The house
was destroyed by fire.
)
subordinate clause
A clause that cannot be a sentence in itself and is linked to a main clause. (
I wouldn't go there
if I were you
.
When I called her
, she was studying.
)
T
tense
A grammatical category that is marked by verb inflection. Tenses are used in order to express when an event or action is happening in time or when a state exists.
time
A concept related to our perception of reality; that part of existence which is measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks etc.
time marker
A verb or auxiliary that marks the reference point of a non-finite form. (
The telephone
is
known to have been invented by Bell. He
denied
being in love with the suspect. They
must
have missed their flight.
)
time of speaking
A point in time at which an utterance is made.
TO-infinitive
The infinitive with
to
. It can be simple (
to write
), continuous (
to be writing
), perfect (
to have written
) or perfect continuous (
to have been writing
).
transitive verb
A verb that takes a direct object. (
I
know
him quite well.
)
U
unreal tense
A verb form that expresses a hypothetical situation. (
I wish you
were
here.
)
utterance
Something that somebody says in a specific context.
V
verb
A part of speech that expresses an action or a state. (
What kind of music do you
like
?
)
voice
The form of the transitive verb (active or passive) that shows the relation of the subject of the sentence to the action of the verb. In an active sentence, the subject is the agent or doer of the action. (
My mom
made the cake.
) With the passive voice, the subject is the recipient of the action. (
The cake
was made by my mom.
)
W
wh-question
A question that starts with a question word. (
What are you doing? How old are you?
)
Y
yes/no question
A question without a question word; one to which the answer is "yes" or "no". (
Are you old enough to enter?
)
Symbols used in this book
Italics indicate examples:
Can, could, will and would are used to express requests.
The book will be published. (an example of the passive voice)
Boldface in examples highlights the words or phrases under discussion:
A few minutes ago, they were still dancing. (past continuous tense)
An asterisk [ * ] indicates that a word or phrase is inappropriate or incorrect:
*I am needing a new phone. / I need a new phone.
*The woman who she answered the door was about forty years old. / The woman who answered the door was about forty years old.
Brackets ( ) in examples indicate that the word or phrase in brackets can be omitted. It's (high) time means that both it's time and it's high time are acceptable.
A slash [ / ] in examples indicates an alternative between words or phrases. As if / as though means that either as if or as though is acceptable.
The symbol » indicates a relationship between two items:
look » looked (the base form and past tense form of the verb look)
I have » I've (the latter is a contracted form of the former)
Symbols used in the timeline diagrams
Bibliography
I consulted the following sources in writing this book and recommend them for further study:
Carter, Ronald and McCarthy, Michael. Cambridge Grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Eastwood, John. Oxford Guide to English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Greenbaum, Sidney and Quirk, Randolph. A Student's Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman, 1990.