English Terminology

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Active Verb
a word that represents a physical action
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Stative Verb
a word that represents a mostly mental process
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Superlative
an adjective that displays the most extreme value of something
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Comparative
an adjective that relates one thing to another, usually ends with 'er'
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Hypophora
when a rhetorical question is immediately followed by an answer
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Liotes
deliberate downplaying of things for effect
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Synecdoche
a metaphor that states that something is only a small part of itself
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Demonstrative pronoun
this,that,those
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Homonym
when a word has multiple meanings
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Archaism
a word that over time has fallen out of common usage
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Collocations
words that through usage have become inextricably linked
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Pathetic fallacy
when the environment or weather mirrors emotions
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Homeric simile
an extended, length and often repeated simile
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Suspension of Disbelief
when a reader takes the fantastical aspects of a story for granted to enjoy the story
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Mimesis
when the writing of a story mimics the action or sound it is describing
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Pastiche
a piece of writing or art that imitates another form or genre for humour
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Portmanteau
a newly invented word made by merging two words together
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Clipping
colloquial omission of parts of words to create a more casual alternative
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Denotation
the literal meanings of words
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Dysphemism
an unnecessarily extreme way of saying something, making it socially inappropriate
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Grab quote
an enlarged piece of text in a sensationalised piece to draw the reader's eye
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Journalese
the sensationalised language particular to tabloid newspapers
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Malapropism
when a speaker accidentally uses the wrong word that sounds the same or like it should belong in the sentence
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Orthography
the method of correct spelling
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Anachronistic language
language that seems 'out of time'. A medieval fantasy story that involves modern slang
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Globalised vocabulary
the influx of new words from different cultures
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Running repair
the process of socially organising a coversation if two people find that they have been talking simultaneously
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Interrupted construction
an utterance where the speaker changes the tact, focus or topic halfway through
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Hesitation indicators
moments in discourse that indicate that a speaker is in some way playing for time
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Glottal stops
the omission, usually of dental sounds in the middle of words like butter, letter and better
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Elision
the omission of a vowel or syllable in the pronunciation of a word
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Code switching
when a person alters their register or clarity to suit a social situation
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Sociolect
the vocabulary and spoken grammar particular to a certain social group
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Caesura
a mid-line pause or break in a poem
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Eye rhyme
where the words look like they should rhyme but their sound isn't exactly the same
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Iambic
a unit of meter containing one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable
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Octect
an eight-line verse
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Quatrain
a four-line verse
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Sestet
a six-line verse
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Volta
the turning point in a sonnet
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Accomodation
the way people adjust their speech to match others
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Deixis
words that are context bound and meaning depends on who is using them and how
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Bathos
exaggeration for comedic effect
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Liason
talk that creates a close working relationship
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Aposiopesis
when a speaker breaks of abruptly to avoid finishing the sentence as they are too overcome with emotion
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Meiosis
an understatement that belittles something or somebody
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Adynaton
a type of hyperbole which is taken to the extreme where the literal situation is impossible
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Akotison
intentionally obscure speech or writing to create confusion
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Queclarative
an utterance that has the form of a question but the force of a declarative
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Tautology
a repetitive use of phrases or words that mean the same thing and so become redundant
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Binary opposites
elements of a text that hold opposite ends of a notional scale
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Archaism
words that have fallen out of common usage
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Semantic shift
a change in a word's meaning over time
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Topic marker
an utterance that establishes the topic of a conversation
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Topic shifter
an utterance that moves a conversation on to another topic
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

a word that represents a mostly mental process

Back

Stative Verb

Card 3

Front

an adjective that displays the most extreme value of something

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

an adjective that relates one thing to another, usually ends with 'er'

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

when a rhetorical question is immediately followed by an answer

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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