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English terminology
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Abstract noun | A naming word for an idea, concept, state of being or belief, e.g. tidiness, sadness |
| Proper noun | A naming word for a specific example of a common noun (often are names of places or specific people) |
| Active verb | a word that represents a physical action, e.g. jump, run, kill, slap, kiss, make |
| Stative verb | a word that represents a process that is often only mental, e.g. think, love, ponder, believe, (to) fear. |
| Auxiliary verb tense | a verb that has to be used with another verb in order to create present participles or the future |
| Modal verb | an auxiliary verb that express a degree of either possibility or necessity, e.g. might, could, must, should |
| Adjective | a describing word that modifies a noun. |
| Adverb – | a describing word that modifies all types of word, excluding nouns. |
| Superlative | an adjective that displays the most extreme value of its quality, e.g. most, biggest, smallest, worst, |
| Comparative | an adjective that relates one thing in some way to another and usually ends in ‘er’: bigger, smaller, |
| Definite article | the |
| Indefinite article | a or an |
| Pronoun – | a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence, |
| First person pronoun | I, and the first person plural: we, our, us. |
| Second person pronoun | you. |
| Third person pronoun | him, her, he, she, it, and the third person plural: them, those. |
| Possessive pronoun | 1st, 2nd or 3rd person depending) – my, mine, our, your, his, hers, theirs. |
| Demonstrative pronoun | this, that, those. |
| Monosyllabic lexis | words of one syllable. |
| Polysyllabic lexis | words of two or more syllable. |
| Imperative sentence mood | when a sentence is issuing a command. |
| Declarative sentence mood | when a sentence is making a statement. |
| Interrogative sentence mood | when a sentence is asking a question. |
| Exclamatory sentence mood | when a sentence conveys a strong sense of emotion, sense of alarm or overly strong |
| Register | the level of formality of a text. |
| Colloquialism | Informal language usage |
| Parenthesis | an aside within a text created by sectioning off extra information between brackets, dashes or between two commas. |
| Ellipsis | ... |
| Syntax – | the way words form sentences (the ordering of them to create meaning). |
| Rhetorical question | – a question designed not to be answered, perhaps to pique interest or make a point; |
| Hypophora | – when a rhetorical question is immediately followed by an answer in a text, |
| Hyperbole | exaggeration of things for effect. |
| Parallelism/patterning | the creation of patterns in a text, through repetition of words or phrases or by balancing meanings (semantic parallelism) for deliberate effect. |
| Repetition – | the repetition of words or phrases (see parallelism) |
| Tricolon/tripling – | grouping in threes, either through repetition or through structures paragraph). |
| Imagery . | – a descriptive or metaphorical use of language to create a vivid picture |
| Pre- modification | – a descriptive technique where the descriptive words come before the thing they are describing, |
| Post- modification | a descriptive technique where the descriptive words come after the thing they are describing |
| Metaphor | a comparison that states that something is actually something else. |
| Simile – | a comparison that states that something is ‘like’ or ‘as’ something else. |
| Synecdoche | a metaphor that states that something is only a small constituent part of itself, even though we commonly understand otherwise |
| Analogy | – explaining something in terms of something else. |
| Allusion – | to refer to something indirectly or metaphorically. |
| Personification | – a device in which the non‐human is given personal and human qualities, e.g. the trees danced in the wind. |
| Extended metaphor | – when a metaphor continues throughout a text with recurring references to the compared item. |
| Homeric/epic simile | – see extended metaphor and apply to simile. |
| Symbolism – | using figurative and metaphoric language, items or incident in a way that means that certain things represent other things |
| Lexis | – another word for the word ‘word’!!! |
| Field specific lexis | – the language of a certain area |
| Lexical set | the selection of relative lexemes from a text. |
| Lexical bundle | – a recurrent sequence of words or a collection of words that go together |
| Semantics | the meaning of words. |
| Acronym | – words created by the initials of other grouped words, e.g. the UN, NATO, RSPCA. |
| Synonym | an alternative word choice that has the same or a very similar meaning, e.g. a synonym of horror is fright. |
| Homophone | different words that sound exactly the same when said out loud |
| Homonym | when one word has multiple meanings, e.g. great can mean both size and positivity; cool can mean both |
| Archaism | – a word that, over time, has fallen out of common usage. |
| Juxtaposition | – the placing together of elements (whether text, image etc) for some conscious effect, whether that be complimentary or contrasting. |
| Antithesis arguments | when ideas contrast or oppose one another; a semantic contrast in a text |
| Binary opposites – | elements of a text that hold opposite ends of a notional scale e.g. hot/cold, big/small, loud/quiet. |
| Oxymoron | The use of apparently contradictory words in a phrase, e.g. peaceful war, hot ice. |
| Asyndetic Listing | – the listing of elements that excludes any form of co‐ordinating conjunction. The prefix ‘a’ basically means ‘absence of’. |
| Syndetic listing – | – the listing of elements that features a co‐ordinating conjunction. Phonological features – any devices used that relate to sound, e.g. alliteration, repetition. |
| Onomatopoeia – | when a word is spelled exactly as the same as the sound it describes… kaboom, drip, plop, quack, miaow. |
| Consonance | – the repetition of double consonants in the middle of words, e.g. I’d better buy more butter before I go |
| Assonance | – the repetition of vowel sounds, e.g. you should wear a hood while you chop the wood good. |
| Exposition | – the parts of a story (usually early on) where the writer gets across all the information about the situation of a character |
| Protagonist – | the character the reader is meant to identify with the most and follow through the story. |
| Anti- hero | a protagonist who isn’t always morally virtuous but has enough qualities to endear themselves to a reader. |
| Antagonist | – the character who opposes the goals of the protagonist. |
| Monologue | ¬‐ a type of poem or a prolonged piece of drama where one ‘character’ delivers a speech that reveals their innermost feelings. |
| Dramatic irony | When the audience is aware of more than one of the characters in either a play or a piece of fiction to create a dramatic effect. |
| Ambiguity – | when there can be more than one possible meanings or outcomes in a story, creating a sense of intrigue. |
| Anthropomorphism | – when an animal takes on the characteristics of a human being |
| Suspension of disbelief | – the reader’s ability to take for granted fantastical aspects of fiction in order to enjoy the story. |
| Audience | – who the text is aimed at. |
| Purpose – | – the reason the text has been produced, e.g. to entertain, inform etc. |
| Foreshadowing – | the hinting at things to come through early elements of a story. |
| Compound words | a word created by utilising two existing words separated by a hyphen, |
| Rhetoric | an example of persuasive language, arguably including advertising. |
| Connotation | – the associations that can be gleaned from words. |
| Euphemism – | the polite way to say something not normally considered socially appropriate |
| Dysphemism | an unnecessarily extreme way of saying something, not normally socially appropriate. |
| Journalese | the sensationalised language that is particular to tabloid newspapers, e.g. slam, probe, spat (as in fight), |
| Multiple modifiers | doubling and trebling up of adjectives is used frequently in tabloid newspapers and also other genres |
| Idiom | a saying, often a cliché where the words that make up the saying do not have the same meaning as the overall semantic effect, |
| Malapropism | – when a speaker accidentally uses the wrong word that sounds the same, or like it should belong in their sentence/utterance: |
| Semantic shift | – the shift in a word’s meaning over time, |
| Inverted syntax | when the ordering of words is rearranged to create an alternative weighting to a sentence. |
| Discourse | the study of spoken language. |
| Mode | The mode of the text is how it is presented |
| Paralinguistic features – | literally ‘beyond language’. The things that aid communication but don’t literally constitute language, |
| Prosodic features | – the ‘sound effects’ of spoken language. |
| . Adjacency pair | – a moment in turn taking where one utterance constrains the response in some way |
| False starts – | – The speaker realises the beginning of an utterance isn’t working and so effectively re |
| Hesitation indicators | – moments in discourse that indicate that the speaker is in some way playing for time. |
| Fillers | The insertion of words, phrases or noises into a speaker’s discourse |
| Latch ons | ¬‐ons – when a speaker takes their turn immediately after the preceding speaker has finished speaking |
| Glottal | – the omission of (usually) dental sounds in the middle of words like butter, letter, better etc, in |
| Tag question | – a question tagged onto the end of an statement, e.g ‘It’s cold, isn’t it?’ |
| Vocative | – a direct reference to another speaker in discourse, e.g. “Bob, can you...” |
| Elision – | the omission of a vowel or syllable in the pronunciation of a word |
| Received Pronunciation | the typical pronunciation associated |
| Code switching | the ability of a speaker to alter the register or clarity of their speech to suit a different social situation. |
| Sociolect | the vocabulary and spoken grammar which is particular to a certain social group. |
| Idiolect | the speech patterns of an individual. |
| Alternate rhyme | Lines of poetry where the rhyme is on every other line (abab) |
| Caesura | A mid‐line pause |
| Couplet | A two line verse (often rhyming) |
| Enjambment | Run ‐on lines |
| Form | the structure and shape of the text |
Created by:
EsmeCoward
Popular English Vocabulary sets