Kerala Plus Two Communicative English (DHSE) flashcards

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

Skimming vs scanning

Skimming is rapid reading for the general idea of a passage. Scanning is searching for one specific detail such as a name, date or figure, ignoring surrounding text.

Inference question rule

An inference answer must be provable from the passage alone. If an option requires knowledge not stated or implied in the text, it is wrong even if it is true in real life.

Not Given option

Choose Not Given when the passage neither confirms nor contradicts the statement. Contradiction makes it False; silence makes it Not Given.

Note-making format

Notes use short noun phrases under numbered headings, one heading per paragraph, with indented sub-points. Complete sentences and articles are dropped.

Formal letter closing

Formal letters end with 'Yours faithfully' when the salutation is 'Dear Sir/Madam', and 'Yours sincerely' when the recipient is named. The full name follows.

Report structure

A report opens with headline, byline and dateline, then narrates events in the past tense, third person, avoiding 'I' and 'we', and ends with a conclusion.

Notice essentials

A notice is boxed and impersonal, issued by an institution, and states the event, date, time, venue and contact person within about fifty words.

Speech opening formula

Begin by addressing the audience formally, then announce the topic clearly, and continue with rhetorical questions, examples and a closing call to action.

Reported speech backshift

When the reporting verb is past, present becomes past, past becomes past perfect, will becomes would, can becomes could, and today becomes that day.

Third conditional form

The third conditional expresses an unreal past: if + past perfect in the if-clause, and would have + past participle in the main clause.

Passive voice formation

Passive is formed with the correct tense of 'be' plus the past participle. The active object becomes subject and the agent follows 'by' only if important.

Reported question word order

Reported questions use statement order, not question order, and yes-no questions take if or whether: She asked me where I lived.

Subject-verb agreement traps

Each, every, either and neither take singular verbs. 'The number of' takes a singular verb, while 'a number of' takes a plural verb.

Noun suffix patterns

Common noun suffixes include -tion, -ment, -ness, -ity and -ance. They change verbs and adjectives into nouns: inform to information, kind to kindness.

Negative prefix choice

Use un- as the default, but in- before many Latinate stems, and assimilate to im- before p, b, m; ir- before r; il- before l.

Consonant doubling rule

Double the final consonant before a vowel suffix when a one-syllable word ends consonant-vowel-consonant: run becomes running, big becomes bigger.

Collocation examples

Certain verb-noun pairs are fixed: make a decision, take measures, pay attention, do justice, commit an offence. Substituting a synonym breaks the collocation.

Sonnet rhyme schemes

A Shakespearean sonnet has three quatrains and a couplet rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. A Petrarchan sonnet has an octave and a sestet.

Simile and metaphor

A simile compares using like or as; a metaphor asserts identity without like or as. Both transfer qualities from one thing to another.

Personification defined

Personification gives human qualities, actions or feelings to non-human things, objects or abstract ideas, as when a poem speaks of a crying wind.

Tone versus mood

Tone is the speaker's or writer's attitude towards the subject. Mood is the emotional atmosphere the text creates in the reader. They are distinct.

Soliloquy and aside

A soliloquy is a speech delivered alone on stage revealing inner thought. An aside is a brief remark heard by the audience but not by other characters.

Tragic hero elements

The tragic hero holds high status, possesses a hamartia or fatal flaw, suffers reversal and recognition, and produces catharsis in the audience.

Dramatic irony

Dramatic irony arises when the audience knows something a character does not, so the character's words carry a meaning they cannot perceive.

Narrative point of view

First person uses 'I' and limited knowledge. Third-person limited stays inside one mind. Third-person omniscient enters all characters' thoughts freely.

Stating a theme

A theme is a complete claim about life or human behaviour supported by the whole text, not a single topic word such as ambition or love.

Communication process

The sender encodes a message, sends it through a channel, the receiver decodes it, and feedback returns. Noise can distort any stage.

Kinesics and proxemics

Kinesics is communication through body movement, gesture and posture. Proxemics is communication through the use and interpretation of physical space.

Paralanguage meaning

Paralanguage covers vocal features that accompany words: tone, pitch, volume, pace and pauses. It can reverse the meaning of the spoken words.

Seven Cs of communication

Effective messages are clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous. Each C removes a common cause of misunderstanding.

Active listening

Active listening means attending fully, paraphrasing what was said, asking clarifying questions and summarising. It differs from passive hearing.

Grapevine communication

The grapevine is the informal channel that spreads messages rapidly through personal networks. It is fast but unverified and often distorted.