Junkao English flashcards

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

collocation

A habitual word partnership fixed by usage rather than logic, such as make a decision, take a photo, or heavy rain. Choosing a grammatical synonym instead of the fixed partner is an error.

uncountable nouns

Nouns with no plural form and no a/an, including advice, information, furniture, equipment, luggage, and news. Quantity is expressed with a piece of, an item of, or some.

affect vs effect

Affect is normally a verb meaning to influence; effect is normally a noun meaning a result. Effect as a verb means to bring about, as in effect a change.

gradable vs extreme adjectives

Gradable adjectives like cold take very or slightly. Extreme adjectives like freezing or exhausted take absolutely or utterly, and very with them is nonstandard.

result in vs result from

Result in introduces the consequence, as in the delay resulted in losses. Result from introduces the cause, as in the losses resulted from the delay. The prepositions are not interchangeable.

subject-verb agreement with phrases

The verb agrees with the head noun of the subject, not with a noun inside a following prepositional phrase. The list of items is long, not are long.

third conditional form

Formed as if + past perfect in the conditional clause and would have + past participle in the result: If she had called, I would have answered. Never use would inside the if-clause.

non-defining relative clause

A clause adding extra information about a noun already identified. It takes commas and the relative pronoun which or who, never that, as in Paris, which I visited last year.

dangling modifier

A participial or adjectival phrase whose implied subject is not the subject of the main clause. Walking down the street, the sign appeared is wrong because the sign was not walking.

parallel structure

Items joined by and, or, either…or, or not only…but also must share grammatical form. To walk, to swim, and to cycle is parallel; to walk, swimming, and cycling is not.

negative inversion

When a sentence opens with a negative or restrictive adverbial such as never, rarely, hardly, or no sooner, the subject and auxiliary invert: Never have I seen such a crowd.

reported speech backshift

After a past reporting verb, the reported clause usually moves one tense back: said he was tired from am tired. Universal truths keep the present tense.

main idea question

A reading item asking for the passage as a whole: the topic plus the author's claim about it. An option that is true but covers only one paragraph is a distractor.

inference question

An item whose answer must be logically entailed by the text without being stated. If an option requires an extra assumption beyond the passage, it is out of scope.

vocabulary in context

An item asking for the meaning of a word as used in the passage. Test each option by substituting it into the sentence and checking whether the surrounding logic still holds.

EXCEPT question

A negative-detail item in which three options are supported by the passage and one is not. Evaluate each option against the text and select the unsupported one.

author's tone

The writer's attitude toward the subject, revealed by evaluative adjectives and adverbs. Common labels are positive, negative, neutral, and critical.

pronoun reference resolution

Tracking what it, this, they, or such points to. Choose the nearest preceding noun phrase that fits both the grammar and the sense of the following clause.

cohesive connectors

Words signalling the logical relation between clauses: however for contrast, therefore for result, moreover for addition, in contrast for opposition. The connector must match the relation.

lexical chain

A sequence of repeated or synonymous words running through a passage. In cloze tasks, a word in the chain elsewhere in the text usually indicates the correct option.

part-of-speech elimination

A cloze strategy: determine whether the blank requires a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb, then discard all options of the wrong class before judging meaning.

collocation clue in cloze

When two options are grammatical, keep the one forming a fixed phrase with the neighbouring word, such as make progress rather than do progress.

time adverbial constraint

Expressions like yesterday, since 2010, or by next year fix the tense of the blank's verb, so the option must match that time frame and the clause subject.

English-to-Chinese modifier order

English places relative and participial clauses after the noun; Chinese places them before it as 的-phrases. Translation therefore restructures rather than mirroring word order.

passive voice in translation

English be + past participle rarely maps to 被 automatically. Adverse meaning favours 被, agentive meaning favours 由, and neutral meaning often becomes an active or subjectless Chinese sentence.

noun-to-verb shift

English abstract action nouns such as the improvement of or the analysis of usually become Chinese verbs (改善, 分析) so the translated sentence reads naturally.

splitting long English sentences

Cut an English sentence at relative pronouns, conjunctions, and participial boundaries, then rejoin the pieces with Chinese connectives or by natural word order.

article omission in Chinese

English a, an, and the usually have no Chinese equivalent. Translators drop them instead of mechanically writing 一个 or 这个 before every noun.

thesis statement

One arguable sentence at the end of the introduction stating the essay's central claim. It must be specific enough that a reader can predict the body's structure.

topic sentence

The opening sentence of a body paragraph, stating the one point that paragraph develops. All following sentences should support it with reason, evidence, or example.

comma splice

Two independent clauses joined only by a comma. Fix it with a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus coordinating conjunction such as and or but.

conclusion restatement

A closing paragraph that restates the thesis in new words, summarises the main supports, and ends with an implication. It must not introduce a new argument.