English Language Year 11&12: Study Guide

Copyright © 2014 by Kerry Drake.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2014908332

ISBN:     Hardcover     978-1-4990-0166-2

         Softcover              978-1-4990-0167-9

         eBook                   978-1-4990-0168-6

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References: Wikipedia Encyclopedia

Rev. date: 06/24/2014

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Contents

Formal Language

Informal Language

Unit 1: Nouns

Unit 2: Using nouns

Unit 3: Types of Pronouns

Unit 4: Form, Agreement and Clear Reference of Pronouns

Unit 5: Revision of Verbs and Simple Tenses

Unit 6: Perfect and Continuous Tenses

Unit 7: Using Tenses

Unit 9: Using Verbs: Subject-Verb Agreement

Unit 10: Adjectives

Unit 11: Using Adjectives

Unit 12: Adverbs

Unit 13: Using Adverbs

Unit 14: Prepositions

Unit 15: Conjunctions

Unit 16: Phrases

Unit 17: Clauses

Unit 18: Types of Sentences

Unit 19: Sentence Patterns

Unit 20: Sentence Problems

Unit 21: Improving Sentences

Unit 22: Revision of Punctuation

Unit 23: Punctuation Within a Sentence: Commas, Semicolons and Colons.

Unit 24: Dashes, Brackets, Ellipsis Points and Hyphens

Unit 25: Apostrophes

Unit 26: Quotation Marks

Unit 28: Abbreviations, Acronyms, Numbers and Italics

Unit 29: Punctuation for a Purpose

Unit 30: Prefixes and Suffixes

Unit 31: Word Origins

Unit 33 Synonyms and Antonyms

Unit 34: Confusing Pairs of Words

Unit 35: Spelling Strategies

Unit 36: Spelling Rules

Unit 37: Difficult Words to Spell

Unit 38: Gender in Language

Unit 40: Figures of Speech and Symbols

English Language Forward

Theory - Poetry

History of the English Language

ENGLISH LANGUAGE VCE LEVEL 2014 GUIDE

BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE

The contents of this book of knowledge of the VCE subject English Language is a guide to assist students to understand and enhance their years of study. It will prepare you for university courses with an underlying appreciation for the English language as used in media, law, business, arts, science and history. Use this book of knowledge to gain a depth of appreciation for usage and development of words in the modern world.

FORMAL LANGUAGE

IT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, Webpage, mouse,

LEXICONS, words as spelt in the dictionary

JARGON, glossary terms used in professions and trades

MODERN ENGLISH, new words introduced in the last 200 years.

SYNTAX, use of punctuation

LANGUAGES, study of dialects and ethnic languages

MORPHEMES, sentence structure, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs

SEMANTICS, pertaining to meaning

ASSONANCE, vowel sounds in written and spoken English

A E I O U eg. Looking, Booking. Backing, Tracking

CONSONANCES, consonance sounds in written and spoken English

B C D F G J K L M N O P Q R S T V X Z; Drifter, Swifter. Left, Cleft

HALF VOWELS SOUNDS spoken

H W Y

PROSODIC, Poetic language, Rhyming, metaphors

SYMBOLS, Stop sign, numbers, roman numbers

NON VERBAL, @@@ laughter, um, er,

AFFIXES, adding a morpheme, de forestation… dis content, cyber space

SUFFIXES,Child ish, taste less

PREFIXES, Un happy, multi cultural

INFORMAL LANGUAGE

ACRONYMS, P

SLANG, yeah, yep, hah, nah,

ELLIPSIS, goin, lookin, feelin

COCKNEY, written and spoken colloquial language of English working class

NON VERBAL, laughter, um sound in speech

SWEARING, language used to express and shock

CLICHÉ’S, phrases of written and spoken metaphors eg.Two heads are better than one.

ABBREVIATIONS, isn’t, wouldn’t, don’t

COLLOQUIAL, Strien, okkerism, lingua franca of cultural identity eg Mate, good onya mate, haveagoodweekend, she’ll be right

GRAMMAR, Sentences are made up of a subject, a verb and noun and written in phrases and clauses to make sense with punctuation.

NOUNS, people, things, places,

ADJECTIVES, describing words, red, strong, beautiful

ANTONYMS, opposites, cold or hot, good or bad

VERBS, action words, kicking, running, pushed

ADVERBS, DESCRIBING AN ACTION, actively, quickly

MODAL VERBS, double verb sentences, eg. QUICK SALE

FACTS AND FICTION

Facts are substantiated known inferences. A fact is stated and proved. A fact is a subject, figure or tested theory.

Fiction is imagined and unproven information.

DEFINING IDENTITY, FACE, REGISTER

Defining identity is with comparison of role models, like a policeman’s role in society as that compared to the differences of a bikie and the register is their individual status in society.

POSITIVE, policeman’s identity… a good role model

NEGATIVE, bikie’s identity… not a good role model

KNOWLEDGE OF INTEREST, DOMAINS OF LIFE

RELIGION, the philiosophical and social nature of cultural identity

STATE, influences of political and historical cultural identity

FAMILY, ethnicity and family structure

EDUCATION, academic interests and influences

MEDIA, influences of entertainment, and power of electronic, mass communication

PEERS, friends and cultural identity, social identity

HOW TO PREPARE AN ESSAY

Use truncated sentences, that is 3 to 6 words for headings. And 6 to 14 words for introductory sentences.

INTRODUCTION, state the question being answered with focus on the positive or negative summation. Begin with the most important facts that gain attention. Write or speak in the present, past or future of the subject, ie give it a time span. Introduce the people, places and purpose of the topic.

BODY, Analyse giving three to five examples of contrasting views and opinions. Build the evidence for or against with comparisons and statistics. Create awareness of the needs, or potential needs or emphasis of importance. Set out the principles, the aims and objectives. Use research to strengthen your claims.

CONCLUSION, sum up with a disclosure of what the outcomes are. Or state the final proof of the argument. The question must have a conclusive open non judgemental disclosure. Or conclude with a substantial idea that is accepted. Traditional versus radical ideas can be stated as opinion.

QUESTIONS ASKED, base your facts on uncovering and expressing, explaining these aspects of the article and most important this makes up the detail of the subject and discource.

WHO? The person, main characters etc.

WHAT?The action or situation.

WHEN?Time it occured

WHERE?Place it happened

WHY?What cause and affect it had.

WHICH? Influences.

HOW? Is there a theory behind it?

INTRODUCTION, WITH THREE MAJOR POINTS OF REPORTING

Focus on the positive, negative and neutral points.

INVOLVING MAIN QUOTES AND TOPICS

BODY OF RESEARCH, ANALYSIS OF FORMAL, INFORMAL USES OF LANGUAGE, WITH REFERENCES TO THREE SOURCES,

(1)  KNOWN FIRST SOURCE, PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS

(2)  ACADEMIC RESEARCH FACTS, SECOND SOURCE

(3)  MEDIA REPORTS, THIRD SOURCE

CONCLUSION, REVIEW SUMMING UP, NON JUDGEMENTAL OPEN LOOK AT FORMAL AND INFORMAL LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

3 TO 5 REFERENCES NOTATED

USE OF THESAURUS, DICTIONARY AND SPELLING BOOKS

PHONETICS AND INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

STUDY AND WORK WITH YOUR INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH STRENGTHS, PARTICULARLY USEFUL SOURCES ARE FOLLOWING CURRENT AFFAIRS ON NATIONAL TV, RADIO AND NEWSPAPERS.

DR. KERRY SUSAN DRAKE

MA WRITING

BA JOURNALISM

DIP TEACHING

Extracts from English Skills Builder Book 2—explanation, exercises and answers

© Mary Manning and Margaret McKenzie Oxford University Press (for publication 2000)

Unit 1: Nouns

Nouns name people and things. Nouns may be singular or plural, common, proper, abstract, collective or compound.

1 Nouns name people, creatures, places, things, feelings, qualities and ideas.

John, boy, jumper, love, joy, shape.

2 All nouns are either singular or plural.

• Singular nouns refer to one thing.

woman, man, book.

• Plural nouns refer to more than one thing.

women, men, books.

3 All nouns are either common or proper.

• Common nouns are any nouns that do not take a capital letter.

bat, calculator, water

• Proper nouns name particular people or places given capital letters.

Marian, Mars, Argentina

4 All common nouns are either concrete or abstract.

• Concrete nouns name things that can be seen, heard, smelt or touched.

music, fabric, air

• Abstract nouns name feelings, emotions and other things that cannot be seen, heard, smelt or touched.

jealousy, area, height

5 Collective nouns name groups of people or things.

team, herd, bunch

6 The same word may function as a noun or other part of speech depending on its context.

I will sleep (verb) the longest sleep (noun) of my life.

7 The plural form of most nouns is formed by adding s to the singular noun but there are many variations which may need to be checked in a dictionary. (See also the rules for forming plurals in Unit 36.)

innuendo/innuendoes.

wife/wives

8 Compound nouns are formed by the combination of two nouns.

rain + drop = raindrop.

Practice

A Underline the words below that are nouns (or could function as nouns).

chasm, Koran, illustration, vane, vein, inventive, trait, lightning, aerial, desert, dessert, bow, bough, affect, effect, soprano, refuse, conversation, spa, status, trickle, trudge, ridge, scurry, invade, masculine, licence

B Identify the types of each noun shown in bold in the extract below. The first two are done for you.

C Underline the words set in bold in the following sentences that are nouns.

1 I need to know the truth but there’s no need to hurry.

2 Your red face gives the story away. I wonder if I can face it.

3 If looks could kill! With that expression on her face she looks like her brother.

4 The child can now dress herself as her new dress doesn’t have buttons.

5 Many people at the Oslo fair had fair hair.

6 It is time to plough the top paddock. I will need a new plough.

7 I’ll take the apple pie if you haven’t an uncooked apple.

E