Glossary
- adjective
-
a word used to describe a noun or pronoun
- adverb
-
a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb
- annotate
-
add notes to, comment on
- antecedent
-
a word the pronoun refers to
- antonym
-
a word that means the opposite of another word
- article
-
a specific type of adjective; there are three articles in English: “the," “a," and “an."
- articulate
-
express an idea fluently and coherently
- avid
-
interested, enthusiastic
- barbarous
-
uncivilized, discordant, harsh
- brackets
-
a pair of marks, like square parentheses [ ], that enclose words or numbers to separate them from the rest of a sentence
- chronological
-
according to time
- cited
-
to identify the source of an idea or phrase
- clause
-
a group of words that includes both a subject and a verb
- cliché
-
an overused or unoriginal word or phrase
- comma splice
-
when a comma is used incorrectly between two independent clauses
- compound noun
-
a noun made up of more than one word
- comprehension
-
the act of understanding
- concisely
-
briefly
- condense
-
shorten
- conjunction
-
a word that joins or connects
- connotation
-
ideas or feelings generated by a word that go beyond its literal meaning
- consonant
-
any letter other than a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y
- contraction
-
a word created by combining two words, deleting some letters, and adding an apostrophe
- criteria
-
the standard or model used for comparison
- dependent clause
-
a group of words that contains a subject and a verb but is dependent on the rest of the sentence to finish the thought
- digression
-
a departure or a shift from the main point
- document
-
record evidence
- draft
-
the preliminary or early version of a document
- edit
-
correct errors
- ellipses
-
a set of three periods . . . that means words have been removed
- emphatic
-
based on importance
- essay
-
a short, subjective piece of writing that analyzes or interprets a topic
- expository
-
a type of writing that investigates, evaluates, and explains an idea or topic
- format
-
arrangement on the page
- fragment
-
an incomplete sentence, missing a subject, a verb, and/or a complete thought
- generate
-
create
- glossary
-
a list of words and their meanings
- govern
-
control
- grammar
-
the system and structure of a language
- homonym
-
words that sound like each other but have different meanings
- independent clause
-
a group of words that includes a subject, a verb, and a complete thought
- integrate
-
combine with other information
- interjection
-
a word inserted into a sentence to express surprise or emotion
- irregular
-
different from other, more common forms
- isolate
-
separate, remove from the context
- literal
-
actual
- misplaced modifier
-
a phrase or clause that is awkwardly placed in a sentence so that it seems to refer to an unintended word
- modify
-
add information to
- noun
-
the name of a person, place, thing, or idea
- object
-
a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun affected by the action of the verb
- paraphrased
-
to rewrite something in your own words but without changing the meaning
- parentheses
-
rounded brackets (like this), used to mark off or separate out words or phrases in a sentence
- parts of speech
-
the system used to classify English words based on what they do in a sentence
- past tense
-
a verb form that expresses an action which took place in the past
- phrase
-
a groups of words that does not include the sentence subject or verb
- Plagiarism
-
taking someone else's idea or words and presenting them as if they were yours
- possessive
-
words that show ownership
- predicate
-
the part of the sentence that contains the verb and that tells what happened to the subject or what state the subject is in
- preposition
-
a word that describes the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and something else in the sentence
- prepositional phrase
-
a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun
- procrastinate
-
delay or postpone
- pronoun
-
a word used in place of a noun
- proofreading
-
examining writing carefully to find and correct mechanical errors such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, and typing errors
- purposeful
-
not accidentally or randomly, but with a goal
- revise
-
re-examine for clarity and quality
- run-on
-
two or more independent clauses merged together with insufficient punctuation between them
- sentence
-
a group of words that contains a subject, a verb, and a complete thought
- spatial
-
as arranged in space
- strategy
-
plan of action
- subject
-
the main noun or pronoun which performs the action in a sentence
- summarize
-
a brief statement of the main points of a longer work
- synonym
-
a word or phrase that means exactly or almost exactly the same thing as another word or phrase
- thesis
-
a brief statement of the essay's main point
- unethical
-
lacking moral principles
- verb
-
a word that expresses action or a state of being
- verb phrase
-
a verb comprised of two or more words
- verb tense
-
the form of the verb that tells us when the action is occurring
- vowel
-
the letters a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y
- works
-
something done or made