QUIZES WITH ANSWER KEYS:

1. an accepted phrase or expression that doesn"t follow the usual patterns of language, or has a meaning other than the literal –

A: IDIOM (e.g. that"s a storm in a teacup; he"s as flash as a rat with a gold tooth; she"s got a bee in her bonnet)

2. the patterns of stress and intonation in a language

A: PROSODY

3. two or more connected letters to indicate a single sound

A: - LIGATURE (e.g. the ae in mediaeval, encyclopaedia

4. the smallest phonetic unit in a language that is capable of conveying a distinction in meaning

A: - PHONEME (e.g. M in mat; B in bat)

5. having or characterised by many meanings; the ambiguity of an individual word or phrase that can be used (in different contexts) to express two or more different meanings 

A: POLYSEMY

6. all of the letters and letter combinations that represent a sound in the alphabet

A: - GRAPHEME (e.g. the F sound can be written as f, ph, gh in different words)

7. two items of the same kind

A: - DYAD

8. a vowel sound that starts near the articulatory position for one vowel and moves toward the position for another

A: - DIPHTHONG (the ligature is the written form of this sound) Examples of diphthongs are the oi sound in "oil"

9. the smallest unit of meaning

A: - MORPHEME (Some words are made up of multiple morphemes e.g. priceless [price + suffix "less"] while others can"t be divided e.g. serial, mahogany)

10.a kind of understatement, where the speaker or writer uses a negative of a word ironically, to mean the opposite

A: - LITOTE (e.g. He"s not the brightest kid on the block.)