AS English Language Terms

adjective

a class of words that can appear before (attributive) or after (predicative) an noun or noun phrase to describe it

adverb

a class of words that modify verbs according to time, place, manner, frequency, duration or degree

cliche

a figurative expression that has lost its novelty value due to being overused

lexis

a general term for the words of a language

hypernym

a general word that is a term for many hyponyms e.g. vehicle is a hypernym of car, bus, lorry etc

back-channeling

a kind of feedback in spoken language that supports the person speaking and shows that what is being said is understood

conjunction

a linking word that connects phrases and clauses to each other to form a sentence e.g. and, but

compound

a new word created by combining two or more existing words or morphemes

acronym

a new word made from the initial letters of all the words in a name or phrase

abstract noun

a noun that refers to a concept, state, quality or emotion

collective noun

a noun that refers to groups of people, animals or things e.g. team

concrete noun

a noun that refers to things you can physically touch or see

oxymoron

a phrase that brings two conflicting ideas together e.g. bittersweet

cataphoric reference

a reference in a text to something in the future, that follows in later phrases or sentences, e.g. these are the directions

deixis

a reference to something outside of the text or conversation that can't be understood unless you know the context

interrogative

a sentence or utterance that asks a question

imperative

a sentence that gives orders, advice or directions. it starts with a main verb and doesn't have a subject

exclamative

a sentence that has an expressive function and ends with an exclamation mark

declarative

a sentence that makes statements

ideology

a set of ideas and beliefs

filler

a sound produced by a speaker to keep a conversation going and avoid silence

multimodal

a text that involves elements of different modes e.g. written, spoken, multimedia etc.

article

a type of determinar that shows if the reference to a noun is general (a / an) or specific (the).

complement

a word of phrase that gives information about the subject or object in a sentence e.g "the boy is (actually a cow)"

head word

a word that had the same grammatical function as the phrase that has been built around it e.g. in a noun phrase, the head word is a noun

euphemism

a word that is used as a substitute for harsher or more unpleasant sounding words or concepts

hyponym

a word that refers to a special type of hypernym e.g. car, bus, lorry are hymponyms of vehicle

onomatopoeia

a word that sounds like the noise its describing

noun

a word used as the name of a person, place or thing

comparative

an adjective that makes a degree of comparison, normally by an '-er' suffix

inflection

an affix that is attached to words to change the grammar of a sentence

coordinate clause

an independent clause that's linked to another independent clause in the same sentence

idiolect

an individual's accent and dialect features, as a result of their personal upbringing and experiences

dialogue

any exchange between two or more characters or speakers

imagery

describing aspects of a scene to create a picture in the mind of the audience

accent

distinctive way an english speaker from a particular region pronounces words

neologisms

new words, often created by advances in things like technology and science

count nouns

nouns that can be preceded by a number, e.g. one book, two books

exophoric reference

referring to something outside the text e.g. 'that' tree over 'there'

jargon

specialist words that are used by a particular social or occupational group that may not be understood by a non-member

connotation

the associations that are made with a particular word

infinitive

the base form of a verb, preceded by 'to'

dialect

the distinctive lexis and grammar of a person's spoken English

cohesion

the linking of ideas in texts to ensure the text makes sense

denotation

the literal meaning of a word

object

the part of the sentence that the verb acts upon e.g. I broke a 'plate'

intonation

the pitch and tone of a speaker's voice. e.g. rising _____ shows it's a question

affixation

the process of adding an affix before (prefix) or after (suffix) an existing word to change either its meaning or grammatical function

clause

the simplest meaningful unit of a sentence

graphology

the study of the appearance of a text, how it looks on the page and how the layout helps get the meaning across

characterisation

the way a writer conveys information about a character relating to their appearance, speech etc.

juxtaposition

the way that parts of a text are arranged next to each other (e.g. text and image) to create certain effects

modal auxiliary verbs

verbs that give more information about the main verb, but can't occur as verbs themselves e.g. can, will

auxilary verbs

verbs used before the main verb in a sentence to give extra information e.g. i have seen him

implication

when a meaning is suggested rather than explicitly described

anaphoric reference

when a word, usually a pronoun, refers back to something or someone that has already been mentioned e.g. Barrie can't come because he's ill

hyperbole

when exaggeration is used for effect

ellipsis

when part of a grammatical structure is left out of the sentence without affecting the meaning

blending

when parts of two words are combined to make a new one e.g. netizen

elision

when sounds or syllables are slurred together in speech to make pronunciation easier or quicker

assonance

when the main vowel sounds of two or more words that are close together in a text are similar or the same

active voice

when the subject of a sentence is directly performing the verb, e.g. 'Steve burst the bubble'

alliteration

when two or more words close to each other in a phrase begin with the same consonant sound

hedging

word choices that show uncertainty in conversations e.g. probably, maybe

metaphor

words or phrases that describe something as if it actually was something else

loan words

words that are taken from other languages

collocation

words that commonly appear together in order, in specific lexical units e.g. done and dusted

determiners

words that go before a noun to give information about what it's referring to

main verbs

words that identify the action of a sentence

demonstratives

words that refer to specific objects that only those involved in the discourse can see

monosyllabic

words with only one syllable

antonyms

words with opposite meanings