Reading & writing · Grades 3–8
English grammar essentials · quick reference
Test a word in its sentence. The same spelling can be a noun in one context and a verb in another.
Key terms at a glance
Noun
A word used to name a person, place, thing or idea.
Verb
A word or word group expressing an action, occurrence or state.
Adjective
A word that modifies a noun or pronoun.
Adverb
A word that often modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb.
Pronoun
A word that can stand in for a noun phrase.
Preposition
A word that introduces a relationship such as in, under or beside.
Conjunction
A word that connects words, phrases or clauses.
Interjection
A short expression of feeling such as wow or oh.
Subject
The part of a clause about which something is stated, often controlling verb agreement.
Predicate
The part of a clause that states something about the subject.
Independent clause
A clause that can stand as a complete sentence.
Dependent clause
A clause that cannot normally stand alone as a complete sentence.
Phrase
A group of words functioning as a unit without forming a full subject-predicate clause.
Synonym
A word with the same or a closely related meaning in a particular context.
Antonym
A word with an opposite meaning in a particular context.
Homophone
A word pronounced like another word but with a different meaning.
Prefix
A meaningful element added before a base word.
Suffix
A meaningful element added after a base word.
Compound sentence
A sentence joining two or more independent clauses.
Complex sentence
A sentence containing an independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
Learning preview · teacher review required. Grade bands are approximate, not official curriculum alignment.