PEI ELA English flashcards

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

Main idea

The central claim a whole passage is built to support; every supporting detail relates back to it, and no single detail can stand in for it.

Inference

A conclusion drawn from textual evidence plus background knowledge. A defensible inference requires fewer unstated assumptions than its alternatives and is anchored in specific words.

Skimming versus scanning

Skimming moves quickly through a text for gist and structure; scanning moves quickly through a text hunting one specific detail, keyword, date, or name.

Text features

Elements outside the body prose, such as headings, captions, bold type, bulleted lists, footnotes, and diagrams, that organise information and signal importance to the reader.

Author's purpose

The reason a text was made, usually named with an infinitive: to inform, to persuade, to entertain, to instruct. It differs from tone, which is the attitude conveyed.

Summary

A condensed restatement giving only the central claim and its essential support, in the summarizer's own words, with examples and repetition removed.

Thesis statement

A sentence stating a contestable claim together with the reason for it. It organises the whole essay; a topic statement merely names the subject.

Claim-evidence-commentary

Body-paragraph pattern in which a claim is stated, evidence is quoted or cited, and commentary explains how that evidence supports the claim rather than restating it.

Cohesion

The quality that makes sentences hold together, achieved through consistent pronoun reference, parallel structure, and deliberate repetition of key terms instead of constant synonym substitution.

Register

The level of formality a text adopts for its audience and purpose. Formal academic register avoids contractions, second person, slang, and unsupported evaluative adjectives.

Transition

A word or phrase signalling the logical relation between ideas: addition (moreover), contrast (nevertheless), cause (consequently), concession (admittedly), example (for instance).

Multimodal representing

Communicating meaning through combined modes such as image, layout, colour, and text, where each mode adds information rather than merely repeating the others.

Paraphrasing before responding

Restating another speaker's point in your own words before answering. It demonstrates listening, exposes misreading, and should precede disagreement rather than replace it.

Open versus closed questions

Closed questions confirm a fact and invite yes or no; open questions elicit elaboration and reasoning. Probing questions test the evidence behind a claim already made.

Nonverbal delivery

The channels of eye contact, pace, volume, gesture, and posture that modulate meaning, so an identical sentence can sound assertive, apologetic, or uncertain.

Audience analysis

Judging what listeners already know and expect, which determines vocabulary, assumed background, amount of context supplied, and appropriate level of formality.

Presentation structure

An opening establishing why the topic matters, a signposted body organised by claim, and a close restating the through-line and its implication for the audience.

Turn-taking

The conversational norms of yielding the floor, avoiding interruption, and repairing overlap explicitly, which keep discussion productive and let all participants contribute.

Comma splice

An error joining two independent clauses with only a comma. Repair it with a period, a semicolon, or a coordinating conjunction such as but or so.

Sentence fragment

A group of words punctuated as a sentence but missing a subject, a finite verb, or a complete thought, such as a dependent clause beginning with because or although.

Semicolon and colon

A semicolon separates independent clauses or list items containing commas; a colon follows an independent clause to introduce a list, explanation, or quotation.

Subject-verb agreement

The verb matches the head noun of the subject, not nouns in intervening prepositional phrases. Indefinite pronouns such as each, everyone, and neither take singular verbs.

Dangling modifier

An introductory phrase, usually participial, whose implied subject differs from the subject of the main clause, producing an unintended or illogical meaning.

Apostrophe use

An apostrophe marks possession (singular -'s, plural -s') or contraction. It never forms the ordinary plural of a noun, and it is not used with possessive its.

Denotation and connotation

Denotation is a word's dictionary meaning; connotation is the attitude or association it carries. Connotation decides whether a near-synonym suits a given register.

Context clues

Information in surrounding sentences that reveals an unfamiliar word's meaning through definition, contrast, example, or a stated cause-effect relationship.

Theme

An arguable statement about human experience implied by the whole text. A subject such as love or war becomes a theme only when a claim is made about it.

Direct versus indirect characterisation

Direct characterisation states a trait outright; indirect characterisation makes readers infer traits from a character's actions, speech, thoughts, or others' reactions.

Point of view

The narrative perspective controlling access to information: first person limits knowledge to the narrator, omniscient permits any interiority, limited third person restricts it to one character.

Three ironies

Verbal irony says one thing and means another; situational irony contrasts expectation with outcome; dramatic irony gives the audience knowledge a character lacks.

Figurative language analysis

Naming a device such as metaphor or personification and then explaining its effect on meaning. Identifying the device without explaining its work is an incomplete analysis.

Critical response

An interpretation combining a defensible claim about the text, precise quoted evidence, and acknowledgement of a plausible counter-reading that the argument answers.