Download Glossary Literacy L3 - Skills for Life Network

Glossary
This glossary gives brief definitions for terms in the specifications. For more
comprehensive explanations, consult a reference book such as Key Concepts in
Language and Linguistics by R.L. Trask, Routledge 1999.
Words in bold inside a definition are defined elsewhere in this Glossary.
active and passive voice Verbs can be in the active voice (Rob stole a car) or
the passive voice (Our car was stolen). In the active voice the subject does
the action. In the passive voice the subject receives the action.
agreement In a few cases in English, verbs agree with their subjects (so in
standard English, I am, not I is).
alliteration Using the same sound to begin two or more neighbouring words.
blend Combining two or more sounds for fluent reading: tr and str are blends.
case Some English pronouns change case according to function in the clause:
so She saw me but I saw her.
checking question A question used to check understanding.
clause A series of words talking about an event or a situation; most frequently a
clause has a subject and a verb. A sentence contains one or more clauses
(One clause: I’ve already eaten. Two clauses: I ate before I came.)
coherent, coherence vs cohesive, cohesion A coherent text makes
underlying sense. Cohesion refers to the way that words and expressions
(e.g. pronouns, linking expressions like In spite of this) work across sentences
and paragraphs to make that sense.
complex sentence In a complex sentence, a main clause contains one or more
subordinate clauses, e.g. The barman asked her if she was joking.
compound sentence A compound sentence combines two or more clauses in
an equal way, e.g. The heating was on and the flat was comfortably warm.
diction In writing: the choice and use of words. In speaking: style of speaking.
dyslexia An inherited difficulty in learning to read, because of problems either in
making letter-sound connections or in recognising whole words.
finite verb A finite verb has tense and can show agreement, e.g. I’m coming.
function Phrases perform functions in clauses; for example, a noun phrase
can be a subject or an object, or it can modify another noun phrase.
genre A text category with distinctive features, e.g. lyric poetry, small ads.
graphology Graphology deal with the written forms of words.
hyperbole Exaggeration for literary effect.
idiom An expression that can’t be worked out from the meanings of the words.
lexis Vocabulary, including words and expressions.
meta-language Language to talk about language, e.g. noun, genre.
metaphor A metaphor describes a thing or person as if it were something else,
e.g. my tongue was flame / And my kisses burned (Carol Ann Duffy).
misplaced modifier Putting a modifying word or phrase in the wrong place, so
that it is misleading, e.g. Sisters Reunited After 18 Years in Grocery Queue.
morphology Morphology deals with the internal structure of words and how it
affects meaning: e.g. take/takes; faith/faithful/unfaithful/unfaithfulness.
non-finite verb Infinitives and -ing forms are the non-finite forms of verbs: they
aren’t marked for tense or person.
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Literacy subject specifications level 3
noun phrase One or more words functioning like a noun in a clause, e.g.
Lesley phoned. / That woman with the Scots accent phoned. / She phoned.
object In the sentence Brady gave the order, the order is the object. There can
be two objects in a clause (indirect and direct): Brady gave him the order.
Prepositions also have objects, e.g. into the hall, with a group of friends.
onomatopoeia Use of words that sound like what they represent, e.g. sizzle.
personification Talking or writing about a thing as if it were a person.
phoneme One of the smallest meaningful sounds in a language. Bit, bat,
bought, beat, butt, boat each have three phonemes, and the middle phoneme
is different in each case.
phonetics vs phonology Phonology deals with the sound systems (phoneme
systems) of languages. Phonetics deals with the physical nature of speech
sounds - how they are formed, their acoustics, their neurological nature.
phrase A word or group of words that performs a function in a clause. See
verb phrase, noun phrase.
pragmatics Pragmatics deals with how meaning results from the interaction
between the inherent meaning of language (semantics) and the context
where the language is used.
predicate The part of a clause that is not the subject, e.g. Jo told me to come.
prefix, suffix An item that has meaning, but can’t be a word by itself. Prefixes
go at the beginning of words, e.g. unusual; suffixes at the end, e.g. careful.
preposition Words or groups of words (like to, in front of) that go before noun
phrases to form prepositional phrases expressing time, position etc.
pronoun A word like you, mine, himself, somebody, what or these, which can
function as a noun phrase.
redundancy Giving more information than is necessary.
root (or stem) The basic part of a compound word, e.g. unambiguously.
scan To search a text quickly for a particular word or piece of information.
semantics Semantics deals with meaning in language (see pragmatics).
simile A comparison of one person/thing with another using like or as.
simple sentence A sentence with only one clause.
skim To read a text quickly in order to get the gist.
subject The person or thing that a clause is about, e.g. The effect on her was
marked. She felt ashamed. That house was built in 1900. (See predicate.)
subtext A message that is implied, rather than stated, in a text.
suffix See prefix. Suffixes go at the ends of words, e.g. saleable.
syntax Syntax deals with how sentences are put together.
tense Verbs can have tense, prototypically as a way of showing time relations.
English has only two tenses, present and past; but verbs in either tense can
carry aspect (e.g., I go vs I’m going; I wondered vs I had wondered.)
verb phrase One or more words functioning as a verb in a clause, e.g. She
ignored me. I have been running three miles a day since Easter.
word class Words belong to word classes. The main word classes are noun,
pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, determiner, preposition and conjunction.
Some words belong to more than one class; e.g. rock can be noun or verb.
FENTO November 2001
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