A01 terminology for written texts

Question 1

active voice

Answer 1

subject is placed first
immediately clear who is responsible for the actions
e.g. the doctor examined the patient

Question 2

passive voice

Answer 2

add the verb ‘to be’ and the main verb
or often a preposition such as ‘by’ is also used
- e.g. the patient was (past tense to be) examined (verb) by (preposition) the doctor.

Question 3

what are the 4 types of positioning Dan Clayton suggests that a writer may use?

Answer 3

above us as an expert (talking down to us)
among us (talking at our level)
against us (addressing us as opponents)
with us (addressing us as allies)

Question 4

explicit framing

Answer 4

another way to position yourself as a writer fairly explicitly that helps a writer to justify their views
e.g. explicitly positioning yourself as having two identities to keep them separate when writing (“as a mother and a specialist”)

Question 5

register shift

Answer 5

the ability to go from one register to another guided by context.

Question 6

briefly explain the ideal reader suggested by Fairclough as a way of a writer positioning themselves through language

Answer 6

the writer may draw upon a range of experiences and attitudes which they expect them to share
- helps to the audience to respond to their writing and who the writer might like us to be

Question 7

synthetic personalisation (Fairclough definition) and where is it most commonly used?

Answer 7

the ways in which text producers create a friendly or even intimate rapport with a reader who they cannot possibly genuinely know

advertisers use this sp often it has become their standard mode of address (e.g. switching to the first person plural ‘we’ to help create a shared address)

Question 8

syntactical order

Answer 8

the ‘normal’ word order of a sentence: Subject > Verb > Object.

Question 9

syntactical repetition

Answer 9

one of the special means of the formation of stylistic figures.
- repeating the order of a sentence

Question 10

direct quote

Answer 10

when you take another person’s words and place them in your own writing directly

Question 11

give the 4 aspects and an example of each

Answer 11

simple aspect: expresses a fact (rover EATS bones)
**perfect aspect: **expresses a completed action (rover HAS EATEN a bone)
progressive aspect: expresses an ongoing action (rover IS EATING a bone)
perfect progressive aspect: expresses the end of an ongoing action (rover HAS BEEN EATING a bone)

Question 12

purpose (give 6 very brief examples)

Answer 12

the reason for the writing
e.g. to persuade the reader, to entertain them, to share information, to warn, to advise, to explain.

Question 13

blended purpose

Answer 13

using more than one purpose in the piece of writing
(e.g. to persuade and advise)

Question 14

what are the 5 ways of describing an audience?

Answer 14

critical/non-critical
wide ranging (especially online texts)
age
distance between writer and reader
right/left leaning

Question 15

SVCA
- phrases types of clause elements

Answer 15

Subject: noun phrase (NP)
Verb: verb phrase (VP)
Complement: noun phrase (NP)or adjective phrase (AP)
Adjunct: prepositional phrase (PP) or adverb phrase (advP)

Aisha (NP) has lost (VP) her watch (NP) at the gym (PP) again (advP)
or
Aisha (NP) has been (VP) very happy (adjP) again (advP)

Question 16

subordinate/dependent clause

Answer 16

a combination of words that includes a noun, a verb, a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun that provides more information about rest of the sentence.
- e.g. The boy,** while he was waiting** , decided to read his book”

Question 17

fronting

Answer 17

where a group of words that normally appear after the verb are moved to the beginning of a sentence. This is done to emphasise an important part of the sentence.
e.g. “**on the bench **was a mug of coffee” vs “A mug of coffee was on the bench”

Question 18

syntax

Answer 18

how words are arranged in sentences, phrases, and clauses, and the grammatical rules that govern them

(the word order)

Question 19

main clause

Answer 19

contains a subject and a verb and can form a complete sentence by itself
e.g. “I can’t cook very well but I make good pancakes” both parts can stand alone “i cant cook very well” and “i make good pancakes”

Question 20

tense

Answer 20

indicates when an action took place, or when something existed or happened

Question 21

what are the 4 tenses
and their structures of past, present, future, simple

Answer 21

simple
* Simple present: subject + verb “I play tennis”
* Simple past: Subject + Verb (ed) “I played tennis”

present
* Present continuos: Subject + am/is/are + Verb + ing “I am playing tennis”
* Present perfect: Subject + have/has + Verb (ed) “I have played tennis”
* Present perfect continuos: Subject + have/has + been + Verb + ing “I have been playing tennis”

past
* Past continuos: Subject + was/were + Verb + ing
“I was playing tennis”
* Past perfect: Subject + had + Verb (ed) “I had played tennis”
* Past perfect continuos: Subject + had + been + Verb + ing “I had been playing tennis”

future
* Future simple: Subject + will + Verb “I will play tennis”
* future continuos: Subject + will + be + Verb + ing “I will be playing tennis”
* future perfect: Subject + will + have + Verb (ed) “I will have played tennis”
* future perfect continuos: Subject + will + have + been + Verb + ing “I will have been playing tennis”

Question 22

GRASP

Answer 22

Genre: form of media, recognisable publication, credibility, right/left leaning, etc
Register: how does this present the subject and the reader and writer
Audience: writer position, writer presentation as an expert
Subject: lexis, semantics, grammar, pragmatics
Purpose: impact on a critical or non-critical reader, wider discourses, why the writer represents themselves and the subjects/issues/people this way

Question 23

package information/anchor meaning/frame representation

Answer 23

how the writer links back to their main question/title of article within their writing to frame the meaning for the reader by using straightford language

Question 24

noun phrase

Answer 24

a group of words that functions like a noun and includes a noun or pronoun as its head
e.g. my green gym socks are in the wash

Question 25

adjective phrase

Answer 25

group of words that modify a noun or pronoun, and usually starts with an adverb or preposition
e.g. These flowers are wonderful.

Question 26

verb phrase

Answer 26

a group of words that includes a verb and any auxiliary or modal verbs that accompany it
e.g. she has been studying in the library

Question 27

prepositional phrase

Answer 27

a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase
e.g. “During intermission is the best time to get a drink.”

Question 28

direct address

Answer 28

where a speaker or writer addresses a specific person or group directly
e.g. “hey you!”

Question 29

implied meaning

Answer 29

what the writer/speaker decodes to the reader/listener and how they interpret it based on several factors (e.g. contextural cues)

Question 30

parenthesis

Answer 30

a word or phrase inserted as an explanation, which is grammatically complete without it, in writing usually marked off by brackets, dashes, or commas.
e.g. She is coming to our house after work (around six o’ clock)

Question 31

active agent

Answer 31

the subject/doer of a sentence that performs an action
e.g. “Julie ate the pizza”

Question 32

passive agent

Answer 32

when the agent of an action is not the subject of a sentence
e.g. Mr Ward has been arrested by the FBI.

Question 33

conjunction

Answer 33

a word used to connect clauses or sentences
e.g. but, and

Question 34

auxilliary verb

Answer 34

verbs that add grammatical meaning to a clause by supporting the main verb.
They can indicate tense,aspect, voice, mood, emphasis, and more.

examples:
Be: Used to express progressive aspect or passive voice
Have: Used to express perfect aspect
Do: Used to form questions, negate, or emphasise

Question 35

syntactical parallelism/repetition

Answer 35

a rhetorical device that repeats the same grammatical form in multiple parts of a sentence or in adjacent sentences or clauses
e.g. lists, antithesis

Question 36

semantic prosody

Answer 36

the way words can take on positive or negative associations through their frequent use with particular words
e.g. “lack” has positive semantic prosody because the words that come after it, like “skills” or “power”, are often positive.

Question 37

compound sentence

Answer 37

a sentence that joins two or more independent clauses with a conjunction (fanboys coordinating conjunctions), semicolon, or comma. Each independent clause contains a subject and a verb, and forms a complete thought
e.g. This house is too expensive, and that house is too small

Question 38

collocation

Answer 38

a group of words that are often used together to create a specific meaning
e.g. we say “heavy rain” but not “strong rain” because it does not sound right

Question 39

hypernym

Answer 39

a broad/umbrella term for a broader category of things
e.g. Dog, for example, is a hypernym for dachshund, Chihuahua, and poodle

Question 40

hyponym

Answer 40

a more specialised and specific word
e.g. pigeon, crow, eagle and seagull are all hyponyms (co-hyponyms) of bird (their hypernym)

Question 41

semantic/lexical field

Answer 41

a group of words that are related by meaning or topic. often used in language analysis to understand how words contribute to the meaning of a text
e.g. Words like “transfer”, “currency”, and “savings” are part of a lexical field related to banking

Question 42

mitigated imperative

Answer 42

a request or command that is made in a more indirect or deferential way
e.g. “I wonder if you could give me a bit of help” instead of “Help me!” (may be used out of politeness)

Question 43

how does a writer establish writer credibility?

Answer 43

by drawing attention to who they are or what kinds of experience they have with the topic being discussed as an ethical appeal

Question 44

imperative sentence mood

Answer 44

Used to state a command or request.
For example, “Do your work”. The subject is implied to be “you”.

Question 45

declarative sentence mood

Answer 45

expresses a statement of fact or claim
e.g. i will win the competition

Question 46

interrogative sentence mood

Answer 46

Used to ask a question of a specific individual and demand an answer.
For example, “Who is he?

Question 47

exclamatory sentence mood

Answer 47

to express strong emotions or feelings
For example, “What a beautiful baby!

Question 48

indicative sentence mood

Answer 48

Used to state a fact or ask a question without demanding an answer.
For example, “Irene washed all the clothes yesterday”.

Question 49

anaphoric reference

Answer 49

making a reference back to something previously identified in a text.
often uses pronouns to refer to an already establishes reference point.
e.g. the woman stood by the door. She laughed over there.

Question 50

cataphoric reference

Answer 50

making reference forwards to somehting as yet unidentified in a text
e.g. it was warm. it was living. it was a rabbit.

Question 51

exophoric reference

Answer 51

making reference to things beyond the language of a text itself, perhaps within a speakers immediate physical context.
e.g. look at that

Question 52

disjuncts

Answer 52

adverbs that work to express an attitude or stance towards the material that follows.
e.g. sadly, not one of them survived

Question 53

pragmatics

Answer 53

the study of implied meanings from the language choices you make