Glossarry

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Abbreviations
letter(s) or shortened word used instead of a full word or phrase.

Accent
the features of pronunciation which indicate the regional or social identity of a speaker.

Adjectives
a word which modifies a noun or a pronoun

Adverbs
a word which modifies a verb, an adverb, or an adjective

Agreement
the grammatical logic and coherence between parts of a sentence

Alliteration
the repetition of consonant sounds – usually at the beginning of words

Apostrophes
a raised comma used to denote either possession or contraction

Articles
a word that specifies whether a noun is definite or indefinite

Assonance
the repetition of vowel sounds

Audience
the person or persons receiving a speech or piece of writing

B

Brackets
Curved or square punctuation marks enclosing words inserted into a text

C

Capitals
Upper-case letters used to indicate names, titles, and important words

Clauses
a structural unit of language which is smaller than the sentence but larger than phrases or words, and which contains a finite verb

Cliché
an over-used phrase or expression

Colons
a punctuation mark indicating a pause ranking between a semicolon and a full stop

Commas
a punctuation mark indicating a short pause in a sentence

Conjunction
a word which connects words or other constructions

Consonant
an alphabetic element other than a vowel

D

Dialect
a form of speech peculiar to a district, class, or person

Diphthong
two vowel characters representing the sound of a single vowel

E

Ellipsis
the ommission of words from a sentence

F

Figure of speech
expressive use language in non-literal form to produce striking effect

Form
the outward appearance or structure of language, as opposed to its function, meaning, or social use

Full stop
a punctuation mark indicating the end of a sentence

Function
the role language plays to express ideas or attitudes

G

Grammar
the study of sentence structure, especially with reference to syntax and semantics

Grapheme
the smallest unit in the writing system of a language

Graphology
the study of writing systems

H

Homonyms
words with the same spelling but with different meanings

Hyphen
a short horizontal mark used to connect words or syllables, or to divide words into parts

I

Idiom
a sequence of words which forms a whole unit of meaning

Irony
saying [or writing] one thing, whilst meaning the opposite

Intonation
The use of pitch in speech to create contrast and variation

J

Jargon
the technical language of an occupation or group

M

Metaphor
a figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another

Metonomy
a figure of speech in which an attribute is substituted for the whole

Morpheme
the smallest unit of meaning in grammar

Morphology
A branch of grammar which studies the structure of words

N

Narrator
the person (named or unknown) who is telling a story

Noun
a word that names an object

O

Onomatopoeia
a word that sounds like the thing it describes

Oxymoron
a figure of speech that yokes two contradictory terms

P

Paradox
a figure of speech in which an apparent contradiction contains a truth

Paragraph
a distinct passage of writing which is unified by an idea or a topic

Parenthesis
a word, clause or even sentence which is inserted into a sentence to which it does not grammatically belong

Participle
a word derived from a verb and used as an adjective or a noun

Phonetics
the study of the production, transmission, and reception of speech sounds

Phonology
a study of the sounds in any language

Phrase
a group of words, smaller than a clause, which forms a grammatical unit

Point of view
a term from literary studies which describes the perspective or source of a piece of writing

Preposition
a word which governs and typically precedes a noun or a pronoun

Pronoun
a word that can substitute for a noun or noun phrase

Punctuation
a system of marks used to introduce pauses and interruption into writing

Received pronunciation
the regionally neutral, prestige accent of British English

Semicolon
a punctuation mark which indicates a pause longer than a comma, but shorter than a colon

Sentence
a set of words which form a grammatically complete statement, usually containing a subject, verb, and object

Simile
a figure of speech in which one thing is directly likened to another

Slang
informal, non-standard vocabulary

Speech
the oral medium of transmission for language

Spelling
the convention governing the representation of words by letters in writing systems

Standard English
a dialect representing English speech and writing comprehensible to most users

Structure
the arrangement of parts or ideas in a piece of writing

Style
aspects of writing (or speech) which have an identifiable character generally used in a positive sense to indicate 'pleasing effects'

Stylistic analysis
the study of stylistic effects in writing

Symbol
an object which represents something else

Synonym
a word which means (almost) the same as another

Syntax
the arrangement of words to show relationships of meaning within a sentence

T

Tense
the form taken by a verb to indicate time (as in past—present—future)

Tone
an author's or speaker's attitude, as revealed in 'quality of voice' or 'selection of language'

Verb
a term expressing an action or a state of being

Vowel
the open sounds made in speech - as (mainly) distinct from consonants

Writing
the use of visual symbols to represent words which act as a code for communication