Galicia PAU English - First Foreign Language flashcards

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

Main idea question

Asks what the text is about as a whole. The correct option covers every paragraph; options naming a single detail or a passing topic are wrong.

Title selection rule

Choose the title that summarises the entire text. Reject titles that are too narrow (one detail) or too broad (a topic the text does not develop).

Author's purpose

The reason the writer produced the text: to inform, persuade, entertain, warn, or describe. Identify it from the overall structure and evaluative language, not from one fact.

Tone versus purpose

Purpose is what the text does; tone is the attitude conveyed (critical, humorous, nostalgic, neutral). Tone is read from adjectives and adverbs carrying evaluation.

Paragraph function

The role a paragraph plays: introducing the topic, giving an example, presenting a counterargument, or concluding. Recognising it supports global and structure questions.

Discourse markers

Words signalling logical relations: 'however' (contrast), 'therefore' (result), 'in fact' (emphasis), 'for instance' (example). They usually point to the answer in global questions.

Summary validity test

A valid summary contains no information absent from the text and omits no element the text repeats or emphasises across paragraphs.

Scanning for detail

Locate the key noun, name, or number in the text, then read the whole sentence around it. The answer is normally in that sentence or the one immediately after.

Paraphrase principle

Correct options restate the text with synonyms or a changed word class rather than repeating its exact wording. Identical wording often signals a distractor.

Absolute distractor

An option using 'always', 'never', 'all', 'only', or 'must' is false unless the text itself states the absolute. Most texts describe tendencies, not absolutes.

Valid inference

A conclusion the text forces without outside knowledge. If reaching it requires general knowledge or personal opinion, it is not a valid inference.

Scope words

Quantifiers and frequency words ('some', 'most', 'all', 'often', 'rarely') change truth value. Compare the option's scope with the exact scope used in the text.

NOT stated questions

Questions asking which option is false or absent require checking each option against a located line, since three options will be supported by the text.

Pronoun reference

To resolve 'it', 'this', or 'they', find the nearest preceding noun agreeing in number that makes the sentence meaningful.

Verb plus preposition

Fixed pairs to memorise: depend on, consist of, result in, suffer from, insist on, apologise for, prevent from, look forward to. The preposition never varies.

Gerund after preposition

After any preposition, and after 'look forward to', 'be used to', 'despite', and 'in spite of', the verb takes the -ing form.

Second conditional form

If + past simple, would + bare infinitive. Used for hypothetical present or future situations, as in 'If I had time, I would travel'.

Third conditional form

If + past perfect, would have + past participle. Describes an unreal past situation and its imagined result.

Reported speech backshift

When the reporting verb is past, present becomes past, 'will' becomes 'would', 'can' becomes 'could'; time references shift (now to then, tomorrow to the next day).

Passive voice formation

Form of 'be' plus past participle, keeping the original tense: 'they have built' becomes 'has been built'; 'someone stole' becomes 'was stolen'.

Phrasal verb meanings

Meaning is not literal: give up (quit), put off (postpone), turn down (reject), come across (find by chance), run out of (have none left).

Word formation suffixes

Nouns: -tion, -ment, -ness. Adjectives: -ful, -less, -ive, -able. Adverbs: -ly. Verbs: -ise/-ize, -en. Choose by the grammatical slot in the sentence.

False friend warning

Spanish and Galician words that resemble English but differ in meaning: 'actual' means current, 'assist' means help, 'library' means biblioteca, 'sensible' means reasonable.

Word limit 120-150

Typical PAU composition length. Plan roughly three paragraphs, count words at the end, and cut repetition rather than content to stay inside the range.

Opinion essay frame

Introduction states the position clearly; body gives two reasons with examples; conclusion restates the position without introducing new arguments.

For-and-against frame

Introduction presents the topic neutrally; body one gives arguments for, body two arguments against; conclusion may state a balanced personal view.

Formal email frame

'Dear Sir or Madam,' when the name is unknown; state the purpose in the first sentence; make the request; close with 'Yours faithfully,' plus full name.

Linking words by function

Addition: furthermore, in addition. Contrast: however, whereas. Cause: due to, because of. Result: therefore, as a result. Example: for instance.

Register control

Informal texts allow contractions, exclamations and phrasal verbs; formal essays and emails require full forms, impersonal structures and no colloquialisms.

Apostrophe rules

Apostrophe marks possession ('the student's book', 'the students' books') or contraction ('it's' = it is). 'Its' without apostrophe is the possessive determiner.

Comma pitfalls

Never place a comma between subject and verb. Use one before 'but' or 'so' joining two full clauses, and after an introductory phrase.

Cohesion devices

Linkers, pronoun substitution, synonyms and reference words ('this', 'such', 'the former') tie sentences and paragraphs together and prevent noun repetition.