Language and Grammar: English Vocabulary List

the shortened form of a word, etc.

"'Dr.' is the standard abbreviation for the title 'Doctor.'"

"The abbreviation 'ASAP' is commonly used in business emails."

the spoken form of a language specific to a certain region or people which is slightly different from the standard form in words and grammar

"The dialect sounds unique."

"That dialect is spoken in a small region near the coast."

a word or part of a word, which contains a vowel sound and usually one or more consonants

"The word has three syllables."

"We learned how to count the number of syllables in each English word during the lesson."

a word or phrase that completes the meaning of a grammatical expression

"The object is a complement."

"The direct complement completes the meaning of the verb in the sentence."

(grammar) a word such as and, because, but, and or that connects phrases, sentences, or words

"The conjunction joins two ideas."

"A conjunction connects words phrases or clauses such as and but or because."

(grammar) formed with or connected to a preposition

"This is a prepositional phrase."

"This is a prepositional phrase that begins with the word in and ends with a noun."

(grammar) a word coming before a noun or noun phrase to specify its denotation

"This is a determiner word."

"In the sentence, 'a' and 'the' are common examples of a determiner."

the quality of being able to speak or write very well and easily in a foreign language

"She speaks Spanish with fluency."

"She achieved high English fluency after living in Britain for three years."

(grammar) a form of a verb that functions as a noun and is formed by adding the suffix -ing to the base form of the verb

"The gerund acts like a noun."

"The gerund in the sentence functions as a subject or object."

a particular combination of words that are used together very often

"The collocation sounds natural."

"A common collocation in English is "make a decision" rather than "do a decision," which sounds unnatural to native speakers."

words or expressions that are very informal and more common in spoken form, used especially by a particular group of people, such as criminals, children, etc.

"Slang changes fast."

"Using too much slang in a job interview might make you appear unprofessional and unprepared."

a well-known statement or phrase that expresses a general truth or gives advice

"This proverb offers good advice."

"My grandmother always said a famous proverb about patience being a virtue that brings success."

(grammar) a phrase or word used suddenly to express a particular emotion

"The interjection showed surprise."

"Wow is an interjection that expresses strong emotion and can stand alone as a sentence."

(phonetics) the rising and falling of the voice when speaking

"The intonation changed."

"Rising intonation at the end of a sentence usually indicates a question in English."

(grammar) describing a verb that needs a direct object

"The verb is transitive."

"The verb buy is transitive because it needs an object like car or house."

(grammar) describing a verb that does not take a direct object

"This verb is intransitive."

"The verb sleep is intransitive because it does not need an object to complete its meaning."

related to the science of language, including its structure, usage, and evolution

"She has linguistic skills."

"The child's linguistic abilities developed quickly because her parents read to her every single night."

a figure of speech that compares two unrelated things to highlight their similarities and convey a deeper meaning

"'The world is a stage' is a famous metaphor by Shakespeare."

"The poet used the metaphor of a "iron cage" to describe how the character felt trapped by the strict rules and expectations of society, unable to escape despite wanting to live a more free and authentic life."

the use of marks such as a period, comma, etc. in writing to divide sentences and phrases to better convey meaning

"Use punctuation correctly in writing."

"Proper punctuation is essential for making your writing clear and easy to read."

a grammatical construction in which two negative elements are used within the same sentence, often resulting in a positive meaning

"A double negative sounds odd."

"The phrase "I don't have none" contains a double negative, which is considered grammatically incorrect in standard English."

a short form of a word or a group of words used instead of the full form

"It's a contraction."

"The contraction 'don't' is commonly used in informal spoken English."

a manner of speaking that indicates social class, nationality, or locality of the speaker

"He speaks English with a French accent."

"She speaks English with a strong French accent that sounds very charming."

the symbol ' used in writing to show possession or omission of letters or numbers

"Use an apostrophe to show possession like Susan's book."

"In the word don't the apostrophe indicates that the letter o has been omitted."

(grammar) any type of determiner that shows whether we are referring to a particular thing or a general example of something

"A is an article."

"In English, 'a', 'an', and 'the' are the three types of article used before nouns."

(grammar) the situation where words in a phrase have the same gender, person, or number

"They have agreement."

"The agreement between the two parties was finally reached after lengthy negotiations."

(grammar) the form of a word that indicates whether one, two, or more things or people are being referred to

"The noun has number."

"The grammatical number of the noun indicates whether it is singular or plural."

‌(phonetics) a speech sound produced without interfering with the flow of air coming through the mouth or nose

"A E I O U are vowels in English."

"The vowel sounds in English are represented by the letters A E I O U and sometimes Y."

‌(phonetics) a speech sound produced by interfering with or stopping the flow of air through the mouth or nose

"The consonant is silent."

"The letter "b" is a consonant, and it is silent in words like "comb" and "thumb" where it appears but is not pronounced."

(grammar) the form of a verb that indicates whether the subject does something or something is done to it

"The verb is in passive voice."

"The teacher explained the difference between active and passive voice in grammar class."

a verb that supports or helps another verb to form different tenses, moods, or voices

"Auxiliary verbs are useful."

"The auxiliary verb 'to be' helps form the passive voice in sentences."

(of a word) formed by combining two or more separate words

"Blackboard is compound."

"The word 'sunflower' is a compound word formed from two simpler, distinct terms."

a group of words or a phrase that has a meaning different from the literal interpretation of its individual words, often specific to a particular language or culture

"This idiom has a strange meaning."

"The English idiom "it is raining cats and dogs" means it is raining very heavily."

(of grammar) asserting a command or order

"Do it imperative."

"It is imperative that you complete this urgent task before the deadline expires."

(grammar) describing a form of a verb that indicates an action is continuing

"He is in progressive tense."

"The progressive tense shows that an action is ongoing and not yet finished at a specific time."

a sentence from a speech, book, etc. that is repeated somewhere else because it is wise or interesting

"The article began with a famous quote."

"The article began with a famous quote from Albert Einstein about the importance of imagination and curiosity."