See also indefinite article.
determiner
A word that introduces a noun, such as the, a, every, and this. See also definite article, indefinite article, possessive determiners.
direct speech
The actual words of a speaker quoted in writing, e.g. ‘I don’t believe you,’ said Nina. Compare with reported speech. Learn about punctuation in direct speech.
exclamation
A sound, word, or phrase expressing an emotion or feeling such as anger, surprise, pleasure, or pain (e.g. Ow!; That’s great!). Learn more about exclamations. Also called interjection.
first person
The pronouns, verb forms, and determiners which are used by a speaker to identify himself or herself, or to refer to a group including himself or herself, for instance, I, we, my, we were, I went. Compare with second person, third person.
formal
Formal speaking and writing typically has more complex grammatical structures and more conservative or technical vocabulary than everyday English. It’s used in official communications and speeches, business reports, legal contexts, academic books, etc. For example: The defendant was unable to give any alternative satisfactory explanation of how he financed the purchase, apart from unspecified loans from individuals not available to give evidence. Compare with informal, slang.
future
A verb tense used to refer to something that has not yet happened, for example: I shall arrive in Paris at midday; Will it be sunny this weekend? Learn more about verb tenses.
gerund
Another term for verbal noun.
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imperative
The form (or mood) of a verb that expresses a command or instruction. For example: Come here! Add the onions to the pan.
indefinite article
A term for the determiner a (or an). See also definite article.
indicative
The form (or mood) of a verb that expresses simple statements of fact. In the sentence Jo likes coffee, the verb like is in the indicative mood. Find out more about the indicative and other types of verbs.
indirect speech
Another term for reported speech.
infinitive
The basic unchanged form of a verb, which usually occurs with the word ‘to’. For instance: to read; to be. See also split infinitive.
inflection
A change in the form of a word (usually the ending) to show its grammatical function in a sentence, for example the tense of a verb or the plural of a noun.
informal
Informal speaking and writing typically has fairly simple grammatical structures, doesn’t always follow strict grammatical rules, and uses non-specialist vocabulary. It’s suitable for everyday communication with friends or other people you know. For example: ‘Coming out tonight?’ ‘No chance, sorry!’. Compare with formal, slang.
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interjection
Another term for exclamation.
interrogative
Used to describe a word used to ask a question, or to describe a sentence in the form of a question. For instance, how, where, and who are interrogative words, and Why don’t we meet for coffee? is an interrogative sentence (that is, a question). The interrogative form (mood) of a verb is used to ask questions and in English it’s formed by an auxiliary verb which is placed before the subject, for example: Are you going on holiday this year?
intransitive
An intransitive verb is not followed by an object. In the following sentences, talk and cry are intransitive verbs:
The baby was crying.
We talked for hours.
The opposite of transitive. See examples of intransitive and transitive verbs.
irregular
An irregular word, such as a noun or verb, has inflections that do not follow the normal rules. For example, the plural of man is the irregular form men, and the past of the verb run is ran. The opposite of regular. Learn more about regular and irregular verbs.
mass noun
A noun that refers to something that can’t be counted, and which does not regularly have a plural form, for example rain, darkness, happiness, or humour. Also called uncountable noun. The opposite of countable noun. Learn more about countable and uncountable nouns.
main clause
A clause that makes sense on its own, or may form part of a longer sentence. For example:
We’re waiting for the bus.
[main clause]
I went to a restaurant and I treated myself to lunch.
[main clause] [main clause]
See also clause, subordinate clause, relative clause, conditional clause, and examples of clauses.
modal verb
A modal verb is an auxiliary verb which is used with another verb to talk about possibility, probability, permission, intention, etc. The main modal verbs are can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will, would. Also called modal auxiliary verb.
modifier
A word or phrase that changes, restricts, or adds to the meaning of another word, often a noun or adjective used before another noun. Adverbs can also act as modifiers, for example, in the following sentence, very [adverb], large [adjective], and family [noun] are all being used as modifiers to give more information about the noun home: It was a very large family home.
mood
A category or form of a verb which indicates whether the verb expresses a fact (the indicative mood), a command (the imperative mood), a question (the interrogative mood), a condition (the conditional mood) or a wish or possibility (the subjunctive mood).
morpheme
The smallest unit of meaning into which a word can be divided. You cannot break a morpheme down into anything smaller that has a meaning. For example, the word never has one morpheme, while the word nevertheless has three morphemes (never, the, and less). Read more about morphemes. Compare with syllable.
Back to top negative
A word or phrase stating that something is not the case, such as never, nothing, no, or not. The opposite of affirmative. See also double negatives.
non-restrictive relative clause
A clause which gives extra information that could be left out of a sentence without affecting the structure or meaning. Non-restrictive relative clauses are normally introduced by which, who, or whose (but never by that) and you should place a comma in front of them:
He held out the small bag, which Jane snatched eagerly.
[main clause] [non-restrictive relative clause]
Also called non-defining relative clause. See also clause, main clause, subordinate clause, restrictive relative clause, conditional clause, and examples of clauses.
noun A word that refers to a person or thing, for example book, John, country, London, or friendship. Different types of noun include abstract, collective, countable/uncountable, concrete, gerund/verbal, mass, and proper. Find out more about nouns.
object
The person or thing affected by a verb, for example:
He was eating a sandwich.
She loves animals.
Compare with subject. Read more about objects.
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Another term for word class. Find out more about different parts of speech.
participle
The past participle is the form of a verb which is used to form:
certain past tenses, e.g. I have looked everywhere; we had decided to leave. adjectives, e.g. broken glass; lost property.
The present participle is the form of a verb, ending in –ing, that is used to form:
continuous tenses describing something that is still happening, e.g. I am thinking, she was talking. adjectives, e.g. running water, the freezing rain. verbal nouns, e.g. a woman of good breeding; no smoking allowed.
Here is some advice on avoiding dangling participles.
passive
A passive verb has a subject which is undergoing the action of the verb, rather than carrying it out, e.g.:
The apple was eaten.
The opposite of active. Find out more about types of verb.
past
A verb tense used to refer to something that happened before the present, for example: we went shopping last Saturday; Did you go for a meal, too? Learn more about verb tenses.
A word such as I, me, you, him, her, s, we, they, or them that is used in place of a noun that has already been mentioned or that is already known. Compare with possessive pronoun. See when to use 'I' or 'me'.
phrasal verb
A verb that is made up of a main verb together with an adverb or a preposition (or both). Typically the meaning of a phrasal verb is not obvious from the meanings of the component words, e.g. his car broke down; the idea didn’t catch on; you’re putting me off. Find out more about other types of verb.
phrase
A small group of words that forms a meaningful unit within a clause, for example the red dress; in the city. A phrase is also a group of words which have a specific meaning when used together, for example to let the cat out of the bag. Learn more about phrases.
plural
The form of a noun that is used to refer to more than one person or thing, such as books or benches. For more guidance see plurals of nouns.
possessive pronoun
A pronoun, such as mine, yours, hers, or ours, that refers to something owned by the speaker or by someone or something previously referred to, for example: that book is mine; John’s eyes met hers; ours is a family farm. Compare with personal pronoun.
postpositive
A postpositive adjective is placed after the word it relates to, for example galore in there were prizes galore. Learn more about the different types of adjective.
predicative
A predicative adjective follows a verb such as be, become, grow, look, or seem. For example: the future looks gloomy; they grew weary. The opposite of attributive.
prefix
A letter or group of letters placed at the beginning of an existing word to change its meaning, such as un- (as in unable, unlock, or unhappy) or multi- (as in multimedia, multitask, or multicultural). Compare with suffix. See examples of prefixes and suffixes.
preposition
A word that is used in front of a noun or pronoun to show place, time, direction, or method. For example:
She ran across the street.
The restaurant is not open during the day.
We went by train.
Find out more about prepositions and guidance on ending sentences with prepositions.
present
A verb tense used to refer to something that is happening or exists now or that happens or exists regularly, for example: I love my parents; she goes swimming every week. Read more about verb tenses.
progressive
Another term for continuous.
pronoun
A word such as I, he, she, it, we, hers, us, your, or they that is used instead of a noun to indicate someone or something that has already been mentioned, especially to avoid repeating the noun. For example:
Kate was tired so she went to bed.
Print out the leaflet and pass it round.
See when to use 'I' or 'me'. Read more about pronouns.
proper noun
A noun that identifies a particular person or thing, e.g. John, Italy, London, Monday, Windsor Castle. In written English, proper nouns begin with capital letters. Compare with common noun. Find out about other types of noun.
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quantifier
A determiner or pronoun which is used to express quantity, for example: many, several, all, both.
regular
A regular word, such as a noun or a verb, has inflections that follow the normal rules. For instance, the noun cat has a regular plural with -s (cats), and the verb to love forms its tenses in the normal way (loved; loving). The opposite of irregular. Find out more about regular and irregular verbs.
relative clause
A clause which is connected to a main clause by a word such as that, which, who, whose, or where. For example:
I first saw her in Paris, where I lived in the early twenties.
[main clause] [relative clause]
See also examples of clauses. Learn more about relative clauses.
reported speech
The reporting of a speaker’s words, rather than quoting them directly, e.g. Nina said that she didn’t believe him. Compare with direct speech. Also called indirect speech.
restrictive relative clause
A clause which gives essential information about a noun that comes before it. Restrictive relative clauses can be introduced by that, which, who, or whose. You should not place a comma in front of them. For example:
It reminded him of the house that/which he used to live in.
He's going out with a girl who used to go to my school. [main clause] [restrictive relative clause]
Also called defining relative clause. See clause and compare with non-restrictive relative clause.
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second person
The pronouns, verb forms, and determiners which are used to speak to someone, for instance, you, your, you slept. Compare with first person, third person.
sentence
A sentence is a group of words that makes complete sense, contains a main verb, begins with a capital letter, and ends with a full stop, exclamation mark, or question mark. For example: Paul flew to New York last Monday; Whose turn is it to do the washing up? Read more on sentences.
slang
Very informal words and expressions that are mainly found in speaking rather than writing. Slang is often used by a particular group, such as young people or the armed forces. For example, in British teenage slang, bare means ‘very’ or ‘a lot of’ (I was bare tired), while in military slang, a bandit is an enemy aircraft. Compare with formal, informal.
split infinitive
A split infinitive happens when an adverb is placed between to and a verb, e.g. She seems to really like him. Some people object strongly to split infinitives. Although there’s no real grammatical justification for this view, it’s best to avoid them in formal writing. More on split infinitives.
standard English
The type of English that is suitable for use in every type of written or spoken situation (as opposed to informal language or slang).
subject
The subject of a sentence is generally the person or thing that the sentence is about, often the person or thing that performs the action of a verb. For example:
The restaurant was packed. He was eating a sandwich.
Compare with object. Here's some help on matching subjects with verbs.
subjunctive
A special form (or mood) of a verb that expresses a wish or possibility instead of a fact. In the following sentences the verbs face and were are in the subjunctive mood (the ordinary indicative forms would be faces and was):
The report recommends that he face a tribunal.
I wish I were more organized.
subordinate clause
A clause which depends on a main clause for its meaning. Together with a main clause, a subordinate clause forms part of a longer sentence. A sentence may contain more than one subordinate clause. There are two main types of subordinate clause: the relative clause and the conditional clause.
suffix
A group of letters placed at the end of an existing word to change its meaning, such as –ish (as in childish or feverish) or –able (as in likeable or breakable). The opposite of prefix. See examples of prefixes and suffixes.
superlative
The superlative form of an adjective is used for comparing one person or thing with every other member of their group, to express the fact that they have the highest or a very high degree of a quality. For example: she’s the tallest girl in the class; he’s the happiest person I know; they’re the most popular band in the world. Compare with comparative. See more examples of comparative and superlative adjectives.
syllable
A word or part of a word that contains one vowel sound, and usually one or more consonants before or after the vowel sound. For example, speak has one syllable and speaker has two syllables (speak and -er). Compare with morpheme.
syntax
Syntax is the way in which words and phrases are put together to create well-formed sentences in a language. For example, 'I went to the shops today' is correct English syntax, whereas 'Shops I went today the to' is not. Back to top
tense
The form that a verb takes to show when a person did something, or when something existed or happened. In English the main tenses are: present, past, and future. Learn more about verb tenses.
third person
The pronouns, verb forms, and determiners which are used by a speaker to refer to other people or things, for instance, he, she, it, their, it has, they were. Compare with first person, second person.
transitive
A transitive verb is one that is used with an object. In the following sentences, admire and follow are transitive verbs: I admire your courage. They followed him back to his house. The opposite of intransitive. See examples of transitive and intransitive verbs.
uncountable noun
Another term for mass noun. Opposite of countable noun. Find out about other types of noun.
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verb
A word that describes what a person or thing does, or what happens, for example run, sing, grow, occur, seem. Learn more about verbs.
verbal noun
The present participle of a verb when it’s used as a noun, e.g. 'smoking' in smoking is strictly forbidden. Also called gerund.
vowel
A spoken sound made with the mouth open and without the tongue touching the roof of the mouth, teeth, etc. In English, vowels are represented by the letters a, e, i, o, and u. Compare with consonant. See also is the letter Y a vowel or a consonant?
word class
Word classes are the categories to which words belong according to the part they play in a sentence, e.g. noun, verb, adjective, adverb, or pronoun. Also called part of speech.
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Grammar and usage
Grammar Grammar tips Compound subjects Double negatives Dangling participles Ending sentences with prepositions Matching subjects and verbs Personal pronouns Matching verbs to collective nouns Singular nouns treated as plural Split infinitives Grammar A-Z Word classes (or parts of speech) Adjectives Adjuncts Adverbs Conjunctions Determiners Exclamations Nouns Countable and uncountable nouns Prepositions Pronouns Verbs Continuous tenses Sentences, clauses, and phrases Sentences Clauses Phrases Spelling Adding endings to words that end in -our Adding endings to words that end in -y Adding endings to words that end in a double ‘l’ Abbreviations Acronyms Contractions Initialisms Shortenings Adding -ful or -fully Adding -ly Ante- or anti-? Common misspellings Comparative and superlative adjectives Endings beginning with vowels Words ending in -ance and -ence Words ending in -ancy and -ency Words spelled with -ae/-oe Words ending in -ary, -ory, and -ery Words ending in -ant and -ent Words ending in -efy and -ify Words ending in -ence/-ense Nouns ending in -er, -or, and -ar Words ending in -ious and -eous Words ending in -ogue/-og -ize, -ise, or -yse? Words ending in -able or -ible Nouns ending in -acy and -asy English spelling changes fore- or for-? Forming adverbs i before e except after c Plurals of nouns Prefixes and suffixes Spelling differences and changes Minuscule or miniscule? Currying favour Old and new forms One word or two? British and American spelling Spelling rules and tips Tracking the changes Using capital letters Verb tenses: adding -ed and -ing Words containing the letter q Words ending in a vowel plus ‘l’ Words ending in -cede, -ceed, and -sede Words ending in -ch and -tch Words ending in -re/-er Words ending in -sion, -tion, and -cion Words with misleading beginnings Punctuation Full stop (.) Comma (,) Semicolon (;) Colon (:) Apostrophe (’) Hyphen (-) Dash (–) Brackets ( ) [ ] Inverted commas Exclamation mark (!) Question mark (?) Bullet points Punctuation in direct speech Punctuation in lists Punctuation in abbreviations Writing help Applying for a job Building a piece of writing Structure Cohesion Business letters General correspondence Insurance claims Invitations Letters of complaint Writing a CV/résumé Writing job applications Writing reports Clichés and redundant expressions Avoiding clichés Avoiding redundant expressions Usage ‘A historic event’ or ‘an historic event’? ‘Adverse’ or ‘averse’? ‘Affect’ or ‘effect’? ‘All right’ or ‘alright’? ‘Allude’ or ‘elude’? ‘Alternate’ or ‘alternative’? ‘Among’ or ‘amongst’? ‘Amoral’ or ‘immoral’? ‘Assume’ or ‘presume’? ‘Appraise’ or ‘apprise’? Between you and me Bored by, of, or with? ‘Bring’ or ‘take’? British and American terms ‘Can’ or ‘may’? ‘Cannot’ or ‘can not’? ‘Censure’ or ‘censor’? ‘Climactic’ or ‘climatic’? Commonly confused words ‘Complement’ or ‘compliment’? ‘Continual’ or ‘continuous’? ‘Could of’ or ‘could have’? ‘Denote’ or ‘connote’? Dialect Different from, than, or to? ‘Diffuse’ or ‘defuse’? ‘Discreet’ or ‘discrete’? ‘Disinterested’ or ‘uninterested’? ‘Enquire’ or ‘inquire’? ‘Ensure’ or ‘insure’? ‘Especially’ or ‘specially’? ‘Farther’ or ‘further’? ‘Flair’ or ‘flare’? ‘Flaunt’ or ‘flout’? Formal language ‘Grizzly’ or ‘grisly’? ‘He or she’ versus ‘they’ ‘Historic’ or ‘historical’? Hopefully ‘I’ or ‘me’? ‘i.e.’ or ‘e.g.’? ‘Imply’ or ‘infer’? Informal language Irregardless ‘Its’ or ‘it’s’? ‘Laid’ or ‘lain’? ‘Learnt’ or ‘learned’? ‘Less’ or ‘fewer’? Like Literally Literary language ‘Loose’ or ‘lose’? ‘May’ or ‘might’? ‘Neither’ and ‘nor’ Old-fashioned language ‘Onto’ or ‘on to’? ‘Phenomenon’ or ‘phenomena’? ‘Principal’ or ‘principle’? Relative clauses ‘Shall’ or ‘will’? Slang Standard English ‘That’ or ‘which’? ‘Themselves’ or 'themself’? ‘These’ or ‘those’? ‘To’ or ‘too’? ‘Tortuous’ or ‘torturous’? ‘Who’ or ‘whom’?
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