As Level English Language Terms

Front 1

Four Sentence Types

Back 1

Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative, Exclamative.

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Discourse

Back 2

The overall structure of a text

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Grammar

Back 3

The structure of units of language no longer than a sentence.

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Graphology

Back 4

The visual appearance of language

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Lexis

Back 5

The words, phrases and idiom of language.

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Phonology

Back 6

The sound of language.

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Pragmatics

Back 7

The particular meanings conveyed by language in specific context.

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Semantics

Back 8

The meaning of language.

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Acronyms

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Words composed from the initial letters of words they represent. E.g. AIDS; LA; ID

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Allographs

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A variant of type E.g Bb

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Amelioration

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The process of semantic change in an upward manner - the meaning becomes more positive. For example Bachelor.

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Anacoluthon

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A speech construction which starts but fails to finish or goes wrong.

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Anaphoric

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Referencing back to an already stated lexical item i.e The PRIME MINISTER spent his day in office and at 3pm HE left downing street.

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Anithesis

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Where a parallel structure is used to highlight contrasting ideas i.e 'let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belabouring the problems that divide us'

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Antonyms / Synonyms

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Words of opposite and similar meanings i.e FAT/thin - antonyms FAST/QUICK - synonyms

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Archaisms

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Words used in english a long time ago which now give an old-fashioned or superior tone. E.g 'Thou' or 'Hath'

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Block language

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Ungrammatical language that has been shortened for dramatic effect E.g Dog bit postman

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Cataphoric

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Referencing forwards to an as yet undisclosed lexical item. E.g 'I believe HIM' 'Tony would never lie'

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Clipping

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A colloquial way of talking where words are shortened E.g 'Flu' or 'Prof'

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Cohesion

Back 20

A measure of how well a text fits together as a whole, its internal logic and construction

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Collocation

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Phrases which consist of words you expect to be linked E.g Fish and Chips

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Deixis

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Deictic words are orientation words that locate precisely what is being talked about E.g 'This here' and 'That there'

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Discollocation

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Where the expected collocation is not met

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Dysphemism

Back 24

A harsh 'to the point' term expression of a delicate subject e.g HE'S DEAD as apposed to He passed away.

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Elision

Back 25

The missing out of a word or words in speech or writing ' We're goin'

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Ellipses

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The missing out of a word or words in a sentence E.g 'Where you going?'

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Euphemism

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A socially acceptable word or phrase used to avoid talking about something potentially distasteful. E.g 'The powder room'

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Embedding

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The clause within a sentence; where one piece of information is embedded in another ' The man WHO LIVES NEXT DOOR is very friendly'

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Hedges

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Words of phrases used to indicate a degree of uncertainty or tentativeness e.g possibly, maybe

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Idioms

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Phrases where the meaning is not derived from the meaning of the individual words E.g 'drink up'

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Intensifiers

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These are adverbs which intensify the meaning of a word e.g He was VERY good, I REALLY, REALLY like it

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Jargon

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Specialist language, particular to the specific subject of the text. E.g in a car advertisement '140mph''

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Malapropism

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The misuse of words which sound similar,' there cat' instead of 'their cat'

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Minimal responses

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Short utterances made in response to a speaker E.g 'mm', 'yes'; 'I see', 'Oh'

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Mode

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The medium of communication (e.g speech or writing)

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Morpheme

Back 36

The smallest unit of grammatical meaning

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Negation

Back 37

The process of using lexical elements used to form negative structures e.g 'not', 'no' ; ' never'

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Neologisms

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New words introduced into the language e.g IPOD or BLOG

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Oxymoron

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Two words of opposite meaning and association placed together for effect e.g HOLY SINNER

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Paralinguistic features

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Gestures and facial expressions which contribute to the communication of meaning.

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Parallelism

Back 41

The repetition of a pattern or structure in related words of phrases e.g your english teacher thinks your a fool, your maths teacher thinks your a fool and you french teacher thinks your a fool'

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Parataxis

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A list where nouns or clauses can be linked without conjunctions e.g ' he packed a torch, a map , a compass and a gun'

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Pejoration

Back 43

The process of semantic change in a downward manner

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Phatic speech

Back 44

Turns designed to maintain a sense of cooperation or establish a relationship, Hi, how are you?

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Post modification

Back 45

A modifying phrase that occurs after the head noun in a noun phrase e.g John kicked the ball badly

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Pre modification

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A modifying phrase that occurs before the head noun in a noun phrase e.g the LUXURIOUS EXPENSIVE restaurant

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Prosodic features

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Vocal elements of spoken language e.g tone pitch and volume

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Quantifiers

Back 48

Words which express quantity e.g 'all', 'some', ' every' 'much'

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Register

Back 49

A variety of language appropriate to a particular purpose and context. The formality of a text.

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Semantic field

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Lexical items that related to a specific theme or topic

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Tautology

Back 51

Unnecessary repetition e.g i myself personally did it