PSEB SS English Elective cheat sheet

Main idea = the single claim the whole passage supports; it is broader than any one detail and narrower than the topic (the topic is one or two words, the main idea is a full statement).

Tone and attitude questions are answered by connotation words, not by topic: a passage about poverty can be sympathetic, indignant, or detached depending on verbs and adjectives chosen.

Inference is licensed only by textual evidence: if the answer requires information the passage does not imply, it is wrong even if it is true in real life.

Sequence and cause-effect questions: locate the connectives (because, therefore, however, meanwhile) - they mark the logical hinge, and the answer usually sits adjacent to them.

For 'author's purpose' use the triad to inform/explain, to persuade/argue, to entertain/narrate; a persuasive passage contains evaluative adjectives and a call to action.

Vocabulary-in-context: substitute each option into the sentence and re-read; the correct option preserves the passage's tone and part of speech.

Distractor patterns to reject: true-but-not-asked, extreme wording (always, never, all), half-true (right subject, wrong relation), and reversal of the passage's claim.

Prose devices: direct characterization states a trait; indirect characterization reveals it through speech, action, appearance, or others' reactions; setting can function as mood, symbol, or social comment.

Meter: count stresses per line - iambic pentameter = 5 stressed beats per line; a foot is one stressed + unstressed unit (iamb unstressed-stressed, trochee stressed-unstressed).

Rhyme scheme is labelled with letters per line end (abab quatrain, aabb couplet, abba enclosed); a rhyme that is close but not exact is slant/near rhyme.

Sonnet: 14 lines; Petrarchan/Italian divides 8 (octave) + 6 (sestet) with rhyme abbaabba + cdecde; Shakespearean/English divides 3 quatrains + couplet, abab cdcd efef gg.

Figures: simile uses like/as; metaphor states one thing as another; personification gives human traits to non-human; metonymy substitutes an associated object (crown for monarchy); synecdoche uses part for whole.

Sound devices: alliteration = consonant repetition at word beginnings; assonance = vowel repetition; onomatopoeia = word imitates sound; these create texture and pace, not meaning alone.

Enjambment runs the sentence past the line break; the caesura is a pause inside a line - both control emphasis and should be quoted when discussing rhythm.

Elegy laments a death; ode addresses and celebrates a subject; ballad narrates in quatrains with refrain; lyric expresses a single speaker's feeling; dramatic monologue is speech by a character to an implied listener.

Interpretation rule: link every device claim to effect on meaning or feeling ('the caesura slows the line at the moment of loss'), never list devices without function.

Formal letter layout order: sender's address, date, receiver's designation and address, subject line, salutation (Dear Sir/Madam), body paragraphs, subscription (Yours faithfully if unnamed; Yours sincerely if named), signature block.

Notice format: the word NOTICE at the top, name of the issuing institution, date, a capitalized heading, body of 40-50 words in third person, and the writer's name and designation - no salutation, no subscription.

Report format: heading, byline (By + name), and paragraphs covering what/when/where/who/why; past tense and third person throughout, no personal opinion unless asked.

Essay structure: introduction states the thesis in one sentence, body paragraphs each carry one topic sentence plus evidence or example, conclusion restates and extends - no new argument in the conclusion.

Register rule: contractions, slang, and exclamation marks belong to informal writing; formal writing uses full forms, passive voice where the doer is unknown, and impersonal constructions.

Word-limit discipline: a 120-word letter is roughly 4 short paragraphs; exceeding the limit by more than about 10 percent risks penalty, so plan the points before writing.

Cohesion markers by function: addition (moreover, in addition), contrast (however, nevertheless), cause (consequently, hence), example (for instance), conclusion (in conclusion, to sum up) - never repeat the same marker twice in one paragraph.

Editing pass checklist: subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, article use, preposition collocation, spelling of homophones (their/there, its/it's, principal/principle).

Subject-verb agreement: the verb agrees with the grammatical subject, not the nearest noun - 'The list of items is long'; with 'either...or'/'neither...nor' the verb agrees with the nearer subject.

Tense sequencing: after a past main verb, reported speech backshifts one step (present to past, past to past perfect, will to would); universal truths do not backshift.

Conditionals: zero (present + present, general truth), first (present + will, real future), second (past + would + base, unreal present), third (had + past participle + would have + past participle, unreal past).

Articles: 'a/an' for first mention or one of a class; 'the' for previously mentioned, unique, or superlative nouns; no article with uncountable and plural nouns used generally.

Preposition collocations are fixed and must be memorized in chunks: depend on, insist on, capable of, prefer X to Y, married to, good at, afraid of, congratulate on.

Modals: must = obligation; have to = external obligation; should = advice; may/might = possibility; can't have + past participle = certainty that something did not happen; must have + past participle = strong past deduction.

Vocabulary in context: use word formation cues - prefixes (un-, dis-, mis-, over-, under-) and suffixes (-ness, -ment, -tion, -able, -ful, -less) - to deduce meaning and part of speech.

Confusable pairs tested repeatedly: affect (verb) / effect (noun), lie (recline) / lay (put), practice (noun) / practise (verb), advice (noun) / advise (verb), stationary (still) / stationery (writing materials).