1 Cambridge A Lvl Terminology Fall 2025

Mrs. Huerman's Class Cambridge A Level Vocab

Antonym

A word with the opposite meaning of another word (ex: hot and cold)

Connotation v. Denotation

Denotation: Strict, literal Definition

Connotation: nonliteral meaning

Etymology

A study of history of a word and its earliest forms and meanings

Figurative Language

Speech or writing that departs from literal meaning to achieve a special effect or meaning

Hypernym v. Hyponym

Hypernyms: A word with a broad meaning that specific words may fall into (ex: furniture)

Hyponym: A word that is specific compared to their hypernyms (ex: table falls under furniture)

Idiom

Phrases generally understood in a language but do not directly translate (ex: by the skin of my teeth — means just on time)

Intesifier

A word, often an adverb or adjective which has little meaning by itself but is used to add force to other phrases (ex: really or very")

Jargon

Words or phrases known primarily by a group of people—often within a particular profession

Lexis

The complete vocabulary of a language

Root

The primary form of a word and word family, without prefixes or suffixes, which bears the major semantic content (e.g. the root of unwanted is want)

Semantic

Related to the meaning of words

Semantic Field

A group of words related to a shared area of meaning (e.g nurse, needle, CT, are within the semantic field of medicine)

Active Voice v. Passive Voice

Active Voice: Where the subject of a verb is preforming the action involved (ex: she won the race)

Passive Voice: occurs when the subject is getting acted on

Adjunct

An optional or less important part of a clause of sentence (ex: “on the floor” in the sentence “I dropped the glass on the floor”)

Clause

Part of a sentence, containing at least a subject and a verb phrase

Coordination v. Subordination

Coordination: Connecting two or more independent clauses through a conjunction

Subordination: Making one part of a sentence more important than the other by embedding a dependent clause

Grammar

Relates to rules for the organization of meaning in a language

Head Word

The main word in a phrase (ex: the noun boy in the phrase “the happy boy”)

Mode

The format through which ideas or content are communicated to an audience (a speech, blog, text, etc)

Modification

Adding words to a head word in order to give more detail, either before or after

Mood

A grammatical feature through which a speaker or writer can express modality (attitude towards the content)

Noun Phrase

A word (or group of words working together) which names a person, place, or thing

Object

The thing or person acted upon by the subject

Phrase

A group of words that do not constitute a complete sentence

Prefix v. Suffix

Prefix: A group of letters converting a particular meaning which is added to the front of a word to give it a new meaning

Suffix: A group of letters attached to the end of a word to give it a new meaning

Sentence

A set of words that is gramatically complete consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more additional subordinate clauses

Syllable

A single unit of pronunciation containing a single vowel sound which may form part of a whole word

Syntax

The way words are ordered in a sentence

Tense

Shows the relation in time between an action or event