Year 4 vocabulary glossary

theme

A central idea or message that runs through a text, such as friendship or courage.

evidence

A specific detail or quotation from a text used to support a point.

compare

To look at two texts, characters or ideas together and consider how they are similar or different.

dialogue

The words spoken by characters in a piece of writing, usually punctuated with inverted commas.

cohesive device

A word or phrase that links ideas together across sentences, such as 'however', 'then' or 'as a result'.

structure

How a piece of writing is organised and put together, such as its order of paragraphs or events.

tense

The form of a verb that shows when an action happens, such as past, present or future.

Standard English

The form of English generally accepted as grammatically correct and used in formal writing, such as 'we were' rather than 'we was'.

possessive apostrophe

An apostrophe used to show that something belongs to someone, such as in 'Sam's book'.

direct speech

The exact words someone says, written inside inverted commas.

figurative language

Language that is not meant literally, used to create a vivid or imaginative effect, such as a simile or metaphor.

word family

A group of words that share the same root and are related in meaning, such as 'act', 'action' and 'actor'.

context clue

A hint in the surrounding text that helps you work out the meaning of an unfamiliar word.