AHSGE Test Vocabulary

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AHSGE Test Vocabulary

• Language

Julie Mullins-Turner
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Vivid Details

• Details that appeal to the
• senses and help the reader
• see, feel, smell, taste, and
• hear the subject being
• written about.

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Vivid Verbs

• Whenever possible, use a verb that is strong
  enough to stand alone without the help of an
  adverb.
• Avoid overusing the be verbs.
• Use active rather than passive verbs.
• Use verbs that show rather than tell.

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Clarity

• Writing in a manner in which the reader
  understands the basic meaning.

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Verbal

• A verbal is a form of a verb
• that works in a sentence as
• a noun, an adjective, or an
• adverb.

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Indefinite Pronoun

• An indefinite pronoun refers
• to persons, places or things
• in a more general way.
• Indefinite pronouns do not
• have clear antecedents.

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Reflexive Pronoun

• A reflexive pronoun refers to a
• noun or another pronoun and
• indicates that the same person
• or thing is involved.
• Example
• I almost exhausted myself working
• for her in the campaign.

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Antecedent

• The word or group of words
• that a pronoun replaces is
• called its antecedent.

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Active Voice

• An action verb is in the
• active voice when the
• subject of the sentence
• performs the action.

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Passive Voice

• An action verb is in the
• passive voice when its
• action is performed on the
• subject.

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Regular Verbs

• Most verbs are regular verbs.
• If the past tense and past
• participle of a verb both end
• in ed it is called a regular
• verb.

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Irregular Verbs

• An irregular verb is a verb
• that does not form its past
• and past participle by
• adding ed to the basic
• verb.

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Collective Noun

• A collective noun names a
• group of people or things.
• Examples
• the class the faculty
• the team the flock

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Appositive

• An appositive is a noun or
• pronoun (sometimes with
• modifiers) that is placed next
• to another noun or pronoun to
• identify it or to give additional
• information about it.

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Misplaced Participle

• A misplaced participle
• modifies the wrong noun or
• pronoun in a sentence.

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Clichés

• A cliché is an overused word or phrase that
  springs quickly to mind but just as quickly bores
  the user and audience.
• Examples
• as cold as ice
• a fish out of water

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Correlative Conjunctions

• Correlative Conjunctions compare or
• contrast two ideas in a sentence.
• Correlative conjunctions are used in
• pairs (either, or neither, nor not
• only, but also both, and whether, or
• as, so).

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Jargon

• Jargon is language used in
• a certain profession or by a
• particular group of people.
• It is usually very technical
• and not natural at all.

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Redundancy

• Redundancy occurs when
• words (or synonyms for
• words) are repeated
• unnecessarily to add
• emphasis or to fill up space.

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Formal Language

• Most academic writing should
• meet the standards of formal
• language. This level of language
• is characterized by a serious tone,
• a careful attention to word choice,
• longer sentences, a strict adherence
• to traditional conventions and so on.

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Informal Language

• Informal English is characterized
• by a personal tone, the
• occasional use of popular
• expressions, shorter sentences,
• the use of contractions and
• personal references.

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Comma Splice

• A comma splice is a mistake
• made when two
• independent clauses are
• connected (spliced) with
• only a comma.

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Parallelism

• This means that similar ideas are expressed in
  similar form, which makes it easier for the
  reader to recognize the similar ideas you are
  trying to express.

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Transitional Words

• Transitional words are often
• used to introduce related
• topics.
• Examples
• First, second, third,
• to illustrate, for instance, also,
• in addition

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Sentence Structure

• Sentences are classified by
• structure in one of four
• ways simple, compound,
• complex, and compound-
• complex sentences.

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Dangling Modifier

• A dangling modifier is a
• phrase or clause that comes
• at the beginning of a
• sentence but does not
• modify (describe) the subject
• in the sentence.

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Modifiers

• Modifiers are adjectives.

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Intervening Phrase

• A phrase that interrupts a
• sentence.

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Irrelevant Sentences

• A sentence that does not
• belong in a paragraph.

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Verb Shifts

• Shifts in verb tense within a
• passage.

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Verbiage

• Wordiness

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Precise

• Definite exact