TASC English Level 3 flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Main idea

The central point a whole passage develops and supports. It must cover all paragraphs, unlike a detail that supports only one part.

Text structure

The organizational pattern of a passage, such as cause and effect, comparison, problem and solution, or chronological sequence, signaled by transition words.

Author's purpose

The reason a writer produces a text: to inform or explain, to persuade, or to entertain or describe. Word choice and calls to action reveal it.

Valid inference

A conclusion not stated directly but forced by the text's evidence. If opposite conclusions both fit, the inference is not adequately supported.

Objective tone

A neutral, fact-focused attitude in which the writer avoids emotional language and personal judgment, typical of informational and explanatory passages.

Theme

A general insight about life or human behavior that a literary work develops throughout. It is a full statement, not a one-word topic or plot summary.

Character motive

The reason behind a character's behavior, revealed through dialogue, actions, and other characters' reactions rather than through labels alone.

Third-person limited point of view

A narrator outside the story who reports events while staying inside one character's thoughts and perceptions, so other minds remain unknown.

Foreshadowing

A detail planted early that hints at a later event. Its importance usually becomes clear only after the later event occurs.

Situational irony

A contrast between what is expected or intended and what actually happens, such as a fire station burning down.

Mood versus tone

Mood is the feeling the text creates in the reader; tone is the author's attitude toward the subject. Both are inferred from word choice.

Context clue types

Surrounding hints to a word's meaning: definition, example, contrast, and cause-effect. Signal words like such as, but, and because mark them.

Connotation

The emotional or evaluative association a word carries beyond its literal meaning, as in thrifty versus cheap or confident versus arrogant.

Denotation

The literal, dictionary meaning of a word, independent of the positive or negative associations the word may also carry.

Suffix and part of speech

An ending that signals a word's grammatical role: -tion and -ment mark nouns, -ous and -ive adjectives, -ize verbs, and -ly adverbs.

Precise word choice

Selecting the specific word that matches the context's exact shade of meaning, such as muttered instead of said or trudged instead of went.

Subject-verb agreement rule

The verb matches the subject's number, ignoring interrupting prepositional phrases. In the box of tools is, the singular subject box takes is.

Singular indefinite pronouns

Pronouns such as each, either, neither, everyone, and nobody that take singular verbs and singular pronouns in formal standard English.

Comma splice

An error joining two independent clauses with only a comma. Fix it with a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus coordinating conjunction.

Dangling modifier

An introductory modifier whose implied subject differs from the sentence's actual subject, producing an unintended or illogical meaning.

Parallel structure

Using the same grammatical form for items in a series and after correlative pairs such as either or and not only but also.

Pronoun-antecedent agreement

A pronoun must match its antecedent in number and gender and refer to one clear noun, not to an ambiguous or missing referent.

Thesis statement

One sentence presenting a debatable claim for argument or the controlling idea for exposition, and previewing how the essay will be organized.

Counterclaim and rebuttal

Naming the opposing position fairly and then answering it with evidence. A counterclaim dismissed without evidence weakens the argument.

Body paragraph pattern

Topic sentence, evidence, explanation connecting evidence to the claim, and a concluding or transitional sentence that moves the essay forward.

Informative essay purpose

To explain a topic accurately and neutrally, using defined terms and logical organization such as process, comparison, or cause and effect.

Logical transitions

Words signaling relationships between ideas: however for contrast, therefore for result, for instance for example, and similarly for comparison.

Vague versus specific evidence

Unattributed claims like many people think are weak; specific, attributed facts and examples are stronger support for an argument.

Quoting with ellipsis and brackets

Reproduce a source's exact words in quotation marks, using an ellipsis for omitted words and brackets for inserted clarifying words.

Paraphrase standard

Restating a source's idea in your own wording and sentence structure while crediting the source; swapping a few synonyms is not paraphrasing.

Evidence commentary

The writer's explanation after a quotation or fact showing how it supports the claim. Evidence without this link does not count as support.

Source attribution

Identifying where information came from, using the author, title, or line reference the prompt supplies, and never inventing citations.