English terminology

Subordinating conjunction - Words such as 'although', 'because' or 'unless', which are used to link a main clause to a subsidiary or dependent one.

Object - The person or thing being affected by the action.

Clause - A construction that contains, as a minimum, both a subject and a verb.

Synonym - A word that has the same or similar meaning to another word.

Standard English - The vocabulary and grammar of English generally regarded as correct.

Context - The social situation including audience and purpose, in which language is used.

Audience - The readers of or listeners to a text.

Pragmatics - The study of what is implied and understood by language use in context.

Denotation - The primary, literal meaning of a word or phrase.

Infinitive clause - The part of a verb usually preceded by 'to'; a clause containing such a verb.

Coordinating conjunction - Words such as 'and', 'but' and 'or', which are used to link together independent clauses.  E.g. 'He likes swimming but he hates shopping'.

Semantics - The study of the meanings of words.

Diachronic variation - The changes in language over time.

Synchronic variation - The variation in language use at any given point in time.

Phonetic spelling - The spelling of words to represent how they are pronounced.  'E.g. 'elp me orf this 'orse'.

Hyperbole - Exaggeration used for impact and effect.

Intensifier - Word or phrase (such as very, extremely) whose function is to intensify the meaning of the words to which is attached.

Homophones - Words with the same sound but different meanings/spellings.

Elision - The running together ofwords or the omission of parts of words such as 'gonna' for 'going to', or 'y'know' for 'you know'.

Lexical field - A group of words within a text relating to th same topic (for example: travel, quest, trip, roam, tourism, adventure, etc)

Etymology - The study of the origin and development of words.

Objective - A viewpoint that attempts to achieve neutrality (not personal or biased.)

Subject - The person or thing acting on the verb.

Subordinate clause - This depends on the main clause.  E.g. in the sentence 'I went to a salesroom where I saw a great sports car', the clause 'where I saw great sports car' cannot stand alone.