Cameroon GCE Ordinary Level English Language key terms

A word that names a person, place, thing, quality or idea, such as 'teacher', 'Buea', 'honesty' or 'book'. It can be the subject or object of a verb and may be singular or plural.

A word that expresses an action, an event or a state of being, such as 'run', 'happen' or 'seem'. It carries tense and agrees with its subject in number and person.

A word that describes or limits a noun or pronoun, giving information about size, colour, number or quality, as in 'a tall boy' or 'three mangoes'. It may come before the noun or after a linking verb.

A word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb, usually telling how, when, where or how often something happens, as in 'She spoke quietly' or 'He arrived late'.

A word used in place of a noun or noun phrase to avoid repetition, such as 'he', 'they', 'it', 'who' or 'themselves'. Its meaning depends on the noun it refers back to.

A word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and another word in the sentence, often indicating place, time or direction, as in 'under the table', 'at noon' or 'to Douala'.

A word that joins words, phrases or clauses, such as 'and', 'but', 'because' or 'although'. Coordinating conjunctions join equal parts; subordinating conjunctions introduce dependent clauses.

The word or group of words in a clause about which something is said, normally the doer of the action, as in 'The children laughed'. It controls the number and person of the verb.

The part of a sentence or clause that says something about the subject; it contains the verb and may include objects, complements and adverbials, as in 'The rain fell heavily all night'.

The noun, pronoun or noun phrase that receives the action of a transitive verb, as in 'She bought a new dress'. It can be direct or indirect, and it may also follow a preposition.

A group of words containing a subject and a finite verb. A main clause can stand alone as a sentence, while a subordinate clause depends on another clause for its full meaning.

A group of related words that functions as a single unit within a sentence but lacks both a subject and a finite verb, such as 'in the morning' or 'very tired students'.

A complete unit of thought beginning with a capital letter and ending with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark. It normally contains at least one independent clause.

The form of a verb that shows the time of the action or state, such as present, past or future. It may also show whether the action is simple, continuous or perfect.

A helping verb used with a main verb to form tenses, questions, negatives or the passive voice, such as 'be', 'have', 'do', 'will', 'can' and 'must'.

A special auxiliary verb such as 'can', 'may', 'must', 'should' or 'would' that expresses ability, permission, obligation, possibility or willingness. It has no -s in the third person singular.

A verb that normally requires an object to complete its meaning, as in 'The boy kicked the ball'. Without an object the sentence feels incomplete or the meaning changes.

A verb that does not take a direct object because its meaning is complete on its own, as in 'The baby slept' or 'They arrived early'.

The rule that a verb must match its subject in number and person, so a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb, as in 'She writes' but 'They write'.

The arrangement in which the subject performs the action of the verb, as in 'The farmer planted the maize'. It is usually clearer and more direct than the passive.

The arrangement in which the subject receives the action, formed with a form of 'be' plus the past participle, as in 'The maize was planted by the farmer'. The doer may be left out.

A verb form used as part of a verb phrase or as an adjective. The present participle ends in -ing ('running water'); the past participle often ends in -ed, -en or another irregular form ('broken glass').

The -ing form of a verb used as a noun, as in 'Swimming is good exercise' or 'She enjoys reading'. It can act as subject, object or complement.

The base form of a verb, usually preceded by 'to', as in 'to eat', 'to travel'. It can function as a noun, adjective or adverb, and it follows certain verbs and adjectives.

The exact words spoken by a person, placed inside quotation marks and usually introduced by a reporting clause, as in: He said, 'I am tired.'

A way of telling what someone said without quoting the exact words, often shifting the tense and pronouns, as in 'He said that he was tired'. Also called indirect speech.

The marks used in writing to separate sentences and parts of sentences and to make meaning clear, including the full stop, comma, question mark, apostrophe, colon and quotation marks.

The punctuation mark (') used to show that letters have been left out in a contraction, as in 'don't', or to show possession, as in 'the girl's bag'.

An error in which two independent clauses are joined only by a comma, as in 'I was late, I missed the bus'. It should be corrected with a full stop, semicolon or conjunction.

A sentence in which two or more independent clauses are written together without proper punctuation or a conjunction, so the reader cannot easily see where one idea ends.

A form showing ownership or close association, usually made with an apostrophe and -s for nouns ('the teacher's desk') or with possessive pronouns such as 'mine', 'hers' and 'theirs'.

The form of a word that refers to more than one person or thing, usually made by adding -s or -es to a noun, as in 'books' or 'boxes', though many plurals are irregular, such as 'children' and 'mice'.

The form of an adjective or adverb used to compare two things, made by adding -er or by using 'more', as in 'taller', 'more careful'. The superlative compares three or more.

A word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word in a particular context, such as 'begin' and 'start'. Exact synonyms are rare because words differ in tone and use.

A word that expresses the opposite meaning of another word, such as 'hot' and 'cold' or 'generous' and 'mean'. Antonyms are often tested in vocabulary exercises.

The stock of words a person knows and can use. In an examination it covers understanding word meaning, choosing the right word for a context, and forming words with prefixes and suffixes.

A letter or group of letters added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning, as in 'un-happy', 're-write' or 'dis-agree'. It usually does not change the word class.

A letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning or word class, as in 'kind-ness', 'beauti-ful' or 'teach-er'.

A short account of the main points of a passage, written in the candidate's own words and without unnecessary detail, examples or repetition. It keeps the original meaning and order of ideas.

The ability to read a passage and understand its meaning, including stated facts, implied ideas, the writer's attitude and the relationships between parts of the text.

A conclusion drawn from evidence in the text rather than stated directly. The reader combines clues with general knowledge to work out what the writer implies.

To express the meaning of a passage in different words while keeping the sense unchanged. It is a key skill in summary writing and in answering comprehension questions in your own words.

A piece of continuous writing on a given topic, organised into an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion. In this examination it is judged on content, organisation, expression and mechanical accuracy.

A group of sentences developing one main idea, usually marked by indentation or a line space. A good paragraph has a topic sentence, supporting details and a linking sentence.

The sentence, usually first in a paragraph, that states the main idea the rest of the paragraph will develop. It guides the reader and keeps the writing focused.

A letter written to an official, institution or business, using polite and impersonal language, a clear subject line, and a proper layout with addresses, salutation and closing.

A personal letter written to a friend or relative, using relaxed, friendly language and a less rigid layout, often including personal news, feelings and contractions.

The level of language suited to a particular situation, audience or purpose, ranging from formal to informal and from technical to everyday. Choosing the wrong register weakens communication.

An expression whose meaning cannot be worked out from the individual words, such as 'to bury the hatchet' meaning to end a quarrel. Idioms are fixed in form and often informal.

A short, well-known saying that expresses a general truth or piece of advice, such as 'A stitch in time saves nine'. Proverbs are common in African oral tradition and in composition topics.

A word or phrase used in a non-literal way for effect, including simile, metaphor, personification and hyperbole. Recognising these helps in interpreting poems and descriptive prose.

A comparison between two unlike things using 'like' or 'as', as in 'Her smile was as bright as the sun'. It makes description vivid and easy to picture.

A comparison in which one thing is described as if it were another, without using 'like' or 'as', as in 'The classroom was a zoo'. It suggests a strong shared quality.

The central point that a passage, paragraph or speech is making, to which all other details are related. Identifying it is the first step in summary and comprehension work.

The correct arrangement of letters in a word. Examiners penalise errors in spelling, so candidates should know common rules, irregular plurals and frequently confused words such as 'their' and 'there'.