Tamil Nadu HSE First Year English flashcards

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

Skimming

A fast reading strategy that moves through headings, first and last sentences, and topic sentences to capture the general meaning of a text without reading every word.

Scanning

A targeted reading strategy in which the eyes move quickly over a passage to locate a specific piece of information such as a date, name, or number.

Inference

A conclusion drawn from evidence in the text rather than stated directly; it must be supported by a line or detail that can be pointed to.

Tone

The writer's attitude towards the subject, conveyed through word choice; common labels include ironic, nostalgic, critical, reverent, and satirical.

Topic sentence

The sentence, usually first in a paragraph, that states the paragraph's controlling idea and predicts what the supporting sentences will develop.

Sonnet

A fourteen-line poem; the Petrarchan form divides into an octave and a sestet, while the Shakespearean form divides into three quatrains and a closing couplet.

Iambic pentameter

A metre of five iambic feet per line, each foot an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, producing ten syllables in a da-DUM rhythm.

Rhyme scheme

The pattern of end rhymes in a poem, labelled with letters so that abab means alternate rhyme and aabb means paired couplets.

Personification

A figure of speech giving human qualities to a non-human thing, as when a poem says the wind whispers or the moon watches over a field.

Onomatopoeia

A word whose sound imitates the thing it names, such as buzz, hiss, crash, or murmur, used to make description vivid and audible.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which the speaker addresses an absent person, a dead figure, or an abstract idea as though it could reply.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same initial consonant sound in nearby words, as in 'silent, silver sea', used to create rhythm and emphasis.

Theme versus subject

The subject is what a poem is about; the theme is the statement the poet makes about that subject, expressed as a full sentence.

Climax

The point of highest tension in a narrative, where the central conflict reaches its decisive moment and the outcome begins to turn.

Omniscient narrator

A third-person narrator who knows the thoughts, feelings, and past of every character and can move freely between them.

First-person narrator

A narrator who tells the story using 'I', giving direct access to one character's mind but limiting knowledge of other characters' thoughts.

Extensive reading

Reading long texts quickly for overall meaning and enjoyment, tolerating unknown words and inferring them from context rather than stopping.

Conflict in fiction

The central struggle driving a story, commonly person against person, nature, society, or self; it creates tension and leads to the climax.

Reported speech

Indirect quotation that shifts tense back one step, adjusts pronouns to the reporter's viewpoint, and changes time and place words accordingly.

Passive voice

A construction formed with be plus the past participle, used when the doer is unknown, unimportant, or deliberately left unmentioned.

Third conditional

A conditional sentence about an unreal past: if plus past perfect in the clause, and would have plus past participle in the main clause.

Subject-verb agreement

The rule that a verb matches its subject in number and person; each, every, either, and neither take singular verbs despite referring to several things.

Modal verbs

Auxiliary verbs such as can, may, must, should, and might that express ability, permission, obligation, advice, or possibility, and take no 'to'.

Collocation

The conventional partnership between words, such as 'make a decision' or 'pay attention', where logic does not predict the correct verb.

Phrasal verb

A verb combined with an adverb or preposition to produce a new meaning, as in give up, put off, look after, and turn down.

Homophone

One of two or more words pronounced alike but spelled differently and with different meanings, such as their, there, and they're.

One-word substitution

A single word replacing a descriptive phrase, such as philanthropist for a lover of humanity or epitaph for an inscription on a tomb.

Prefix and suffix

A prefix attaches before a root and usually changes meaning, as un- negates; a suffix attaches after and usually changes word class.

Précis writing

A compressed restatement of a passage's main idea in the writer's own words, usually about one-third of the original length, with no added opinion.

Formal letter close

The complimentary close must match the salutation: Yours faithfully follows Dear Sir or Madam, while Yours sincerely follows a named recipient.

Cohesive devices

Linking words and reference words such as however, therefore, moreover, and pronouns that connect sentences and show how ideas relate.

STAR method

An interview answer structure naming the Situation, the Task, the Action taken, and the Result achieved, keeping the response focused and evidence-based.