If you learned grammar a generation ago — or never formally learned it at all — terms like "fronted adverbial" and "determiner" can be baffling. Here's a plain-English glossary of the grammar your child meets at primary school and in 11+ English, each with an example.
Word classes
- Noun
- A person, place, thing or idea. girl, London, table, happiness. Proper nouns (names) take a capital letter.
- Pronoun
- Replaces a noun. he, she, they, it, mine, who.
- Verb
- A doing or being word. run, think, is, became.
- Adjective
- Describes a noun. the ancient castle.
- Adverb
- Describes a verb, adjective or other adverb — how, when, where or how often. She ran quickly. It was very cold.
- Preposition
- Shows where or when something is in relation to something else. under, before, through, during.
- Conjunction
- Joins words or clauses. Coordinating: and, but, or, so. Subordinating: because, although, when, if, while.
- Determiner
- Comes before a noun to specify it. the, a, an, this, those, some, my, every.
Phrases and clauses
- Phrase
- A group of words without a verb-and-subject pair. in the dark forest.
- Noun phrase
- A noun plus words that describe it. the tall, silent stranger. "Expanded noun phrases" are a staple of good 11+ writing.
- Clause
- A group of words with a subject and a verb. the dog barked.
- Main clause
- A clause that makes sense on its own. We stayed inside because it was raining.
- Subordinate clause
- Adds information but can't stand alone; often starts with a subordinating conjunction. We stayed inside because it was raining.
- Relative clause
- A subordinate clause starting with who, which, that, whose, where. My aunt, who lives in Leeds, is visiting.
- Fronted adverbial
- An adverbial moved to the start of a sentence, followed by a comma. Without a sound, the cat crept closer.
- Parenthesis
- Extra information inserted into a sentence using brackets, dashes or commas. The castle (built in 1200) still stands.
Sentence types
- Simple sentence
- One main clause. The rain fell.
- Compound sentence
- Two main clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction. The rain fell, and the river rose.
- Complex sentence
- A main clause plus at least one subordinate clause. As the rain fell, the river rose.
- Statement, question, command, exclamation
- The four sentence functions. Note: a true exclamation sentence starts with What or How — What a fantastic goal that was!
Verbs and tenses
- Past, present, future
- I walked / I walk / I will walk.
- Progressive (continuous)
- An ongoing action. I was walking / I am walking.
- Perfect
- Uses have or had. I have finished. She had already left.
- Modal verb
- Shows possibility or necessity. can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must.
- Active voice
- The subject does the action. The dog chased the ball.
- Passive voice
- The subject has the action done to it. The ball was chased by the dog.
- Subject-verb agreement
- The verb matches the subject. The boys are; the boy is.
- Subjunctive
- A formal form for wishes or hypotheticals. If I were you… I insist that he be present.
Punctuation terms
- Inverted commas
- Speech marks. "Come here," she said.
- Apostrophe
- For contraction (don't) or possession (Sam's bike).
- Colon
- Introduces a list, explanation or example. You'll need three things: a map, a torch and courage.
- Semicolon
- Joins two closely related main clauses, or separates complex list items. It was late; everyone was tired.
- Hyphen
- Joins words to avoid ambiguity. man-eating shark, re-cover.
- Dash
- Marks a pause or parenthesis. The answer — as always — was hidden in plain sight.
- Ellipsis
- Three dots for omission or suspense. Slowly, the door creaked open…
- Bullet points
- List items, punctuated consistently.
Why grammar matters in the 11+
- SPAG questions test punctuation and grammar directly — see common SPAG mistakes.
- Writing tasks reward varied sentence structures: fronted adverbials, relative clauses, complex sentences.
- Comprehension questions sometimes ask about word classes or why a writer chose a short sentence.
Stuck on a term? Elevenplus FC's Grammar Decoder explains any grammar concept with a plain-English rule, a memorable way to picture it and a quick check question. See 11+ SPAG practice.
Frequently asked questions
Does my child need to know grammar terms for the 11+?
It helps. Some 11+ papers ask children to identify word classes or sentence features directly, and knowing the terms makes it much easier to understand feedback and improve writing. The Key Stage 2 terminology is a good baseline.
What is a fronted adverbial?
A word or phrase at the start of a sentence that tells you when, where, how or how often something happened, usually followed by a comma: 'After lunch, we went outside.'
What is the difference between a main clause and a subordinate clause?
A main clause makes sense on its own as a sentence. A subordinate clause adds information but doesn't make sense on its own: in 'Although it was raining, we played outside', 'we played outside' is the main clause.