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 ·  30 lists  ·  1225 words

Language and expression

The words for talking about words.

What holds these lists together

The lists for what you need once you stop just speaking and start talking about speech: grammar in its own terms, the skeleton of an essay or a reply, the language for retelling a story or a film, and register. Register holds the biggest surprise for an English speaker, who has one «you» for everybody. In Portugal você can sound blunt, so people often address someone in the third person, by title or name: o senhor deseja mais alguma coisa?, a Ana quer café?. Grammar terms need care too: o pretérito perfeito is the simple past, comi, not the English present perfect.

The 30 lists

B2Talking about languageThe words that describe what you are learning.46 wordsB2Writing and arguingThe phrases that hold a text together.28 wordsB2Telling a story: books and filmThe words for talking about a story.38 wordsC1Register and toneSaying the same thing formally, neutrally or in passing.38 wordsC1A language course abroadThree weeks in the country, and what they really leave you with.35 wordsC1Idiomatic ExpressionsImages you simply have to know: there is no working them out from the words they are made of.38 wordsC1Abstract conceptsCause, intention, precondition — the words that stand above the things they are about.39 wordsC1Verbs of sayingWho says a thing in what way — and what the verb claims alongside it.51 wordsC1Blame and responsibilityAssigning it, lifting it, bearing it — and by what standard a court decides that somebody has to.40 wordsC1Ethics and moralsThe terms an argument about right and wrong is actually conducted in.47 wordsC2Light, colour, surfaceWords for what the eye actually sees, instead of bright and shiny.61 wordsC2SemioticsHow something comes to mean something else.23 wordsC2NarratologyWho is telling this, and how do they know?22 wordsC2LinguisticsSound, form, change — and the quarrel over what counts as correct.57 wordsC2Epigraphy and palaeographyHow to read what stands in stone or on parchment.23 wordsC2LexicographyHow a dictionary is made, and what it cannot say.31 wordsC2Idioms: the situation and the moveWhat you do when things get tight, said in pictures.47 wordsC2Making a point and dodging oneWhat somebody does with a statement instead of merely saying it.46 wordsC2Language acquisitionHow a second language actually gets in.32 wordsC2Noises and voicesWords for what is actually heard, instead of saying that something made a noise.46 wordsC2Translating and interpretingThe words for what gets decided between two languages.44 wordsC2Smell and tasteWords for two senses that get by on about five in everyday life.40 wordsC2Adjectives of evidential weightFrom « watertight » to « far-fetched ».47 wordsC2Weighing up and qualifyingThe phrases that go between the sentences, not inside them.36 wordsC2Testing and judgingForty-five phrases that weigh up a statement.45 wordsC2Inferences and fallaciesValid, sound, refuted — and the names of the missteps.59 wordsC2Rhetoric and figures of speechThe names for what a sentence does to a reader.41 wordsC2PhilosophyGrounding, distinguishing, refuting — the craft itself.40 wordsC2Game theoryMove, payoff, equilibrium — decisions taken against people who are thinking too.43 wordsC2Philosophy of scienceHypothesis, testability, explanation — what makes a statement scientific.42 words

Spread across the levels

The category runs across the levels — it is an area, not a difficulty. If you practise it, you can also choose a level at the top of the practice page and then get only the part that sits there.

LevelWordsShare
B213011 %
C124420 %
C285169 %

Practise this category

Multiple choice and gaps, across all 30 lists and all 1225 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.