English Home Language Grade 6: Grammar, Vocabulary, and Literary Concepts

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key grammar rules, tenses, figures of speech, sentence structures, and parts of speech from the Grade 6 English Home Language study materials.

Synonyms

Words that have the same or almost the same meaning as another word (for example: kind – caring, considerate).

Antonyms

Words that have opposite meanings (for example: cruel – kind).

Characterisation

What the characters in a story are like and how they are portrayed (e.g., clever, stupid, wily, gentle, kind), revealed through their actions and words.

Plot

The storyline; a series of related events that make up the main story.

Conflict

The struggle that arises between characters or between characters and their desires or values.

Setting

Where a story takes place and the historical time it takes place (for example: in Athens in Ancient Greece).

Theme

The main idea or central topic in a story, poem, or piece of writing.

Message

The underlying meaning or moral of a story, or what a poem is telling or teaching us.

Active voice

A sentence structure in which the subject does the action (for example: "The dog chases the cat").

Passive voice

A sentence structure in which the original object becomes the subject and has the action done to it (for example: "The cat is chased by the dog").

Phrase

A group of words without a verb.

Clause

A group of words that contains a verb.

Adjectival phrases and clauses

Phrases or clauses that function as adjectives to describe a noun, often beginning with words such as who, whom, which, or that.

Adverbial phrases and clauses

Phrases or clauses that function as adverbs, tested by asking questions like: How? When? Where? Why? or Even though?

Noun phrase

A group of words without a verb that acts as a noun in place of a single noun (for example: "The University of Cape Town" or "The man in the suit").

Noun clause

A group of words that acts as a noun and contains a verb (for example: "The boy who ate all the pudding came looking for more food").

Contractions

Shortened forms created when two words are joined together and letters are omitted, using an apostrophe in place of the missing letters.

Transitive verb

A verb that is followed by a direct object.

Intransitive verb

A verb that is not followed by a direct object.

Direct object

The part of the sentence that answers who or what after the verb.

Indirect object

The part of the sentence that tells to whom or to what, or for whom or for what the action is performed.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same sounds or letters at the beginning of words (for example: rhyme, rhythm and rap).

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds in two or more words which are close together (for example: "Go up higher and light a fire").

Consonance

The repetition of the same consonant sounds in words close to each other, whether at the beginning, middle, or end (for example: the interior "ck" in chuckle, fickle, kick).

Simile

A figure of speech that makes a direct comparison between two things using the words like or as (for example: "he swims like a fish" or "as brave as a lion").

Metaphor

A figure of speech that makes an implied or indirect comparison between two things without using like or as (for example: "he is a lion").

Personification

A figure of speech that gives non-human objects human characteristics (for example: "the wind sighed through the trees").

Pun

A play on words using words that sound alike but have different meanings (for example: "Pillows that never let you down").

Onomatopoeia

A word which imitates the natural sound of something (for example: the splash of water, the hiss of snakes, or the buzz of bees).

Complication

A difficulty; something that makes something difficult or more complex.

Pylons

Huge steel structures that are used to carry electricity cables across wide areas.

Wistful

Thinking sadly about something and longing for it.

Pessimistic

Expecting the worst to happen.

Optimistic

Expecting the best to happen.

Debut

First public appearance.

Future perfect tense

A tense formed by using will have + the past participle of the main verb (for example: "They will have lived in Mpumalanga for five years").

Future continuous tense

A tense formed by using will be + the -ing form of the verb, used to talk about something that will be in progress at or around a time in the future.

Present continuous tense

A tense formed by using am, is, are + the -ing form of the verb, indicating an ongoing action happening at the moment of speaking.

Past continuous tense

A tense formed by using was, were + the -ing form of the verb, indicating an ongoing action in the past.

Simple present tense

A tense used to indicate an action happening now, facts (Athens is the capital of Greece), universal statements (The earth travels around the sun), habits, or general truths.

Simple past tense

A tense indicating an action that happened in the past, formed by adding -ed to regular verbs or changing form for irregular verbs.

Simple future tense

A tense indicating that an action will take place in the future, traditionally using shall for I and we, and will for all other subjects.

Simple sentences

Sentences that contain one idea and have one verb (for example: "He showed us a trick").

Compound sentences

Sentences formed when two or more simple sentences are joined together by a co-ordinating conjunction such as and, but, or, yet.

Complex sentences

Sentences that contain one main (independent) clause and one or more dependent (subordinate) clauses joined by subordinating conjunctions.

Demonstrative pronouns

Pronouns that point out specific things and are followed by a verb (this, that for singular; these, those for plural).

Demonstrative adjectives

Words that point out specific things and are followed immediately by a noun (e.g., "This book is good").

Co-ordinating conjunctions

Connecting words that join independent words, phrases, or clauses, such as and, but, yet, so.

Subordinating conjunctions

Connecting words used to join a main clause to a subordinate clause (such as after, although, as, because, before, if, since, though, unless, while, until, even if, so that).

Understatement

Making a lot less of something than you should; the opposite of exaggeration.

Ambiguity

A situation where a statement or sentence can be understood in more than one way because it is not clear which meaning is intended.

Multiple meaning

When a single word has more than one meaning, which can sometimes lead to ambiguity.

Indirect (reported) speech

A way of reporting what someone said without using quotation marks or their exact words, altering pronouns, tenses, and adverbs of time and place where necessary.

Adverbs of manner

Adverbs that tell us how something is done (for example: gently, graciously, politely, quietly, quickly).

Adverbs of place

Adverbs that tell us where an action takes place or the direction something moves (for example: here, there, everywhere, upwards, inside).

Adverbs of time

Adverbs that tell us when an action is done (for example: yesterday, last year, soon, tomorrow, today, next year, now, then).

Adverbs of degree

Adverbs that tell us to what extent something is done (for example: completely, strongly, totally, rather, really, very, too, extremely, quite).

Adverbs of frequency

Adverbs that tell us how often an action takes place (for example: always, usually, often, sometimes, never, seldom).

Adverbs of probability

Adverbs that tell us how likely something is to happen (for example: definitely, maybe, probably, possibly, certainly, perhaps).

Adverbs of duration

Adverbs that tell us how long something lasts or goes on (for example: briefly, forever, permanently, temporarily, all day, any longer, no more).

Common nouns

Nouns that name ordinary objects (for example: book, story, chair, table, newspaper, library).

Proper nouns

Nouns that name particular people, places, or things and always start with a capital letter (for example: Yonela, Bovet Primary School, Johannesburg Public Library).

Abstract nouns

Names given to things that cannot be seen, touched, or measured, such as feelings or emotions (for example: courage, ambition, love, kindness).

Countable nouns

Nouns that can be counted and can appear in both singular and plural forms (for example: flower, book, library, donor).

Uncountable nouns

Nouns that cannot be counted individually and can only be measured or counted when placed into containers (for example: sugar, water, sand, paper).