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Duolingo English Test (DET) English Language Foundations Flashcards
50 question-and-answer cards covering English Language Foundations as it is examined in Duolingo English Test (DET). 24 of them are printed below, taken from across the deck — no signup, no paywall on the preview.
24 sample cards from the English Language Foundations deck
Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.
What is an affix, and what are its two main types?
A morpheme added to a base word. Prefixes attach to the front (un-, re-); suffixes attach to the end (-tion, -ness).
What does the prefix 'un-' typically mean, and the suffix '-able'?
'un-' means 'not' or reversal (unhappy, undo); '-able' means 'capable of being' (readable = able to be read).
Which suffixes typically form nouns from verbs?
-tion/-sion (act → action), -ment (govern → government), -er/-or (teach → teacher), -ance/-ence (perform → performance).
What suffix commonly turns an adjective into an adverb, and give an example with a spelling change?
'-ly' (quick → quickly). With adjectives ending in -y, change y to i: 'happy' → 'happily'.
What is the 'i before e' spelling rule and its main exception?
'i before e except after c' (believe, receive). Exceptions include words sounding like 'ay' (neighbor, weigh) and words like 'seize', 'weird'.
When do you double the final consonant before adding a suffix like -ing or -ed?
When a one-syllable word ends in a single vowel + single consonant (stop → stopping), or a stressed final syllable (begin → beginning).
What is the rule for dropping silent 'e' before a suffix?
Drop the silent 'e' before a suffix beginning with a vowel (make → making, hope → hoping), but keep it before a consonant suffix (hope → hopeful).
How do you form plurals of nouns ending in a consonant + y?
Change 'y' to 'i' and add -es: 'city' → 'cities', 'baby' → 'babies'. (Keep -y after a vowel: 'boy' → 'boys'.)
When should a comma be used before a coordinating conjunction?
When it joins two independent clauses, e.g., 'I was tired, so I slept.' No comma is needed if the second part isn't an independent clause.
What is the function of a semicolon?
It joins two closely related independent clauses without a conjunction ('It was late; we left'), or separates list items that contain commas.
What is the difference between an apostrophe for possession vs. contraction?
Possession shows ownership ('the dog's bone'); contraction marks omitted letters ('don't' = do not). 'Its' = possessive; 'it's' = it is.
Which words are always capitalized in English?
The first word of a sentence, the pronoun 'I', and proper nouns (names of people, places, days, months, languages, nationalities).
What is the difference between 'their', 'there', and 'they're'?
'Their' = possessive (their house); 'there' = place/existence (over there); 'they're' = they are.
Distinguish 'your' and 'you're'.
'Your' = possessive (your book); 'you're' = contraction of 'you are' (you're late).
Distinguish 'affect' and 'effect'.
'Affect' is usually a verb meaning to influence (It affects me); 'effect' is usually a noun meaning result (a positive effect).
Distinguish 'then' and 'than'.
'Then' relates to time or sequence (then we left); 'than' is used in comparisons (bigger than).
What is a phoneme?
The smallest unit of sound that can distinguish meaning in a language, e.g., /p/ and /b/ distinguish 'pat' from 'bat'.
Approximately how many phonemes does English have, and how are they divided?
About 44 phonemes (varies by accent): roughly 24 consonant sounds and 20 vowel sounds (including diphthongs).
What is a minimal pair? Give an example.
Two words differing by only one phoneme, used to show a sound contrast, e.g., 'ship' /ʃ/ vs. 'sip' /s/, or 'bit' vs. 'bet'.
What is a diphthong?
A vowel sound that glides from one quality to another within the same syllable, e.g., the /aɪ/ in 'price' or /aʊ/ in 'house'.
How can word stress change a word's part of speech? Give an example.
Stress shifts meaning/class in noun–verb pairs: 'REcord' (noun) vs. 'reCORD' (verb); 'PREsent' (noun) vs. 'preSENT' (verb).
What is the general stress rule for two-syllable nouns versus verbs?
Most two-syllable nouns stress the first syllable (TAble, OBject), while many two-syllable verbs stress the second (reLAX, obJECT).
In a typical English sentence, which words receive sentence stress?
Content words (nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs) are stressed; function words (articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, pronouns) are usually unstressed.
What does rising versus falling intonation typically signal in English?
Rising intonation often signals yes/no questions or uncertainty; falling intonation signals statements, commands, and wh-questions (a sense of completion).
What this deck covers
The English Language Foundations deck follows the Duolingo English Test (DET) English Language Foundations syllabus — 4 chapters and 14 topics — so questions land on material that is genuinely examinable rather than trivia around it. That works out to roughly 12.5 cards per chapter.
Answers are written to be recallable, not just readable — averaging about 123 characters, which is long enough to carry the reasoning and short enough to say out loud.
A deck like this earns its keep on the second and third pass. Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then use the cards to find the specific facts that have not stuck.
English Language Foundations flashcards FAQ
How many English Language Foundations flashcards are in this Duolingo English Test (DET) deck?
50 cards. This page previews 24 of them, sampled evenly across the deck so you can judge the difficulty before installing anything.
Are these Duolingo English Test (DET) flashcards free?
Yes. The preview here is free to read with no signup, and the full 50-card deck is free inside the Examius app.
What do the English Language Foundations cards cover?
They follow the Duolingo English Test (DET) English Language Foundations syllabus — 4 chapters and 14 topics — so the questions track what is actually examinable.
How should I use these flashcards?
Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then drill the deck. Examius schedules each card with spaced repetition, so cards you keep missing come back sooner and ones you know drift further apart.