Gender
The use of different grammatical forms to show the difference between masculine, feminine and neuter or between human and non-human. A noun that denotes a male animal is said to be of the masculine...
Author: Manjusha Nambiar
Finite And Non-finite Verbs
A verb which is limited by the number and person of its subject is called a finite-verb. Consider the examples given below. I sing. Ann sings. They sing. The verb sing changes its form...
Ergative Verb
A verb which can be either transitive or intransitive is called an ergative verb. English has many ergative verbs. Examples are: sink, ring, boil, speak, explode, collapse, dissolve etc. • The explosion sank the...
Embedded Question
A question which is not being asked directly, but which merely forms part of a larger sentence, which itself may or may not be a question is called an embedded question or an indirect...
Discourse Marker
A word or a phrase which is linked weakly or not at all to an adjoining sentence and which serves to keep a conversation or a text flowing smoothly. Discourse markers show the connection...
Determiners
Determiners are words like a, my, this, that, some, all, both, either, every, enough and several. They come at the beginning of noun phrases, but they are not adjectives. There are two main groups...
Positive, Comparative And Superlative
Degree is a grammatical category which expresses the degree to which some quality is present. English adjectives and adverbs commonly distinguish three degrees: the positive (the basic form), the comparative (expressing a higher degree...
Countable And Uncountable Nouns
Countable nouns are the names of separate objects, people, ideas etc., which can be counted. Examples are: apple, child, pen, book, trees, rivers etc. A countable noun can have a plural form. It can...
The Sports Vocabulary That You Need
Author: Robert Bell There are many different ways of improving your English that are great fun. Perhaps the best idea of all is to focus on what you most enjoy doing. If you love...
Conjunctions
Conjunctions are words that join clauses into sentences. Conjunctions not only join clauses together; they also show how the meanings of the two clauses are related. Examples are: and, but, although, because, when, if...