Glossary

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

abbreviation
a short form of a longer word, e.g. abbrev. (abbreviation); cttee (committee)

 

abstract
a summary of an academic text, which appears at the beginning of the text

 

acronym
a word which is composed of the first letters of the words it refers to, e.g. VAT = value added tax

 

adjective
a word which gives more information about a noun, e.g. compatible interface, technical support

 

adjective phrase
a phrase in which the headword is an adjective. In the sentence 'The new bridge will be the second longest in the world,' the adjective phrase is 'the second longest in the world'

 

adverb
a word which tells you more about a verb or an adjective, e.g. wireless technology is evolving rapidly, a widely adopted system

 

adverbial clause
a subordinate clause that begins with an adverb or adverbial phrase

 

adverbial connector
adverbs and adverbial phrases can join main and subordinate clauses. There are many such adverbials - consequently, in addition, moreover, in the meantime, nevertheless, etc - each indicating a particular relationship between the clauses (e.g. cause and effect, concession, time). Examples:
In the late 1800s, there was a revival of interest in such works
The experiment was conducted in secrecy

 

adverb phrase
a phrase in which the headword is an adverb or adverbial (an adverb consisting of a group of words). In the sentence 'Results are expected at the end of this year', the adverb phrase is 'at the end of this year'

 

affix
word element (morpheme) that is attached to the front or back of a base word to form a new word. Example: '-tion' (e.g. communication); 'con-' (e.g. 'context'); 'inter-' (e.g. 'international')

 

annotate
add an opinion, explanation or query in note form to a text; abbreviations, symbols and highlighting are often used

 

antonym
a word which has an opposite meaning to another word, e.g. careless is an antonym of careful

 

archaic
(words, phrases) which are no longer used today (e.g. thee, thou = 'you')

 

article
a word such as a/an (indefinite articles), the (definite article) which has no meaning by itself, and which you use in front of a noun or noun phrase, e.g. a database is the electronic equivalent of an indexed filing cabinet

 

asynchronous
communication (text-based or voice-based) not requiring participants to be present at the same time, e.g. email, discussion board

 

attribute
to acknowledge (in writing) that a piece of work or an idea is the work of someone else; if you attribute the sources, you can avoid plagiarism

 

auxiliary verb
in the following example - Researchers have studied... - the auxiliary verb is 'has'

B

base word
a word or word part from which other words can be made by adding a prefix or suffix. Example: In 'transport',' import' and ' export' the base word is 'port'

 

bias
a tendency to support or oppose something in an unfair way by allowing personal opinions to influence your judgment (e.g. the biased reporting of political events)

 

bibliographic record (or entry)
information about a published source; there are conventions governing the kind of information that should be included in a bibliographic record and how it should be set out

 

bilingual
involving 2 languages; this might refer to a type of dictionary, for example, in which terms are translated from one language to another, e.g. an English-Chinese dictionary

 

brainstorm
to think of all the ideas related to a particular concept or topic by noting them down or saying them aloud in no particular order

C

chunk
a 'chunk' of e.g. listening or reading text, refers to a small section or part of it

 

chunking
instead of focussing on language word-by-word, chunking involves focusing on using language in groups of words which go together ('collocations'). Example: 'The Prime Minister is going to chair a meeting'
Three groups of words can be 'chunked' in this example: '(The) Prime Minister', 'is going to', 'chair a meeting'

 

cite
in academic writing, to name or refer to another writer as the source of information in your text

 

clause
a group of words consisting of the minimum of a subject (a noun phrase) and a predicate (sometimes just a single verb). A sentence may be composed of a single clause or a number of clauses. Example:
Note-taking is an important academic skill. = a single clause or sentence
An important academic skill = a phrase NOT a clause or sentence

 

collocate
to fit together naturally; words which typically go together are said to 'collocate'. Examples: user-friendly; sit down; lose your head; a major consideration; to a certain extent

 

collocation
this term refers to the way in which some words are frequently used together, e.g. you can 'settle a bill' but not 'agree a bill' because agree and bill are not collocations of one another

 

colloquial
informal use of language (e.g. the style of speech used socially among friends)

 

complement (of a subject)
in a clause the part that completes and describes the subject is often referred to as the complement. This may consist of the verb 'to be' or a copular verb and an adjective. Examples:
This essay is excellent
The business became successful

 

compound
a word or words which consist of other words joined or used together to make a lexical item with its own meaning, e.g. a trade deficit (a noun compound), mass-produced goods (an adjectival compound)

 

concise writing
writing, usually in an academic or formal context, which is uses the minimum number of words to express a point for the meaning to be clear

 

concordance
through the use of computer software, take a list of the words used in a book or other work (e.g. The Times newspaper) and give the user information about where the words can be found and in which sentences in the text

 

concordancer
an online tool for searching a body of texts for instances of a particular word or group of words

 

conjunction
a word or group of words that you can use to join together other words or groups of words, e.g. and, however. A conjunction joins two main clauses. They can be joined as a single sentence or as two separate sentences. Examples of common conjunctions:
and, but (coordinating conjunctions); when, because, which (subordinating conjunctions)

 

connective
a word or phrase used, for example, to order the different stages of a description of a process, e.g. firstly, next, consequently

 

coordinating conjunction
the words and, but, or, so, nor are co-ordinating conjunctions. They join two main clauses to make a single sentence. E.g. A new species was discovered when the plant was examined

 

counter argument
an argument that opposes another argument by challenging it or giving a different view

D

definite article
the determiner, 'the'. See also Article

 

dependent prepositions
prepositions which go together (or collocate) with other words (verbs, nouns and adjectives e.g. interested in)

 

determiner
a word which is used before a noun or noun phrase to modify it, i.e. to make clear which particular person or thing is meant or to give information about quantity, e.g. 'the'/'my'/'Liz's'/'this' computer, 'both' computers

 

discourse marker
an expression used to highlight a part of speech or portion of a text to a listener or reader. For example, a discourse marker may signal importance. E.g. words and expressions used to show the links between ideas - in discourse or the speaker's attitude. Typical academic discourse markers: e.g. whereas, however, similarly, despite this

 

dissertation
an extended piece of academic writing (c.10000-25000 words in length) on a particular subject required for some university courses

E

elaboration
to add more information about something or explain what has been said

 

emoticon
a symbol, also known as a smiley, which uses characters from the computer keyboard to express feelings or intended tone of a communication (e.g. joke). Such symbols are common in informal channels of electronic communication especially chat rooms. For example:
;-) winking smiley
:-( sad smiley

 

ethical issues
a system of accepted beliefs which control behaviour, especially such a system based on morals (e.g. it is ethically wrong to plagiarise)

 

evaluate
to form an opinion of the amount, value or quality of something after thinking about it carefully

 

expository
providing explanation

F

figurative
descriptive of words or phrases which are used in a different way from the usual meaning; figurative language is often used to give a vivid mental image.
Example: The peace talks between the two enemies were torpedoed by the sudden increase in military operations. (Here 'torpedoed' is not used in its 'real' sense, but is used figuratively)

 

filler
a sound, word, or expression, generally without meaning, that is used by a speaker to fill a pause when he or she speaking; often used while the speaker searches for how to continue. Examples of fillers: sounds: um..., er..., words/expressions: well, you know, you see

 

flow chart
a schematic way of representing a sequence or process, using a series of text boxes connected by lines and/or arrows. Example: a flow chart representing a manufacturing process

G

genre
a type of text related to its purpose (e.g. a contract designed to state the conditions of a legal agreement)

 

gerund
a noun which is made from the 'ing' form of a verb (e.g. Jogging is a good way of keeping fit)

 

gerund phrase
a phrase beginning with a gerund. e.g. Making a profit is what all companies try to do

 

gloss (v)
to give a brief definition of something so that the reader or listener has a general idea of what it means

H

headword
in a phrase the headword is the word that is modified by everything else in the phrase. For example: in the noun phrase 'University lecturers with more than three years' experience' the headword is the noun 'lecturers'; in the prepositional phrase 'in this part of the body' the headword is the preposition 'in'.

 

hedging
to avoid stating a point too definitely by qualifying it. Examples of ways to hedge: adverbs (possibly, perhaps) modal verbs (could, might, may)

 

highlight
to attract attention to something or emphasize its importance (e.g. to highlight the main points in an argument)

 

hypothesis
an idea or explanation for something that is based on known facts but has not yet been proved

I

idiom
this term is used to refer to a group of words that has a special (or non-literal) meaning, e.g. 'to pull your weight' = to do your fair share of the work like everyone else

 

idiomatic
containing an idiom. Example: Native speakers of a language usually use a lot of idiomatic language

 

indefinite article
the determiners, 'a/an'. See also Article

 

infer
to form an understanding or to interpret the meaning of what someone else says or writes, e.g. students infer meanings from what is written in texts or from what teachers say

 

infinitive
the infinitive is the base form of the verb. It usually occurs with 'To' (e.g. to research) and shows no person or tense. It may also occur without 'to', for example, after auxiliary verbs including modal auxiliary verbs. See also auxiliary verb

 

infinitive clause
a clause that begins with a 'to + infinitive' form of a verb. For example: To understand the processes involved, it is necessary to ...

 

infinitive phrase
A phrase beginning with a verb in the 'to + infinitive' form. e.g. To understand this phenomenon we must first examine...

 

intransitive
this term refers to a verb which cannot be followed by a direct object, e.g. 'to fall': the dollar has fallen in value recently

J

jargon
words or expressions used by a profession which other people find difficult to understand (legal jargon)

L

literal
the usual or normal meaning of a word. Example: The translation was poor because too many literal meanings of words, based on dictionary definitions, were included

 

learning object
an item of online learning material

 

lecture
a formal speech made to an audience, usually made by lecturers in academic programmes where the audiences are students

 

lexical verb (a main verb expressing content rather than function)
in the following verb group - has been studied - the lexical verb is 'study'. E.g. The two countries had previously signed an economic pact

M

main clause
a main clause expresses a complete idea and can stand alone as a complete sentence. E.g. The company whose brand had been copied decided to sue

 

metaphor
a word or phrase used to describe somebody or something in an imaginative way, in order to make ideas or descriptions more powerful or easier to understand. Metaphor consists of language that expresses parallels between things or concepts
E.g. The internet is a gateway to a vast amount of information

 

mindmap
a visual representation of the components or associations of a topic. In the form of a diagram usually radiating from a central theme, concept or object

 

mnemonic
a memory device, or way of helping yourself to remember something. Example: an invented story containing all the elements that you need to remember

 

modal
a verb which is used with another verb to express such ideas as possibility, ability, and necessity, e.g. computers can perform a wide range of tasks

 

modifier
a word, phrase, or clause which qualifies the meaning of a word or word group. Example:
The extremely wet and windy weather conditions prevented a further attempt

 

monolingual
involving one language. This may refer to a type of dictionary, for example, in which definitions are given in the same language as the terms being defined, e.g. a French-French dictionary

 

multi-word verb
a combination of a verb and a particle (adverb or preposition) that forms a single unit (e.g. look after)

N

natural languages
a 'natural language' is any of the languages naturally used by humans, i.e. not an artificial or man-made language such as a programming language

 

navigate
to find your position or the position of your ship, plane, car, or where you are in a website etc. and the direction you need to go in, for example by using a map or website menu

 

netiquette
short form of Internet etiquette; a set of rules or guidelines to govern online behaviour particularly when posting messages to discussion forums and chat rooms

 

nominalisation
forming a noun from another word part, often a verb or an adjective. Example: 'communication' in the sentence: communication has been established

 

nominate
to formally suggest that somebody should be chosen for an important role, prize, position, etc

 

noun
a word which refers to a person (e.g. programmer), thing (e.g. computer), substance (e.g. ink), place (e.g. library) or quality (e.g. length)

 

noun clause
noun clauses are clauses that act like nouns in a main clause. There are two main types: those formed from statements, beginning with that; and those formed from questions, beginning with a question word such as how, what, which, why, etc. Example:
what the investigation will reveal is not yet clear

 

noun phrase
this consists of a noun or pronoun with determiners and/or adjectives and/or adverbs and/or verbs, which singly or as part of a group of words functions as a noun phrase. Examples;
Erasmus was born in Holland in the fifteenth century.
The migration of lemmings takes place when the population density reaches a critical point.

O

object
the person or thing to which the action described by the verb in a sentence is 'done to' (e.g. 'Cows produce milk.', the object of this sentence is 'milk')

 

objective (adj)
based on facts rather than personal opinion

 

organising principle
a method of organising the ideas that form the argument of an essay into a logical order; for example, a writer might organise his/her ideas for an essay by order of topic

P

paraphrase
a statement in which somebody expresses something that somebody has written or said using different words

 

parenthesis
extra information, given in addition to the main text in a sentence; commonly written in brackets (parentheses), within the sentence

 

part of speech
a category of words that share the same use, i.e. represent the same part of speech. Examples: Verbs, nouns, conjunctions

 

participial phrase
a phrase beginning with a present or past participle. Examples:
Given the arid conditions, the crop failed.
Having composed the symphony, he abandoned his musical career.

 

passive voice
A grammatical structure frequently used in formal or academic writing, in which the subject of the verb is the recipient of the action denoted by the verb. Example: The experiment was conducted in the laboratory by a team of scientists.

 

phrasal verb
this is a verb combined with a preposition or adverb or both which, when used together, take on a different meaning from the individual words, e.g. 'how did the merger come about?' = How did the merger happen?

 

plagiarism
plagiarism involves the act of copying another person's words or pretending that their ideas are your own especially in academic written work. You must acknowledge the source when you paraphrase another writer's work

 

plural
a form of a countable word which expresses more than one. Examples: people; topics

 

post-modifier
a modifier that comes after the word it is modifying. Example:
this year the hurricanes were particularly destructive

 

possessive pronoun
a group of pronouns used instead of nouns to show possession or ownership. Examples: their, our, your, mine, its, ours

 

precise writing
writing, usually in an academic or formal context, which records all factual detail carefully and accurately

 

prediction
a reading skill which involves using specific kinds of textual clues such as the title, subheadings, signpost words in order to guess what the text might contain

 

pre-modifier
a modifier that comes before the word it is modifying. Example:
Sufficient sampling of the soil is needed.

 

preposition
a word or group of words which can be placed before a noun or pronoun to show place, direction, source, method etc., e.g. on the hard drive; the printer is next to the computer

 

prepositional phrase
a phrase beginning with a preposition. e.g. The human genome was mapped in the late 1990s. Prepositional phrases can act as adjectives or adverbs

 

pronoun
a word which replaces a noun, e.g. 'e-learning is different from conventional learning insofar as it does not involve face-to-face interaction'

 

proofreading
the activity of reading a piece of written work in its final stages, e.g. an essay, in order to identify and mark errors for correction

 

pure idiom
a phrase whose meaning is unrelated to the meaning of its individual words (e.g. kick the bucket = 'die')

Q

qualitative
that can be assessed in terms of its relative quality or positive attributes. Qualitative data provides a subjective measurement or evaluation of something.
See also quantitative

 

quantitative
that can be measured or assessed using numbers. An analysis based on numerical data or statistics is generally said to be quantitative.
See also qualitative

 

quotation
To repeat (quote) words that someone else has written. The words are normally presented inside single or double inverted commas (quotation marks) to show that they represent a quotation and are followed by reference details. e.g. "To be or not be: that is the question" (Hamlet 3:1)

R

redundant
something which is not essential. Example: 'er' and 'um' are redundant fillers in speech; they are not essential to the understanding of what is being communicated

 

reformulate
change and improve an idea, text or notes after reconsidering it/them. Constantly reformulating your notes in the light of new information helps you to understand them better and keeps your notes in a form that is immediately useful for you

 

register
a variety of language related to the occupation of the writer (e.g. legal language used by lawyers)

 

relative clause
a clause beginning with a relative pronoun. There are two types: defining and non-defining. Examples:
patients who took the new drug recovered quickly. (Defining or identifying relative clause)
the study, which took three years to complete, produced no conclusions. (Non defining or non-identifying relative clause, N.B. punctuation)

 

rhetorical question
rhetorical questions are questions used by a writer or a speaker that do not need an answer; their purpose is simply to involve the reader or the listener more fully. E.g.
(from a lecture) How can we prevent problems like these from occurring? Well, one way is to...

S

scan
to read quickly to locate specific information

 

search string
the terms and symbols you enter in an online search engine. Understanding how to form effective search strings is an important skill for academic researchers

 

seminar
a typical university learning group in which a small group of students and a tutor make presentations and discuss ideas and concepts related to their subject

 

sentence
one or more clauses (minimum: subject + verb) that form a single unit in writing

 

signpost
a word or phrase used in speech or writing to highlight part of the text for the reader or audience; e.g. to introduce the different stages of a talk or lecture - to sum up, let's now consider; to clarify the writer's argument in writing - with regard to..., in conclusion

 

skim
to read a text quickly in order to get the gist or general idea.

 

source text
reference to source text in academic writing would be using information in your text which was taken from another text (e.g. by using quotation or paraphrase).

 

spider diagram
a way of representing graphically a set or sets of relationships between ideas or attributes, especially when brainstorming. Visually this resembles a spider with many 'legs'( connecting lines) and 'feet' (related ideas).

 

strategy
a method or way of achieving a specific goal especially in language learning; example: a listening strategy, reading strategies

 

study plan
a plan consisting of a list of your short and long term learning goals including the date by which you aim to achieve them, usually in the form of a grid

 

subject
the person or thing that 'does' the action described by the verb in a sentence (e.g. 'Cows produce milk.', the subject of this sentence is 'cows')

 

subordinate (or dependent) clause
a subordinate clause does not express a complete idea and cannot stand alone. It must be joined to a main clause with a semi-colon, adverbial connector or subordinating conjunction. E.g:
the company whose brand had been copied decided to sue

 

subordinating conjunction
a subordinating conjunction is used to join a subordinate clause to a main clause. Some subordinating conjunctions are: although, as, before, if, since, than, though, unless, where...

 

superficial
not detailed - a superficial text would only contain basic or obvious information

 

synchronous
communication (text-based or voice-based) requiring participants to be present at the same time, e.g. telephone conversation, instant messaging

 

synonym
this is a word which is similar in meaning to another word, e.g. authentic and real are synonyms

T

template
a document that has a fixed layout (e.g. headings and columns), but with blank spaces so that you can fill in your own content

 

thesaurus
reference book containing an alphabetical listing of words with their synonyms or words and phrases with similar meanings in different contexts. E.g. the entry for 'book' in a thesaurus might include references to album, novel, or text

 

thesis
a long piece of writing usually written for an academic degree

 

topic sentence
a sentence in a paragraph that states the topic or subject of the paragraph and the idea(s) it focuses on

 

transitive
this term refers to a verb which can be followed by a direct object, e.g. 'to boost something': cheap currencies boost exports

 

tutorial
meeting between a tutor and an individual student or small group of students to discuss specific subject work and/or broader study-related issues

 

typographical
features of how text will appear when it is printed e.g. bold, italics, capital letters

U

uncountable noun
a noun which does not have a countable form e.g. information, research

 

utterance
something said by someone

V

variety
a form of language that is different from other forms in terms of its system or content. Examples:
a dialect is a geographical variety
the technical vocabulary or jargon of certain professions or subject areas are varieties

 

verb phrase
a phrase that consists of a main verb and one or more helping verbs. e.g. 'had gone', 'may have eaten', 'was playing'

 

virtual learning environment
a learning area on the internet where learners access and study a course online.

W

web quest
A learning project which involves students researching web sites to obtain information to complete the project

 

word class (or grammatical class)
this is a term which is used to refer to whether a word is a noun, a verb, an adjective, or a preposition etc

 

WIMBA
A mainly voice-based Internet tool that has synchronous and asynchronous channels for online communication purposes