English Language Unit 1

GASP Technique

• Used to compare texts

• G - Genre - What type of text is it e.g newspaper, article, story

• A - Audience - Who is the intended e.g audience - Hikers, Doctors, Parents

• S - Subject - What is it about e.g swimming, school, the government

• P - Purpose - What does the text want to do e.g get their point across about speeding, educate parents on way to discipline their children

Register

A type of language appropriate for a certain audience or situation e.g could be formal or informal

Discourse

Whether language is written or spoken, you can have a mixture of both e.g is the text intended to be written, spoken or both

Syntax

The structure of words

Stative Verb

A stative verb is a verb you can’t see physically e.g ‘I feel’ and ‘I know’

Dynamic Verb

Is a verb where you can’t physically see the action e.g run, jump, skip

Modal Verb

Is a verb that offers possibilities but nothing is definite e.g may, might, could, should and can

Deontic Verb

There is no choice whether it happens e.g will and must

Phonology

The sound that text gives off, the way that text sounds

Adverb

• Describes a verb

• Used ly at the end

• quickly, slowly, kindly

Preposition

• A position of something

• describes where something was

• the book was under the table

Pronoun

• Is used to avoid repetition of a name

• shows an identity

• He, She, They

Adjective

• Describing word

• shows what something is like

• Lovely, wet, boring, nice

Proper Noun

• A noun that needs a capital letter

• refers to names, places, people and days or months

• Monday, Caitlyn, America

Common Noun

• A less specific noun

• refers to types of people, places and feelings

• girls, boys, men and women

Concrete Noun

• Refers to a real physical object

• something you can see, feel, touch and smell

• A table, book, food

Abstract Noun

• is a noun that refers to real things, that you can’t physically touch

• anger, fear, anxiety

Collective Noun

• A noun that refers to a group of people, animals or objects

• a herd of sheep, a pack of wolves

Comparitive

• Comparing something

• making a judgement

• it’s a hotter day than yesterday

Superlative

• The most something can be

• The hottest day, the fastest runner, the biggest pig

If analyse comes up in a exam?

you must:

• read then re read

• annotate

• technique hunt

If evaluate comes up in an exam?

you must:

• summarise the text

• make a judgement

• what job does the text do, does it do it effectively?

Hyperbole

• An over exaggeration of something

• My bath was boiling hot

Lexis

• It refers to the vocabulary used in a piece of writing

Semantics

• Refers to the meaning of a word, phrase or text

Pragmatics

The language that is used and what context it is used in, what the speaker means and implies by what they said e.g sarcasm is shown when the speaker says “wow that’s so funny and cool”

Simple Sentences

• A sentence that only has one clause

• e.g It is Tuesday

Compound Sentences

• A sentence with more than one subject linked via a conjunction

• e.g It is Tuesday and it will be busy

Complex Sentence

• A sentence that contains a subordinate clause

• e.g Despite the heavy rain, I went out walking

Graphology

The study of written and printed symbols, mention graphology if a text uses images

Discourse

Whether the text is seen as spoken or written

Subordinate Clause

• Clauses introduced by “that” or “wh-words” such as the 5 w’s who, what, whether and when

Adverbial Clause

They usually explain where, when or why something has happened using conjunctives like before, after, during, because, while

Relative Clause

They usually involve relative pronouns such as that and which

Declarative

makes a statement in the order of the subject, the verb then the object

Interrogative

asks a question

Imperative

gives instructions, clear orders, warnings, advice and invitations to take part in something

Exclamatory

an empathetic sentences that is indicated by the use of an exclamation mark

Polysyllabic

a word with lots of syllables

Monosyllabic

A word with one syllable

Active Verb

Active verbs are where the person or thing carrying out the action is emphasised as the subject of the verb

Passive verb

A passive verb leaves out the person carrying out the action completely

4 Maxims

• Quality - How truthful the conversation is

• Manner - is the speaker blunt or respectful does the answer flow, how clear is the answer

• Relation - how relevant the speakers point is to the conversation at hand

• Quantity - does the speaker talk too much or not enough

How can a speaker affect a conversation

A speaker can

• violate a convo - will be misleading

• opt out of a convo - will refuse to take part in the conversation

• flout a convo - will intentionally be ironic