1. AHSGE Test Vocabulary Language Dr. Patrick Cain
SEHS Assistant Principal
Elmore County Schools
Mrs. Julie Turner
School Improvement Specialist
Dothan City Schools

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

3. 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.

4. Writing in a manner in which the reader understands the basic meaning.
Clarity
Writing in a manner in which the reader understands the basic meaning.

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

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

7. 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.

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

9. subject of the sentence
Active Voice
An action verb is in the
active voice when the
subject of the sentence
performs the action.

10. action is performed on the
Passive Voice
An action verb is in the
passive voice when its
action is performed on the
subject.

11. 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.

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

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

14. 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.

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

16. 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

17. 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).

18. 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.

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

20. 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.

21. 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.

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

23. 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.

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

25. Sentences are classified by structure in one of four
Sentence Structure
Sentences are classified by
structure in one of four
ways: simple, compound,
complex, and compound-
complex sentences.

26. 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.

27. Modifiers are adjectives.

28. A phrase that interrupts a
Intervening Phrase
A phrase that interrupts a
sentence.

29. A sentence that does not
Irrelevant Sentences
A sentence that does not
belong in a paragraph.

30. Shifts in verb tense within a
Verb Shifts
Shifts in verb tense within a
passage.

31. Verbiage
Wordiness

32. Precise
Definite; exact