Page 188 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking

GLOSSARY

abbreviation: A shortened form of a word or phrase.

acronym: A type of abbreviation usually formed from the first letters of each

word in a phrase. Sometimes it is made from the first letters of syllables. In strict
linguistic usage, an acronym can be pronounced as a word, whereas an initialism

cannot.

affix: A linguistic element added to the beginning, middle, or end of roots or
words to create new words with new meanings.

agreement: The matching of parts of speech in the same clause or sentence in

terms of case, gender, number, or person.

apostrophe: A punctuation mark that signals possession or indicates that letters

have been left out. It is sometimes used to indicate plural numbers or acronyms.

clause: A set of words that includes a subject and predicate and conveys
meaning. An independent clause could stand alone as a sentence; a dependent

clause cannot.

cliché: An expression or idea that is overused to the point of being nearly

meaningless.

compound: Two or more words that operate together as one part of speech and
with one meaning. Open compounds have a space between their words. Closed

compounds do not have spaces between their words.

conjugate: To change a base verb into its various forms needed to match voice,