Fundamentos de Lengua y Literatura Inglesa: Géneros, Gramática y Vocabulario

Literary Genres

Genre: A particular subject or style of literature, art, or music.

Fiction Genres

1. Children’s: Written for kids.
2. Young Adult (YA): Geared towards teenagers.
3. Fantasy: Involves non-real elements such as heroes, magical worlds, and fairies.
4. Romance: Centers on love and relationships.
5. Historical: Depicts real historical events and settings through fictional stories.
6. Science Fiction: Explores science, technology, futuristic concepts, and space.
7. Western: Set primarily in the American Old West during the 18th and 19th centuries.
8. Crime: Involves criminal acts, investigations, and usually murders.
9. Thriller: Characterized by suspense, high stakes, and sudden plot twists.
10. Adventure: Features danger, quests, and builds reader excitement.

Non-Fiction Genres

1. Journalism: Informative reports on current events and factual topics.
2. Instructions / Manuals: Step-by-step explanatory texts.
3. Travel Guides: Information and advice for visitors traveling to specific places.
4. Biographies: Factual accounts of a person’s life written by someone else.
5. Commentary and Humor: Personal reflections, social critiques, and witty observations.

Vocabulary and Contextual Sentences

• Vermin, varmint: Pests or nuisance animals. “My room is full of beetles. I hate vermin!”
• Window-sill, shelf: The ledge at the bottom of a window. “Last week I replaced my window-sill because it was broken.”
• Murky, dingy: Dark, dim, or gloomy. “The day was so murky; there were lots of clouds.”
• Mass, wad: A coherent body of matter or substance. “Calculate the mass of this table.”
• Jittery, nervy: Shaky, nervous, or uneasy. “My legs jittered after I finished my intense daily workout routine.”
• Idiocy, amentia: Extreme folly or senseless behavior. “The idiocy of her behavior will cause her to be expelled from school.”
• Miserably: In an unhappy, wretched, or complete manner. “In my opinion, I was not successful; I failed miserably.”
• Melancholy, sad: A deep, pensive sadness. “When I look at old photos, I feel a great sense of melancholy.”
• Bedspread, bed cover: A decorative outer cover for a bed. “In summer, I usually remove the bedspread from my bed because it makes me too warm.”
• Abdomen, belly: The stomach or midriff region. “Lately, I have done a lot of core exercises to make my abdomen stronger.”
• Conjectured, hypothesis: Formed an opinion based on incomplete information. “The conjectures are easy to verify in a lower dimension.”
• Ligatures: Things used for tying or binding something tightly. “There was no sign of a ligature of any sort having been used.”
• Perceived: To visualize, recognize, or understand. “There is nothing in you that I cannot perceive.”
• Posture: The position in which someone holds their body. “Please correct your posture while sitting.”
• Quiver: A case for holding and carrying arrows; also, to tremble.
• Shrill: High-pitched and piercing in sound quality.

Punctuation: The Semicolon (;)

Allows the writer to join two independent clauses of closely related ideas into a single sentence.

• Une frases que tratan sobre el mismo tema y se complementan directamente.
• Une dos o más oraciones que tienen la misma jerarquía sintáctica e importancia.
• Separa elementos complejos en listas que ya contienen comas internas.

Sentence Structure: Simple, Compound, and Complex

• Simple Sentence: Contains one independent clause.
  Example: “I have a cat named María.”
• Compound Sentence: Formed by two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (clause + connector + clause).
  Example: “I really need to go to work, but I am too sick to drive.”
• Complex Sentence: Contains one main (independent) clause (the most important part) and one or more subordinate (dependent) clauses.
  Example: “The museum was very interesting, just as I had expected.”

Grammar Essentials: Clauses and Archaic Language

Archaic Language

• Language and vocabulary that is no longer in everyday modern use.
• It is traditional, historical, or old-fashioned (e.g., thou, thee, hath).
• Context clues can be used to deduce its intended meaning.

Clauses and Sentence Parts

• Clause: A grammatical unit consisting of a subject and a predicate. An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence, while a dependent clause cannot.
• Embedded Clauses: Subordinate or dependent clauses placed inside a main sentence. They supply extra detail without acting as the sentence’s primary message.

Adverbial Phrases and Adverbial Clauses

• Adverbial Phrase: A group of words that functions as an adverb, indicating when (time), where (place), why (reason), or how (manner).
  Example: “Jack will sit in silence.”
• Adverbial Clause: A dependent clause containing a subject and a verb that modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb.
  Example 1: “I will sit as a monk meditates.”
  Example 2: “My sister, when she is angry, turns bright red in the face.”
  Example 3: “Elephants, although they are large, are not predatory animals.”

Language Registers: Formal vs. Informal

• Formal Register: Less personal, highly objective, and grammatically precise. Used in academic papers, official letters, and professional communication with authorities or strangers.
• Informal Register: Direct, casual, and conversational. Used with friends and family, often containing colloquialisms, idioms, and contractions.

Wh-Question Words

The standard interrogative words are: Where, Who, Why, Which, How, and What.

Types of Narrators in Literature

• The Protagonist: First-person narrator telling their own story in their personal voice, revealing all inner thoughts, biases, and emotions.
• The Secondary Character: A first-person witness close to the protagonist who observes and relays the events.
• Third-Person Omniscient: An all-knowing narrator who has access to the internal thoughts, motivations, and feelings of every character.
• Third-Person Limited: Follows only the perspective and knowledge of a single character, building suspense as the reader solves the plot alongside the character.
• The Detached Observer: An objective narrator reporting only external actions and words without offering personal opinions, never using “I” or “me” outside of direct speech.
• The Commentator: A narrator who frequently pauses the narrative to add personal reflections, social commentary, or moral judgements.
• The Interviewer: Uncovers events in retrospect by questioning witnesses and compiling testimonies.
• The Secret Character: A hidden voice whose identity or role in the narrative is revealed later in the story.
• The Unreliable Narrator: A narrator whose credibility is compromised or deceptive, leading readers to question their account of the truth.

Reported Speech (Indirect Speech)

1. Statements

Report what someone stated with proper tense backshifting.

• Direct: “I went to Italy with my friends last year,” she said.
• Reported: She said that she had gone to Italy with her friends the previous year.

2. Questions

• Wh- Questions:
  Subject + asked + (Indirect Object) + Wh-Word + subject + verb + complement
  Example: She asked where I was going.
• Yes/No Questions (Without Wh- Word):
  Subject + asked + (Indirect Object) + IF / WHETHER + subject + verb + complement
  Example: He asked me if I liked classical music.

3. Commands (Orders)

• Affirmative:
  Subject + told / ordered + Indirect Object + TO + infinitive verb + complement
  Example: The teacher told the students to open their books.
• Negative:
  Subject + told / ordered + Indirect Object + NOT TO + infinitive verb + complement
  Example: She ordered him not to make noise.

4. Requests

• Structure:
  Subject + asked + Indirect Object + TO + infinitive verb + complement
• Direct: “Pass me the salt, please.”
• Reported: She asked me to pass her the salt.