Download Glossary

Glossary
This category of vocabulary will make up approximately 20% of the test.
Assessment in this domain focuses on using the correct conventions of Standard American
English, including grammar, punctuation, and sentence construction, and demonstrating
understanding of the different formats required for different forms of writing.
The following is a list of carefully matched vocabulary terms for this section of the test/
exam.
Antonym
This is a word or phrase that means the opposite of another word or phrase.
Apostrophe
This is used to show the possessive form of a noun and is used to show that a letter or
letters have been left out of a contraction.
Appositive
This is a word or phrase that identifies or explains the noun that it follows.
Capitalization
This is the use of letters to indicate proper nouns, or it is used at the beginning of a
sentence.
Clause
This is a group of words that has a subject and a predicate. It can be dependent or
independent.
Colon
This is a punctuation mark used before a list of items or details, before a statement
that summarizes the original statement, before a long, formal quotation or statement,
or in a business letter after the salutation.
Comma
This is a punctuation mark that may be used to indicate a pause, connection,
separation, list or for clarity or to show importance.
Comma Splice
This results when two or more independent clauses are joined by a comma without a
coordinating conjunction.
Conjunctive Adverb
This may be used with a semicolon to connect independent clauses and usually serves
as a transition between the clauses.
Contraction
This is a word formed by combining two words and adding an apostrophe where the
letters are omitted.
Conventions
In writing, this is the trait to measure standard writing and the editing processes of
spelling, punctuation, grammar, capitalization, and paraphrasing.
Ellipsis Mark
This, three spaced periods, is used to indicate that a word or words have been deleted
from a direct quote.
Gender
Traditionally, this has been used primarily to refer to the grammatical categories of
‘masculine,’ ‘feminine,’ and ‘neuter.’
Gerund
This is a verb form ending in -ing that functions as a noun.
Grammar
This is the structure of language and the rules that go with it.
Hyphen
This is a punctuation mark used to divide or to compound words or elements.
Indefinite Pronoun
This takes the place of a noun and refers to nonspecific persons or things.
Independent Clause
This is a group of words that states the main thought of a sentence and is complete
within itself.
Infinitive
This is always in the form of ’to’ + a verb-like word. This verbal unit in a sentence
actually acts as a noun, adjective, or adverb, rather than a verb.
Object
This is never the subject, but always a noun, in a sentence it can be either direct or
indirect.
Paragraph
This is a section in a piece of writing that discusses a particular point or topic. It always
begins with a new line, usually with indentation.
Phrase
This is a group of words used as a single part of speech without a subject and verb.
Plural
This indicates more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
Possessive Pronoun
This is a word that takes the place of noun and shows ownership.
Pronoun
This is a word that takes the place of a noun.
Punctuation
This is the system of standardized marks in written language to clarify meaning.
Quotation Marks
These are used to enclose direct quotations and to designate titles of short works (like
newspaper and magazine articles, poems, short stories, songs, episodes of television
and radio programs, and subdivisions of books or web sites).
Run-on Sentence
This results when independent clauses have not been joined correctly.
Semicolon
This is a punctuation mark that is used between clauses of a compound sentence when
a conjunction is not used, before conjunctive adverbs that join independent clauses,
and in a series when the series already contains commas.
Sentence Fragment
This is a group of words that does not have both a subject and a verb and cannot stand
alone. It may be punctuated and capitalized as a sentence, but it does not constitute a
complete sentence
Simple Sentence
This is an independent clause with no subordinate clauses.
Subject Verb Agreement
This is a rule that both the subject and verb must be the same in number.
Subordinate Clause
This is also known as a dependent clause. While it may contain a subject and verb and
sometimes objects or complements, it cannot stand alone as it conveys an incomplete
thought. It usually functions as an adjective, adverb or noun within a complete
sentence.
Synonym
This is a word or phrase that has the same or almost the same meaning as another
word or phrase.
Syntax
This refers to the ordering of elements in a sentence.
Tense Shift
This is when a passage begins as happening in one particular time and then goes to
another time without warning and for no reason.
Verb
This is a word that denotes action, occurrence or existence.
Verb Tense
This indicates the time of the action or state of being.
Word Choice
This is another way of saying ’diction.’ This can help reveal a) the tone of the work, b)
connotations of meaning, and/or c) his style of writing.