PSEB SS English Elective flashcards

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

Main idea

A full statement of the central claim that the entire passage supports, broader than any single supporting detail but more specific than the one- or two-word topic.

Inference in comprehension

A conclusion the passage logically implies but does not state outright; a valid inference must be supported by textual evidence, not by general knowledge or assumption.

Author's purpose

The reason a writer produced the text, usually classed as to inform or explain, to persuade or argue, or to entertain or narrate; identified through verb choice and evaluative language.

Indirect characterization

Revealing a character's traits through speech, actions, appearance, thoughts, or other characters' reactions rather than through direct statements about the character's personality.

Vocabulary in context

Determining a word's meaning from its surrounding sentence and tone; the correct option must fit the passage's part of speech and register, even if another option is a valid dictionary sense.

Distractor: extreme wording

An incorrect option that uses absolutes such as always, never, all, or only; passages rarely support absolute claims, so such options are usually eliminated quickly.

Tone versus mood

Tone is the writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject; mood is the feeling created in the reader. Both are inferred from diction, imagery, and sentence rhythm.

Iambic pentameter

A metrical line of five iambic feet, each foot an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, giving ten syllables with five stressed beats per line.

Shakespearean sonnet structure

Fourteen lines in three quatrains plus a closing couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg; the couplet typically delivers a turn or summary of the argument.

Petrarchan sonnet structure

Fourteen lines split into an octave and a sestet, rhyming abbaabba then cdecde or a variant; the volta or turn usually falls between the eighth and ninth lines.

Metonymy

A figure substituting an object closely associated with the thing meant, as when crown stands for monarchy or pen stands for writing; the substitute is related, not a part.

Synecdoche

A figure in which a part stands for the whole or the whole for a part, as in hired hands for workers or wheels for a car; a subtype of figurative substitution.

Personification

Attributing human qualities, actions, or feelings to non-human things, such as a wind that whispers or a road that climbs, to create vividness or emotional resonance.

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence beyond the end of a line without a pause, which speeds the reading and can create suspense or surprise at the next line's opening.

Caesura

A deliberate pause or break within a line of verse, often marked by punctuation, that slows rhythm and emphasizes the word or phrase on either side.

Elegy

A formal poem of mourning for a dead person, moving through grief, praise, and consolation; its tone is reflective rather than purely narrative.

Dramatic monologue

A poem spoken by a single character to an implied listener, revealing personality and situation through the speech itself rather than through the poet's narration.

Slant rhyme

A near rhyme in which the final consonant sounds match but vowel sounds differ, or the reverse, producing an off-key effect rather than full consonance.

Formal letter subscription

The closing phrase governed by the salutation: Yours faithfully when the recipient is unnamed, Yours sincerely when the name is known, followed by the signature.

Notice format

The word NOTICE, issuing institution, date, a capitalized heading, and a third-person body of about forty to fifty words, ending with the writer's name and designation.

Report writing conventions

A heading, a byline naming the writer, and third-person past-tense paragraphs answering what, when, where, who, and why, without personal opinion unless requested.

Thesis statement

A single sentence in the introduction that states the essay's central claim and the direction of the argument, which every body paragraph then supports.

Topic sentence

The opening sentence of a body paragraph that announces the one idea the paragraph will develop, keeping the essay organized and preventing overlapping paragraphs.

Formal register markers

Full verb forms instead of contractions, impersonal and passive constructions where the doer is unknown, and avoidance of slang, exclamation marks, and conversational fillers.

Cohesive devices

Linking words grouped by function: addition, contrast, cause and result, example, and conclusion; each paragraph should use varied markers rather than repeating one.

Subject-verb agreement trap

The verb agrees with the head noun of the subject, not with a nearer noun in a prepositional phrase, as in the list of items is long.

Backshift in reported speech

After a past reporting verb, tenses move one step back: present to past, past to past perfect, will to would; universal truths may stay unchanged.

Second conditional

If plus past simple in the clause and would plus base verb in the main clause, expressing an unreal or unlikely present situation and its imagined result.

Third conditional

If plus past perfect in the clause and would have plus past participle in the main clause, expressing an unreal past situation and its imagined consequence.

Definite article rule

Use the with previously mentioned nouns, unique referents, superlatives, and specified groups; omit it with uncountable and plural nouns used in a general sense.

Affect versus effect

Affect is usually a verb meaning to influence; effect is usually a noun meaning result. Effect as a verb means to bring about, as in effect a change.

Modal perfect for deduction

Must have plus past participle asserts strong certainty about a past event; cannot or can't have plus past participle asserts certainty that it did not happen.