active voice

verbs such as 'gives', 'took', 'has made' which are used when the subject of the verb is the thing doing the action. Compare with passive voice

adjective

a word used to tell you more about a thing eg "a pretty, blue dress"

adverb

a word that gives more about when, how or in what circumstances something happens. Often end in (-ly) eg "to carefully write"

apostrophe

an ending ('s) added to a noun to indicate possession eg "Harriet's daughter" or a student's notes. If the noun is plural then the apostrophe can be added without the 's' eg "students' presentations"

conjunction

a word used for joining words and clauses eg and, but

contraction

a word with one or more letters replaced by an apostrophe eg don't, won't, haven't, you'll

definite article

'the'

exclamation

a word or phrase which expresses sudden emotion eg "Oh! Hello! Stop!"

indefinite article

'a' and 'an'

noun

a word which refers to people, things, ideas or qualities eg woman, Jill, guilt

passive voice

verbs such as 'was given', 'were taken', 'had been made' which are used when the subject of the verb is the thing affected by the action. Compare with active voice

past form

the form of a verb, often ending in (-ed) eg walked, processed

plural

the form of a noun used to refer to more than one thing eg dogs

preposition

comes before a noun eg in, down, up, under

pronoun

a word used in place of a noun eg it, you, no-one

proper noun

a noun which is a name eg Fred, London, Christmas. Spelt with a capital letter

question

a sentence which normally has its verb at the start. Finished with a question mark. Used to ask about something eg "Have you done your assignment yet?"

sentence

A group of words which express a statement, question or command. A sentence usually has a verb and a subject. It starts with a capital letter and has a full-stop, question mark or exclamation mark at the end.

tense

the form of a verb which shows whether you are referring to the past, present or future

verb

a word which is used with a subject to say what someone or something does or what happens to them - an action eg sing, spill, die