English Cambridge AS Vocabulary Terms

Mr. Gonzalez's Terms

Acronym

A word formed from the initial letters of two or more successive words.

Ex. UNESCO, that stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation

Active Voice

Where the subject performs the action (verb) of the object.

Ex. She won the race.

Adjective

A word that modifies a noun.

Ex. A sharp knife.

Adjunct

An optional or less-important part of a clause or sentence.

Ex. “On the floor” in the sentence, “I dropped the glass on the floor.”

Adverb

A word that modifies a verb.

Ex. I completely understand.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same letter or sounds at the beginning of adjacent or closely related words.

Ex. I’m super shy.

Allusion

Reference to another text, often indirectly.

Analogy

A comparison of two things which have some element of similarity. The similarity is often used to help clarify an issue or idea.

Anaphora

Deliberate repetition of words for rhetorical effect, usually in the beginning of a sentence.

Anaphoric Reference

Where a word refers back to an earlier part of a text for its meaning.

Ex. I recognized David immediately, even though I had not seen him, my oldest friend, in years.

Antonymn

A word with the opposite meaning to another word.

Ex. Arrive v.s. Depart

Archaism

A word which is no longer in everyday use, or has lost a particular meaning in current usage.

Ex. Behold, thou

Aspect

A form of the verb which explains its relation to time, particularly indicating whether an action is completed.

Ex. The perfect: Had walked

The progressive: Was walking

The perfect progressive: Had been walking

Audience

The readers and/or listeners of a text.

Author

The producer of a text.

Autobiography

The story of the writer's life told from his or her point of view.

Biography

An account of someone's life told by a third person narrator.

Cataphoric Reference

Where a word refers to a later part of a text for its meaning.

Ex. Although I had not seen her in years, I recognized my old friend Sarah immediately.)

Clause

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

Cohesion

Strategies used by a writer or speaker to ensure that a text is structured with features that will allow it to be followed by a reader or listener.

Ex. However, in addition, for instance, moreover

Colloquial

The casual conversation of everyday language.

Compounding

Forming a word from two or more units that are themselves words

Ex. Whiteboard from white and board

Conjunction

A linking word in a sentence, often to join two clauses.

Ex. And, or, nor, but

Connotation

The range of associated meanings brought to mind by a particular word, beyond its essential meaning.

Context

The situation in which a text is produced, including aspects such as social, cultural, political background.

Contraction

The omission of letters to make things less formal.

Ex. Don’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t shouldn't

Coordination

Connecting two or more independent clauses through the use of coordinating conjunction.

Ex. I drove to her house and dropped off her food.

Deixis

Language whose meaning is determined in part by contextual factors, such as who is using it, when, where and to whom

Ex. This, that, now, you, tomorrow

Denotation

The primary meaning of a word, not including its connotations.

Derivation

Creating a new word from an existing word, often with the addition of a prefix or suffix

Ex. Unwilling derives from will with the prefix “un-” and the suffix “-ing”

Dialectical Structure

A three-part argument, moving from thesis (an initial argument) to antithesis (the counterargument) and finally to a synthesis that combines the two.

Dialogue

Interchange between two or more speakers.

Direct Speech

The use of the exact words spoken by a speaker/character.

Discourse

Any spoken or written language that is longer than a single sentence.

Discourse Markers

Words or phrases which mark boundaries between one topic and another, where a writer or speaker wishes to change the subject.

Discursive

A style in which facts and opinions are put forward and explored in order to develop an argument.

Ellipsis

The intentional omission of a word, sentence, or section of text for reasons of economy or effect.

Emotive

Arousing intense feelings or emotions.

Epiphora

The repetition of the same letter or sounds at the end of successive clauses or sentences.

Ex. One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish

Eponym

The name of something that is also the name of someone credited with inventing or discovering it.

Ex. Fahrenheit is named after Gabriel Fahrenheit

Etymology

A study of the history of a word and its earlier forms and meanings.

Euphemism

A mild, indirect vague term used instead of one considered harsh or offensive.

Exophoric Reference

Where a word refers to something outside a text for its meaning, typically as a consequence of a writer or speaker’s expectations as to the knowledge already possessed by the text’s intended audience.

Figurative Language

Language which expands upon the basic or literal meaning of a word or phrase.

Ex. Simile or metaphor

First Person Narrative

Where a character in a story narrates the events that they are experiencing.

Ex. Recognized by the use of I, we, us, our

Foregrounding

Using grammatical or syntactic devices to draw attention to a particular idea in a text.

Form

Generally, the specific type of whatever category is being considered

Ex. Textual form, verb form, grammatical form

Used on its own, the word ‘form’ often refers to textual form. The division of texts into specific forms

Ex. Speech, dialogue, poem, novel, website involves categorizing texts according to how their structural elements combine to create a unified and recognizable whole.

Different forms of text can usually be subdivided into genres

Ex. Persuasive speech, romantic novel, cooperative dialogue, (depending on their content)

Formality

The extent to which spoken or written texts either conform to standard conventions or employ more personal language strategies.

Genre

A subdivision of textual form determined by the text’s content

Ex. Fantasy novel, tragic play, ballad, online review, television commercial, formal report

Grammar

Rules for the organisation of meaning in a language.

Head Word

The main word in a phrase

Ex. The noun boy in the noun phrase “the happy boy”

Idiom

Phrases generally understood in a language but which do not directly translate

Ex. “I caught the train by the skin of my teeth” means “I only just caught the train in time”

In Medias Res

Beginning a narrative in the middle of the events without any build-up or initial explanation.

Inference

The act of deducing implied meanings.

Infinitive

The basic, dictionary form of a verb when not associated with a tense.

Ex. TO sing, TO dance

Intensifier

A word, often an adverb or adjective, which has little meaning by itself but is used to add force to other phrases

Ex. Really, very

Intertextuality

Where a text produces additional meaning by referring in some way to another text.

Irony

When the intended meaning of a text or utterance differs radically from its literal interpretation.

Jargon

Words and phrases known primarily by a group of people, often within a particular profession, enable them to exchange complex information efficiently. It may be unintelligible to people outside the group who use it.

Lexical Field

A set of words grouped by meaning around a specific subject- law or medicine, for example.

Lexis

The complete vocabulary of a language.

Metalanguage

Language which is used to describe or comment on language

Ex. This translates as… or I meant to say...

Modality

The attitude a speaker or writer takes to the idea being expressed, usually conveyed by the use of the appropriate grammatical mood.

Ex. Certainty, possibility, obligation, ability

Mode

The format through which ideas or content are communicated to an audience.

They include spoken (a conversation, a spontaneous speech), written (a novel, the text of a leaflet), electronic (an email, a blog), and image (a photograph), and can be combined in a variety of mixed modes (a prepared speech, a podcast).

Modifier

A word or phrase that qualifies or describes (usually an adverb/adverbial phrase or adjective/adjective phrase).

Monologue

Discourse entirely spoken or written by one person.

Mood

An attitude towards the content of an utterance, usually involving modal verbs such as “can”, “ought” or “might”.

It includes the indicative/declarative, the interrogative, the imperative, and the subjunctive.

Alternatively, it can also refer to the emotion or feelings evident in a text and the language used to create these feelings.

Multimodal

Consisting of more than one mode.

Narrative

A spoken or written account of connected events.

Narrative Structure

The way in which a story is constructed.

Narrative Voice

The voice of the person telling the story.

Netspeak

The language of the internet.

Noun

A word that identifies people, places, or things.

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.

Ex. The phrase the meal in the sentence "The girl ate the meal.”

Omniscient Narrator

Where the narrator in a story knows all the thoughts, actions and feelings of the characters.

Passive Voice

Where the subject receives the action of a verb.

Ex. The ball was kicked.

Personification

Attributing human characteristics to nonhuman things.

Perspective

Point of view.

Phrase

A group of words that do not constitute a complete sentence.

Point Of View

A writer or speaker's choices about how to present information, ideology.

Pragmatics

A branch of linguistics concerned with the ways in which meaning can alter according to the context of utterance.

Prefix

A group of letters, usually conveying a particular meaning, which are added to the front of a word to give a new meaning (e.g. un-, pre-, and with-).

Preposition

A word governing a noun or pronoun to demonstrate a relationship between it and other elements.

Pronoun

A word used to substitute for a noun already mentioned.

Prose

Ordinary language, without a rhyming pattern or rhythmic structure.

Protagonist

The main character in a literary work.

Purpose

A writer or speaker’s main aim when producing a text.

Register

The variety of language used in a particular situation, particularly with regard to levels of formality.

Rhetoric

Devices/language used to persuade or convince.

Rhetorical Question

A question posed by a writer or speaker for emphasis or dramatic effect.

Second Person Narrative

When the reader is addressed directly, typically through the use of you, your, yours, etc.

Semantic

Related to the meaning of words.

Semantic Field

A group of words that relate to a shared area of meaning

Ex. Needle, nurse, and antibiotic could be grouped within the semantic field of medicine.

Sentence

Generally, a set of words that is grammatically complete, consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more additional subordinate clauses.

Sentence Structure

How a sentence is composed from different building blocks. Simple, compounds, complex, compound-complex.

Setting

The time, place and atmosphere in which the action of a piece of writing takes place.

Simile

A figure of speech which makes a comparison between two different things which have one point of likeness, usually using the words like or as.

Ex. She was as fast as lightning.

Situation

The location, time, circumstances within or text or the circumstances in which the text is received.

Slang

Informal words or expressions.