KS3 English key terms

139 terms with short definitions you can learn for the exam. Type to filter the list.

Key terms glossary 119

Active voice: A sentence where the doer comes first: 'The dog chased the cat.'
Adjective: A word that describes a noun: 'a gloomy castle', 'the sky was grey'.
Adverb: A word that adds to a verb, adjective or another adverb, often saying how, when or where: 'slowly', 'tomorrow', 'very'.
Alliteration: Repeating the same sound at the start of nearby words: 'the silent, silver sea'.
Anecdote: A short personal story used to make a point more real or persuasive.
Apostrophe: A mark that shows missing letters (don't, it's) or belonging (the girl's bag, the girls' bags). Never use one for a simple plural.
Argument: Writing or speech that gives reasons and evidence for a view, and often answers the other side.
Aside: A short remark a character makes to the audience, which the other characters on stage cannot hear.
Atmosphere: The mood or feeling of a place or scene, such as tense, peaceful or eerie.
Audience: The people a text is written or spoken for.
Ballad: A poem that tells a story, usually in short four-line stanzas with a regular rhythm and rhyme, often with a refrain.
Bias: Showing one side unfairly, by leaving out or playing down the other side.
Blank verse: Unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter. Shakespeare's noble characters often speak in it.
Caesura: A pause in the middle of a line of poetry, usually made by punctuation.
Characterisation: The methods a writer uses to create and develop a character.
Clause: A group of words with a verb and someone or something doing it. A main clause makes sense on its own; a subordinate clause does not.
Climax: The point of greatest tension or excitement in a story.
Colon: A mark (:) that introduces a list, an explanation or an example: 'She needed one thing: sleep.'
Comedy: A play with a light tone and a happy ending, often a marriage. A Midsummer Night's Dream is a Shakespeare comedy.
Comma splice: A mistake: joining two complete sentences with only a comma. Use a full stop, a semicolon or a conjunction instead.
Complex sentence: A sentence with a main clause and at least one subordinate clause: 'When the bell rang, we ran outside.'
Compound sentence: Two main clauses joined by a conjunction such as 'and', 'but', 'or' or 'so'.
Conjunction: A joining word, such as 'and', 'but', 'because', 'although' or 'when'.
Connotation: The ideas and feelings a word suggests beyond its dictionary meaning: 'home' suggests warmth and safety.
Context: The time, place and ideas surrounding a text when it was written, which help explain it.
Counter-argument: The opposite view, which a writer mentions and then answers to make their own case stronger.
Couplet: Two lines of poetry next to each other that usually rhyme. A Shakespearean sonnet ends with one.
Cyclical structure: A story that ends where it began, echoing the opening.
Denotation: The basic dictionary meaning of a word.
Determiner: A word that comes before a noun to point to it or show how many: 'the', 'a', 'this', 'some', 'every'.
Dialect: A variety of English with its own words and grammar, often linked to a region.
Dialogue: The words characters speak. Start a new line for each new speaker.
Direct address: Speaking straight to the reader or listener with 'you', which makes them feel involved.
Discourse marker: A word or phrase that links ideas and guides the reader: 'Firstly', 'However', 'Therefore', 'In conclusion'.
Dramatic irony: When the audience knows something a character does not.
Emotive language: Words chosen to make the reader feel something strongly, such as pity, anger or fear.
Enjambment: When a sentence runs on from one line of poetry to the next without a pause.
Epic: A long poem about a hero's great deeds and journeys, such as Homer's Odyssey.
Evidence: A quotation or detail from a text that supports your point.
Exposition: The opening part of a story, which introduces the characters and setting.
Fact: Something that can be checked and proved true.
Figurative language: Language that is not meant literally, such as similes, metaphors and personification.
First person: Telling a story as 'I'. The narrator is a character in the story.
Flashback: A jump back in time to show something that happened earlier.
Foreshadowing: A hint early in a story about something that will happen later.
Form: The type or shape of a text: a sonnet, a letter, an article, a speech. Each has its own conventions.
Formal register: Careful, polite language in Standard English, with no slang, used for letters, essays and speeches.
Free verse: Poetry with no regular rhyme scheme or rhythm.
Fronted adverbial: A phrase at the start of a sentence that says when, where or how: 'Without a sound, she slipped away.'
Genre: A type of story with shared features, such as Gothic, science fiction, crime or comedy.
Gothic: A genre that uses gloomy settings, darkness, wild weather, the supernatural and mystery to create fear and suspense.
Hyperbole: Deliberate exaggeration for effect: 'I've told you a million times.'
Iambic pentameter: A line of five iambs (da-DUM), ten syllables in all: 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?'
Imagery: Descriptive language that creates pictures in the reader's mind and appeals to the senses.
Imperative: A command verb: 'Imagine', 'Stop', 'Act now'.
In medias res: Latin for 'in the middle of things': starting a story in the middle of the action.
Inference: Working out what a writer suggests but does not state, using clues in the text.
Informal register: Relaxed, chatty language used with friends, which may include slang and contractions.
Interpretation: One way of understanding a text. Different readers and directors can interpret the same text differently.
Metaphor: Describing something as if it is something else: 'Juliet is the sun.'
Modal verb: A verb that shows how certain or necessary something is: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would.
Monologue: A long speech by one character, spoken to others on stage or to the audience.
Mood: The feeling a text creates in the reader, such as cheerful, tense or sad.
Motion: The statement argued about in a formal debate: 'This house believes that...'
Narrator: The voice that tells a story.
Noun: A word that names a person, place, thing or idea: 'girl', 'London', 'table', 'courage'.
Octave: The first eight lines of a Petrarchan sonnet.
Omniscient narrator: A third-person narrator who knows everything, including every character's thoughts.
Onomatopoeia: A word that sounds like its meaning: 'crash', 'sizzle', 'buzz'.
Opinion: What someone thinks or feels. It cannot be proved true or false.
Oxymoron: Two opposite words placed together: 'loving hate', 'cold fire'.
Paragraph: A group of sentences about one idea. Start a new one when the time, place, topic or speaker changes (TiPToP).
Parenthesis: Extra information added inside a pair of commas, brackets or dashes: 'My aunt (a vet) came too.'
Passive voice: A sentence where the thing affected comes first: 'The cat was chased.' It can hide who did the action.
Pathetic fallacy: When the weather or setting reflects a character's feelings, such as a storm during an argument.
Personification: Giving human qualities to something that is not human: 'The wind clawed at the windows.'
Persuasive writing: Writing that tries to make the reader agree or act, often using emotion as well as reasons.
Plot: The events of a story and the order they happen in.
Prefix: Letters added to the start of a word to change its meaning: 'un' in 'unhappy', 'mis' in 'misread'.
Preposition: A word that shows position, direction or time: 'under', 'towards', 'before'.
Prologue: An opening speech or section that introduces a play or story.
Pronoun: A word that replaces a noun: 'he', 'she', 'it', 'they', 'we'.
Proofreading: Checking your finished writing carefully for spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes.
Protagonist: The main character of a story or play.
Purpose: Why a text was written: to inform, persuade, argue, advise, entertain or describe.
Quatrain: A four-line stanza or group of lines.
Rebuttal: Answering an opponent's point by showing its flaw and giving your own evidence.
Register: The level of formality you choose to suit your audience and purpose.
Repetition: Using a word, phrase or idea more than once to make it stand out.
Resolution: The end of a story, where the problem is solved or settled.
Rhetorical question: A question asked for effect, not for an answer: 'Is that fair?'
Rhyme scheme: The pattern of rhymes at the ends of lines, shown with letters such as ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
Rhythm: The beat of a poem, made by stressed and unstressed syllables.
Root word: The main part of a word that prefixes and suffixes are added to: 'help' in 'helpful' and 'unhelpful'.
Rule of three: Listing three things for impact: 'your time, your voice and your support'.
Semicolon: A mark (;) that joins two closely linked main clauses: 'It was late; we went home.'
Sestet: The last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet.
Setting: Where and when a story takes place.
Simile: Comparing one thing to another using 'like' or 'as': 'solitary as an oyster'.
Simple sentence: A sentence with one main clause: 'The bell rang.'
Soliloquy: A speech in which a character alone on stage speaks their thoughts aloud.
Sonnet: A 14-line poem, usually in iambic pentameter, often about love. Shakespearean and Petrarchan are two common types.
Speech marks: Marks (' ' or " ") around the exact words someone says. The punctuation of the speech goes inside them.
Stage directions: Instructions in a play script that tell actors how to move or speak, or describe the set.
Standard English: The form of English that follows agreed rules of grammar and vocabulary, used in most writing and formal speech. It can be spoken in any accent.
Stanza: A group of lines in a poem, like a paragraph in prose.
Structure: How a text is organised and ordered: its beginning, shifts, focus and ending.
Subordinate clause: A clause that does not make sense on its own: 'because it was raining'.
Suffix: Letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning or class: 'ful' in 'hopeful', 'ness' in 'kindness'.
Summary: A short version of a text giving only the main points, in your own words.
Theme: A big idea a text explores, such as love, power, conflict or growing up.
Thesis: A one-sentence answer to an essay question that your whole essay argues.
Third person: Telling a story using 'he', 'she' and 'they'. The narrator is outside the story.
Tone: The attitude a writer or speaker shows, such as angry, playful, serious or sarcastic.
Topic sentence: The first sentence of a paragraph, which states its main point.
Tragedy: A play that ends in the death or downfall of the main characters. Romeo and Juliet is a Shakespeare tragedy.
Verb: A doing or being word: 'run', 'think', 'is'.
Viewpoint: A writer's attitude or opinion about a topic.
Volta: The turn in a sonnet, where the argument or mood changes.

Rules and facts to know 20

affect or effect: Usually affect is the verb ('The rain affected the match') and effect is the noun ('The rain had an effect').
Apostrophe for belonging: One owner: the dog's bowl. Plural owners ending in s: the dogs' bowls. Plural not ending in s: the children's books.
Colon and semicolon: A colon introduces a list or an explanation. A semicolon joins two linked main clauses that could each be a sentence.
Fact or opinion: A fact can be checked and proved. An opinion is what someone thinks. Persuasive writers often present opinions as if they were facts.
Formal letter sign-offs: 'Dear Mrs Patel' ends 'Yours sincerely'. 'Dear Sir or Madam' ends 'Yours faithfully'.
its or it's: it's = it is or it has ('It's raining'). its = belonging to it ('The cat licked its paw').
Key dates in the KS3 course: Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794). A Christmas Carol (1843). Frankenstein (1818). Jekyll and Hyde (1886). Dracula (1897).
of or have: Write 'could have', 'should have', 'would have', never 'could of'.
PEE (Point, Evidence, Explain): Make a point, back it with a short quotation, then explain what the words suggest and their effect on the reader.
Petrarchan sonnet: 14 lines: an octave (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines), with the volta usually at line 9. Rossetti's 'Remember' is one.
Pre-1914 literature: Literature written before 1914, such as Shakespeare, Dickens, Blake and Stevenson. The National Curriculum asks you to read it alongside modern texts.
Sentence types: Simple: one main clause. Compound: two main clauses joined by and, but, or, so. Complex: a main clause plus a subordinate clause.
Shakespearean sonnet: 14 lines in iambic pentameter: three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
Speech punctuation: 'Wait for me,' called Ana. The spoken words and their punctuation go inside the speech marks. New speaker, new line.
their, there, they're: their = belonging to them. there = a place, or 'there is'. they're = they are.
TiPToP: Start a new paragraph when the Time, Place, Topic or Person speaking changes.
to, too, two: to = towards, or part of a verb ('to run'). too = also, or more than enough ('too hot'). two = the number 2.
Victorian era: The reign of Queen Victoria, 1837 to 1901. Dickens and Stevenson wrote in this period.
William Shakespeare: Born 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, died 1616. Many of his plays were performed at the Globe, built in London in 1599.
your or you're: your = belonging to you ('your bag'). you're = you are ('you're late').

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