Reading, Language & Literature | History & Social Science
1. What is a phoneme?
▶ The smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning
(e.g., /b/ vs /p/ in 'bat' and 'pat').
2. What is a morpheme?
▶ The smallest unit of meaning in a language. Examples: 'un-' in 'unhappy'
(prefix) and 'happy' (free morpheme).
3. What is the difference between a free morpheme and a bound
morpheme?
▶ A free morpheme can stand alone as a word (e.g., 'book'). A bound
morpheme must be attached to another morpheme (e.g., '-ing', 'pre-').
4. What is phonemic awareness?
▶ The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes)
in spoken words, separate from written text.
5. What is phonological awareness?
▶ A broader skill encompassing awareness of sounds in language, including
rhymes, syllables, onsets, and rimes, as well as phonemic awareness.
6. What is the alphabetic principle?
▶ The understanding that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of
spoken language, forming the basis for decoding and spelling.
7. What is a grapheme?
▶ A letter or group of letters that represents a single phoneme. For example,
'sh' is a grapheme representing the /ʃ/ sound.
8. What is a digraph?
▶ Two letters that together represent a single sound, such as 'ch,' 'sh,' 'th,' or
'ph.'
,9. What is a diphthong?
▶ A vowel sound that glides from one position to another within a single
syllable, such as the sounds in 'boy' (/ɔɪ/) or 'cow' (/aʊ/).
10. What are the six syllable types in English?
▶ Closed (CVC), open (CV), vowel-consonant-e (CVCe), vowel team, r-
controlled, and consonant-le.
11. What is syntax?
▶ The rules that govern how words are arranged to form grammatically
correct sentences in a language.
12. What is semantics?
▶ The branch of linguistics concerned with meaning in language, including
word meanings and sentence meanings.
13. What is pragmatics?
▶ The study of how context influences the interpretation of language. It
focuses on how speakers use language in social situations.
14. What is the difference between denotation and connotation?
▶ Denotation is the literal dictionary meaning of a word. Connotation refers
to the emotional associations or implied meanings beyond the literal definition.
15. What is a dialect?
▶ A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary,
pronunciation, and grammar from other varieties of the same language.
16. What is code-switching?
▶ The practice of alternating between two or more languages or dialects
within a single conversation, often used by bilingual speakers.
17. What is a prefix?
▶ A morpheme added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning,
such as 're-' in 'rewrite' or 'un-' in 'unhappy.'
18. What is a suffix?
▶ A morpheme added to the end of a word to change its meaning or
grammatical function, such as '-ness' in 'kindness' or '-ed' in 'walked.'
19. What is a root word?
▶ The base form of a word to which affixes (prefixes or suffixes) can be
added. For example, 'play' is the root of 'replay' and 'playing.'
,20. What does the Latin root 'port' mean?
▶ To carry. Words with this root include 'transport,' 'portable,' 'import,' and
'export.'
21. What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
▶ The theory that the language one speaks influences or determines how
one thinks and perceives the world (also called linguistic relativity).
22. What is a homophone?
▶ Words that sound alike but have different spellings and meanings, such as
'there,' 'their,' and 'they're.'
23. What is an antonym?
▶ A word that has an opposite meaning to another word. For example, 'hot'
is an antonym of 'cold.'
24. What is a synonym?
▶ A word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word in
the same language (e.g., 'happy' and 'joyful').
25. What is an idiom?
▶ A phrase or expression whose meaning cannot be understood from the
literal meanings of the individual words (e.g., 'it's raining cats and dogs').
26. What is Standard American English (SAE)?
▶ The variety of the English language that is widely considered the norm for
formal written and spoken communication in the United States.
27. What is a phonogram?
▶ A letter or combination of letters that represent a sound. Common
phonograms include 'ight,' 'tion,' and 'ack.'
28. What is onset and rime?
▶ In a syllable, the onset is the initial consonant sound(s) and the rime is the
vowel and any consonants that follow (e.g., in 'cat,' 'c' is the onset and 'at' is
the rime).
29. What is phonics?
▶ An instructional approach that teaches the relationship between letters
and sounds to help students decode words for reading and spelling.
30. What is a schwa?
, ▶ The unstressed, mid-central vowel sound in English, represented by /ə/,
found in words like 'banana' (/bəˈnænə/) and 'about' (/əˈbaʊt/).
SECTION 2: Written and Non-Written Communication (Q31–Q60)
31. What are the stages of the writing process?
▶ Prewriting (brainstorming/planning), drafting, revising, editing, and
publishing.
32. What is the difference between revising and editing?
▶ Revising involves changes to content, organization, and clarity. Editing
focuses on correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanical errors.
33. What is a topic sentence?
▶ The sentence that states the main idea of a paragraph, typically found at
the beginning.
34. What is a thesis statement?
▶ A sentence in an essay that states the author's main argument or central
claim and tells the reader what the essay will prove or explore.
35. What is expository writing?
▶ Writing that explains, informs, or describes a topic using facts and
evidence, without expressing personal opinions.
36. What is persuasive (argumentative) writing?
▶ Writing that aims to convince the reader to agree with the writer's position
using evidence, reasoning, and rhetorical techniques.
37. What is narrative writing?
▶ Writing that tells a story, real or fictional, using plot, characters, setting,
and conflict.
38. What is descriptive writing?
▶ Writing that creates a vivid picture of a person, place, thing, or event using
sensory details.
39. What is voice in writing?
▶ The distinctive style and personality of the author as expressed through
word choice, tone, and sentence structure.
40. What is audience in writing?
1. What is a phoneme?
▶ The smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning
(e.g., /b/ vs /p/ in 'bat' and 'pat').
2. What is a morpheme?
▶ The smallest unit of meaning in a language. Examples: 'un-' in 'unhappy'
(prefix) and 'happy' (free morpheme).
3. What is the difference between a free morpheme and a bound
morpheme?
▶ A free morpheme can stand alone as a word (e.g., 'book'). A bound
morpheme must be attached to another morpheme (e.g., '-ing', 'pre-').
4. What is phonemic awareness?
▶ The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes)
in spoken words, separate from written text.
5. What is phonological awareness?
▶ A broader skill encompassing awareness of sounds in language, including
rhymes, syllables, onsets, and rimes, as well as phonemic awareness.
6. What is the alphabetic principle?
▶ The understanding that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of
spoken language, forming the basis for decoding and spelling.
7. What is a grapheme?
▶ A letter or group of letters that represents a single phoneme. For example,
'sh' is a grapheme representing the /ʃ/ sound.
8. What is a digraph?
▶ Two letters that together represent a single sound, such as 'ch,' 'sh,' 'th,' or
'ph.'
,9. What is a diphthong?
▶ A vowel sound that glides from one position to another within a single
syllable, such as the sounds in 'boy' (/ɔɪ/) or 'cow' (/aʊ/).
10. What are the six syllable types in English?
▶ Closed (CVC), open (CV), vowel-consonant-e (CVCe), vowel team, r-
controlled, and consonant-le.
11. What is syntax?
▶ The rules that govern how words are arranged to form grammatically
correct sentences in a language.
12. What is semantics?
▶ The branch of linguistics concerned with meaning in language, including
word meanings and sentence meanings.
13. What is pragmatics?
▶ The study of how context influences the interpretation of language. It
focuses on how speakers use language in social situations.
14. What is the difference between denotation and connotation?
▶ Denotation is the literal dictionary meaning of a word. Connotation refers
to the emotional associations or implied meanings beyond the literal definition.
15. What is a dialect?
▶ A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary,
pronunciation, and grammar from other varieties of the same language.
16. What is code-switching?
▶ The practice of alternating between two or more languages or dialects
within a single conversation, often used by bilingual speakers.
17. What is a prefix?
▶ A morpheme added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning,
such as 're-' in 'rewrite' or 'un-' in 'unhappy.'
18. What is a suffix?
▶ A morpheme added to the end of a word to change its meaning or
grammatical function, such as '-ness' in 'kindness' or '-ed' in 'walked.'
19. What is a root word?
▶ The base form of a word to which affixes (prefixes or suffixes) can be
added. For example, 'play' is the root of 'replay' and 'playing.'
,20. What does the Latin root 'port' mean?
▶ To carry. Words with this root include 'transport,' 'portable,' 'import,' and
'export.'
21. What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
▶ The theory that the language one speaks influences or determines how
one thinks and perceives the world (also called linguistic relativity).
22. What is a homophone?
▶ Words that sound alike but have different spellings and meanings, such as
'there,' 'their,' and 'they're.'
23. What is an antonym?
▶ A word that has an opposite meaning to another word. For example, 'hot'
is an antonym of 'cold.'
24. What is a synonym?
▶ A word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word in
the same language (e.g., 'happy' and 'joyful').
25. What is an idiom?
▶ A phrase or expression whose meaning cannot be understood from the
literal meanings of the individual words (e.g., 'it's raining cats and dogs').
26. What is Standard American English (SAE)?
▶ The variety of the English language that is widely considered the norm for
formal written and spoken communication in the United States.
27. What is a phonogram?
▶ A letter or combination of letters that represent a sound. Common
phonograms include 'ight,' 'tion,' and 'ack.'
28. What is onset and rime?
▶ In a syllable, the onset is the initial consonant sound(s) and the rime is the
vowel and any consonants that follow (e.g., in 'cat,' 'c' is the onset and 'at' is
the rime).
29. What is phonics?
▶ An instructional approach that teaches the relationship between letters
and sounds to help students decode words for reading and spelling.
30. What is a schwa?
, ▶ The unstressed, mid-central vowel sound in English, represented by /ə/,
found in words like 'banana' (/bəˈnænə/) and 'about' (/əˈbaʊt/).
SECTION 2: Written and Non-Written Communication (Q31–Q60)
31. What are the stages of the writing process?
▶ Prewriting (brainstorming/planning), drafting, revising, editing, and
publishing.
32. What is the difference between revising and editing?
▶ Revising involves changes to content, organization, and clarity. Editing
focuses on correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanical errors.
33. What is a topic sentence?
▶ The sentence that states the main idea of a paragraph, typically found at
the beginning.
34. What is a thesis statement?
▶ A sentence in an essay that states the author's main argument or central
claim and tells the reader what the essay will prove or explore.
35. What is expository writing?
▶ Writing that explains, informs, or describes a topic using facts and
evidence, without expressing personal opinions.
36. What is persuasive (argumentative) writing?
▶ Writing that aims to convince the reader to agree with the writer's position
using evidence, reasoning, and rhetorical techniques.
37. What is narrative writing?
▶ Writing that tells a story, real or fictional, using plot, characters, setting,
and conflict.
38. What is descriptive writing?
▶ Writing that creates a vivid picture of a person, place, thing, or event using
sensory details.
39. What is voice in writing?
▶ The distinctive style and personality of the author as expressed through
word choice, tone, and sentence structure.
40. What is audience in writing?
