JAMB Use of English flashcards

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

Main idea

The central claim or controlling point of a passage. It is broader than any single detail and is usually stated in the introduction or conclusion.

Inference

A conclusion drawn from evidence in the passage rather than stated directly. The correct inference is logically forced by the text and needs no outside knowledge.

Author's tone

The attitude the writer conveys toward the subject, such as critical, nostalgic, ironic, or objective. It is inferred from word choice across the whole passage.

Paraphrase trap

A wrong answer option that copies long phrases from the passage word for word but distorts the meaning. The correct option restates the idea in fresh language.

Synonym

A word with a meaning close to another in the same context. The best synonym also matches the register and connotation of the original sentence.

Antonym

A word expressing the opposite meaning of another. It is not formed by simply adding 'not' to a synonym; it must negate the core sense.

Parallel structure

Items joined by and, or, or but must share the same grammatical form, such as all infinitives or all gerunds, to keep the sentence balanced.

Dangling modifier

An introductory participle or phrase that fails to describe the subject of the main clause, producing an illogical or unintended meaning.

Register

The level of formality in language. Formal writing avoids contractions, slang, and personal opinion, while informal writing permits them.

Minimal pair

Two words that differ by only one phoneme in the same position, such as ship and sheep. Minimal pairs test whether sounds are contrastive.

Word stress

The relative emphasis placed on one syllable of a word. In English, two-syllable nouns usually stress the first syllable and verbs the second.

Falling intonation

A pitch pattern that drops at the end of an utterance. It typically marks statements, commands, and wh-questions in English.

Rising intonation

A pitch pattern that rises at the end of an utterance. It typically marks yes/no questions and non-final items in a list.

Rhyme

The correspondence of the stressed vowel and all following sounds in two words, as in cat and hat. Spelling need not match.

Syllable count

The number of vowel sounds in a word, not the number of letters. For example, queue has one syllable and beautiful has three.

Collocation

The habitual co-occurrence of words, such as make a decision or heavy rain. Cloze tests often require the natural partner of a word.

Cohesion marker

A word or phrase such as however, therefore, or moreover that links ideas and signals contrast, result, or addition between sentences.

Summary

A shortened restatement of a passage that keeps the main claim and key supporting points, discards examples and repetition, and uses original wording.

Cloze test

A passage with words removed at intervals. The correct word must satisfy both the grammar of the slot and the meaning of the surrounding text.

Subject-verb concord

The rule that a verb agrees with its subject in number and person. Intervening phrases do not change the subject's number.

Collective noun concord

A collective noun takes a singular verb when the group acts as one unit and a plural verb when its members act individually.

Either-or concord

With either...or or neither...nor, the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it, as in Either the teacher or the students are coming.

Plural-only nouns

Nouns such as scissors, trousers, and glasses that take plural verbs. Nouns like news and mathematics look plural but take singular verbs.

Idiom

A fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out from its individual words, such as kick the bucket meaning to die.

Idiomatic pairs

Fixed two-word expressions such as by and large, part and parcel, and safe and sound, whose order and meaning are conventional.

Prepositional idiom

A fixed verb-preposition combination such as depend on, insist on, or look forward to, where the preposition cannot be changed.

Simile

A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using like or as, for example as brave as a lion.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that states one thing is another without using like or as, such as the world is a stage.

Personification

A figure of speech that gives human qualities to non-human things, as in the wind whispered through the trees.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that joins contradictory terms, such as deafening silence or bitter sweet, to create a striking effect.

Phrasal verb

A verb combined with a particle or preposition that together carry a meaning, often idiomatic, as in give up meaning to quit.

Separable phrasal verb

A phrasal verb whose object may appear between the verb and the particle, as in turn the light off or turn off the light.