Acronym	A word formed from the initial letters of two or more successive words (e.g. UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation).
Active voice	Where the subject of a verb is performing the action involved (e.g. She won the race).
Adjective	A word that modifies a noun
Adjunct	An optional or less-important part of a clause or sentence (e.g. on the floor in the sentence I dropped the glass on the floor).
Adverb	A word that modifies a verb
Alliteration	The repetition of the same letter or sounds at the beginning of adjacent or closely related words
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
Anaphoric reference	Where a word refers back to an earlier part of a text for its meaning (e.g. in the following text, the underlined words refer anaphorically to ‘David’: I recognised David immediately, even though I had not seen him, my oldest friend, in years.)
Antonym	A word with the opposite meaning to another word.
Archaism	A word which is no longer in everyday use, or has lost a particular meaning in current usage.
Aspect	A form of the verb which explains its relation to time, particularly indicating whether an action is completed (e.g. the perfect – had walk ed) or incomplete (e.g. as in the progressive – was walk ing or perfect progressive – had been walk ing). Compare with Tense.
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 (e.g. in the following text, the underlined words refer cataphorically to ‘Sarah’: Although I had not seen her in years, I recognised 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
Colloquial	The casual conversation of everyday language.
Compounding	Forming a word from two or more units that are themselves words (e.g. whiteboard from white and board).
Conjunction	A linking word in a sentence, often to join two clauses
Connotation	The range of associated meanings brought to mind by a particular word, beyond its essential meaning (or denotation).
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
Coordination	Connecting two or more independent clauses through the use of coordinating conjunctions.
Deixis	Language whose meaning is determined in part by contextual factors, such as who is using it, when, where and to whom (e.g. 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 (e.g. 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
Eponym	The name of something that is also the name of someone credited with inventing or discovering it.
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 (e.g. simile or metaphor).
First person narrative	Where a character in a story narrates the events that they are experiencing. Recognised 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 (e.g. 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 (e.g. speech, dialogue, poem, novel, website) involves categorising texts according to how their structural elements combine to create a unified and recognisable whole. Different forms of text can usually be subdivided into genres (e.g. 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 (e.g. fantasy novel, tragic play, ballad, online review, television commercial, formal report).
Grammar	Has a wide meaning, but generally relates to rules for the organisation of meaning in a language.
Head word	The main word in a phrase (e.g. the noun boy in the noun phrase the happy boy).
Idiom	Phrases generally understood in a language but which do not directly translate (e.g. I caught the train by the skin of my teeth = 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.
Intensifier	A word, often an adverb or adjective, which has little meaning by itself but is used to add force to other phrases (e.g. 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 – which enable them to exchange complex information efficiently. Jargon 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 (e.g. This translates as… or I meant to say...).
Modality	The modality of an utterance refers to the attitude a speaker or writer takes to the idea being expressed (e.g. certainty, possibility, obligation, ability). Modality is usually conveyed by the use of the appropriate grammatical mood.
Mode	The format through which ideas or content are communicated to an audience. Modes include spoken (e.g. a conversation, a spontaneous speech), written (e.g. a novel, the text of a leaflet), electronic (e.g. an email, a blog), and image (e.g. a photograph), and can be combined in a variety of mixed modes (e.g. 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	A grammatical feature through which a speaker or writer can express modality (i.e. an attitude towards the content of an utterance), usually involving modal verbs such as can, ought or might. Moods include the indicative/declarative (making a statement), the interrogative (asking a question), the imperative (making a command), and the subjunctive (expressing wishes or uncertainty). Alternatively, ‘mood’ 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	In grammar, the object is the thing or person acted upon by the subject (e.g. 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 (e.g. 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 (e.g. 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 (e.g. 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

Cambridge English Setlist 1-100