Collins Cobuild

is my mother.
See Units
13
–
14
singular noun
a noun which is normally used only in the singular form;
eg the sun, a bath.
See Unit
14
strong verb
another name for
irregular verb
.
subject
the noun group in a clause that refers to the person or thing who
does  the  action  expressed  by  the  verb;  eg  We  were  going  shopping.
Compare with
object
.
See Units
1
,
3
,
5
,
9
–
10
,
13
,
15
–
18
,
21
,
25
,
38
,
53
,
55
,
69
–
71
,
75
–
77
,

---

80
,
102
subject  pronoun
 one  of  the  set  of  pronouns  including  ‘I’,  ‘she’,  and
‘they’, which are used as the subject of a verb.
See Unit
16
subordinate clause
a clause which must be used with a main clause and
is  not  usually  used  alone,  for  example  a  time  clause,  conditional
clause,  relative  clause,  or  result  clause,  and  which  begins  with  a
subordinating conjunction such as ‘because’ or ‘while’.
See Units
1
,
66
–
68
,
92
–
93
,
96
–
100
,
102
subordinating  conjunction
 a  conjunction  such  as  ‘although’,  ‘as  if’,
‘because’ or ‘while’, which you use to begin a subordinate clause; eg
He laughed as if he’d said something funny.
See Unit
102
superlative
 an  adjective  or  adverb  with  ‘–est’  on  the  end  or  ‘most’  in
front of it; eg thinnest, quickest, most beautiful.
See Units
32
,
35
–
36
,
70
tag question
 a  statement  to  which  a  question  tag  has  been  added;  eg
She’s quiet, isn’t she?… You’ve got a car, haven’t you?
See Units
7
–
8
tense
the form of a verb which shows whether you are referring to the
past, present, or future.
See Units
57
–
65
future
‘will’ or ‘shall’ with the base form of the verb, used to refer to
future events; eg She will come tomorrow… I shall ask her as soon as I
see her.
See Unit
64
future  continuous
 ‘will’  or  ‘shall’  with  ‘be’  and  a  present  participle,
used to refer to future events; eg She will be going soon.
See Units
60
,
64
future perfect
‘will’ or ‘shall’ with ‘have’ and a past participle, used to
refer to future events; eg I shall have finished by tomorrow.
See Units
61
,
64
future  perfect  continuous
 ‘will’  or  ‘shall’  with  ‘have  been’  and  a
present participle, used to refer to future events; eg I will have been

---

walking for three hours by then.
See Units
60
–
61
,
64
past simple
the past form of a verb, used to refer to past events; eg They
waited.
See Units
59
,
63
,
74
past continuous
‘was’ or ‘were’ with a present participle, usually used
to  refer  to  past  events;  eg  They  were  worrying  about  it  all  day
yesterday.
See Units
59
–
60
,
63
past perfect
‘had’ with a past participle, used to refer to past events; eg
She had finished her meal.
See Units
59
,
61
,
63
past  perfect  continuous
 ‘had  been’  with  a  present  participle,  used  to
refer to past events; eg He had been waiting for hours.
See Units
59
–
61
,
63
present simple
the base form and the third person singular form of a
verb, usually used to refer to present events; eg I like  bananas…  My
sister hates them.
See Units
58
,
62
,
65
,
74
present continuous
the present simple of ‘be’ with a present participle,
usually used to refer to present events; eg Things are improving… She
is working.
See Units
58
,
60
,
62
,
65
present  perfect
 ‘have’  or  ‘has’  with  a  past  participle,  used  to  refer  to
past events which exist in the present; eg She has loved him for over
ten years.
See Units
58
,
61
,
63
,
65
present  perfect  continuous
 ‘have  been’  or  ‘has  been’  with  a  present