The word “tense” refers to time. It refers to how verbs show time by their form. The words “slept” and “sleeps” are really the same word, but they differ with respect to tense. In English, there are really only…
Grammar glossary: subjunctive
The term “subjunctive” refers to one of the grammatical “moods” that color the verb in a sentence. Verbs in the subjunctive mood indicate that the action or state described by the verb is hypothetical…
Grammar glossary: subject
In English, the shortest “full sentence” we can make is made up of 1) a subject and 2) a verb that shows past or non-past time (or a modal auxiliary verb, such…
Grammar glossary: sentence
The word “sentence” is defined in various ways, but the way the word is generally used in traditional grammar has one specific meaning: A sentence is a statement or question that consists,…
Grammar glossary: present participle
The present participle is a verb part. It is formed with the ending “-ing” and looks just like a gerund (e.g., “going,” “walking,” “sitting,” “dancing,” “eating”). We see or hear the present…