GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS auxiliary verb  a verb that helps another verb to make its form, e.g. we  have done it; it  had  been agreed. conjugation  a group of verbs which have the same endings as one another in all tenses; e.g. in Italian, verbs of the  fi rst conjugation have an in fi nitive ending in  -are  (compr are , ‘to buy’, cant are , ‘to sing’) and the same endings in the present (compr ano , ‘they buy’, cant ano , ‘they sing’), the imperfect article  a word which has no meaning on its own, but is placed before a noun to show whether it is speci fi c or non-speci fi c: agreement  a feature whereby the form of one word changes depending on the form of another word it is linked with. In English, the most obvious example is in the di ff erence between singular and plural: so we say ‘ This is  the road ’ and ‘ These are  the  roads ’, but not e.g. ‘This are the roads’, ‘These is the roads’, etc. In Italian, agreement is far more detailed and widespread than in English. adverb  a word which gives information about a verb, an adjective or another adverb, e.g. she sang  loudly ; it’ll  fi nish  soon ; I’ve got it  somewhere ; it’s incredibly / very  funny; she sang  incredibly / very loudly . adjective a word that describes a noun or pronoun, e.g. the  green  door; it’s very  old ; John’s  skinny ; she’s most  objectionable : a  demonstrative adjective  describes something as being pointed out (‘dem- onstrated’), e.g.  this / that  computer;  these / those  railings; a  possessive adjective  describes something as belonging to someone or something, e.g.  my / her / its / our / your  behaviour is quite normal. a  de fi nite article  shows that the noun refers to a speci fi c thing or person, e.g. the  airline;  the  pilot;  the  passengers; an  inde fi nite article  shows that the noun does not refer to a speci fi c thing or person, e.g.  an  airline;  a  pilot; passengers [no plural inde fi nite article].