PSEB Class 12 General English flashcards

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

Skimming versus scanning

Skimming is a fast read for the gist or overall topic of a passage. Scanning is a targeted search for a specific detail such as a date, name or figure.

Topic sentence

The sentence that states the main idea of a paragraph. It usually opens the paragraph, and the remaining sentences support or illustrate it.

Inference in comprehension

A conclusion drawn from evidence in the passage rather than stated directly. A valid inference must be supported by the text and must not depend on outside knowledge.

Vocabulary in context

Deciding the meaning of a word from the surrounding sentences. The correct option fits both the sentence's grammar and the passage's overall sense and tone.

Author's tone

The writer's attitude towards the subject, revealed through word choice. Common labels include critical, ironic, nostalgic, humorous, objective and satirical.

Pronoun reference question

A question asking what a pronoun such as this, it or they refers to. Trace back to the nearest preceding noun phrase that fits both grammar and meaning.

Not-given option

An answer choice that sounds plausible but is neither stated nor implied in the passage. It is incorrect in true/false/not-given and evidence-based items.

Formal letter subscription

The closing phrase of a letter. Yours faithfully follows Dear Sir or Madam; Yours sincerely follows a named recipient such as Dear Ms Rao.

Notice format

The word NOTICE centred at the top, issuing institution, date, a short heading, a body under about fifty words, and the writer's name and designation.

Report writing conventions

A titled, bylined account in past tense and third person, giving date and place, presenting facts objectively; personal opinion appears only if the task asks for it.

Paragraph unity

The quality of a paragraph that develops a single controlling idea, opened by a topic sentence and closed by a sentence returning to that idea.

Essay thesis statement

A single sentence in the introduction that states the position the essay will defend. Every body paragraph should support it, and the conclusion restates it.

Cohesive devices

Linking words such as however, therefore, moreover and in conclusion. They must express the actual logical relation between the ideas they join.

Letter of complaint structure

Subject line naming the problem, then a body stating the facts, the inconvenience caused and a specific requested remedy, closed politely with a formal subscription.

Present perfect versus simple past

Present perfect links a past action to the present or to unfinished time. Simple past reports a finished action with a definite past time marker.

Past perfect tense

Had plus past participle. It marks the earlier of two past actions, while the later action takes the simple past.

Passive voice formation

A form of the verb be plus the past participle. The active object becomes the subject, and the doer appears after by only when it matters.

Passive tense preservation

Changing voice must not change tense. They are building a bridge becomes A bridge is being built, keeping the present continuous.

Reported speech tense shift

When the reporting verb is past, the reported verb moves one step back: present to past, past to past perfect, will to would.

Reported yes-no question

Introduced by asked plus if or whether, with statement word order restored. He asked if I was ready, not He asked was I ready.

Reported imperative

Formed with told, ordered or requested plus object plus to-infinitive. Negatives use not to, as in She told me not to wait.

Third conditional

If plus past perfect in the condition, and would have plus past participle in the result. It describes an unreal past situation.

Subject-verb agreement with quantifiers

The verb agrees with the head noun. One of the boys is; neither of the answers is; the number of students is, but a number of students are.

Affect versus effect

Affect is usually a verb meaning to influence. Effect is usually a noun meaning a result. Confusing the two is a common usage error.

Iambic pentameter

A line of five metrical feet, each an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. It is the dominant metre of Shakespearean verse and many prescribed poems.

Shakespearean sonnet rhyme scheme

Fourteen lines in three quatrains and a closing couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. The couplet typically delivers the poem's turn or summary.

Personification

A figure of speech giving human qualities to a non-human thing, as when a poem addresses time, death or a season as a living agent.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same initial consonant sound in nearby words, used for rhythm and emphasis, as in wild and windy.

Reference to the context

A three-part literature answer: identify the speaker and occasion, explain the quoted lines in plain prose, and connect them to the text's theme.

Character trait with evidence

A literature answer that names a quality and then supports it with a specific action or line from the text, rather than asserting the adjective alone.

Theme statement

A full claim about what a text says on a subject such as ambition or loss, supported by at least one quoted or paraphrased detail from the text.

Supplementary reader focus

Questions on the supplementary reader centre on plot sequence, setting, character outcomes and the moral implied by the ending, not on poetic devices.