MATSEC AM 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 reads quickly for gist and overall structure; scanning searches a text for specific details such as names, dates, or figures. The two techniques answer different comprehension questions.

Fact versus opinion

A fact can be verified independently of the writer's stance. An opinion expresses evaluation, prediction, or judgement and often relies on evaluative adjectives such as 'shocking' or 'admirable'.

Valid inference

A conclusion drawn from explicit textual evidence combined with logical reasoning. It goes beyond the literal words but remains defensible from the passage, unlike an unsupported guess.

Writer's tone

The attitude conveyed through diction, syntax, and imagery, for example ironic, nostalgic, indignant, detached, or cautionary. Tone differs from mood, which is the feeling created in the reader.

Cohesive devices

Linguistic links that tie sentences together: reference through pronouns, substitution, ellipsis, conjunctions such as 'however' and 'therefore', and lexical cohesion through synonyms and repetition.

Formal versus informal register

Formal register favours Latinate vocabulary, nominalisation, and passive constructions; informal register favours contractions, phrasal verbs, and direct address. Register must suit audience and purpose.

Summary writing rule

A summary restates the source's main points in the candidate's own words, preserves the original proportion and stance, and omits illustrative examples, repetition, and minor detail.

Distinguishing main idea

The main idea combines the topic with the writer's controlling point about it. Supporting details illustrate, prove, or qualify that point but do not replace it.

Argument essay structure

A defensible claim, supporting reasons with evidence, acknowledgement of a counter-argument, rebuttal of that counter-argument, and a conclusion that reaffirms the position without new evidence.

Topic sentence function

The sentence stating a paragraph's controlling idea, usually placed first. It signals what the paragraph proves or explains and keeps the paragraph unified around one point.

Discursive versus argumentative

A discursive essay examines multiple perspectives and may remain balanced; an argumentative essay commits to one position and defends it consistently throughout the response.

Formal letter closings

Use 'Yours faithfully' when the salutation is 'Dear Sir/Madam' and the name is unknown; use 'Yours sincerely' when the recipient is named in the salutation.

Article conventions

A headline, an engaging opening hook, possible subheadings, direct address to the reader, and a closing reflection or call to action. Articles are written for a public readership.

Review composition

A brief description of the work, an evaluative judgement supported by specific evidence, and a recommendation directed at a defined audience. Balance description with evaluation.

Paragraph unity

Every sentence in a paragraph develops its single controlling idea. A sentence that introduces an unrelated point breaks unity and should be moved or deleted.

Register consistency

Maintaining the same level of formality throughout a text. Mixing slang with Latinate formality, or contractions with legal phrasing, creates an inconsistent and distracting voice.

Narrative point of view

The perspective from which a story is told: first person, second person, third-person limited, or third-person omniscient. Point of view controls what information the reader can access.

Free indirect discourse

Third-person narration that absorbs a character's idiom, judgements, and questions without quotation marks or reporting clauses, blurring narrator and character voices.

Dramatic irony

A situation where the audience or reader possesses knowledge that a character lacks, so the character's words or actions carry meaning they cannot perceive.

Petrarchan sonnet structure

Fourteen lines divided into an octave of eight lines rhyming abbaabba and a sestet of six lines. A volta, or turn in argument, usually occurs between octave and sestet.

Shakespearean sonnet structure

Fourteen lines arranged as three quatrains and a final couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. The couplet typically delivers an epigrammatic turn or resolution.

Blank verse defined

Unrhymed iambic pentameter, with five iambic feet per line. It is common in English dramatic and reflective poetry because it approximates natural speech rhythm.

Synecdoche versus metonymy

Synecdoche substitutes a part for a whole or a whole for a part, as in 'all hands on deck'. Metonymy substitutes an associated object for a concept, as in 'the crown' for monarchy.

Analysing an unseen poem

Establish literal sense and situation, identify speaker and addressee, map structure and any volta, then analyse imagery, diction, and sound before linking form to meaning.

Characterisation evidence

Character is built through speech, action, physical description, others' comments, and the character's development or stasis. Claims about character require textual evidence.

Subject-verb agreement rule

The verb agrees with the grammatical subject, not with intervening phrases. Singular subjects such as 'each', 'every', and 'neither' take singular verbs in formal usage.

Pronoun case after prepositions

Prepositions govern the object case, so 'between you and me' is correct, not 'between you and I'. Subject pronouns appear only in the subject position.

Tense sequence in reported speech

When the reporting verb is past, shift the reported verb back: present becomes past, past becomes past perfect, and modals shift from will to would and can to could.

Four conditional types

Zero: present plus present. First: present plus will. Second: past plus would. Third: past perfect plus would have. Each expresses a different degree of reality or possibility.

Apostrophe rules

Apostrophes mark possession, adding 's to singular nouns and an apostrophe after plural nouns ending in s, and mark omission in contractions. 'Its' is possessive; 'it's' means it is.

Comma splice remedy

A comma splice joins two independent clauses with only a comma. Repair it with a full stop, a semicolon, or a coordinating conjunction such as 'but' or 'so'.

Dangling modifier

An introductory participle must share its subject with the main clause. In 'Walking home, the rain began', the rain appears to be walking, so the modifier dangles.