Tamil Nadu SSLC English flashcards

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

Main idea of a passage

The single statement that covers the whole passage rather than one part of it. Options that repeat a supporting detail are wrong even when the detail is accurate.

Inference question wording

Questions using suggests, implies, or most likely ask for a conclusion drawn from the text. The answer must be supported by the passage, not by general knowledge.

Author's purpose categories

Prose passages usually aim to inform, persuade, narrate, describe, or entertain. Decide whether the writer reports facts or argues a position before choosing.

Reference word resolution

Words such as this, they, such, and it point back to a noun phrase. Replace the word with the nearest preceding phrase that fits the grammar and sense.

Simile versus metaphor

A simile compares using like or as; a metaphor states that one thing is another without like or as. Naming the correct figure earns the mark.

Tone versus mood

Tone is the speaker's or writer's attitude towards the subject. Mood is the feeling produced in the reader. Examiners penalise answers that swap the two.

Rhyme scheme notation

Each line is given a letter; lines ending in the same sound share a letter. A four-line stanza rhyming abab is alternate rhyme, aabb is couplet rhyme.

Personification defined

A figure of speech giving human qualities or actions to non-human things, as when a wind whispers or a tree lifts its arms in prayer.

Antonym by negative prefix

Many opposites are formed with un-, in-, im-, il-, ir-, dis-, or non-. Check the prefix meaning before choosing, since some words are deceptive.

Commonly confused homophones

Pairs such as principal and principle, stationary and stationery, compliment and complement, and advice and advise differ in meaning and often in word class.

Phrasal verb put off

Put off means postpone or delay. Related particles change meaning entirely: put up with means tolerate, put out means extinguish, put on means wear.

Idiom: once in a blue moon

This idiom means very rarely or almost never. It describes frequency, not colour or astronomy, and is used adverbially in a sentence.

Collective noun agreement

Words such as team, jury, and committee take a singular verb when the group acts as one unit, and a plural verb when members act individually.

Present perfect with since

Use has or have plus the past participle with since or for when an action began in the past and continues to the present, as in 'She has lived here since 2015'.

Third conditional form

The third conditional is if plus past perfect in the condition clause, and would have plus past participle in the result: 'If he had studied, he would have passed.'

Passive voice formation

The passive uses a form of be plus the past participle, as in 'The letter was written by Ravi'. Only transitive verbs, which take an object, can be made passive.

Subject-verb agreement with either

Either, neither, each, every, everyone, and nobody are singular and take singular verbs. With neither nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.

Reported speech tense shift

When the reporting verb is past, shift the reported verb one step back: present becomes past, past becomes past perfect, and will becomes would.

Yours faithfully pairing

Yours faithfully closes a letter beginning Dear Sir or Dear Madam, where the name is unknown. Yours sincerely pairs with a named recipient such as Dear Mr Ravi.

Notice format essentials

A notice carries the word NOTICE, the institution's name, the date, a heading, a four to five line body, and the writer's name and designation.

Paragraph topic sentence

The topic sentence states the paragraph's single controlling idea, usually first. Supporting sentences give reasons or examples, and the closing sentence rounds off.

Formal letter subject line

A formal letter places a short subject line after the salutation and before the body, stating the letter's purpose in a phrase without a full stop.

Cohesive devices in writing

Linking words such as however, therefore, moreover, in addition, and as a result connect sentences and show contrast, cause, or addition between ideas.

The Last Leaf author

O. Henry wrote The Last Leaf, in which Behrman paints a leaf to keep Johnsy alive and dies of pneumonia. The leaf symbolises hope and sacrifice.

A Tiger in the Zoo theme

Leslie Norris contrasts the caged tiger's quiet fury with its imagined freedom in the jungle, making the poem an argument about captivity versus liberty.

Answering character questions

State the trait first, then support it with one specific action or quoted line from the text. Unsupported adjectives such as kind or brave earn no marks.

Speaker versus poet

The speaker is the voice within the poem and may be a created character. The poet is the actual writer, so a dramatic monologue is not autobiography.

Dictionary sense numbering

A dictionary lists numbered senses under one headword. Choose the sense number that matches the word's use in the given sentence, not the first sense listed.

Alphabetical order and spacing

Alphabetical filing ignores spaces and hyphens and compares letter by letter. Thus new moon comes before newspaper because m precedes s.

Dictionary guide words

Guide words printed at the top of a dictionary page are the first and last headwords on that page. A word falling alphabetically between them belongs there.

Dictionary abbreviation n. and adj.

In dictionary entries, n. marks a noun, v. a verb, adj. an adjective, adv. an adverb, and pl. a plural form. They identify how the word functions.

Information transfer technique

Read the table or chart headings first, then match each row label to the question. Transfer only data present in the source, adding nothing.