Gaokao English key terms

The overall meaning of a passage or recording, grasped without understanding every word. Candidates who catch the gist can still answer main-idea questions when some details are missed.

Picking out concrete facts from a recording - a time, price, name, place or number - while ignoring everything irrelevant. The question tells you what to hunt for before the audio starts.

Using the question, the options and the situation to guess what a speaker is likely to say next. Accurate guesses prime the ear and reduce the load on working memory.

Expressing the same idea in different words. Correct listening and reading options usually restate the text this way rather than repeating its exact wording.

The emphasis and pitch movement a speaker gives to words. They signal contrast, emotion or a correction, and often carry the answer to a listening question.

The central point a passage is built around. It is usually stated in a topic sentence, and every other sentence supports, illustrates or qualifies it.

A sentence that announces what a paragraph is about, typically placed first. The sentences that follow explain, illustrate or qualify it.

Running the eye quickly over a text to locate one specific item, such as a date, name or figure, without reading the surrounding sentences.

Reading rapidly for the general sense and structure of a text, noting headings, first sentences and repeated terms rather than details.

A meaning the text implies but never states outright. Candidates reach it by combining textual clues with general knowledge and checking which option the evidence actually supports.

An option that borrows vocabulary from the passage but misstates, exaggerates or misattributes it. Recognizing the mismatch is the core skill in multiple-choice reading.

The attitude a writer or speaker takes toward the subject, such as amused, sceptical or sympathetic. It is judged from word choice and detail rather than stated directly.

The reason behind a text - to inform, persuade, entertain, warn or instruct. Purpose explains why certain details were chosen and others left out.

A word or phrase that links sentences and shows how ideas relate - addition, contrast, cause, result or example. A wrong choice breaks the logic even when each sentence is grammatical.

The earlier noun phrase that a pronoun such as it, they, this or he points back to. Tracking it correctly tells you which sentence can follow which.

A run of related words across a text - cost, price, afford, budget - that keeps a topic alive and helps you match a missing sentence to its paragraph.

The extracted sentence in the five-of-seven task that must be restored to a numbered blank. It must fit both the grammar of the gap and the logic of the surrounding sentences.

The overall logic and order of a text, so that each part follows from the last and meets the reader's expectations. It operates above the level of individual linking words.

A short text with words removed at intervals; candidates restore each one from four options or from the surrounding context. Both meaning and grammar must fit.

A habitual word partnership, such as make a decision, heavy rain or deeply concerned. Native-like combinations are chosen over grammatically possible but unnatural ones.

Information in nearby words, sentences or the wider passage that reveals the meaning or the correct form of an unknown or missing item.

Building the required part of speech from a given root by adding prefixes and suffixes, as in succeed, success, successful, successfully. The grammar of the blank decides the form needed.

Keeping verbs in the time frame established by the passage unless the meaning requires a shift. Unmarked changes of tense are a common error in cloze and writing.

An infinitive, -ing form or past participle used without tense marking, after certain verbs, after prepositions, or as a modifier. The word before it decides which form is correct.

A clause beginning with who, which, that, whose or where that describes a preceding noun. The relative pronoun depends on the noun's role inside the clause.

Matching a verb to its subject in number. Long interrupting phrases, collective nouns and either...or structures are the usual traps.

A short functional text - letter, email, notice, speech or announcement - written for a stated audience and purpose, usually with several required content points.

The level of formality a text demands, from formal to neutral to informal. It governs vocabulary, contractions, and how directly the writer addresses the reader.

The opening greeting and closing formula of a letter or email, such as Dear Mr Li followed by Yours sincerely. They must match the relationship, the register and the required format.

One of the pieces of information the prompt requires you to include. Omitting a content point costs marks even when the English is accurate, so plan before you start writing.

A writing task in which you read a story opening and complete it in two paragraphs, keeping the characters, plot and style consistent with the original.

The shape of a story - setup, complication, climax, resolution. A continuation must extend it plausibly rather than start a new story or stop before anything is resolved.

The perspective from which a story is told, either first person (I) or third person (he, she). A continuation must keep whichever one the original uses.

Concrete description appealing to sight, sound, smell, touch or taste. It makes a continuation vivid and is preferred over vague summary such as 'it was frightening'.

Conveying feeling through action, dialogue and detail instead of naming the emotion. 'Her hands shook as she reached for the letter' shows; 'she was nervous' only tells.

The conventions for quotation marks, commas, capital letters and new paragraphs when characters speak. Errors here are conspicuous and are penalized in narrative writing.

An ending that stops at a moment of tension or decision. The first paragraph of the continuation must pick up that moment immediately.