Grammar and punctuation are an important part of writing. Using correct grammar and punctuation can make the difference in how a sentence or statement sounds, and ultimately the meaning of the sentence.
Because proper grammar and punctuation is very tricky for most people, it is important to teach children the correctly at an early age. To help children and adults understand some of the aspects of punctuation and grammar, here is a sampling of common terms and definitions:
Adjective - a word whose main role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more detail information about the noun or pronoun.
Adverb - any word used to modify any part of language other than the noun. An adverb will usually answer questions such as how? when? or where?
Apostrophe – is a punctuation mark used to mark the exclusion in one or more letters or assist in possessives in pronouns or nouns.
Colon - punctuation mark used when joining two independent clauses without a conjunction.
Comma - punctuation mark used to separate a dependent clause from the independent clause.
Conjunction - a word that joins two parts of a sentence.
Direct Quotation - statement from another individual or source usually used to support facts relating to a given topic.
Ellipsis - a series of marks, typically three periods in a row, used to indicate a pause in a speech, thought, or at the end of a sentence.
Exclamation Point - punctuation mark that indicates strong feelings or intended to show astonishment.
Hyphen - punctuation mark used to join words and also separate syllables which spaces should not be between the words or the hyphen except when using a suspended hyphen.
Noun - word used to name a person, place, thing or abstract idea.
Paragraph - two or more sentences dealing with a particular idea or subject.
Period - punctuation mark placed at the end of a sentence statement after giving a complete thought of the subject or idea.
Phrase - group of words operating as one in a given sentence to complete an idea.
Preposition - words used to connect nouns, phrases, and pronouns in a given sentence.
Pronoun - word used to replace a noun or pronoun. For example, the name Michael could be converted to "he."
Question Mark - also known as an interrogation point is a punctuation mark that comes at the end of an interrogative sentence that replaces the period mark.
Quotation Mark - punctuation marks used in pairs to set off a phrase or a word.
Run-On Sentence - sentence where two or more independent clauses are joined together without proper ending punctuation.
Semicolon - punctuation mark used to connect two independent clauses into one sentence.
Sentence - words grouped together to express a statement, question, exclamation, request or command that completes an idea.
Subject - one of two main constituents of a clause which the other constituent is the predicate. Usually the subject is a noun that comes in the beginning of a sentence.
Synonym - word having nearly the same meaning as another word or words.
Verb - word that usually states action or state of being in a given sentence.