PNG Grade 10 English flashcards

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

Main idea

The controlling point that the whole passage supports. It is broader than any single detail and can usually be stated in one full sentence.

Inference

A conclusion drawn from evidence in the text combined with general knowledge. It must be supported by clues, not guessed freely.

Skimming versus scanning

Skimming reads quickly for general meaning and structure; scanning moves the eyes rapidly to locate a specific fact, word, or figure.

Fact versus opinion

A fact can be verified or checked against evidence; an opinion expresses a judgement, belief, or feeling and often uses evaluative words.

Author's tone

The writer's attitude towards the subject, revealed through word choice, such as ironic, nostalgic, critical, objective, sympathetic, or sarcastic.

Cause and effect signals

Words such as because, therefore, consequently, hence, thus, since, and as a result that show one idea produces another.

Author's purpose

The reason a text is written, usually to inform, persuade, entertain, or instruct. The verb chosen must fit the whole text.

Subject-verb agreement

A singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb, ignoring interrupting phrases between them.

Active and passive voice

Active voice has the subject performing the action; passive voice makes the object the subject using be plus past participle.

Reported speech backshift

When reporting speech, tenses shift back: present becomes past, will becomes would, can becomes could, and pronouns adjust.

Conditional sentence types

Zero uses present plus present; first uses if plus present with will; second uses if plus past with would; third uses had with would have.

Relative pronouns

Who refers to people, which to things, whose shows possession, where shows place, and that introduces defining clauses.

Parallel structure

Items in a list or comparison must share the same grammatical form, for example reading, writing, and speaking rather than mixing forms.

Apostrophe uses

An apostrophe shows possession (the girl's book, the girls' books) or marks a contraction (it's means it is); its without an apostrophe is possessive.

Neither/nor agreement

With neither/nor or either/or, the verb agrees with the nearer subject, as in neither the boys nor the teacher was ready.

Context clues

Hints inside a sentence that reveal an unknown word's meaning, including definition, example, contrast, and general inference clues.

Denotation and connotation

Denotation is a word's dictionary meaning; connotation is its emotional association, which may be positive, negative, or neutral.

Common prefixes

Word beginnings that change meaning: un-, dis-, in-, and im- mean not; re- means again; pre- means before; anti- means against.

Suffixes and word class

Endings that change a word's grammatical class: -tion and -ment form nouns, -ous and -ive form adjectives, -ly forms adverbs.

Homophones

Words that sound alike but differ in spelling and meaning, such as their, there, and they're, or principal and principle.

Collocation

The conventional partnership between words, such as make a decision, do homework, heavy rain, and strong coffee.

Idiom

A fixed expression whose meaning is not literal, such as bite the bullet, which means to endure something difficult.

Topic sentence

The sentence that states a paragraph's controlling idea, usually placed first and supported by evidence and examples that follow.

Cohesion in writing

The linking of sentences through reference words, repeated key terms, and connectives such as furthermore, however, and therefore.

Thesis statement

A single sentence in the introduction that states the essay's central argument and forecasts the order of the body paragraphs.

Persuasive techniques

Devices used to convince readers, including statistics, expert opinion, rhetorical questions, emotive language, anecdote, and rebuttal of counter-arguments.

Formal writing register

A style that avoids contractions, slang, and vague words, uses complete sentences, and keeps an objective third-person tone where required.

Summary writing rules

A summary restates the source's main ideas in your own words and omits examples, repetition, minor details, and personal opinion.

Narrative plot structure

The sequence of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution, driven by a conflict and a consistent tense.

Direct and indirect characterisation

Direct characterisation states a character's traits outright; indirect reveals them through speech, actions, appearance, and other characters' reactions.

Theme versus subject

The subject is the topic the text is about; the theme is a full statement about life that the whole text conveys.

Types of irony

Verbal irony says the opposite of what is meant; situational irony reverses expectation; dramatic irony gives the audience knowledge characters lack.

Sound devices in poetry

Alliteration repeats initial consonants, assonance repeats vowel sounds, and onomatopoeia uses words that imitate sounds.