Language Terms

Front 1

Proper noun

Back 1

A word that refers to one particular person or place. This word class needs a capital letter: Mrs Riley, Aotearoa, New Zealand

Front 2

Common noun

Back 2

The names of things or people that you can point to, see, or touch: chair, house, book, train, frog, astronaut

Front 3

Abstract noun

Back 3

The words that refer to qualities and conditions we cannot point to or see or touch: anger, goodness, youth

Front 4

Collective noun

Back 4

A group of words, like committee, government, audience, team. They are singular and describe a "group" or "collection" of things.

Front 5

Personal pronoun

Back 5

A word that takes the place of a noun: he, she, it, you, me, I, we, us, they, them

Front 6

Adjective

Back 6

A word that describes or adds information to a noun.

Front 7

Comparative adjective

Back 7

Words that compare two things, stating that one is '…er' than the other e.g. “bigger”, “better”, “stonger”, “fitter”

Front 8

Superlative adjective

Back 8

Words that compare a noun and indicate that something is the 'most …..' e.g. “best”, “biggest”

Front 9

Verb

Back 9

Words in a sentence that describe an action taking place, for example, run, jump.

Front 10

Adverb

Back 10

The word class that adds more information to verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs - in fact, anything except nouns.

Front 11

Preposition

Back 11

Words that specify place, direction, and time, for example, across, beside, on, over, at, nearby

Front 12

Colloquialism

Back 12

An expression used in informal spoken language e.g. 'He carked it!

Front 13

Imperative

Back 13

Verbs used as commands e.g. "Think about this"

Front 14

Jargon

Back 14

Specialist or technical language particular to a certain group, trade, industry etc. e.g. “megabyte”, “abs brakes”

Front 15

Pun

Back 15

A play on the meaning of a word or double meaning e.g. “They were relieved to see public toilets at the beach” or “Witches face possible spell in prison”.

Front 16

Repetition

Back 16

Repeating words, phrases or sentence structure for effect
e.g. “we came, we saw, we conquered”.

Front 17

Hyperbole

Back 17

A gross exaggeration e.g 'I can't go to the party -I've got nothing to wear!" or “I’ve got a tonne of homework”.

Front 18

Cliché

Back 18

A tired, well worn expression e.g. “Bob’s your uncle”. Used to appeal to a wide audience.

Front 19

Rhetorical Question

Back 19

A question that is not designed to be answered by another person. Instead, this technique helps to draw the reader’s attention to the writer’s opinion.

Front 20

Metaphor

Back 20

Comparing two dissimilar things directly e.g ‘The men were hags, dressed in sacks and bent double’

Front 21

Simile

Back 21

A comparison of two things where one is said to be 'as' or 'like' the other eg. ““Bent double like hags under old sacks”

Front 22

Personification

Back 22

The giving of human qualities to non-human objects e.g. “the vine is strangling the tree”

Front 23

Onomatopoeia

Back 23

Words that describe sounds e.g. "the geyser whooshed "

Front 24

Assonance

Back 24

When the vowels within a word have the same sound, such as ‘The sea seeped’. This can add rhythm to the writing.

Front 25

Alliteration

Back 25

The repetition of initial consonant sounds e.g ‘the blood….bitter as the cud of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues’ Depending on the sound, this technique helps develop tone in writing.

Front 26

Tone

Back 26

The attitude a writer expresses towards the subject or the reader

Front 27

Rhyme

Back 27

Similarity of sound usually found at the end of lines.
Examples: late/fate; follow/swallow

Front 28

Half Rhyme

Back 28

Is an imperfect rhyme in which different vowels may be followed by identical consonants to give a semblance of rhyme eg blade/blood, flash/ flesh

Front 29

Enjambment

Back 29

when the line of poetry runs on to the new line.

Example: And when there came a pause
Of silence such as baffled his best skill

Front 30

Eye Rhymes

Back 30

are words which are spelled alike and in most instances were once pronounced alike, but now have different pronunciation: prove/love, daughter/ laughter

Front 31

Internal rhymes

Back 31

occur within a verse. Example:
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud

Front 32

Rhythm

Back 32

Is the pace or tempo at which a passage moves. Rhythm reflects underlying emotion or meaning of a passage. It is created by the emphasis or stress placed on syllables, or words or groups of words.

Front 33

Sibilance

Back 33

Repetition of the ‘s’ sound – letters sounding with a hiss. The ‘s’ in sing and the ‘z’ in quiz.

Front 34

Euphemism

Back 34

The use of a less harsh expression for one that is blunt.

Front 35

Imperative

Back 35

Used to give orders, commands or requests.
Keep off the grass.

Front 36

Oxymoron

Back 36

A figure of speech in which two contradictory terms are put together to catch the reader’s attention.
Bitter sweet.

Front 37

Portmanteau

Back 37

A word made by joining part of one word to another.
brunch

Front 38

Neologism

Back 38

A newly coined word or phrase, or an existing word given new meaning.
Funtastic
Mouse (for a device to control a computer).