Active voice | A sentence written in the active voice has the subject of the sentence carrying out the main action. |
Antonym | A word with the opposite meaning to another, e.g. good/bad, wise/foolish, long/ short. |
Auxiliary verb | A verb which forms the tense, mood and voice of other verbs. The auxiliary verbs are ‘be’, ‘do’ and ‘have’ plus the modal verbs. For example, ‘be’ is used in the progressive tense verbs such as ‘I am running’, ‘he was eating’. |
Bullet points | A way of setting information out in a list of points, which may be phrases, words or short sentences. |
Colon : | A punctuation mark used in a sentence to indicate that something is about to follow, such as a quotation, an example or a list. For example, ‘I need three things from the shop: milk, eggs and bread’. |
Ellipsis ... | Three dots which are used to show missing words or to create a pause for effect. For example, ‘So…tell me what happened’. |
Etymology | The origin of words and how they have changed over time. Knowing the etymology of some words can help children to spell them, for example knowing that words with ‘ch’ pronounced ‘sh’ are often of French origin (e.g. machine, chef, brochure). |
Hyphen - | A punctuation mark used to link and join words, and often used to reduce ambiguity in sentences: for example, twenty-seven, brother- in-law, man-eating, long-legged. |
Morphology | The study of words, how they are formed and their relationship to other words in the same language. It analyses the structure of words and parts of words, such as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes. An understanding of morphology can help children with spelling strategies, e.g. knowing that ‘medicine’, ‘medical’ and ‘paramedic’ all share a common root. |
Object | The object of a sentence is involved in the action but does not carry it out. For example, ‘I dropped my cup on the floor’. |
Passive voice | A sentence is written in the passive voice when the subject is having something done to it. For example, ‘The mouse was chased by the cat’. |
Past continuous tense | See past progressive tense. |
Past perfect tense | A tense used to describe actions that were completed by a certain time in the past. For example, ‘Yesterday I was late because I had walked to school’. |
Present perfect tense | The tense which describes actions that are completed at an unspecified time before this moment. For example, ‘I have cycled two miles already.’ |
Semi-colon ; | A punctuation mark used in a sentence to separate major sentence elements. A semicolon can be used between two closely related independent clauses, provided they are not already joined by a coordinating conjunction. For example, ‘My car is red; my friend’s car is blue’. |
Subject | The subject of a sentence is the thing or person carrying out the main action. For example, ‘The cow ate the grass’. |
Synonym | A word which has exactly or nearly the same meaning as another word. |
Active voice | A sentence written in the active voice has the subject of the sentence carrying out the main action. |
Antonym | A word with the opposite meaning to another, e.g. good/bad, wise/foolish, long/ short. |
Auxiliary verb | A verb which forms the tense, mood and voice of other verbs. The auxiliary verbs are ‘be’, ‘do’ and ‘have’ plus the modal verbs. For example, ‘be’ is used in the progressive tense verbs such as ‘I am running’, ‘he was eating’. |
Bullet points | A way of setting information out in a list of points, which may be phrases, words or short sentences. |
Colon : | A punctuation mark used in a sentence to indicate that something is about to follow, such as a quotation, an example or a list. For example, ‘I need three things from the shop: milk, eggs and bread’. |
Ellipsis ... | Three dots which are used to show missing words or to create a pause for effect. For example, ‘So…tell me what happened’. |
Etymology | The origin of words and how they have changed over time. Knowing the etymology of some words can help children to spell them, for example knowing that words with ‘ch’ pronounced ‘sh’ are often of French origin (e.g. machine, chef, brochure). |
Hyphen - | A punctuation mark used to link and join words, and often used to reduce ambiguity in sentences: for example, twenty-seven, brother- in-law, man-eating, long-legged. |
Morphology | The study of words, how they are formed and their relationship to other words in the same language. It analyses the structure of words and parts of words, such as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes. An understanding of morphology can help children with spelling strategies, e.g. knowing that ‘medicine’, ‘medical’ and ‘paramedic’ all share a common root. |
Object | The object of a sentence is involved in the action but does not carry it out. For example, ‘I dropped my cup on the floor’. |
Passive voice | A sentence is written in the passive voice when the subject is having something done to it. For example, ‘The mouse was chased by the cat’. |
Past continuous tense | See past progressive tense. |
Past perfect tense | A tense used to describe actions that were completed by a certain time in the past. For example, ‘Yesterday I was late because I had walked to school’. |
Present perfect tense | The tense which describes actions that are completed at an unspecified time before this moment. For example, ‘I have cycled two miles already.’ |
Semi-colon ; | A punctuation mark used in a sentence to separate major sentence elements. A semicolon can be used between two closely related independent clauses, provided they are not already joined by a coordinating conjunction. For example, ‘My car is red; my friend’s car is blue’. |
Subject | The subject of a sentence is the thing or person carrying out the main action. For example, ‘The cow ate the grass’. |
Synonym | A word which has exactly or nearly the same meaning as another word. |