Glossary

An adjective like unique or perfect that names an all-or-nothing quality, so many editors avoid comparing it.

A short form built from the first letters of a name, written in capitals (NASA, FBI).

The three functional families a verb can belong to, based on the job it does in its clause.

Whether the subject performs the action (active) or receives it (passive).

A word that describes a noun or pronoun.

A dependent clause that describes a noun, usually starting with who, which, or that.

The usual sequence of describing words before a noun, as in a big red ball rather than a red big ball.

A word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

A dependent clause that modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb, telling when, where, why, or how.

A pronoun that could point to more than one antecedent, leaving the reader to guess.

The noun a pronoun refers back to.

A punctuation mark showing possession or marking a letter dropped in a contraction.

A noun phrase placed right beside another noun to rename it.

Open to reasonable disagreement, so an essay has something to prove.

The little words a, an, and the, which point at a noun.

Moving a verb one step back in time when you report what someone said in the past.

The large form of a letter (A, B, C) versus its small form (a, b, c); English marks certain words with a capital by rule.

When to capitalize a word — proper nouns, titles, and the first word of a sentence or quotation.

The test for picking the right modifier — check what word it's actually attached to.

A group of words that has both a subject and a verb.

A phrase used so often it no longer creates a picture (at the end of the day).

A singular noun that names a group of individual members, like team or committee.

A punctuation mark that announces something following it, such as a list or explanation.

Joining two independent clauses with only a comma, which isn't strong enough for the job.

The comma placed before a coordinating conjunction linking two independent clauses.

The comma (or comma pair) marking the boundary of something nonessential to the sentence's core meaning.

A proper noun is the capitalized name of one specific person, place, or thing; a common noun names a general kind of thing.

The five overlapping ways to classify a noun by what it names and how specific it is.

The form of an adjective that compares two things, made with -er or more.

Two or more verbs sharing one subject, joined by a conjunction.

Two or more subjects sharing one predicate, joined by a conjunction.

The sentence that ends a paragraph by stating what its support adds up to.

An if sentence whose two halves use matching verb forms to show how real the situation is.

A word that joins words, phrases, or clauses together.

An adverb (like however or therefore) that connects two independent clauses, usually after a semicolon.

In MLA style, the larger work that holds a source, such as the website an article appears on.

Two words shortened into one, with an apostrophe marking the missing letters.

One of the seven joining words (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) that link two grammatically equal elements.

A conjunction that works in a matched pair, like either/or or not only/but also.

A noun that names separate units, so it has a plural and takes a number.

A modifying phrase with no target in the sentence at all for it to describe.

A clause with a subject and a verb that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.

A word before a noun that tells which one, whose, or how many.

The short phrase (like "she said") that identifies who is speaking in a quotation.

The noun or pronoun that receives the action of a verb.

Marking one comparison twice, as in more taller or most unkindest.

Two negative words in one clause expressing a single no, as in "I don't have no money."

Three dots marking words left out of a quotation, or speech trailing off.

A long dash (—) used to set off a dramatic interruption or emphasized addition.

A sentence whose predicate says something its subject can't logically do or be.

The set of repair options — period, semicolon, comma plus FANBOYS, or subordination — for the three sentence-boundary errors.

A phrase built from a verb's -ing form that acts as a noun.

A format where an entry's first line starts at the margin and later lines are indented.

A word pronounced identically (or nearly so) to another word but different in spelling and meaning.

A short mark (-) joining words into a single compound modifier before a noun.

A comparison that sets two unlike things against each other, like a salary against a person.

A short note in parentheses, such as (Lee 12), that credits a source inside the essay.

A pronoun referring to an unspecified person or amount, like everyone or nobody.

A clause that has a subject and a verb, expresses a complete thought, and can stand alone as a sentence.

A question tucked inside a larger sentence, in statement order and without its own question mark.

A phrase built from to plus a verb's base form.

A word or short phrase that expresses emotion or reaction, standing apart from the sentence's grammar.

An essay's first paragraph, which leads the reader to the thesis.

Slanted type marking the title of a long or standalone work, such as a book, film, or album.

The special vocabulary of one job or field, clear to insiders but not to others.

A word like only, almost, or just that changes meaning depending on exactly which word it sits in front of.

Words that sound nothing alike but are close enough in meaning that writers swap one for the other.

A modifier positioned so far from what it should describe that it reads as describing the wrong thing.

A sentence that starts with one plan and finishes with another, so its subject and predicate don't fit.

The Modern Language Association's rules for citing sources and formatting a paper.

A helping verb (like can, must, or should) that expresses possibility, necessity, or permission rather than tense.

A word, phrase, or clause that describes or limits another element in a sentence.

Whether a verb states a fact (indicative), gives a command (imperative), or expresses a wish or condition contrary to fact (subjunctive).

A noun for a substance, mass, or idea that takes no number and no plural.

A clause that adds extra information without changing which thing is meant, and so is set off with commas.

A word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.

A dependent clause that does the job a single noun would do.

A noun together with all of its modifiers.

Matching grammatical form across items in a list or comparison.

One passage from a source restated in your own words and sentence structure, with a citation.

Punctuation marks enclosing a supplemental aside that could be dropped without harming the sentence.

A phrase built from a verb's -ing or -ed form that acts as an adjective.

A "paraphrase" that swaps in synonyms but keeps the source's sentence structure; plagiarism even with a citation.

The mark ( . ) that ends a statement.

A verb plus a small word such as up, off, or after that together carry a new meaning.

A group of related words with no subject-verb pair of its own.

Presenting someone else's words or ideas as your own.

Everything a sentence says about its subject, built around the verb.

A positioning word that tells where, when, or how something relates to a noun that follows it.

A preposition together with its object and any modifiers.

A word that takes the place of a noun already mentioned or understood.

Whether a pronoun takes its subject form (I, who) or its object form (me, whom), based on the job it does.

The seven families of pronouns, sorted by the job each one does.

Matching a pronoun's number to its antecedent's number.

The standard shorthand abbreviations (sp, cap, punc, frag, r.o., c.s., w.c., awk, agr) used to flag an error in a draft.

The set of marks (period, comma, question mark, and the rest) that signal a sentence's structure and boundaries in writing.

Punctuation marks enclosing someone's exact spoken or written words, or certain titles.

Pairing two words or phrases where one already implies the other.

Whether a verb forms its past tense by adding -ed (regular) or by changing form unpredictably (irregular); its principal parts are its base, past, and past-participle forms.

A clause that identifies which specific thing is meant, and so is never set off with commas.

Two independent clauses jammed together without the punctuation they need.

A semicolon used alone to join two closely related independent clauses.

Semicolons used to separate list items that already contain commas.

A group of words with a subject and a verb that expresses a complete thought.

A group of words punctuated as a sentence that isn't actually complete.

The comma before the conjunction in a list of three or more items.

A short lead-in that names a source before borrowed material, such as According to Lee.

The verb (plus any helping verbs) at the core of the complete predicate, with no other words attached.

The one noun or pronoun at the core of the complete subject, with no modifiers attached.

Whether a noun, pronoun, or verb refers to one thing (singular) or more than one (plural).

Casual words tied to a group or a moment (lit, sus, crushed it), out of place in formal writing.

The slanted line (/), used in essays mainly to mark line breaks in quoted poetry.

The part of a sentence naming who or what it's about.

A word after a linking verb that renames or describes the subject.

Matching a verb's form to its true subject in number, ignoring any words in between.

A word (like because or although) that turns a clause into a dependent clause.

The form of an adjective that picks one out of three or more, made with -est or most.

A specific example, fact, reason, or short story that develops a topic sentence.

A short question added to the end of a statement, like "isn't it?" or "didn't she?"

The five legal patterns for joining independent and dependent clauses into a compound or complex sentence.

Reading a draft six separate times, once per category of error, instead of trying to catch everything at once.

The one sentence that states the main claim an essay argues.

The sentence that states a paragraph's one controlling idea.

A word or phrase signaling how one sentence relates to the sentence before it.

Whether a verb needs a direct object to complete its meaning (transitive) or not (intransitive).

The property of a paragraph in which every sentence directly supports the topic sentence.

A word expressing an action or a state of being.

A main verb together with all of its helping verbs.

The form of a verb that places its action in time.

Keeping the same tense throughout a passage unless the timeline genuinely shifts.

A verb form that has stopped acting like a verb and instead works as a noun, adjective, or part of a longer phrase.

Using more words than necessary to express an idea.

The alphabetized list of sources at the end of an MLA paper.