Abbreviations letter(s) or shortened word used

Abbreviations letter(s) or shortened word used instead of a full word or phrase For example: ‘Isn’t’ instead of ‘Is not’

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

Adjectives a word which modifies a noun or a pronoun For example: ‘The huge giant’

Adverbs a word which modifies a verb, an adverb, or an adjective For example: ‘The boy walked slowly’

Alliteration the repetition of consonant sounds - usually at the beginning of words For example, ‘a tapestry of talents’

Antitheses the placing of opposite meanings together, For example: ‘My only love sprung from my only hate!’

Apostrophes a raised comma used to denote either possession or contraction For example: ‘Brian’s ipod’ or ‘That’s’ instead of ‘That is’.

Articles a word that specifies whether a noun is definite or indefinite For example: ‘The woman’ (definite article) or ‘A woman’ (Indefinite article)

Assonance the repetition of vowel sounds For example, ‘Rocks writhe back to sight’

Audience the person or persons receiving a speech or piece of writing For example: students in a classroom; M.Ps in the House of Commons; a teenage television audience etc.

Back-channelling is a way of showing a speaker that you are following what they are saying and understand, often through interjections For example, ‘I see’, yes’, ‘OK’ and ‘uhu’.

Balanced phrases Phrases in which the end seems to finish or complete the beginning. For example, ‘To have and to hold’

Brackets curved or square punctuation marks enclosing words inserted into a text For example: ‘I hobbled to the shops (I had twisted me ankle that morning) so that I could buy some milk.’

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 For example: ‘Wish you were here.’

Closed question invites a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer For example: ‘Have you seen it?’

Colons a punctuation mark introducing more information For example: ‘Things so look for: sharp claws, thick fur, flaring nostrils and long tail.’

Commas a punctuation mark indicating the break between and main and subordinate clause or separating short items in a list For example: ‘The man walked down the street, as if he was in a great hurry.’ Or ‘I need to buy apples, bananas, pasta, tomato sauce and biscuits.’

Conjunction a word which connects words or other constructions For example: ‘and’ ‘or’ ‘because’

Consonant an alphabetic element other than a vowel For example: c, b, n, r, t etc.

Context the setting in which speech or writing takes place For example: on the web; in the classroom; on television etc.

Dialect a form of speech peculiar to a district, class, or person. It refers to the distinctive use of vocabulary and grammatical structures.

Ellipsis the omission of words from a sentence For example: ‘I really don’t know what to say... I guess...’

Emotive words words which are used deliberately to create an emotional response in the reader/listener. For example: ‘our brave lads’ rather than ‘the soldiers’

Figure of speech expressive use language in non-literal form to produce striking effect For example: ‘As sharp as a razor’ (Simile); ‘The cat’s pyjamas’ (Metaphor)

Formal address addressing another person in a polite way to show respect For example: ‘Sir Alan Sugar’

Full stop a punctuation mark indicating the end of a sentence For example: ‘The man walked down the street.’

Function the role language plays to express ideas or attitudes For example: to persuade; to inform; to explain etc.

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

Homonyms words with the same spelling or sound but with different meanings For example: ‘There’/ ‘Their’/ ‘They’re’

Hyphen a short horizontal mark used to connect words or syllables, or to divide words into parts For example: ‘jet-lagged’

Idiolect a person’s own personal language, the words they choose and any other features that characterise their speech and writing. Some people have distinctive features in their language; these would be part of their idiolect, their individual linguistic choices and idiosyncrasies.

Informal address addressing someone in a more casual way to show a family or equal relationship For example: ‘Mum’ or ‘mate’

Irony saying [or writing] one thing, whilst meaning the opposite For example: ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’

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

Jargon the technical language of an occupation or group For example: ‘plenary’ (Education); ‘ISAs’ (banking)

Language change the development and changes in a language

Leading question A question which already implies something For example: ‘Have you stopped taking bribes?’

Lexis the vocabulary of a language, especially in dictionary form

Metaphor a figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another For example: ‘The cat’s pyjamas’

Morphology a branch of grammar which studies the structure of words

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

Noun a word which names an object For example: ‘cat’, ‘boy’, ‘London’ etc.

Onomatopoeia a word that sounds like the thing it describes For example, ‘the sound of feet drumming the earth’

Open question invites an unpredictable response ‘What do you think of it?’

Oxymoron a figure of speech which yokes two contradictory terms For example: ‘fuzzy logic’

Paradox a figure of speech in which an apparent contradiction contains a truth For example: ‘I know that I know nothing.’

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. It is usually separated by either commas, brackets or dashes. Parenthesis usually shows an aside or interruption to the text/speech. For example: I enjoy visiting Cornwall (even when it is raining) in September.

Phatic speech or phatic communication consists of words or phrases that have a social function and are not meant literally. When people are thanked For example: ‘You're welcome’ in reply is meant to show politeness and not to be interpreted as literally welcoming the person you say it to.

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 links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition. A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence. For example: ‘The book is on the table.’ ‘The book is beneath the table.’ ‘She held the book over the table.’

Pronoun a word that can substitute for a noun or a 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. It was historically used in the media, especially the BBC.

Repetition a word or phrase is repeated for deliberate effect For example: ‘We will stand up, we will fight, we will win.’

Rhetorical questions questions which are asked for stylistic or persuasive effect and do not require an answer For example: ‘Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?’

Sarcasm a form of irony that is widely used in English especially when people are being humorous. Generally the sarcastic speaker or writer means the exact opposite of the word they use, often intending to be rude or to laugh at the person the words are addressed to.

Semantics the study of the meaning of words.

Semicolon a punctuation mark which can link two or more main clauses or separate longer items in a list For example: ‘the car swerved across the road; the driver was drunk.’

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 , using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’ For example: ‘as sharp as a razor’

Slang informal, non-standard vocabulary For example: ‘innit’

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. It conforms to an agreed standard in grammar and vocabulary. It does not refer to the accent used to pronounce it.

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'

Superlative the form of an adjective or adverb that shows which thing has that quality above or below the level of the others. It takes the definite article and short adjectives add -est and longer ones take 'most' For example: ‘Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.’ Or ‘It is the most expensive restaurant I've ever been to.’

Symbol an object which represents something other than its self

Synonym a word which means (almost) the same as another For example: ‘small’ and ‘little’

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

Tag question A question which seeks confirmation ‘That’s right, isn’t it?’

Tense the form taken by a verb to indicate time (as in past-presentfuture)

Text any piece of writing or object being studied

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

Tripling groups of three, used for persuasive effect For example: ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’

Verb a term expressing an action or a state of being For example: ‘walk’, ‘run’, ‘jump’

Vocabulary the particular selection or types of words chosen in speech or writing

Vowel the open sounds made in speech - as (mainly) distinct from consonants For example: ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’

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