English Terminology

Question 1

Common noun

Answer 1

All nouns that
aren’t proper
nouns

Question 2

Proper noun

Answer 2

specific people
and places: Paris,
Andrew, Venus

Question 3

Concrete noun

Answer 3

things that exist
physically:
computer, house,
dog

Question 4

Abstract noun

Answer 4

things that do not
exist physically;
feelings, ideas and
qualities

Question 5

Collective noun

Answer 5

groups of people,
animals or objects:
team, family, flock,
gaggle, litter, herd

Question 6

Pre-modifying
adjectives

Answer 6

Come before a
noun to describe it

Question 7

Post-modifying
adjectives

Answer 7

Come after the
noun to describe it

Question 8

Comparative
adjectives

Answer 8

Compare one noun
to another e.g.
bigger, smaller

Question 9

Superlative
adjectives

Answer 9

The adjective is the
least or the most
e.g. ‘biggest’,
‘strongest’

Question 10

Noun phrases

Answer 10

Nouns modified by
adjectives that
could be replaced
by a pronoun e.g.
‘the beautiful
animal was kept in
a cage’

Question 11

Dynamic verb

Answer 11

A verb you can
physically see e.g.
running, walking

Question 12

Stative verbs

Answer 12

A verb that is a
state not an action
e.g. thinking,
wondering

Question 13

Transitive verbs

Answer 13

A type of dynamic
verb that requires a
noun e.g. ‘she
kicked the ball’

Question 14

Intransitive verbs

Answer 14

Don’t require a
noun e.g she
sneezed, she
laughed

Question 15

Infinitive verbs

Answer 15

A verb you can’t tell
the tense from e.g.
to wake, to run, to
love

Question 16

Finite verbs

Answer 16

A verb you can tell
the tense of e.g.
she was waiting

Question 17

Auxiliary verbs

Answer 17

These help us
understand the
tense of another
verb. There are only
three – be, do,
have.

Question 18

Modal auxiliary
verbs

Answer 18

These tell you the
necessity of
possibility attached
to a verb e.g.
should, could,
would, may, might

Question 19

Adverbs

Answer 19

Modify verbs by
telling us the
manner, time,
place, frequency,
degree, quantity or
evaluation of a
verb

Question 20

Pronouns

Answer 20

Replace the noun
in a sentence. Harry
went to school
becomes he went
to school, the
pronoun replaces
Harry.

Question 21

Personal pronoun

Answer 21

Replaces the
subject or object in
a sentence e.g. I,
we, me, him

Question 22

Reflexive pronoun

Answer 22

Indicate object of a
verb is the same as
the subject of the
sentence e.g. ‘-
self/-selves in
themselves’ like in
‘they were going to
do it themselves

Question 23

Indefinite pronoun

Answer 23

Do not refer to any
specific person of
thing e.g.
‘someone’
‘anything’
‘everything

Question 24

Demonstrative
pronoun

Answer 24

They tend to point
to something e.g.
‘that’, this’ (but if it
comes before a
noun it isn’t the
pronoun)

Question 25

Possessive pronoun

Answer 25

Show possession
(hers, ours, mine)
only when not
placed before the
noun.

Question 26

Interrogative
pronoun

Answer 26

Used when asking
a question e.g.
who, whose,
which, what (in
who did this, which
is it)

Question 27

Relative pronoun

Answer 27

Act as linking words
in a sentence
always placed
immediately AFTER
the noun they refer
to e.g. whom, who,
whose, which, that.
(The man, whohad
decided to go
home, was walking
very quickly)

Question 28

Person

Answer 28

First person involves
you personally (I,
we, me, us, our,
my)
Second person is
you, your, yours
only
Third person
involves other
people e.g. he,
she, they, them,
their

Question 29

Articles

Answer 29

There are only three
articles and they
are either definite
(the) or indefinite (a
or an)

Question 30

Determiners

Answer 30

Often confused
with pronouns, they
are always before
the noun, not after
it e.g. this car is
new. They tell us
which ‘thing’ is
being referred to.

Question 31

Quantifiers

Answer 31

Are a type of
determiner that
show quantity e.g.
he had ‘a few
cows’, he ‘did not
have enough milk’

Question 32

Prepositions

Answer 32

A word that tells
you where or when
something is in
relation to
something else e.g.
inside, outside,
after, before

Question 33

Coordinating
Conjunctions:

Answer 33

s join like with like
(i.e., they join a
noun with another
noun, an adjective
with another
adjective etc.). The
most common ones
are and, but, and
or.

Question 34

Subordinating
Conjunctions

Answer 34

Subordinating
conjunctions join
subordinate clauses
to main clauses.
Common examples
are although,
because, if, since,
unless, until, and
while.

Question 35

Correlative
Conjunctions

Answer 35

correlative
conjunctions are
used in pairs to join
alternatives or
equal elements. The
most common pairs
are either/or,
neither/nor, and not
only/but also.

Question 36

onomatopoeia

Answer 36

words which sound like the noise they describe

Question 37

alliteration

Answer 37

repetition of the same letter in 2 or more words close together
for effect.

Question 38

sibilance

Answer 38

repeated use of the s sound for deliberate effect

Question 39

plosive

Answer 39

the basic plosives in English are t, k, and p (voiceless) and d, g,
and b (voiced).

Question 40

fricative

Answer 40

a fricative consonant, e.g. f and th.

Question 41

emotive language

Answer 41

strong words which provoke an emotional reaction from the
reader

Question 42

oxymoron

Answer 42

two opposite words placed right next to each other

Question 43

hyperbole

Answer 43

exaggeration for effect

Question 44

Metonym

Answer 44

A word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with
which it is closely associated. For example, Washington is a metonym for
the US government.

Question 45

metaphor

Answer 45

Comparison without like or as

Question 46

Extended
metaphor

Answer 46

Where a metaphor continues through an extract/ passage

Question 47

simile

Answer 47

Comparison using like or as

Question 48

personification

Answer 48

Something not living described with human qualities

Question 49

pathetic fallacy

Answer 49

The personification of weather/nature.

Question 50

rhetorical question

Answer 50

a question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get
an answer.

Question 51

Sensory imagery

Answer 51

Imagery relating to sight, smell, sound, touch and taste

Question 52

Exclamative

Answer 52

A sentence type used to express surprise about something unexpected or extraordinary.

Question 53

Interrogative

Answer 53

a sentence type that shows that it’s a question

Question 54

Imperative

Answer 54

Imperative sentences are used to issue commands or instructions.

Question 55

Declarative

Answer 55

A declarative sentence makes a statement (it declares something.)

Question 56

repetition

Answer 56

When an idea, word or phrase is repeated

Question 57

motifs

Answer 57

a dominant or recurring idea in an artistic work.

Question 58

semantic field

Answer 58

a set of words that are linked through a theme or concept.

Question 59

extended
metaphor

Answer 59

a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a
paragraph, or lines in a poem.

Question 60

juxtaposition

Answer 60

two or more ideas, places, characters, and their actions are placed side by side in a
narrative or a poem, for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts.

Question 61

Irony

Answer 61

A device in which what appears, on the surface to be the case, differs radically from what
is actually the case.