Assam ASSEB HS Alternative English flashcards

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

Irony (dramatic)

A device where the audience or reader knows something a character does not, so the character's words or actions carry a meaning they cannot perceive themselves.

Foil character

A character whose qualities contrast with another's, usually the protagonist's, so that the protagonist's traits stand out more sharply through the comparison.

Theme vs subject

Subject is the topic the text is about; theme is the insight or claim the text makes about that topic, expressible as a full sentence about human experience.

Situational irony

An outcome that reverses what was expected, as when a fire station burns down or a safety inspector is injured by the equipment he approved.

Iambic pentameter

A line of five iambic feet, each foot an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, giving ten syllables with stress on positions two, four, six, eight and ten.

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence past the end of a line of verse without punctuation, so the line break falls mid-phrase rather than at a natural pause.

Caesura

A deliberate pause or break within a line of poetry, often marked by punctuation, dividing the line into two parts for emphasis or rhythm.

Synecdoche

A figure in which a part stands for the whole or the whole for a part, as in 'all hands on deck' meaning all sailors present.

Metonymy

Substitution of the name of an associated thing for the thing meant, as when 'the crown' stands for the monarchy or 'the pen' for writing.

Blank verse

Unrhymed verse written in iambic pentameter; common in English dramatic and reflective poetry, it keeps a regular metre without end rhyme.

Bildungsroman

A novel tracing the protagonist's growth from childhood or youth into maturity, ending with a settled sense of identity and values.

Frame narrative

A structure in which an outer story provides the setting for one or more inner stories told by a character within it, nesting tales inside tales.

Epistolary novel

A novel told through documents, most often letters, sometimes diaries or dispatches, so the reader receives events through characters' written voices.

Climax

The point of highest tension where the central conflict comes to a head and the outcome is decided; it precedes the falling action and resolution.

Open ending

A conclusion that leaves the central conflict unresolved or ambiguous, refusing the closure a reader expects and inviting interpretation beyond the final page.

Inferential question

A comprehension question whose answer is not stated directly but must be deduced from textual clues, requiring evidence rather than outside knowledge.

Not Given option

In true/false/not-given items, the choice when the passage neither confirms nor contradicts the statement, even if the topic is mentioned.

Vocabulary in context

A question type asking for a word's meaning as used in the passage; test options by substituting each into the original sentence.

Main idea

The central point covering the whole passage; a statement true of only one paragraph is a distractor, not the main idea.

Backshift in reported speech

Shifting the reported verb one tense into the past after a past reporting verb: present becomes past, past becomes past perfect, will becomes would.

Third conditional

A sentence pattern for unreal past situations: if plus past perfect in the condition, would have plus past participle in the result.

Passive transformation

Moving the object to subject position and using a form of be plus past participle, preserving the original tense and adding by plus the agent if needed.

Yours faithfully vs sincerely

In formal letters, 'Yours faithfully' pairs with 'Dear Sir/Madam' when the name is unknown; 'Yours sincerely' pairs with a named recipient.

Notice format

A short public announcement headed NOTICE, naming the issuing body and date, with a brief heading, body under about fifty words, and the issuer's designation.

Thesis statement

A single sentence in the introduction stating the essay's central claim, which every body paragraph then supports with evidence and reasoning.

Report language

Reports use past tense, impersonal constructions and factual detail, avoiding first-person opinion and emotional adjectives in the body.

Oxymoron

A compressed figure joining contradictory words in one phrase, such as bitter sweet or living death, producing a striking paradox.

Soliloquy

A speech in which a character, alone on stage, voices inner thoughts aloud, revealing motives the character would not state to others.

Polyglot

A one-word substitution for a person who knows and can use several languages; the corresponding adjective describes multilingual texts or communities.

Affect vs effect

Affect is normally a verb meaning to influence; effect is normally a noun meaning a result. Confusing the two is a frequent usage error.

Shakespearean sonnet

A fourteen-line poem in three quatrains and a closing couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg, with the couplet typically delivering the turn or summary.

Hyperbole

Deliberate, obvious exaggeration used for emphasis or comic effect rather than literal description, as in 'I have told you a million times'.