Core English Subject Terminology

abstract noun

nouns that refer to a concept or thing that has no physical qualities; fear, hope defines attributes of a noun: the extravagant party

adverb

describes the action of a verb: the child slept soundly

adverbial phrase

a group of words that add extra information about how and when something happens: At the end of the day, he realised it was hopeless.

alliteration

repetition of consonant sounds

allusion

when the writer makes a reference to an event, story or famous thing that the writer expects the reader to know; common allusions relate to the bible

anaphora

repetition of a word at the beginning of a succession of lines, clauses, etc.

antagonist

the opposing force that brings conflict and is instrumental in the development of the protagonist

antithesis

words set up in opposition to each other in nearby lines or clauses

article

used to distinguish between definite (the) and indefinite (a/an) references to nouns

assonance

repetition of vowel sound in words close to each other: Men sells the wedding bells.

asyndeton

the linking of linguistic units without a conjunction: The area was surrounded by policeman, guards, women, children, protestors.

catalyst

a character in a story who causes the protagonist, or main character, to move toward some kind of action or transformation

chiasmus

a crossing of words and phrases; the arrangement of clauses or phrase is swapped; "ABBA": I do not live that I may eat, but I eat that I may live

clause

a group of words that forms a full sentence or part of a sentence

collective noun

noun that refers to a group of people, animals or things: flock, government

comparative

form of adjectives and adverbs used for comparison with the inflection -er or the adverb more: faster, more compassionate

complex sentence

made up of one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses

compound sentence

made up of at least two main clauses joined together by a co-ordinating conjunction

concrete noun

noun that refers to physical things like people, objects, places or substances: chair, vase

conjunction

word class whose function is to join together two parts of a sentence: and, or

declarative

mood used to express a statement: The road is very wet.

determiner

word class which specifies the number and definiteness of a noun: the, a, some

dramatic irony

when the audience knows something that a character on stage does not

epiplexis

often a series of rhetorical questions, seeking to shame, anger, or reproach the audience into seeing the point

epistrophe

the repetition of one or more words at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences

euphemism

a polite or subtle way of saying something bad, inappropriate or embarrassing: She is no longer with us (death).

exclamative

mood used to express surprise or shock: How cool is that!

form

the text type of a piece of writing as a whole, how it is constructed and organized

hyperbole

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally

hypophora

in which the speaker poses a question and then answers the question

hypotactic

writing in which complex sentences dominate; suited to exploring reasons, causes and effects

imperative

mood expressing a directive (command, warning, pleading, inviting): Get down from there.

intensifier

an adverb that adds emphasis as a pre-modifier to an adverb or adjective: so cold, very unfortunate, really slowly.

interrogative

mood expressing a question: Are we nearly there yet?

irony

the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect

isocolon

parallel structures of grammatically equal length

juxtaposition

the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect

litotes

a form of understatement in which an idea is expressed ironically by negating its contrary

main clause

independent and makes sense on its own: The girl runs fast.

metaphor

an implicit comparison

modal verb

marks contrasts in attitude such as obligation, possibility and prediction: must, can, will

noun

word class with a naming function

noun phrase

words added to the noun to provide more information about it: The tall, handsome man (noun) looked sad and lonely in the busy and hectic room (noun).

oxymoron

a figure of speech where two apparently contradictory terms appear next to each other

paratactic

writing that is made up mostly of simple or compound sentences

parenthesis

the use of brackets, commas or dashes in written language to mark out optional information in a sentence: Are you (really) listening?

pathetic fallacy

a kind of personification that gives human emotions to inanimate objects of nature; weather features reflecting a mood: It rains when the character is sad.

personal pronoun

used in place of nouns referring to specific people or things: I, me, mine, you, yours, his, hers, we, they, them

personification

attributing human qualities to non-human things

point of view

first / second / third person narrative

polysyndeton

where coordinating conjunctions are used several times in close succession

possessive

a word (mine, his) or inflection (Mark's, the boys') marking possession

preposition

word class, like in, on, of, that expresses a relationship between two lexical items

prolepsis

the representation of something in the future as if it already existed or had occurred

pronoun

word class that can replace a noun phrase

proper noun

a noun naming a distinctive person, place or other unique reference which is marked with a capital letter

prose

so-called "ordinary writing" — made up of sentences and paragraphs

protagonist

the main character/s in any story, such as a literary work or drama

rhetorical question

a question used to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer

semantic field

a set of words grouped by meaning referring to a specific subject

sibilance

repeated consonant sound: s, sh, z

simile

an explicit comparison

simple sentence

a sentence made up of one main clause

subordinate clause

cannot stand alone as a complete grammatical sentence; needs another clause to complete its meaning: We arrived early because we wanted to get good seats.

superlative

form of adjectives and adverbs used for comparison with the inflection -est or the adverb most: fastest, most compassionate

syndeton

the linking of linguistic units with a conjunction: Ham and chips.

tricolon

a climax of three words or phrases

verb

word class that expresses states, actions and processes: run, want, happy

vocative

used to refer to people when talking to them: madam, sir, honey

zoomorphism

a comparison attributing animal characteristics to an object or abstract concept