grammatical patterns glossary

A gerund is a word that contains the idea of a verb but functions in a sentence as a noun. The words “escaping,” “coughing,” “being,” and “laughing” are all in the form…

When one object follows directly after another in a clause, as in the statement “I showed him (1) my collection (2),” the first is the indirect object (“him”) and the second is the direct object (“my…

The direct object is an element in a sentence that provides information that completes the idea introduced by certain verbs. We can say that it receives the action of the verb or…

Clauses are the large building blocks of sentences.  An individual clause is a group of words that contains, at least, a subject and a verb that operate together (e.g., “she knows,” “he left”). …