grammar

Từ điển Oxford Learners Wordfinder Dictionary

1 rules and structures
2 grammar in words
3 nouns and pronouns
4 verbs
5 sentences and clauses
see also LANGUAGE, WORD, MEANING

1 rules and structures
- the way in which words, sentences, etc are formed and used in a language: grammar (noun U); adjective: grammatical
to study English grammar ◎ I made a few grammatical errors in this essay.
- a description of what is usual or correct in the grammar of a language: rule
learning the rules of a language ◎ to break a rule
- if sth in the grammar of a language follows a clear rule, we say that it is regular; opposite: irregular
'Work' is a regular verb. 'Write' is irregular.
- a book written about the grammar of a language: grammar
You'll need to buy a good dictionary and a basic grammar.
- a group of words which is used to make a statement, ask a question, give an order, etc, and which, in the written language, begins with a capital letter and usually ends with a full stop: sentence
I've nearly finished my letter - just a couple more sentences to write. ◎ a correct sentence
- a group of words which contains a verb and forms a sentence or part of a sentence: clause
- a group of words (smaller than a clause): phrase
a noun/verb/preposition phrase (= a phrase in which the most important word is a noun/verb/preposition)
- a way in which words or groups of words are combined: structure
the structure of English sentences
- relating to structure: structural
I still make a lot of structural mistakes.
- the system of rules for the structure of sentences: syntax; adjective: syntactic
English syntax ◎ syntactic structures
- if sth you say or write follows the rules of a language correctly, it is grammatical; opposite: ungrammatical
Is this sentence grammatical? ◎ You can't say that - it's ungrammatical.

2 grammar in words
※—† WORD CLASSES
- a word that is the name of a person, place, thing or idea, such as 'friend', 'America', 'coat', 'cheese', 'warmth': noun
- a word that is used in place of a noun or a phrase containing a noun, such as 'I', 'she', 'yours', 'anyone': pronoun
- a word that is used before a noun or pronoun to show time, place, direction, etc, such as 'at', 'on', 'over', 'towards', 'with': preposition
- a word that is used with a noun and tells you more about the noun, such as 'old', 'lazy', 'tired': adjective
- a word that is used to indicate an action or state, such as 'leave', 'think', 'remain', 'be': verb
- word that is used with a verb, adjective, etc and tells you more about it, such as 'carefully', 'lazily', 'well': adverb
- a word that is used for joining together words, phrases or sentences, such as 'and', 'but', 'because', 'if': conjunction
- one of the grammatical categories noun, verb, adjective, etc: part of speech
- a word seen from a grammatical point of view: form
'Went' is the past form of the verb 'to go'.
- (used about a noun, verb, etc) showing that we are speaking about one person or thing: singular (adjective, noun); more than one person or thing: plural (adjective, noun)
a singular noun/verb ◎ a noun/verb in the singular ◎ 'Feet' is the plural of 'foot'.
- (used about an adjective or adverb) making a comparison: comparative (adjective, noun)
The comparative of 'good' is 'better'.
- (used about an adjective or adverb) saying that sth is of the highest degree or quality: superlative (adjective, noun)
'Best', 'oldest' and 'most importantly' are all superlatives.

3 nouns and pronouns
- a noun (such as 'table', 'tree', 'computer') which you can use in the singular or plural: countable noun, count noun
- a noun (such as 'furniture', 'water', 'anger') which you cannot use in the plural: uncountable noun, mass noun
- the way in which nouns in some languages are grouped into different classes: gender
In German there are three genders; in French there are two.
- the three genders commonly found in European languages: masculine, feminine, neuter
a masculine noun ◎ If the noun is feminine, the adjective must be feminine too.
- a word (such as 'these', 'some', 'the', 'each') that comes before a noun to show how it is being used: determiner
- the determiners 'a' (or 'an') and 'the' are called the articles
- 'a' (or 'an'): indefinite article
- 'the': definite article
- a word such as 'I', 'you', 'she', 'it', 'him', 'we', 'they', 'them' that refers to a person or thing: personal pronoun
- a word such as 'my', 'yours', 'his', 'their', 'theirs' that refers to a person, place, thing, etc that sth belongs to or is connected with: possessive pronoun
- a word such as 'myself', 'yourself', 'themselves' that refers to the subject of the sentence: reflexive pronoun
- a word such as 'who', 'which', 'whose', 'that' that refers to the noun or sentence which comes immediately before the pronoun: relative pronoun

4 verbs
- the verb that is the most important verb in a verb phrase: main verb
- a verb such as 'be', 'do', 'have' that combines with another verb in order to form questions or to change the tense, etc: auxiliary verb
- a verb such as 'must', 'may', 'can', 'will', 'ought' that expresses possibility, obligation, ability, etc: modal verb
- a verb such as 'to cut yourself' that describes actions in which the subject and the object of the verb are the same: reflexive verb
- a verb such as 'blow up', 'put sth off' that includes an adverb or preposition: phrasal verb
- the most basic form of the verb (for example 'be', 'come'), in English usually preceded by 'to': infinitive
- a form of the verb which is used as an adjective or to help form some tenses: participle
the past/present participle
- a form of the verb which shows if sth happens in the past, present or future: tense (noun C/U)
the present/past/future tense
- a form of the verb (such as 'was writing') that tells you that an action, state, etc is/was/will be continuing: continuous (tense), progressive (tense)
the present/past/future progressive
- a form of the verb (such as 'have finished') that describes actions, states, etc which happened in the past and have some present effect, or which are seen from the point of view of the present: perfect (tense)
the present/past/future perfect
- a form of the verb that expresses doubt, uncertainty, wishes, etc: subjunctive
- if the subject of a sentence performs the action (for example 'The dog chased the rabbit.'), the verb/sentence is active (noun, adjective)
The verb is in the active. ◎ an active sentence
- if the subject of a sentence does not perform the action but is affected by it (for example 'The rabbit was chased by the dog.'), the verb/sentence is passive (noun, adjective)

5 sentences and clauses
※—† TYPES OF SENTENCE
- a sentence that has the form of a statement, such as 'You should read this book.' is declarative
- a sentence that has the form of a question, such as 'Should I read this book?' is interrogative
- a sentence that has the form of an order, such as 'Read this book.' is imperative
- a sentence that states that sth is the case, such as 'Grammar is difficult.' is affirmative
- a sentence that states that sth is not the case, such as 'Grammar isn't difficult.' is negative
- a way of telling people what sb said by repeating their exact words (for example, 'He said, "I'll be down soon."'): direct speech (noun U)
- a way of telling people what sb said, not using the actual words (for example, 'He said he would be down soon.'): indirect speech (noun U)
※—† TYPES OF CLAUSE
- a clause that can stand alone: main clause
- a clause that cannot stand alone as it is dependent on the main clause: subordinate clause
- a subordinate clause that begins with 'who', 'which', 'that', etc: relative clause
- a clause that is joined to another clause by 'and', 'but', or 'or': coordinate clause
※—† PARTS OF A CLAUSE
- the word or words that describe an action, state or habit: verb
- the word or words that say who or what does the action: subject
- the word or words that say who or what is affected by the action: the object
- the word or words that come after a linking verb such as 'be': complement
- the word or words that give extra information about the time, place, reason, etc of an action, state or habit: adverbial