WBCHSE HS Alternative English (ALTE) flashcards

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

Tone versus mood

Tone is the writer's attitude toward the subject, shown by diction and syntax. Mood is the feeling the text creates in the reader. A prose answer should name both and cite the words that produce them.

Narrated versus narrating self

In autobiographical prose, the narrated self is the person living the events; the narrating self is the older voice recounting them. The gap between the two carries the text's judgement and irony.

Satire's target

Satire uses exaggeration, irony and understatement to expose a fault the writer wants corrected. A strong answer names the specific target, such as vanity or hypocrisy, rather than saying the text is humorous.

Iambic pentameter

A line of five iambic feet, each foot an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. It is the standard English verse line and the base metre of Shakespearean sonnets and much reflective poetry.

Shakespearean sonnet structure

Fourteen lines rhyming abab cdcd efef gg, arranged as three quatrains and a closing couplet. The volta, or turn in argument, usually arrives at line thirteen in the couplet.

Petrarchan sonnet structure

Fourteen lines divided into an octave rhyming abbaabba and a sestet with a varied rhyme scheme. The turn falls between octave and sestet, often shifting from problem to resolution.

Enjambment and end-stopping

Enjambment lets a sentence run past the line break without punctuation, quickening pace or creating suspense. End-stopping closes the line with punctuation, slowing movement and giving emphasis or finality.

Metonymy versus synecdoche

Metonymy names a thing by an associated attribute, as crown for monarchy. Synecdoche names a whole by a part or a part by a whole, as hands for workers. Both are substitution figures, not comparisons.

Ode, elegy, ballad, lyric

An ode addresses or celebrates a subject; an elegy mourns a death; a ballad narrates events in quatrains with refrain and repetition; a lyric voices a single speaker's emotion in a short, songlike form.

Theme statement form

A theme must be a full sentence about human experience, such as loyalty surviving loss, rather than a single abstract word. Single words are topics; sentences making a claim are themes.

Round versus flat character

A round character shows complexity, contradiction or change across the narrative. A flat character has one dominant trait and serves a single function, such as comic relief or moral contrast.

Free indirect discourse

A technique blending narrator's voice with a character's thoughts and idiom without quotation marks or reporting clauses. It gives access to inner life while keeping third-person narration and is common in modern fiction.

Narrative point of view

First person narration is limited and subjective; omniscient third person enters all minds; limited third person stays within one character's perception. Point of view controls what the reader can know.

Five-part plot structure

Exposition establishes setting and characters; the inciting incident starts conflict; rising action builds complication; the climax is the turning point; falling action and resolution close the narrative. Map a text before writing essays.

Functional setting analysis

Setting is analysed by asking how place and period shape character choices and reinforce theme. Describing a village or city without linking it to conflict or meaning earns little credit.

Inference versus stated fact

A stated fact appears directly in the passage. An inference is a conclusion the reader draws from clues. Every inference answer must point to the line that supports it, or it becomes a guess.

Not-given option

In true, false and not-given items, not-given means the passage says nothing either way. It is not the same as false, which requires the passage to contradict the statement.

Vocabulary in context test

Substitute each option into the original sentence and check whether the sentence's meaning and grammar still hold. The correct synonym fits the passage's usage, not merely the word's most common dictionary sense.

Suitable title question

A title answer should be a short noun phrase covering the whole passage, not just the opening paragraph. Reject options that are too narrow, too broad, or merely catchy without matching the content.

Notice format

Centre the word NOTICE at the top, then give the date, a short heading, a body covering who, what, when, where and why, and the issuer's name with designation. Keep it near fifty words.

Formal letter sequence

Sender's address, date, receiver's address, subject line, salutation, body, subscription and signature. Use no comma after Dear Sir or Madam, and avoid contractions and slang throughout.

Report writing conventions

A report carries a heading, a byline beginning with By, a place and date line, then a factual body in past tense and third person. First-person pronouns and personal opinion are excluded.

Paragraph architecture

Open with a topic sentence stating the main point, add two or three supporting sentences with examples, and close with a sentence that returns to the topic. One paragraph carries one controlling idea.

Essay planning sequence

Draft a one-sentence thesis, choose three supporting points, add one counterpoint with a reply, and conclude by restating the thesis in fresh words. Planning prevents repetition and mid-essay drift.

Reported speech backshift

When the reporting verb is past, present tense becomes past and past becomes past perfect. Time and place words shift: now to then, here to there, tomorrow to the next day, this to that.

Three conditional types

Type one uses if plus present with will in the main clause. Type two uses if plus past with would. Type three uses if plus past perfect with would have plus past participle.

Subject-verb agreement rule

The verb agrees with the head noun of the subject, ignoring prepositional phrases in between. In 'the list of items is long', list is singular, so the verb takes is.

Relative pronoun choice

Use who for people, which for things, whose for possession, and that in defining clauses. Commas around a clause make it non-defining, where that is normally avoided in formal written English.

Passive voice condition

Only transitive verbs, which take an object, can be made passive. Promote the object to subject position and use the correct form of be with the past participle, keeping the original tense.

Reference-to-context answer frame

Name the text and author, place the extract by identifying speaker, addressee and situation, then explain its significance to theme or plot. Quote one key word to anchor the explanation.

Marks-to-length calibration

For short-answer items, write roughly one developed sentence per mark. A three-mark question needs a point, evidence and a brief comment on significance, not a plot summary.

Comparative short answer

When two prescribed texts share a theme, name both authors and state each position in a single sentence, then add one line on how the treatments differ in tone or technique.