Terminology Flashcards
What is a concrete noun?
Objects that we can see, touch and/or perceive in the physical world
around us.
What is a proper noun?
The names of specific people, places and things.
What is a collective noun?
A collection or group of people, animals or things.
What is an abstract noun?
Things which do not exist physically, such as qualities, states of mind,
feelings and ideas.
What is a noun?
A word used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things
What is an adjective?
A word which gives more information about a noun
Eg. the ‘furry’ hat
What is a comparative adjective?
Adjectives used to compare differences between the two objects they modify (Eg. larger, smaller, faster, higher).
What is a superlative adjective?
Adjectives used to describe an object which is at the upper or lower limit of a quality compared to a group of objects.
Eg. ‘the tallest’
What is a verb?
A word that expresses an action, process or state
What is an adverb?
A word which usually gives more information about a verb
Eg. she could ‘barely’ hear his voice
What is a pronoun?
A word that replaces a noun
Eg. ‘he’ or ‘she’
What are the indefinite articles?
a, an
What is the definite article?
the
What is the purpose of a determiner?
Determiners are placed in front of an noun to make it clear what the noun is referring to
List the possessive pronouns:
my, your, his, her, its, our, their
List the pre-determiners:
such, what, rather, quite
List the quantifiers:
a few, a little, much, many, some, most, enough
Is enough a quantifier or pre-determiner?
A quantifier
What is a modal verb?
These are verbs that indicate likelihood, ability, permission or obligation.
List the modal verbs:
can, could, may, might, will, would, must, shall, should
What is a relative pronoun?
A pronoun used to connect relative clauses to independent clauses.
Eg. ‘that’, ‘which’, ‘who’
Give examples of demonstrative pronouns:
that, this, these, those
What are indefinite pronouns?
Pronouns for when you refer to a person or thing that doesn’t need to be specifically identified.
Eg. ‘everybody’ or ‘anybody’
Give other examples of indefinite pronouns:
one, other, none, some, no one
What are reflexive pronouns?
Pronouns ending in -self or -selves
Give examples of reflexive pronouns:
myself, ourselves, yourself, him/herself, itself
When are interrogative pronouns used?
In questions.
Give examples of interrogative pronouns:
whose, what, who, which
What is an active voice?
When the subject of the sentence is performing the action described.
Eg. ‘The cat licked’ his paws
What is an adverbial?
A word/group of words that function as an adverb, giving more info about how, when or where a verb takes place.
Eg. Roger drove ‘through the town’
Alliteration
The repetition of consonants at the beginning of words for emphasis.
Allusion
A reference within a text to another event, person, place or work of literature - often adding another layer of meaning in the text.
Analogy
A comparison between one thing and another used to explain or clarify something
Anaphora
A rhetorical device which involves the repetition of a word or group of words at the start of sentences, phrases or clauses for emphasis
Anaphoric reference
A word or expression that refers back to another part of the text
Anecdote
A short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person in the writer’s life.
Antagonist
A character who opposes the protagonist in fictional writing
Antithesis
Contrasting ideas or words balanced against each other.
Eg. the contrast of heaven and hell, light and dark, ect.
Antonym
A word of opposite meaning to another
Eg. hot/cold
Aphorism
A neat, memorable or pithy statement of generalisation. These usually expose a truth/partial truth.
Eg. ‘A bad penny always turns up’
Aptronym
A name that fits the character and nature of a person and/or their occupation. A shorthand way of telling the audience what they should expect from a character’s behaviour.
Eg. Usain “Lightning” Bolt, he is know as the world’s fastest man.
Archaic Lexis
Old-fashioned words of phrases which are no longer in current usage, or which are only current in very specific fields, such as legal/medical documents.
Eg. ‘damsel’
Aspirants
The linguistic name for ‘h’ sounds in language.
Assonance
The repetition of similar vowel sounds for emphasis.
Eg. Full fathom f’i’ve th’y’ father l’ie’s
Asyndeton
A rhetorical device where conjunctions, articles and even pronouns are excluded for the sake of speak or immediacy.
Eg. ‘Only an avenue, dark, nameless, without end.’
Auxiliary Verb
A verb positioned in front of a main verb.
Eg. ‘is’, ‘have’ and ‘can’
Backgrounding
Playing down (to sound less serious) potentially negative aspects of a product, situation or idea.
Bathos
A form of anti-climax that often produces humour by switching from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Eg.
‘Speaker 1: My boyfriend owns a chain of restaurants.’
‘Speaker 2: You mean he works in a fish and chip shop’
Blend
A word formed by combining two others
Eg. ‘brunch’ (breakfast and lunch)
Caricature
An extreme depiction of a character where their personality traits are exaggerated to create a specific effect, often comic.
