BSEB Matric English key terms

A short reading text the candidate has not studied before, followed by questions testing general understanding, specific detail, and inference rather than memorised content.

A conclusion drawn from clues in the passage rather than stated directly in words; the reader combines evidence with reasoning to reach it.

The central point a passage or stanza communicates as a whole, usually expressible in one sentence that covers all its supporting details.

The broader subject or message a literary work explores, such as love, loss, patriotism, or the dignity of labour, conveyed through characters and events.

The core thought a poem or prose piece conveys, often asked as a short-answer question requiring a one- or two-sentence statement in the candidate's own words.

The attitude a writer or speaker takes towards the subject, for example ironic, nostalgic, indignant, or hopeful, revealed through word choice and sentence rhythm.

The feeling a text creates in the reader, such as sadness, suspense, or cheerfulness, produced by setting, imagery, and the sounds of words.

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses so the reader can see, hear, smell, taste, or feel what is described, often through comparison and vivid adjectives.

A comparison between two unlike things introduced by words such as like or as, for example brave as a lion, making the description concrete and easy to picture.

A comparison that states one thing is another without using like or as, such as calling life a journey, so the two ideas are fused in the reader's mind.

A figure of speech giving human qualities to animals, objects, or abstract ideas, as when the wind whispers or opportunity knocks at the door.

The repetition of the same initial consonant sound in nearby words, such as silent silver stream, used to create rhythm and draw attention to a phrase.

The ordered pattern of end rhymes in a stanza, usually labelled with letters so that a b a b describes alternating rhymes across four lines.

A group of lines forming one unit of a poem, separated from other groups by spacing and often following a fixed pattern of length or rhyme.

A line or phrase repeated at intervals in a poem or song, often at the end of stanzas, to reinforce a feeling or idea.

A question that quotes a few lines from a studied text and asks the candidate to explain meaning, identify a device, or interpret a character's words in context.

To restate a line or passage in one's own simpler words while keeping the original meaning, a common requirement in textual explanation questions.

The situation surrounding a quoted line, including who speaks, to whom, when, and why, which the candidate must supply when explaining an extract.

A short description of a person in a story or play, covering qualities, motives, and behaviour, supported by incidents from the text.

The lesson a story is meant to teach, such as honesty being the best policy, often stated briefly at the end of an answer about a supplementary reader text.

The form of a verb that shows the time of an action, present, past, or future, and whether the action is simple, continuous, perfect, or perfect continuous.

The sentence pattern in which the subject performs the action, as in the teacher marked the papers, and which can usually be rewritten in the passive.

The sentence pattern in which the object of the action becomes the subject, formed with a form of be plus the past participle, as in the papers were marked.

The grammar of reporting someone's words, either directly inside quotation marks or indirectly with tense and pronoun shifts and a reporting verb such as said or asked.

Indirect speech in which a speaker's words are recast without quotation marks, with backshift of tense, changed pronouns, and adjusted time and place words.

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.

A single word naming a group, such as team, jury, or crowd, which usually takes a singular verb when the group acts as one unit.

A short word placed before a noun: the definite article the for something specific, and the indefinite articles a or an for one unspecified item.

A word such as in, on, at, of, or between that links a noun or pronoun to another word and shows place, time, direction, or relationship.

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

A word with a meaning close to another word, such as brave and courageous, tested by asking the candidate to pick the nearest equivalent in a list.

A word opposite in meaning to another, such as generous and miserly, tested by asking the candidate to choose the word most nearly opposite in sense.

A fixed group of words whose meaning cannot be worked out from the individual words, such as to let the cat out of the bag meaning to reveal a secret.

A verb combined with an adverb or preposition that together carry a new meaning, such as give up meaning to surrender or abandon a habit.

A single word that replaces a whole descriptive phrase, for example orphan for a child whose parents are dead, tested as a direct vocabulary item.

Rendering a sentence from Hindi or Urdu into correct English, keeping the meaning intact while using suitable English tense, word order, and prepositions.

A letter written to an official or institution in a polite, impersonal style, following a fixed layout of sender's address, date, salutation, body, and closing.

A formal written request, usually to a principal or employer, stating the purpose briefly and politely and ending with a respectful subscription.

A short public announcement displayed for a group, giving what, when, where, and whom to contact, written in a boxed format with a heading and the writer's name.

A short piece of connected writing on one topic, opening with a topic sentence, developed with supporting detail, and closing with a concluding remark.

A longer piece of writing organised into an introduction, several body paragraphs each with one point, and a conclusion that sums up the writer's stand.