English Language SAQ 1 2026

Morpheme

The smallest unit of meaning within a word. These units of meaning are spelled consistently even though their pronunciation may change within words

Root word

Contains primary meaning

Prefix

Attach at the start of a root word

Suffix

Attach at the end of a root word

MR PEPC

Metalinguistic (talks about the language itself)

Referential (conveys information to people)

Poetic (brings an aesthetic)

Emotive (interprets feeling)

Phatic (establishes a social connection)

Conative (directions and commands)

The six factors to consider when exploring a function

Context, message, addresser, addressee, form of contact, way of talking

Lexicology

Lexicology relates to the study of the words themselves and these words fall into various categories known as word classes (or more traditionally, parts of speech).

Nouns

They name people, places, animals, things, ideas, feelings and qualities.

Pronouns

Replace nouns

Verbs

Verbs are sometimes referred to as “doing” as they communicate what a subject (i.e. person or thing) is doing.

They also include “being” and “having” words. Being verbs can also tell us how something “is”.

Auxilary Verbs

Often known as the helper verbs, used to construct grammatical tenses.

eg. I am going, you have gone

Modal Verbs

Express possibility, intent, ability and obligation.

eg. I might eat, I could eat, I would eat

Adverbs

Adverbs help to describe, modify or qualify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs and whole phrases and sentences. Often has a -ly

Adjectives

Adjectives are describing words that modify nouns and pronouns.

Infixes

Rarely used suffix. Appear in the middle of words.

eg. Mothers-in-laws

Determiners

A determiner is a word that’s placed in front of a noun and helps to clarify the noun, specify quantity or indicate possession, include articles, quantifiers, demonstratives, possessives.

Demonstratives

Indicates specific nouns in a sentence. Helps provide information about the proximity of a noun in relation to the speaker and listener.

eg. this. that. these. those

Quantifiers

Helps to specific the quantity of a noun within a phrase. Quantifiers tend to help to answer questions such as ‘How many?’ or ‘How much?’

eg. All, a lot, many, most, much, some, several, few, a couple, one, none

Conjunctions

Conjunctions link words, phrases, clauses and sentences together.

Coordinating conjunctions

FANBOYS – for, and, nor, but, or , yet and so

Subordinating Conjuctions

Subordinating conjunctions: can only join clauses and sentences to each other in a way that demonstrates a parent-child relationship. The parent sentence is referred to as the independent clause, and the ‘child’ sentence as the dependent clause. Most famous is because.

Prepositions

A preposition expresses a relationship between a noun and another word, phrase or element in a sentence.

Purpose

Refers to the reason the text exists

Answers the question: What is this text trying to do?

Intent

Refers to the specific motivation or goal of the author or speaker when creating the text.

Answers the question: What does the author or speaker want the audience to think, feel, or do?

Purpose vs Intent

Purpose is about the text’s role, while (authorial) intent focuses on the creator's goals. Purpose tends to be more objective, whereas (authorial) intent can involve subtle persuasive or emotional aims depending on the context.

Writing an analysis of a function

PMQC

Point: respond to the question

Metalanguage: provide a language feature to support your claim

Quote: quote an example of it from the passage (include line number)

Comment: analyse/explain how it supports your point.

Syntax

Syntax refers to the ways in which words are put together in sentences to make meaning. 

Sentences are created by combining phrases (groups of words with a grammatical relationship) into clauses and then joining clauses to create sentences.

Subject

The subject is the person or thing they will act out the verb. Subjects are typically noun phrases

Object

The object is what the subject and verb are acting upon. While a sentence will always have a subject and a verb, they will not always have an object.

Predicates

All sentences have a predicate and they are very easy to spot – the predicate is what is left of the sentence after you have removed the subject. The predicate must also contain a verb.

Interjection

Expresses a sudden feeling or emotion. eg. hey! oh my!

Sentence Structures

Include sentence fragments, simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, compound-complex sentences.

Simple sentences

A sentence consisting of a subject (noun) and a verb. It stands alone as an independent clause and complete sentence.

 e.g. "The cat sleeps."

Compound sentences

Two or more independent clauses joined together by coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS)  like 'and', 'but', 'or'. Each part can stand alone. 

e.g. "The cat sleeps and the dog barks."

Complex Sentences

Contains one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. They are often joined using a subordinating conjunction, but not always.

e.g. "When the cat sleeps, the dog barks."

Compound-Complex Sentences

Combines elements of both compound and complex sentences. It has two or more independent clauses joined with a coordinating conjunction and at least one dependent clause.

e.g. "While the cat sleeps, the dog barks and the birds chirp."

Sentence Types

There are four main sentence types: declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamative.

Interrogative

Used when framing questions. Designed to elicit responses and always end with a question mark.

Declarative

To provide information, observations or statements. They are the most common sentence type in English.

Imperative

Give a direct order or instruction. This sentence type will often omit the subject of the sentence.

Exclamative

Make exclamations! They indicate high levels of feeling or emotion and emphasise what is being said. Written forms end with an exclamation mark, while spoken term may end with a rising intonation, stress or volume. 

Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning in language at a morpheme, word, phrase and sentence level.

Oxymoron

An oxymoron is a type of phrase that combines two apparently contradictory words for special effect.

For example, in the opening scene of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo cries out: ‘O brawling love, o loving hate’.

Irony

Irony occurs when a speaker or writer states one thing but actually intends the audience to understand an opposing or contradictory meaning. For example, in stormy weather, a person who said ‘Nice day for a picnic’ would expect their listeners to understand that the statement was ironic and that it was, in fact, a terrible day for a picnic.

Personification

Personification is a specific type of metaphor that gives non-humans(animals, ideas, objects, places) human qualities or abilities such as emotions, desires, expressions or language.

How are SAQs marked

Marks are tight. We don’t give half-marks, so you either hit the point or you don’t.

Here’s the rough guide:

1 mark → identify a feature (not common in Year 12)

2 marks → feature + effect.

3–4 marks → feature + effect + explanation linked to context.

5 marks → usually a comparison or extended explanation.

What assessors want

Clear and concise answers (1–3 sentences).

Correct metalanguage.

Direct quotes with line numbers.

No waffle — accuracy beats length.

D.I.I.E.

Declaritive.Interrogative.Imperitive.Exclamative.

PALMOFSHIP Semantics

Pun, Animation, Lexical Ambiguity, Metaphor, Oxymoron, Figurative Language, Simile, Hyperbole, Irony, Personfication

Lexical Ambiguity

Lexical ambiguity occurs when a single word or phrase has multiple, distinct meanings, causing confusion or different interpretations of a sentence. This phenomenon often happens when the surrounding context is insufficient to clarify which meaning is intended.