AHSGE Test Vocabulary

LanguageMrs. Julie Turner

School Improvement SpecialistDothan City Schools

Dr. Patrick CainSEHS Assistant PrincipalElmore County Schools

Vivid Details

Details that appeal to the

senses and help the reader

see, feel, smell, taste, and

hear the subject being written about.

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.

Clarity

Writing in a manner in which

the reader understands the basic meaning.

Verbal

A verbal is a form of a verb

that works in a sentence as

a noun, an adjective, or an

adverb.

Indefinite PronounAn indefinite pronoun refersto persons, places or thingsin a more general way.

Indefinite pronouns do not have clear antecedents.

Reflexive PronounA reflexive pronoun refers to anoun or another pronoun and indicates that the same person

or thing is involved.Example:

I almost exhausted myself working

for her in the campaign.

Antecedent

The word or group of wordsthat a pronoun replaces is

called its antecedent.

Active Voice

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

performs the action.

Passive Voice

An action verb is in thepassive voice when its

action is performed on the subject.

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.

Irregular Verbs

An irregular verb is a verb that does not form its past

and past participle by adding –ed to the basic

verb.

Collective Noun

A collective noun names a

group of people or things.

Examples:the class the faculty

the team the flock

AppositiveAn 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.

Misplaced Participle

A misplaced participle modifies the wrong noun or

pronoun in a sentence.

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

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).

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.

Redundancy

Redundancy occurs when words (or synonyms for

words) are repeated unnecessarily to add

emphasis or to fill up space.

Formal LanguageMost academic writing shouldmeet 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.

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.

Comma Splice

A comma splice is a mistakemade when two

independent clauses are connected (spliced) with

only a comma.

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.

Transitional WordsTransitional words are often

used to introduce related topics.

Examples:First, second, third,

to illustrate, for instance, also,

in addition

Sentence Structure

Sentences are classified by structure in one of four

ways: simple, compound,complex, and compound-

complex sentences.

Dangling ModifierA dangling modifier is a

phrase or clause that comesat the beginning of a

sentence but does not modify (describe) the subject

in the sentence.

Modifiers

Modifiers are adjectives.

Intervening Phrase

A phrase that interrupts a sentence.

Irrelevant Sentences

A sentence that does not

belong in a paragraph.

Verb Shifts

Shifts in verb tense within a

passage.

Verbiage

Wordiness

Precise

Definite; exact