ЦТ English Language flashcards
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33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Main idea
- The central point the whole passage makes about its topic. It must be broad enough to cover every paragraph and specific enough to exclude details.
- Inference question
- A question asking for a conclusion not stated directly. The correct option follows logically from the text; options true only in real life are wrong.
- Vocabulary in context
- A question type where a word's meaning must be decided from the surrounding sentences, not from its most common dictionary sense.
- Author's tone
- The attitude revealed by word choice, such as approving, neutral, critical or ironic. Tone is described with an adjective, not with the topic.
- Pronoun reference
- The noun a pronoun such as it, they or this stands for. The antecedent normally appears earlier and matches the pronoun in number and gender.
- EXCEPT question
- A question in which three options are directly supported by the passage and the fourth is not. The unsupported option is the answer.
- Author's purpose
- The reason the writer produced the text, for example to inform, persuade, warn, entertain or compare. It differs from the main idea.
- Present perfect
- A tense formed with have or has plus the past participle. It connects a past action to the present and appears with for, since, already, yet, ever, never.
- Past simple markers
- Finished-time expressions such as yesterday, last year, in 1998 and two days ago require the past simple, not the present perfect.
- Third conditional
- If plus past perfect in the condition, and would have plus past participle in the result. It describes an unreal situation in the past.
- Reported speech shift
- When speech is reported, the tense moves one step back, pronouns change to fit the reporter, and time words shift, for example now to then.
- Passive voice
- Formed with a form of be plus the past participle. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject, and the agent is optional.
- Gerund after prepositions
- Any verb following a preposition takes the -ing form, as do verbs like enjoy, avoid, suggest and the phrase look forward to.
- Relative pronouns
- Who refers to people, which to things, whose to possession and where to places. The pronoun may be omitted only when it is not the subject.
- Subject-verb agreement
- The verb matches the head noun of the subject. Words like each, every, everyone and nobody are singular, even when followed by a plural phrase.
- Zero article
- No article is used before plural or uncountable nouns making a general statement, as in "Books are expensive" or "Water boils at 100 degrees".
- Collocation
- A word partnership fixed by usage rather than logic, such as make a decision, do homework, take part in and pay attention to.
- Phrasal verb particles
- The particle changes the meaning: give up means quit, give in means surrender, give out means distribute, give away means donate.
- Uncountable nouns
- Nouns with no plural and no a or an, taking much or little, such as information, advice, news, furniture, luggage and equipment.
- Suffix for word class
- Endings that fix the part of speech: -tion and -ment make nouns, -ful and -less make adjectives, -ize and -ify make verbs.
- Say versus tell
- Say is followed by the words spoken; tell is followed by the person addressed. Compare "She said nothing" with "She told me nothing".
- See, watch, look
- See means perceive without effort, watch means observe something moving over time, and look requires the preposition at before an object.
- Gradable and extreme adjectives
- Gradable adjectives like good take very; extreme ones like excellent take absolutely or totally and have no comparative form.
- Would you mind reply
- The phrase is answered with "Not at all" or "Of course not" to grant the request, because a literal yes would refuse it.
- Making suggestions
- Shall we, Why don't we, What about plus -ing, and Let's all introduce a proposal; typical acceptance is "That sounds great".
- Formal letter closings
- Yours faithfully follows Dear Sir or Madam, while Yours sincerely follows a named recipient such as Dear Mr Smith.
- Asking for repetition
- Polite formulas include "Could you say that again?" and "I beg your pardon?". A bare imperative like "Repeat!" is impolite.
- Short agreement forms
- So plus auxiliary plus subject agrees with a positive statement; neither or nor plus auxiliary plus subject agrees with a negative one.
- Apology and response
- Apologize with Sorry for plus -ing or I apologize for plus a noun; standard replies are "That's all right" and "No problem".
- Consonant doubling rule
- Double the final consonant before -ing or -ed when a one-syllable word ends in vowel plus consonant, as in stop to stopped.
- Apostrophe uses
- An apostrophe marks possession (the girl's coat, the girls' coats) and contraction (it's equals it is), while its without one is possessive.
- Comma splice
- Two independent clauses joined only by a comma. Repair it with a full stop, a semicolon, or a comma plus and, but or or.
- Linking words
- Connectors that signal the relation between ideas: however for contrast, therefore for result, in addition for adding, for example for illustration.