ENG& 101 QUIZ 2

Comma ,

A comma is a punctuation mark that indicates a pause in a sentence or separates items in a list. A comma is also used before the words "and" or "but" to join two independent clauses. Commas come in handy when you're writing a grocery list: "Buy candy, chocolate milk, Pop Tarts, and gum."

Fallacy

A fallacy is a display of faulty reasoning that makes an argument invalid, or a faulty belief based on an unsound argument. Many fallacies are deceptive in that they may appear to be based on sound reasoning and seem to follow good logic.

Danglers

A group of words, a phrase or a clause, out of place. i.e. Oozing slowly across the floor, Marvin watched the salad dressing.

Prosody

A literary technique, prosody is the study of meter, intonation and rhythm of a poetic work. It is a phonetic term that uses meter, rhythm, tempo, pitch and loudness in a speech for conveying information about the meanings and structure of an utterance.

Shibboleth

A word or phrase that sets one apart socially.

Unclear Antecedents

An antecedent is a noun that comes before a pronoun {and certain adjectives} and defines it: I saw the movie and I liked it. i.e. After Governor Baldwin watched the lion perform, he was taken to Main Street and fed 25 pounds of raw meat in front of the Cross Keys Theater.

Archaic Expression

Archaism is the derivative of a Greek word, archaïkós, which means beginning or ancient. It is a figure of speech in which a used phrase or word is considered very old fashioned and outdated. It can be a word, a phrase, a group of letters, spellings and syntax.. Archaism is the use of writing or speech which is now rarely used. It is the use of older versions of language and art. Such as in these lines, "To thine own self be true" (Hamlet by William Shakespeare). Sentences that may be considered as examples of archaism will most probably contain the words "thine" and "thou".

Sardine Sentence/Rambling Wreck

Attempting to pack many facts into one sentence.

Gobbleygook

Bureaucratese

Cliché

Cliché refers to an expression that has been overused to the extent that it loses its original meaning or novelty. A cliché may also refer to actions and events which are predictable because of some previous events. All examples of Cliché are expressions that were once new and fresh. They won popularity in public and hence have been used so extensively that such expressions now sound boring and at times irritable due to the fact that they have lost their original color. For instance, the phrase "as red as a rose" must have been a fresh and innovative expression at some point in time but today it is considered universally as a cliché and does not sound good to be used in everyday formal writing.

Connotation

Connotation refers to a meaning that is implied by a word apart from the thing which it describes explicitly. Words carry cultural and emotional associations or meanings in addition to their literal meanings or denotations. For instance, "Wall Street" literally means a street situated in Lower Manhattan but connotatively it refers to "wealth" and "power".

Denotation

Denotation is generally defined as literal or dictionary meanings of a word in contrast to its connotative or associated meanings. Let us try to understand this term with the help of an example. If you search for meaning of the word "dove" in a dictionary, you will see that its meaning is "a type of pigeon, a wild and domesticated bird having a heavy body and short legs." In literature, however, you frequently see "dove" referred to as a symbol of peace.

Omitting Marks

Ellipsis, Apostrophe, Period, Asterik

Hyphen -

For most writers, the hyphen's primary function is the formation of certain compound terms. The hyphen is also used for word division, which is briefly explained here. Never use a hyphen in place of an en dash or an em dash.

Faulty Parallelisjm

If sentence elements are parallel in meaning, they should be parallel in construction. Parallelism involves lists, series, and verb forms. i.e. He likes hunting, fishing, and to swim.

Jargon

Jargon is a literary term that is defined as a use of specific phrases and words by writers in a particular situation, profession or trade. These specialized terms are used to convey hidden meanings accepted and understood in that field. Jargon examples are found in literary and non-literary pieces of writing. The use of jargon becomes essential in prose or verse or some technical pieces of writing when the writer intends to convey something only to the readers who are aware of these terms. Therefore, jargon was taken in early times as a trade language or as a language of a specific profession, as it is somewhat unintelligible for other people who do not belong to that particular profession. In fact, specific terms were developed to meet the needs of the group of people working within the same field or occupation.

Neologism

Neologism is defined as a new word or a new use for an old word, or the act of making up new words. An example of a neologism is the word webinar, for a seminar on the web or the Internet. An example of neologism is a comedian coining new terms on a TV show like Stephen Colbert's creation of the term "truthiness."

Non Sequitor

Non sequitor is a Latin term meaning "does not follow." In syntax, a non sequitor is a statement that is irrelevant or illogical when we consider what follows. i.e. Born in Spain, Ballestros played golf.

Active Voice

One of the two "voices" of verbs (see also passive voice ). When the verb of a sentence is in the active voice, the subject is doing the acting, as in the sentence "Kevin hit the ball." Kevin (the subject of the sentence) acts in relation to the ball.

Wandering Modifiers

One word, an adjective or an adverb out of place. i.e. Television's insatiable appetite for fresh grief eats up [sobbing] fire, flood, or crime victims at horrendous rates.

Enclosing Marks

Parentheses, paired commas, quotation marks, brackets, paired dashes

Pleonasm

Pleonasm is derived from a Greek word that means "excess". It is a rhetorical device which can be defined as the use of a second or more words (phrase) to express an idea. These words are redundant such as in the following examples of pleonasm, "burning fire" and "black darkness."

Slang

Slang is a type of informal category of a certain language developed within a certain community and consists of words or phrases whose literal meanings are different than the actual meanings. Hence, it is not understood by people outside of that community or circle. Slang is more common in spoken language than written.

Syntax

Syntax is a set of rules in a language. It dictates how words from different parts of speech are put together in order to convey a complete thought.

Colon :

The colon has primarily three grammatical uses and several non-grammatical uses. The colon is used to introduce a list of items. The bookstore specializes in three subjects: art, architecture, and graphic design. Do not, however, use a colon when the listed items are incorporated into the flow of the sentence. Correct: The bookstore specializes in art, architecture, and graphic design. Incorrect: The bookstore specializes in: art, architecture, and graphic design.

Dash —

The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. Depending on the context, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons—in each case to slightly different effect.

Passive Voice

The passive voice is a grammatical construction (specifically, a "voice"). The noun or noun phrase that would be the object of an active sentence (such as Our troops defeated the enemy) appears as the subject of a sentence or clause in the passive voice (e.g. The enemy was defeated by our troops).

Period .

The period (also known as a full stop, especially in British English) is a punctuation mark ( . ) primarily used to indicate the end of a sentence. It appears as a single dot on the bottom line of the text, and it comes immediately after the last word of the sentence without a space. Also is an omitting mark, such as in Mrs.

Slash /

The slash ( / ), also known as the virgule, has several uses, most of which should be avoided in formal writing. Never use a backslash ( \ ) in place of a slash. The one inarguably acceptable use of the slash in formal writing pertains to poetry. The slash, with one space on either side, indicates a line break. In choosing your path in life, you might consider the words of Robert Frost, in his poem "The Road Not Taken": "I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference."

Verbosity

Verbosity or verbose is speech or writing which uses more words than needed. A common example is "Despite the fact that" as a common replacement for "Although".

Diction

Word Choice

Euphemism

Words or phrases substituted for other words that are considered harsh or blunt. e.g. passed away

Weasel Words

Words that appear to be making a claim but are actually meaningless and hollow. e.g. virtually, helps

Semi Colon ;

a punctuation mark (;) indicating a pause, typically between two main clauses, that is more pronounced than that indicated by a comma. I have a big test tomorrow; I can't go out tonight. The two clauses in that sentence are separated by a semicolon and could be sentences on their own if you put a period between them instead: I have a big test tomorrow.

Semantics

emantics is one of the important branches of linguistics that deals with interpretation and meaning of the words, sentence structure and symbols, while determining the reading comprehension of the readers how they understand others and their interpretations.