ABC OF SIMPLE
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
What’s
a rule of thumb? Answer: the way things usually happen - not always.
This is an alphabetical list of certain English
grammatical terms with a brief, straightforward explanation of each, devised to
assist in swift revision before an examination.
Apparent repetition of explanations under headings such as brackets and
parenthesis is provided to avoid excessive cross-referencing.
ABBREVIATIONS:
A short form of writing a long word: BA
Baccalaureus Artium, Bachelor of Arts, AD Anno Domini, BC Before Christ..
ABSTRACT NOUNS: nouns describing what is felt but
cannot be touched: pain, love, sadness,
disappointment, joy, friendship, emotions
ACRONYMS: a word made from a collection of first
letters or syllables of a title given to a group or institution: SARS (South African Revenue Service), Aida
(attention, interest, desire, action).
ACTIVE VOICE:
Sentences which basically contain a subject, verb and an object: John loves Mary, John loved Mary, John will
love Mary.
ADJECTIVE: words that describe a noun: the intelligent man, the pretty flower
ADVERB: words that describe a verb: to speak well, to listen attentively, to answer intelligently. There are various types of adverbs:
Adverb of degree:
This figure differs slightly from
that of last year, she walks fast
Adverb of frequency:
We seldom buy takeaways, he often walks to town
Adverb of manner:
He spoke politely, she drives carefully
Adverb of place:
We bought the car locally, John
is coming here to stay
Adverb of time:
We discussed the matter yesterday,
John is coming tomorrow
ADVERTISING - AIDA PRINCIPLE: used in
advertisements. AIDA is an aronym which
stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. Attention is drawn: Are you overweight? Interest:
Kelp is the answer. Desire: Would
you like to drop a dress size during a weekend? Action: Phone
us while our stocks last at … Our marketers are ready to assist you.
AGREEMENT (CONCORD)
subject and VERB must agree in number and persons: John and Philip are going –
not is going – a mistake often made by people whose home language is
Afrikaans. Also: he eats first and has a
sleep afterwards – they eat first and
have a sleep later Also: there are five people waiting for a
taxi. Rule of thumb: if the noun gets an
S the verb does not. If the verb gets an
S the noun does not: The boy eats – the
boys eat.
AIDA PRINCIPLE - ADVERTISING: used in
advertisements. AIDA is an aronym which
stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. Attention is drawn: Are you overweight? Interest:
Kelp is the answer. Desire: Would
you like to drop a dress size during a weekend? Action: Phone us while our stocks last at …
Our marketers are ready to assist you.
ALLEGORY: a tale with a moral message: The Pilgrim’s Progress - Everyman
ALLITERATION: repetition of the consonant sound at the
beginning of each of a group of words e.g. the
long light shakes across the lake - my heart’s in the Highlands
– death does end and each day dies with sleep
ALLUSION: when text of article or poem alludes (refers)
to other writing such as the Bible or Taylor Caldwell’s fictional biography of
St Luke “Dear and Glorious Physician”.
Here the title alludes to a Bible text
AMBIGUITY: The meaning is not clear: They were telling their friends that their
house was on fire. You cannot tell
whose house was on fire. It should read:
they were telling their friends that their own house was on fire OR they were
telling their friends that the latter’s house was on fire
ANACHRONISM: means it does not fit the age, conditions
or period concerned. If you were to write a story about the English Queen
Elizabth the First who lived more than five centuries ago you could not state: She puffed on her cigarette and sipped a
Coke while she put on her pantyhose
ANAPAEST: metrical foot consisting of two unstressed
syllables followed by a stressed one: it
was MANy and MANy a YEAR ago/in a KINGdom
by the sea
ANIMAL SOUNDS: Animals don’t talk. Monkeys chatter,
cats meow, donkeys bray, owls hoot, horses neigh, lions
roar, rabbits cry, foxes and dogs bark. Make a list of animal sounds for yourself and
study it
ANIMATED CARTOONS: These sometimes are aimed at an
adult market, although ostensibly they are produced for children, because of
deeper meanings they may contain: The
Hunchback of Notre Dame, Alice in Wonderland
ANTI-CLIMAX (BATHOS): From strong beginnings to an
insignificant end: He bought a new house,
a Mercedes and a box of tissues
ANTHOLOGY: a collection of poems, short stories or
essays, e.g “Best-loved Poems”, edited by John Boyes
ANTONYMS: Words of opposite meaning: big -
small, kind – nasty, sad -happy
ANTITHESIS: Antithesis: opposite ideas contradicting
each other: A lion in the pulpit, a lamb
in the confessional
APOSTROPHE figure of speech: An exclamation to someone
or something who or which is no longer there: O Diana, if only you could have seen the silent crowds of mourners when
your coffin passed!
APOSTROPHE grammar: used when shortcuts are taken: I’ve taken the bus to school - I haven’t
done my homework - Isn’t this a clever little girl?- let’s make friends. Life’s to short to fight
APOSTROPHE punctuation: ‘: a sign of possession: John’s book, Mary’s school bag, the
country’s climate (of the country)
the countries’ population (of the
countries). In the case of one person or animal or
object, apostrophe S is used, in the case of more S apostrophe is used
APPROPRIATION (BORROWING): The same quotation is used
for a different readership: Roses are
red, violets are blue, you thought this was going to rhyme but it didn’t.
ARTICLE: the
words the, a or an: the pencil, a pear, an orange
ARTICULATION: This refers to the way you pronounce
words and project your voice when you are speaking to people, reading aloud or
making a speech
ASSONANCE: repetition of vowel sounds: … deal with that steep or deep. Here! Creep (Gerald Manley Hopkins)
ATMOSPHERE: The
surroundings which cause a mood rendering one receptive to the message, like pastoral
descriptions in a novel about the land or romantic music in a film about love
and martial music in a war film
AUDIENCE: The
people who read your writings or view your plays. You change your content and writing style to
appeal to the kind of audience you wish to reach: intellectuals, sport-lovers
or fiction readers
AUTOBIOGRAPHY:
A book about one’s own life: David Niven: The Moon’s a Balloon
AUXILIARY VERB: a verb which assists a main verb: I do not like mustard; I will go to town; I have eaten; I am reading;
I cannot afford to buy a new car; I should
go to Church at least once a week.
BALLAD: a poem
or song in which an experience in the area of love or historic action, either
authentic or imagined, is told: Long time
ago, in Bethlehem,
so the holy Bible say, Mary’s boy child Jesus Christ was born on Christmas day.
BATHOS – ANTI-CLIMAX: From strong beginnings to an
insignificant end:
He bought a house, a Mercedes and a box of tissues
BIAS (PREJUDICE): a personal emotion with a negative
outreach to persuade the reader or audience to adopt your own principles or
emotions: these louts with their
piercings and tattoos
BLURB: a brief
description on the inside jacket and/or back of a book cover introducing the
author and providing some information on the storyline to attract potential
readers
BODY LANGUAGE:
Showing emotion by facial or physical expressions, like turning your
back on an enemy, looking someone up and down, smiling or nodding at a friend
BOOK REVIEW: A
particular reader’s opinion of a new
publication in a newspaper, magazine or journal. A favourable review boosts
sales, an unfavourable one can destroy a book
BRAINSTORM: A
random sharing by writing them down of opinions or ideas on a certain
subject by a an individual or a group,
all of which are recorded with the
objective of fining them down later into a coherent whole
BRACKETS ( ) or parenthesis are sometimes used when
giving more information: “John Smith, (you remember, the man I was telling you
about?) has asked me to marry him.” If
you use brackets within brackets, you use the following [ ]: “John Smith, (you
remember, the man I was telling you about [he was the one I met on holiday])
has asked me to marry him.” This looks more
complex (complicated) than it is. It is
principally used in academic writing where it is self-evident.
BREATH CONTROL:
Softly taking a deep breath and holding it down before pronouncing a
sentence or line of music or poetry
BULLETS mark a
variety of specific details of a certain topic, e.g (for example)
We shall be discussing grammar under the following
headings:
·
Verbs
·
Nouns
·
Adverbs
·
Adjectives
·
Direct speech
·
Active and passive voice
CAESURA: when a
full stop occurs within a line:
The
steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat
No
one left and no one came.
On
the bare platform. What I saw
Was
Adlestrop. Only the name.
CAPITAL LETTERS: are used for proper nouns (John Benson) proper adjectives (This is a South African recipe) days of
the week and the month (Tuesday – August),
first word in a sentence (The man is
sick), main words in a book or film title (How Green was my Valley) and first word in direct speech: (Ellen
asked: “How are you?”)
CHARACTERS: the
persons in fiction and drama, marked by their personalities, eccentricities,
virtues and flaws
CHORAL VERSE:
Poems recited by groups in the same way as songs are sung by choirs
CLAUSES: an idea arranged in a group of words which
contain a finite verb, placed inside a sentence. There are main clauses and subordinate
clauses. Main clause: can stand by
itself and conveys the main idea: The
nurse fell in love with the doctor while he was doing his housemanship
stint. Subordinate clause: The doctor did his housemanship stint while
the nurse was falling in love with him.
There are three kinds of clauses: noun, adjectival and adverbial
clauses: Noun clauses may be the subject or object of a sentence: The reason for the murder is not
known. Adjectival clauses: The boy who had won the drum major competition donated
his prize to the school. Adverbial
clauses: They will assist you in solving your financial problems on account of your flawless reputation – they
went for a ride in the cable car while
they were holidaying in Cape Town.
CLICHÉ: An
over-used expression: When in Rome, do as Rome does.
CLIMAX: The
result of a build-up of expressions of experience or emotions: I lost, I searched, I agonised, I found
CLOZE PROCEDURE:
A passage with spaces for certain words which the student has to
supply: At …………………. we eat mince …………….
and at Easter we look for chocolate ……………. which Mother hides in the garden
COLLECTIVE NOUNS: words describing a number of the
same things, animals, occupations or people: a collection of paintings, a flock
of birds, a team of players, a cast of actors, a crowd of spectators, a gaggle of geese, a drift of clouds. Compile
your own list
COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE:
relaxed, informal way of speech understood by one’s own circle of
acquaintances: Let’s use the Merc rather than the BM
COLON : (:) This punctuation sign indicates that a
quotation or explanation will follow: John said: “Mary, I love you.”
COMMA (,) This sign marks a pause in a sentence, or
serves to differentiate various places or things. It may also indicate that someone is being
described or his name is given: We went to Bloemfontein, Welkom and Virginia; John Smith, my husband, has gone
to Johannesburg. Notice that in the latter case, two commas
are used; one before and another after the description
COMMAND (IMPERATIVE):
An instruction which brooks no disobedience: Go to your room at once!
COMMON NOUNS: name words for concrete things: The man, the
woman, the flower, the box, the car.
In this case, concrete means it can be touched
COMPLEMENT:
providing something extra
COMPREHENSIONS:
These are set in examinations to check if you understand what you
read. It is your safest bet to stick
closely to the text in the majority of your answers unless you are asked for an
opinion. In the latter case, avoid
stating your opinion in a markedly controversial way. Examiners are not looking for an argument, so
avoid slang and answer objectively: motorists
tend to cause annoyance by hooting unexpectedly rather than subjectively: I get so acid when road hogs out of the blue
honk their freaking hooters in my ear.
Unless otherwise stated, - like if you are asked only to provide one
word replies - answer in simple, grammatical sentences. Answer the easy
questions first and leave spaces for the tricky ones. When your paper is finished, go back to the
comprehension and complete your remaining replies as well as you can after
working them out properly in space allotted.
Don’t leave questions unanswered – you might get the half mark you just
need to pass.
CONCORD (AGREEMENT): –
Subject and VERB must agree in number and persons: John and Philip are going – not is going – a mistake often made by people whose home language is
Afrikaans. Also: he eats first and has a
sleep afterwards – they eat first and
have a sleep later Also: there are five people waiting for a taxi.
In tenses you also have to be consistent: he says that he has gone, he
said that he had gone.
CONFLICT: a destruction of the peace and harmony
between people on account of a disagreement.
It usually occurs in the plots of dramas and novels. The conflict
between Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara is one of the main themes in the
novel and movie “Gone with the Wind”.
CONJUNCTIONS: linking words:
Of time: meanwhile,
afterwards
Of reason: because,
after all
Of comparison: rather
Of comparative evaluation: nevertheless, at the same time,
Of co-ordinating: Punch
and Judy, curry and rice
Of relative pronouns: who, which: the dog which missed its master bit the vet
Of subordinating. She
had her hair done professionally despite the rainy weather
Conjunctions: linking words:
Of time: meanwhile,
afterwards
Of reason: because,
after all
Of comparison: rather,
earlier
Of comparative evaluation: nevertheless, at the same time,
Of co-ordinating: Punch and Judy, curry and rice
Of relative pronouns: who, which: the dog which missed
its master who had gone abroad bit
its surrogate caretaker
Of subordinating. She had her hair done professionally
despite the rainy weather
CONNOTATIONS:
Things that remind you of other occasions. A smell of pine trees may remind children of
Christmas. Words can also bring
connotations. To speak about coffee may
give one a feeling of home, cosy warmth and comfort. Also the country town stories by Miss Read
are known for their simple, warm and homely connotations.
CONSONANTS: All
the letters of the alphabet except a, e, i, o and u, as well as y as it is
sounded in the words you or year
CONTRACTIONS: when words are joined and we indicate some of
the omitted letters by the use of an apostrophe: I’m, you’re, we’re, aren’t, doesn’t
CONTEXT: The
text around the quotation you are referring to or reading from. The context of the words Romeo, O Romeo, wherefore art thou?” have for their context
Shekespeare’s play Romeo and Juliette
CURRICULUM VITAE:
A synopsis of one’s education, training and professional, cultural and
sports experience, often summarised and typed out for the purpose of applying
for a new position
DACTYL: a
metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed
syllables: FASter than FAIries – FASter
than WITches,: a metrical foot
consisting of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables: FASter than FAIries – FASter than WITches, DASH
( - ) may be used instead of a comma to mark a pause between words in a
sentence, a little like a comma. There
is a space before and after a dash: John went to town – Mike didn’t.
DEBATE:
Opposite stances in a discussion of certain matters
DEGREES OF COMPARISON: Some mothers are kind, others are kinder and
my mom the kindest of all. Sometimes the
comparison is irregular: good, better,
best – bad, worse, worst
DENOTATION: is
the exact meaning of the word. Coffee is
a brown drink brewed from ground beams from a plant grown in places such as Brazil
DENOUEMENT: The point at which the plot of a story is
unravelled and the whole storyline is resolved
DIALOGUE: A
conversation between two persons in plays or stories. We also speak of the dialogue between an
author, dramatist or poet and the readership or audience
DIARY: Regular
entries into a notebook of the owner’s day-to-day experiences. A famous one is The Diary of Anne Frank
DICTION: describes
pronunciation and an author’s word choice.
In his novel “The Grapes of Wrath”, the author John Steinbeck gives an
example of Oklahahoma Great Depression time diction among farmers as
follows: “… the last of Ma’s resistance
went down. ‘We’d be proud to have ya,”
she said. “We ain’t got much that’s nice
but you’re welcome’.”
DICTIONARY SKILLS:
Depending on their size and volume, dictionaries provide more than
simple meanings of words, including the parts of speech they represent, the way
they are pronounced, examples of times when they were used and writings in
which they were found
DIMINUTIVES are small versions of words: droplet, duckling, starlet, honeykins
DIRECT SPEECH:
Recording the speech as it is spoken: John said: ‘For heaven’s sake Mary! Why did
you turn the sound up so high?”
DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE:
the words spoken by a protagonist in a play to life and humanity in
general, e.g. Duke Orlando in the drama “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare
starts off the action with his monologue
by his lines starting with the words: If music be the food of love, play on – Give me excess of it that,
surfeiting, the appetite may sicken and so die.
EDITING:
checking of copy which has been written for publication for
correctness. Dyed-in-the-wool
journalists claim that as many times as they re-read their copy, they find
better ways of expressing their ideas, even if they were well expressed the
first time around. Other ways of editing
include checking for correct spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, grammar,
style and expression
EDITORIAL: the
leading essay in a newspaper or journal in which they editor reviews the topics
of the day in a way that corresponds with the message the publication he
represents wishes to project to the reading public
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION: ways of electronic communication are evolving
and improving all the time and include
e-mail, i-pods, fax, SMS, BMB
ELEGY: A poem lamenting
the death of a dear one. It praises the
dead person’s attributes – even if these were not invariably appreciated during
the lifetime of the deceased
ELLIPSIS: the
placing of three dots in a passage of writing or a quotation to indicate that
words which may not be directly relevant to the point that is being made:
Mary’s Magnificat: My soul magnifies the
Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour … the Almighty has worked marvels
for me, holy is His name …
E-MAIL: an instant communication over the Internet
where the words are typed in, normally in a less formal manner than would be
used when writing a letter and sent directly from the computer to the one owned
by the recipient by keying in an e-mail address and forwarding it.
EMOTIVE LANGUAGE:
It is possible to call up a response from a reader if a story or poem is
couched in emotive language, e.g. a fiend
in human shape entered our home in the darkest hour of the night, depriving us
of a lifetime’s hard-earned possessions.
EMPHASIS: putting stress on your expression: I’m
telling you – and this is important! –
that your children are God’s most precious gift to a family
ENJAMBMENT: a line of poetry which runs on into the
next: I love thee to the depth and
breadth and height:/my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.
EPIC: a long narrative poem like John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Epic movies include Ben Hur and
The Ten Commandments
EPIGRAM: a
striking or witty comment on life’s vagaries: if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly – no good deed ever
goes unpunished
ESSAY WRITING: the
recording of an experience or a narrative in a personal way. Famous for his essay writing was the
Frenchman Michel de Montaigne.
Well-known essayists in South
Africa include the Sunday Times columnist
Barry Ronge. Reading these will provide
an understanding of the technique used in such writings. An essay requires a title, an introduction
containing answers to questions such as what, who, when, where and how. The second question may represent the start
of an assertion. The argument is built
up in the subsequent paragraphs and rounded off in the final paragraph. Sometimes the first paragraph sets out to
prove something which is achieved in the summary of the final paragraph. Practise your essay writing at home.
EUPHEMISM: a gentle or consoling way of expressing a
painful reality: After a long struggle
with illness, she went to God
EXAGGERATION:
making a situation sound worse than it was: I baked thousands of milk tarts for the entertainment.
EXCLAMATION:
Words that are drawn from one who has a surprise: you could not possibly be that little Tommy I last saw six years
ago! My, but you have grown!
EXCLAMATION MARK (!) indicates that emphasis is placed
on the statement: Get out or I’ll throw
you out!
EXPOSITION: The
introduction of a work of literature sometimes contains an explanation of the
main themes that will be embarked upon
EYE CONTACT: A
speaker focuses his eyes on the audience he is addressing to keep them from
losing concentration. Even when reading
from a text the speaker must ensure that he looks up at his audience, at least
once during every paragraph
FACT: a true point of discussion and which really
exists. Historical fiction is generally
based on facts which provide a background to a story supposed to have happened
centuries ago
FAX: an
electronic device into which sheets of pictures or writing are fed and a number
is typed into to ensure that the pages are reproduced almost instantly from the
recipient’s fax machine
FEATURE ARTICLES:
reports on topics to inform, persuade or entertain the reader. They are not a factual report like a
newspaper report which might state that Princess Kate of Britain is expecting a baby, who
her gynaecologist is, on what date the baby is due. A feature in a women’s magazine might give this
information but also add details of her maternity wardrobe or how she is coping
with morning sickness
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
figures of speech are used to lend beauty, variety and interest to
poetry and phrase
FIGURES OF SPEECH are verbal expressions which lend
beauty, variety or interest to poetry and prose. Among the best known are alliteration, allusion,
antithesis, anti-climax, apostrophe, assonance, climax, epigram, euphemism,
hyperbole, innuendo, irony, litotes, malapropism, metaphors, metonomy,
onomatopoeia, paradox, parody, personification, rhetorical questions, sarcasm,
satire, simile, spoonerism, synecdoche
Alliteration: repetition of the noun sound at the
beginning of each of a group of words e.g. the
long light shakes across the lake - my heart’s in the Highlands
– death does end and each day dies with sleep
Allusion: when text of
article or poem alludes (refers) to other writing such as the Bible
Antithesis: opposites ideas
contradicting each other: A lion in the
pulpit, a lamb in the confessional
Anti-climax: From strong
beginnings to an insignificant end: He
bought a new house, a Mercedes and a box of tissues
Apostrophe: An exclamation to
someone who is no longer there: O Diana,
if you could but have seen the silent crowds of London when your coffin passed!
Assonance: repetition of
vowel sounds: nor does long our durance
deal with that steep or deep. Here!
Creep …
Climax: starting from a
mild expression and ending in a strong conclusion: I came,
I saw, I conquered
Epigram: a witty comment on life’s vagaries: if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing
badly; no good deed ever goes unpunished
Euphemism: a gentle or
consoling way of expressing a painful reality: After a long struggle with illness, she went to God
Hyperbole: exaggeration: Mother cooked kilometres of boerewors
Innuendo: hinting at
something you don’t want to say out boldly: You
deserve a good lie-in to an employee who arrives late for work
Irony: saying (often
ruefully) the opposite to what you mean: I
don’t need my salary. I’m loaded with
cash.
Malapropism: to mix up two
words which sound almost the same but each of which means something quite
different from the other: alimentary, my dear Watson – draw me a
diaphragm (elementary, diagram)
Metaphor: a word to
describe a comparison without using words like: such as: he is a giant – she is an angel
Metonomy: Some item or attribute which represents the
subject: the blue and the grey (referring
to combatant soldiers’ uniforms)
Onomatopoeia: a word which
imitates sounds made: the quacking of
ducks – the patter of raindrops on the roof – the pit-a-pat of tiny feet)
Oxymoron: the juxtaposition
of two words or concepts which seem to contradict one another: youthful old age – proud humility –
bittersweet
Paradox: juxtaposition of two different outlooks: would she would make of me a saint, or I of
her a sinner – no good deed ever goes unpunished
Parody: is an imitation
of serious writing in order to give a humorous result, such as Oliver
Goldsmith’s “Elegy on the death of a Mad Dog”: but soon a wonder came to light, that showed the rogues they lied: the
man recovered of the bite, the dog it was that died.
Personification: giving to things
of nature the attributes of a human being: … the sun, the higher he’s a-getting, the sooner will his race be run,
and nearer he’s to setting – the rain continues on the roof, with such a sound
of gently pitying laughter
Pun: a play on words: she drank of the fountain of youth
Rhetorical
question: a question to which no reply is forthcoming: O Death, where is thy sting?
Satire: a gently or
sharply mocking reference to a harsher truth, as shown in the first line of
Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”: It is a truth generally acknowledged, that a
single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife
Simile: comparison: as strong as a lion -their graves are like a
lover’s bower
Spoonerism: mixing up the
first letter of two or more different words: Is the bean dizzy?- dappy hays, steft click
Synecdoche: the use of an element to describe an entire
entity: the heart has its reasons
FULL STOP (.) comes at
the end of a sentence and after abbreviation; e.g.
GENDER: words that change for male or female, man – woman, peacock – peahen
GENRE: kind or type
of literature
GERUND: Adding
the suffix –ing to the stem of a verb turns it into a noun: loving means caring, sacrificing and suffering
GROUPING: in a
voice choir participants are grouped according to the kind of voice they
have. Each group in turn is organised by
putting taller participants in the centre and tapering off to the sides
according to sizes of persons
HOMONYMS: Words
with same pronunciation and spelling but meaning different things: well – glasses – turn – drunk – can – stamp
HOMOPHONES: Words that sound the same but have a
different spelling and meaning: right-write,
stake-steak, might-mite, check-cheque, boarder-border
HYPERBOLE:
exaggeration: Mother cooked yards
and yards of boerewors
HYPHEN (-): a sign used to link two words together: pseudo-intellectual, self-evident
IAMB: a metrical foot consisting of an unstressed
syllable followed by a stressed syllable: let ME not TO the MARriage of TRUE minds/AdMIT impediments;
IDIOM:
figurative expressions of basic everyday happenings are used as
comparisons to incidents when the latter take place in people’s lives: a case of the pot calling the kettle black,
ignorance is bliss, a stitch in time saves nine; water under the bridge
IMAGERY: FIGURES
OF SPEECH are verbal expressions which lend beauty, variety or interest to
poetry and prose. Among the best known
are alliteration, allusion, antithesis, anti-climax, apostrophe, assonance, climax,
epigram, euphemism, hyperbole, innuendo, irony, litotes, malapropism,
metaphors, metonomy, onomatopoeia, paradox, parody, personification, rhetorical
questions, sarcasm, satire, simile, spoonerism, synecdoche
INDIRECT SPEECH:
reported speech used by people: John
says that Mary loves him, John said that Mary loved him, John will say that
Mary loves him
INFINITIVE: a
verb preceded by the preposition to: to
read, to cry, to eat
INNUENDO: hinting at something you don’t want to say
out boldly: You deserved a good lie-in to
an employee who arrives late for work
INSTRUCTION: a
command to a person to perform a task: Write
an essay of no more than 200 words on the changing of the seasons
INTENTION: The objective
of the writer, whether it be to entertain, instruct or change perceptions. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel: Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written to change
people’s attitude to the evils of slavery
INTERJECTION:
is another word for interruption: Gosh! This heat is driving me crazy – Are you
tired? Good heavens!
So am I.
INTERVIEW: An
article recording a discussion between an author and people who make the news
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
takes no direct object: the queen waved.
Sometimes it takes an indirect object: the queen waved to the crowd.
INTRODUCTION:
the first paragraph of a report or essay. It should contain answers to who what where when how and why:
Local nursing professional Susan Smith saved little Rina Botha from
drowning in the municipal swimming pool on Friday by diving in fully dressed after
realising Rina was in trouble as the child went down and failed to come up
INVERTED COMMAS (“): single and double comma signs at
the beginning and end of a direct quotation: John said: “Mary told me she loved
me: her words were ‘John, I truly love you’!”
Inverted commas are also used when the author does not intend the reader
he agrees with another’s opinion: The “absolute chaos” that took place,
according to a spectator, was only a storm in a teacup
INVITATIONS:
are given when people who are planning an event ask others to attend
it. The invitation stipulates the venue,
the date, the time, RSVP (the need to reply and by when), the kind of clothes
guests are expected to wear (formal, informal, fancy-dress, casual,
smart-casual)
IRONY: saying (often ruefully) the opposite to what
you mean: I don’t need my job. I’m loaded with cash.
ITALICS slanted printing abcdefg
JARGON: the
terminology used by groups of people in special situations. Jargon is not always comprehensible to people
outside of the group: newspaper people may speak about beat, deadline, intro
KEY/CUE CARDS: when someone makes a speech, he/she brings a
number of small cards in numerical order, each of which gives the next item for
discussion and contains some details of each.
The idea is that the speech won’t lag and the speaker does not forget to
mention any specific facts on the way
LETTERS: communications
containing addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and references of the
sender and the receiver are given, followed by the date. The letter begins with Dear …, followed by a
heading in capitals and a number of paragraphs.
The introductory paragraph gives the reason for writing. Second and further paragraphs develop the
theme. The final paragraph is the
conclusion, followed by Yours faithfully and writer’s name.
LIMERICKS: A
verse consisting of five lines, rhyming as follows: AABBA:
There
was a young lady from Boston
Who
purchased some meat that had frost on
Defrosted
the meat
Until
ready to heat
Then brought
in the food after roast’n
LINKING VERB:
The linking verb to be either
connects one noun to another: John is
a baker or to an adjective: John is handsome. In the plural we could say: We are (linking verb) singers (noun) or We are (linking verb) tone-deaf (adjective).
LINKING WORDS: Conjunctions
Of time: meanwhile,
afterwards
Of reason: because,
after all
Of comparison: rather,
earlier
Of comparative evaluation: nevertheless, at the same time,
Of co-ordinating: Punch and Judy, curry and rice
Of relative pronouns: who, which: the dog which missed
its master who had gone abroad bit
its surrogate caretaker
Of subordinating. She had her hair done professionally
despite the rainy weather
LISTENING SKILLS: give us the ability to get the most
out of the words we hear. Listening
skills include concentration and memorising.
An aid to listening skills is to keep a notebook and write down the key
points
LITERARY ESSAY:
LITOTES: use of negative plus opposite of what you
mean: St Paul
said he was a citizen of no mean city
LYRIC:
MAGAZINE ARTICLE:
MALAPROPISM: to mix up two words which sound almost
the same but each of which means something quite different from the other: alimentary,
my dear Watson – draw me a diaphragm
METAPHOR:
METRE:
INVERTED COMMAS are used before and after direct
speech, a quotation or when we disagree with someone else’s statement. John said: “Mary, will you marry me?” – At
the funeral people sang “Amazing Grace”.
Single inverted commas can be placed inside double inverted commas: John
wrote to the editor: “In your editorial you state that the service delivery in
Kroonstad is ‘stupendous’. Permit me to
disagree.”
METONOMY: Some
item or attribute which represents the subject: the blue and the grey (referring to combatant soldiers’ uniforms)
METRE: the rhythm
of words as expressed in poetry, divided up into beats. The four metrical styles are
iamb: a metrical foot
consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable: let ME
not TO the MARriage of TRUE minds/AdMIT impediments;
trochee: a metrical foot
consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable: GOLden
SLUMbers KISS your EYES.
Anapaest: metrical foot
consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one: it was MANy and MANy a YEAR ago/in a KINGdom
by the sea
dactyl: a metrical foot consisting of a stressed
syllable followed by two unstressed syllables:
FASter than FAIries – FASter than WITches, BRIDges and HOUses – HEDges
and DITches
MIND MAPS:
MINUTES:
MODULATION: The
height or depth of one’s voice tone, the use of pauses for effect and the
increase and decrease of volume to focus the attention of an audience
MOODS (atmosphere):
MOOD VERB:
NARRATIVE POETRY:
Poetry which tells a story: ‘tWas
the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was
stirring, not even a mouse …
NEWSPAPER REPORTS:
NOUN: Words
used to give things a name. There are common
nouns, proper nouns abstract nouns and collective nouns.
Abstract nouns: words describing what is felt but cannot
be touched: pain, love, sadness,
disappointment, joy, friendship
Collective nouns: words describing a number of the
same thing, animals, occupations or
people: a flock of birds, a team of players, a cast of actors, a crowd of spectators
Common nouns, words for concrete things: The man, the
woman, the flower, the box, the car. In
this case, concrete means it can be touched
Proper nouns receive a capital letter and include
names of people: John
Smith,
names of places: Wall Street, London,
titles of books and programmes: Sense and Sensibility
days: Sunday
months: April
NUMERALS:
OBJECT (INDIRECT):
ODE: a lengthy
poem dedicated to a subject: Ode on a Grecian Urn: Thou still unravished bride
of quietness/Thou foster-child of silence and slow time
ONOMATOPOEIA: a word which imitates sounds made: the quacking of ducks
OPINION:
OPPOSITES (ANTONYM):
OXYMORON: the juxtaposition of two words or concepts
which seem to contradict one another: youthful
old age – proud humility – bittersweet
PACE:
PAMPHLETS:
PARENTHESIS or brackets ( ) may be used when giving
more information: “John Smith, (you remember, the man I was telling you about?)
has asked me to marry him.” If you use
brackets within brackets, you use the following { }: “John Smith, (you
remember, the man I was telling you about [he was the one I met on holiday])
has asked me to marry him.” Don’t worry,
this looks more complex (complicated) than it is.
PARADOX:
PARAGRAPHING:
PARENTHESIS:
PARODY:
PARTICIPLE:
PARTS OF SPEECH
Abstract noun: nouns describing what is felt but cannot
be touched: pain, love, sadness,
disappointment, joy, friendship, emotions
Adjective: words that describe a noun: the intelligent man, the pretty flower
Adverb: words that describe a verb: to speak well, to listen attentively, to answer intelligently.
There are various types of adverbs:
Adverb of degree:
This figure differs slightly from
that of last year, she walks quickly
Adverb of frequency:
We seldom buy takeaways, he often walks to town
Adverb of manner:
He spoke politely, she drives carefully
Adverb of place:
We bought the car locally, John
is coming here to stay
Adverb of time:
We discussed the matter yesterday,
John is coming tomorrow
Article: the words the,
a or an: the pencil, a pear, an orange
Collective noun: words describing a number of the same
things, animals, occupations or people: a collection
of paintings, a flock of birds, a team of players, a cast of actors, a crowd of spectators
Common nouns: words for concrete things, animals or
persons: The man, the woman, the flower, the box, the car. In this case, concrete
means it can be touched
Conjunctions: linking words:
Of time: meanwhile,
afterwards
Of reason: because,
after all
Of comparison: rather,
earlier
Of comparative evaluation: nevertheless, at the same time,
Of co-ordinating: Punch and Judy, curry and rice
Of relative pronouns: who, which: the dog which missed
its master who had gone abroad bit
its surrogate caretaker
Of subordinating. She had her hair done professionally
despite the rainy weather
Prepositions: short words which denote relationships
between nouns: a letter to my mother,
a present from my father, the gift of life, medicine for the baby, a claim against
my insurance, start work at eight, go
with God
Pronoun: used to replace the people’s names to avoid
repetition: Mother says she will go
to her local autobank to save herself time. Pronouns
include I, me, my, you, your, he, his,
she, hers, mine, yours, ours, theirs
Pronouns may be
personal: I am
going out,
possessive: Hand me my bag,
reflexive: He bought the car for himself,
interrogative: Who
let the dog out?
Demonstrative: these
socks belong in that drawer.
Proper nouns:
names of people: John
Smith,
names of places: Wall Street, London,
titles of books and programmes: Sense and Sensibility
days: Sunday,
months: April.
PASSIVE VOICE:
Sentences with subject, auxiliary verb to be, followed by proposition by
and object e.g. John is loved by Mary,
John was loved by Mary, John will be loved by Mary are changed into the
passive form by turning the object into the subject, followed by the correct
form of the present, past or future of the verb to be, followed by the former
subject as object Mary loves John, Mary was
loved by John, Mary will be loved by John
PAUSE: a
momentary silence: Stop! Who goes there?
PERSONIFICATION:
bestowing on things of nature the attributes of a human being: … the sun, the higher he’s a-getting, the
sooner will his race be run – the rain continues on the roof, with such a sound
of gently pitying laughter
PHRASE: part of
a sentence. Adjectival phrase: the girl I was telling you about has invited me
to a dance. Adverbial phrase: We ate our
Christmas dinner with great enjoyment. Noun phrase: All those who expected an award attended the prizegiving ceremony
PITCH: the
sound of the voice when it is lifted or dropped
PLOT: the story
line of a novel
PLOT LINES: the
organisation of the plot, introduction, development, conclusion
POETIC FORM: poetry consists of lines, which once were
governed very rigidly. Groups of lines
form stanzas or verses. Two line rhyming
verses are known as a couplet, stanzas of four are a quatrain.
POETIC LICENCE: breaking down the conservative rules
that govern th production of poetry, such as rhyming patterns and rhythm
POETRY:
PRECIS:
PREDICATES:
PREFIX: word segment placed before root word such as root
– uproot, understand – understanding
PREJUDICE (bias):
PREPOSITIONS: words which denote relationships between
nouns: a letter to my mother, a
present from my father, the gift of life, medicine for the baby, a claim against
my insurance, start work at eight, go
with God
PRONOUN: used to replace the people’s names to avoid
repetition: Mother says she will go
to her local autobank to save herself time.
Pronouns may be
personal: I am
going out,
possessive: Hand me my bag,
reflexive: He bought the car for himself,
interrogative: Who
let the dog out?
Pronouns include I,
me, my, you, your, he, his, she, hers, mine, yours, ours, theirs
PROPER NOUNS: names of people: John Smith, names of places: Wall Street, London, titles of books and programmes: Pride and Prejudice, days: Sunday, months: April.
PROTAGONISTS:
The main characters in a plot: The chief protagonists in in the novel
and movie “Gone with the Wind” are Rhett
Butler and Scarlett O’Hara.
POLITICALLY CORRECT LANGUAGE:
POSSESSION:
PROCEDURE:
PROPAGANDA:
POST CARDS:
PUBLIC SPEAKING
PUN: a play on words: she drank of the fountain of youth
PUNCTUATION: apostrophe ‘, brackets ( ), bullets, colon:,
comma,, dash - ellipsis …, exclamation mark !, full stop ., hyphen -, inverted
commas “ “, italics abc, parenthesis
( ), question mark ?, semi-colon ; used when two statements are not given
separate sentences
Brackets ( ) or parenthesis are sometimes used when
giving more information: “John Smith, (you remember, the man I was telling you
about?) has asked me to marry him.” If
you use brackets within brackets, you use the following { }: “John Smith, (you
remember, the man I was telling you about [he was the one I met on holiday])
has asked me to marry him.” Don’t worry,
this looks more complex (complicated) than it is.
Bullets mark a
variety of specific details of a certain topic, e.g (for example)
We
shall be discussing grammar under the following headings:
·
Verbs
·
Nouns
·
Adverbs
·
Adjectives
·
Direct speech
·
Active and passive
voice
Colon : (:) This punctuation sign indicates that a
quotation or explanation will follow:
John said: “Mary, I love you.”
Comma (,) This sign marks a pause in a sentence, or
serves to differentiate various places or things. It may also indicate that someone is being
described or his name is given: We went to Bloemfontein, Welkom and Virginia; John Smith, my husband, has gone
to Johannesburg. Notice that in the latter case, two commas
are used.
Dash ( - ) may be used instead of a comma to mark a pause
between words in a sentence, a little like a comma. There is a space before and after a dash:
John went to town – Mike didn’t.
Ellipsis (…) indicates that more was stated in the
original text from which you are quoting but that it has been omitted, possibly
because it is not essential to the point you are making. It is more generally used in quotations in
academic writing
Exclamation mark (!) indicates that emphasis is placed
on the statement: Get out at once!
Full stop (.) comes at the end of a sentence. It may also be used in abbreviations: e.g.
Hyphen (-): a sign used to link two words together: pseudo-intellectual, self-evident. There is no space before or after a
hyphen.
Inverted commas are used before and after direct
speech, a quotation or when we disagree with someone else’s statement. John said: “Mary, will you marry me?” – At the
funeral people sang “Amazing Grace”.
Single inverted commas can be placed inside double inverted commas: John
wrote to the editor: “In your editorial you state that the service delivery in
Kroonstad is ‘stupendous’. Permit me to
disagree.”
Italics: slanted printing abcdefg
Parenthesis or brackets ( ) may be used when giving
more information: “John Smith, (you remember, the man I was telling you about?)
has asked me to marry him.” If you use
brackets within brackets, you use the following { }: “John Smith, (you
remember, the man I was telling you about [he was the one I met on holiday])
has asked me to marry him.” This looks
more complex (complicated) than it is. It
is used principally in academic writing where it is perfectly self-evident
Question mark:
At the end of a question: Are you ill?
Semi-colon ; used when two statements are not given
separate sentences: John drove the
convertible; Ian rode a bike.
QUESTION MARK:
Used at the end of a question: Are you ill?
QUESTION TYPES:
QUOTATION MARKS:
REDUNDANCY (Tautology): Using two expressions to describe one
concept: At this point in time – you have
two choices – exactly right – my first priority
REGISTER:
Appropriateness of expression – not introducing colloquialisms into a
law report gives the report a formal register
REPETITION:
Saying something twice for emphasis: Martha,
Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things
REPORTED SPEECH:
does not use the exact words spoken by a person when relating the
remark: John says that he is taking a
holiday. In the present tense the
present form of the auxiliary verb to be
is used, followed by the past participle of the main verb to take. In the past tense,
this sentence would read: John said that
he was taking … - in the future present tense: John says that he will be taking … while the future perfect reads: John said that he would be taking.
REPORT: An
account of a meeting or an incident.
RESONANCE:
REVIEW: To look
through a piece of writing and explaining one’s own view of the article.
RHETORICAL QUESTION: a question to which no reply is
forthcoming: O Death, where is thy sting?
RHYME:
Repetition of the end of a word at the end of a line and at the end of
the line with which is rhymes:
Ba ba black sheep, have you any wool
Yes, sir, yes sir, three bags full
RHYTHM:
RUNNING ON (enjambment): a
line of poetry which runs on into the next:
I
love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My
soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.
(Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
SARCASM: a cruel joking way of making fun of others
and making them feel inferior: If I were
that fat I’d kill myself.
SATIRE: an obvious or concealed but always mocking
reference to a harsher truth: It is a truth generally acknowledged, that a
single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife
SCANSION:
SEMI-COLON ; used when
two statements are not given separate sentences: John drove the convertible;
Ian rode a bike.
SENSATIONALISM:
Appealing to a reader’s desire for sensation: “Murderer locked up his
victims in a cellar”.
SENTENCES: A
group of words that can stand on their own as a statement, with at least a
subject, a verb and an object: John (subject) loves (verb) Mary (object.
SEQUENCING:
SETTING:
SHORT STORIES:
SIMILE:
Something is compared to something else by using the words “like” or
“as”:
Like
as the waves make towards the pebbled shore
So do
our minutes hasten to their end; (William
Shakespeare)
Or:
Twinkle,
twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are
Up
above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky (nursery rhyme)
Or:
You’re
as hard to hold as quicksilver (1940s song_
SINGULAR AND PLURAL:
One and more. One man (singular)
– two men (plural)
SLANG: A trendy,
sloppy way of speaking that may be modern or very old-fashioned:
“That dude is cool” for “that man is attractive”.
Or
“That chick is hot” for “that girl appeals to me”.
SOLILOGUY: A speech
recited by an actor in a play about his life or about the way he sees life,
like the speech of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play, where he the stage light is
focused on the actor as he proclaims his puzzlement about the meaning of his
own life and that of others:
To be
or not to be: that is the question:
Whether
‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The
slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to
take arms against a sea of troubles,
And
by opposing end them. To die: to sleepl
No
more …..
SONNET: A poem of fourteen lines with one of two
rhyming patterns.
SOUND EFFECTS:
Noises in the background during a movie or a play that suggest events
playing close by, like the sounds of a bomber plane, or the sound of the sea
waves when the actors are on a boat.
SPELLING RULES (LOGIC):
SPOONERISM: trabsposing the first letter of two or
more different words: Is the bean dizzy?-
dappy hays, steft click
STATEMENT:
STEREOTYPE:
STRESS: The
part of the word of a sentence where you speak more firmly than others, e.g. Interdenominational
– the stress is on “nash: InterdenominATIonal
STRONG VERB:
STYLE:
SUBJECT:
SUBJECTIVITY (OBJECTIVITY): A subjective person sees
life the way it affects him. The
objective one sees life the way it affects others:
Subjective: this rain is killing me
Objective: I’m so grateful for the rain because now
the farmers can plant mealies
SUFFIX: Word segment placed after the root word: rootless, rooted. Words such as untimely and misrepresentation contain both a prefix and a suffix
SUMMARISING:
SYLLABIFICATION:
SYMBOLISM:
SYNECDOCHE: the
use of an element to describe an entire entity: the heart has its reasons
SYNONYMS: different
words with a similar or same meaning: big,
large, huge – small, tiny, little
TAUTOLOGY:
Using two expressions to describe one concept: At this point in time – you have two choices – exactly right – my first
priority
TEAM SPEAKING:
TENSE:THEME/SUB-THEME:
THESAURUS SKILLS:
TITLE: The name
your book or article is called
TONE:
TRANSACTIONAL WRITING:
TRANSITIVE VERB:
takes a direct object: the queen waved her hand
TROCHEE: a metrical foot consisting of a stressed
syllable followed by an unstressed syllable: GOLden SLUMbers KISS your EYES.
UNDERSTATEMENT:
To say something important without giving it extra stress: if something
was very expensive you say it cost a pretty penny
VERBOSITY:
Using too many words to explain what you mean to say.
VERBS: An
action word, in front of which you can use “to”: eat, drink, stand, run,
listen, speak
VISUAL EFFECTS:
VISUAL LITERACY:
VOCABULARY: The
words you know. People who know few
words are said to have a limited vocabulary.
People who know many words are said to have an extensive vocabulary
VOWEL: the letters a, e, i, o, u, as well as the
letter y as it is sounded in the words baby and my.
Luky Whittle PhD
