DUPLE (C2) key terms

A conclusion a reader or listener draws from evidence in a text rather than from an explicit statement, bridging what is written with background knowledge.

The central meaning or overall point of a spoken or written text, as distinct from its supporting details and exact wording.

The variety of language a speaker or writer selects according to setting, audience, and purpose, ranging from intimate to formal and ceremonial.

Meaning that a speaker intends to convey without stating it directly, recovered by the hearer from context and from assuming the speaker is cooperating.

An assumption built into an utterance and taken for granted as true, which survives under negation and can be cancelled only with effort.

Four conversational principles of quantity, quality, relation, and manner that describe how cooperative speakers shape contributions and how hearers interpret deliberate flouting.

The assumption that participants in a conversation contribute what is required at the stage it is required, by the accepted purpose of the exchange.

The surface links that tie sentences together, achieved through reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical repetition or collocation.

The underlying logical and topical unity of a text, whereby its parts form a meaningful whole that a reader can follow.

Reference backward to something already mentioned, typically through a pronoun or demonstrative, as when a later phrase points to an earlier noun phrase.

Reference forward to something mentioned later in the text, often used for suspense or emphasis, as when a pronoun precedes the noun it names.

A word or phrase such as however, well, or in other words that signals how a stretch of discourse relates to what precedes or follows it.

The sentence, usually early in a paragraph, that states the paragraph's controlling idea and is then supported by the remaining sentences.

A single sentence in an essay or report that states the central claim and previews how the argument will be organised and supported.

A restatement of a source's meaning in different words and sentence structure while preserving its content, with the source acknowledged.

A condensed account that keeps the main points of a source and omits detail, expressed in the summariser's own words.

Expressing a concept indirectly with more words than necessary, often used deliberately when the precise term is unavailable in the target language.

A word in two languages that looks or sounds similar but differs in meaning, such as a cognate that misleads rather than helps the translator.

A word in one language that shares an origin and often a similar form with a word in another, though meanings may diverge over time.

The habitual co-occurrence of particular words, such as heavy rain or make a decision, which native-like usage respects and arbitrary substitution breaks.

A fixed expression whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal senses of its component words, such as to bite the bullet.

The emotional or evaluative associations a word carries beyond its literal reference, which affect tone and can differ between near-synonyms.

The core, literal referential meaning of a word, independent of the feelings or attitudes it may evoke in use.

A mild or indirect word substituted for one considered harsh or blunt, often to soften a topic such as death or dismissal.

Linguistic devices such as perhaps, tend to, or it could be argued that which soften claims and signal caution, politeness, or academic modesty.

The grammatical marking of possibility, necessity, obligation, or ability, chiefly through modal verbs and adverbs such as must, may, and possibly.

A verb form used to express wishes, hypotheticals, demands, or suggestions, as in if I were you or I insist that he be present.

A sentence structure expressing that one situation depends on another, typically with an if-clause and a main clause whose tense and modal vary by type.

A clause construction in which the grammatical subject receives the action, formed with a form of be or get plus a past participle.

The participant who performs the action of a verb; in a passive clause it may appear in a by-phrase or be left unexpressed.

The semantic function a noun phrase fulfils in relation to its verb, such as agent, patient, experiencer, instrument, or location.

The rules governing how words combine into phrases and sentences, including word order, agreement, and the structure of clauses.

The study of the internal structure of words, including how roots take inflectional endings and how derivational affixes create new lexemes.

The relationship between participants in a communicative event, in terms of power, distance, and affect, which shapes the register chosen.

The degree to which language conforms to conventional, impersonal, and elaborated norms rather than casual, colloquial, and context-dependent usage.

An informal word or expression characteristic of everyday conversation, generally avoided in formal writing but natural in speech.

The structured presentation of reasons and evidence in support of a claim, including anticipation of and response to counterarguments.

Acknowledging a point that favours an opposing view before restating one's own position, often introduced by although, admittedly, or while.