PNG Grade 10 English key terms

The ability to read a text and understand its explicit meaning, including stated facts, main ideas, and details that can be pointed to directly in the passage.

The central point a passage or paragraph communicates about its topic. It is broader than any single detail and is often stated in a topic sentence.

A sentence, usually at or near the start of a paragraph, that announces the paragraph's central point and controls what the following sentences develop.

A fact, example, statistic, or reason offered to explain, prove, or illustrate a main idea or claim within a passage.

A conclusion a reader draws from clues in a text plus general knowledge, even though the text does not state that conclusion directly.

A meaning a writer suggests without stating it plainly, so the reader must work out what is hinted at from context and wording.

Information surrounding an unfamiliar word, such as definitions, examples, contrasts, or restatements, that helps a reader work out the word's meaning.

The way a passage organises its content, for example as cause and effect, comparison, chronological sequence, problem and solution, or description.

A brief restatement of a text's main points in the reader's own words, keeping essential ideas and leaving out minor details and examples.

The reason a writer produces a text, commonly to inform, persuade, entertain, explain, or describe, which shapes the choices made in it.

The intended readers of a text. Awareness of audience guides a writer's choice of vocabulary, tone, level of detail, and format.

The attitude a writer conveys towards the subject or reader, such as humorous, critical, sympathetic, or formal, revealed through word choice and sentence style.

The feeling a text creates in its reader, for example tension, calm, or sadness, produced by setting, imagery, and descriptive language rather than by stated opinion.

The distinction between statements that can be verified by evidence and statements that express personal belief, judgement, or feeling and cannot be proven true.

An unfair leaning towards or against something, shown when a writer presents only one side, uses loaded words, or omits relevant evidence.

Material such as facts, examples, quotations, or statistics used to support a claim and to convince a reader that the claim is sound.

A word that names a person, place, thing, or idea, such as teacher, Lae, book, or honesty. Nouns can be common or proper, countable or uncountable, concrete or abstract.

A word that stands in for a noun or noun phrase, such as he, they, it, or herself, helping a writer avoid repeating the same noun.

The noun or noun phrase that a pronoun refers back to. Clear writing keeps the antecedent obvious so readers know who or what a pronoun means.

The form of a verb that shows when an action happens, for example past, present, or future, and whether it is ongoing, completed, or repeated.

The rule that a verb must match its subject in number and person, so a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb.

A group of words containing its own subject and verb. An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence; a dependent clause cannot.

A group of related words that does not contain both a subject and a finite verb, such as in the morning or very quickly.

An incomplete sentence that lacks a subject, a verb, or a complete thought, and so cannot stand alone as a grammatical sentence.

Marks such as full stops, commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, and quotation marks used to clarify meaning, separate ideas, and show how a sentence should be read.

A speaker's exact words placed inside quotation marks, usually introduced by a reporting verb such as said or asked, preserving the original wording.

Two ways of presenting an action. In active voice the subject performs the action; in passive voice the object becomes the subject and the doer may be omitted.

A word that has a similar meaning to another word, such as begin and commence, though the two may differ in formality or emphasis.

A word with a meaning opposite to another word, such as generous and stingy, used to sharpen contrast in writing and in vocabulary questions.

The literal, dictionary meaning of a word, independent of the feelings or associations the word may carry for readers.

The emotional or cultural associations a word carries beyond its literal meaning, so that cheap and affordable describe similar prices but suggest different attitudes.

The level of formality in language suited to a situation, ranging from formal writing for official purposes to informal speech among friends.

A fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out from its individual words, such as to break the ice or under the weather.

Language used imaginatively rather than literally, including simile, metaphor, and personification, to create vivid comparisons and effects.

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch, helping readers picture and feel what is described.

The underlying idea about life or human nature that a literary text explores, such as loyalty or the cost of ambition, conveyed through characters and events.

The methods a writer uses to build characters, including description, dialogue, actions, and how other characters respond to them.

The sequence of events in a narrative, typically moving through exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

A single sentence in an essay that states the writer's central claim and the direction of the argument, usually placed at the end of the introduction.

A restatement of a source's idea in the writer's own words and sentence structure, keeping the original meaning and requiring acknowledgement of the source.

The way sentences and paragraphs are linked so a text flows logically, achieved through pronouns, repetition, transition words, and consistent ordering of ideas.