Take a seat, please.
)
incomplete period of time
A period of time that includes the time of speaking. (
I have known him
for two years
.
)
indefinite
Not pertaining to a specific person, thing, idea or time. (
Somebody
left you
a message
this morning.
)
indirect object
To or for whom the action of the verb is being done; the receiver of the action. (
She told
me
her name.
)
inflection
A change in or addition to the form of a word that shows a change in the way it is used in sentences. (
He like
s
what you cook
ed
.
)
informal
Part of colloquial or everyday speech. (
I'll be with you in a sec.
)
instrument
Something that the doer uses in performing the action. (
She covered the child with
a blanket
.
)
interrogative sentence
The sentence type used to express a direct question. (
What are you doing?
)
intransitive verb
A verb that does not take a direct object. (
How long have you been
living
here?
)
inversion
A construction in which a verb or an auxiliary precedes the subject. (
Here
comes the bus
. You don't work here,
do you
?
)
M
main clause
A clause that could be a sentence in itself. (
I wouldn't go there
if I were you. When I called her,
she was studying
.)
main verb
A verb that can express an action or a state in itself; also called a lexical verb. (
Adam
plays
squash a lot. This watch
belonged
to my grandfather.
)
N
negative sentence
A declarative sentence that indicates "no". (
Tim has no friends.
)
noun
A part of speech that names a person, place or thing. (
The
koala
is a
marsupial
.
)
O
object
A person or thing that is affected by the action of a verb or is involved in the result of an action. (
Can you help
me
?
)
P
particle
A word that is joined to the verb in a phrasal verb. (
He is looking
after
his ageing parents.
)
perfect aspect
The aspect that expresses completion, formed with
have
+ past participle. (
He
has finished
university.
)
period of time
The length of time between two points of time. (
He works
from 8 to 4
. We've been staying here
for two weeks
.
)
point in time
A specific moment in time. (
She came home
at six
. I was born
in 1980
.
)
progress
An action is said to be in progress when it is happening. (
When I called her, she
was studying
.
)
pronoun
A part of speech that refers to or stands instead of a noun. (
Who do
you
think I
am
?
)
punctuation
The use of special marks to structure and organise written language: full stop (
.
), comma (
,
), question mark (
?
), exclamation mark (
!
), apostrophe (
'
), quote (
"
), colon (
:
), semi-colon (
;
), hyphen (
-
), dash (
–
), parentheses (
( )
) and brackets (
[ ]
).
Q
question word
A word that introduces a
wh
-question. (
What
are you doing?
How
old are you?
)
R
reference point
A point in time in relation to which an action takes place. (
When I called her
, she was studying.
They had all arrived by
10 o'clock
.
)
S
state
A condition that exists at a specific time. (
I was sick. He doesn't have your address.
)
structure
The way in which the parts of a sentence, clause or expression are arranged. (
make + object + bare infinitive
in the sentence
The teacher
made me rewrite
the composition.
)
subject
The person or thing that performs the action of a verb or that is described by a verb. (
You
look pretty.