Category: vocabulary

Infinitives are two words that combine to form a single verb, such as “to walk,” “to draw” and “to swim.” Although the pair of words is treated like one verb, “to” is actually a particle; the verb itself is the infinitive. When “to” is dropped, the infinitive is called a “zero (or bare) infinitive.” The…

A qualitative adjective is used to describe the features or qualities of a noun (a person, place, thing, idea and so forth). They are “gradable,” with superlative, comparative and positive forms. They are generally found before the word they modify but can be seen throughout the sentence. “The big bowl is full of appetizing raspberries.”…

Proper and common nouns differ in one way: capitalization. Is it a cat or is it Nibbles? Is it a country or is it the United Kingdom? Common Any person, place, thing or idea that is not capitalized is called a “common noun.” Be careful to not lump “he,” “she” and “it” into this category;…

A positive adjective is the basic form of an adjective that is used to describe a simple quality, such as slow, happy, big and so forth. A nice gift Fast cars Cold water Fluffy kittens Postpositive adjectives come after the words they describe. This is the rule in Spanish and other languages but it is…