Terms : Hide Images
| 8743593780 | allegory | The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning. The _______ meaning usually deals with moral truth or a generalization about human existence. | 0 | |
| 8743593781 | alliteration | The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words (as in "she sells sea shells"). | 1 | |
| 8743593782 | allusion | A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. They can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical. ambiguity--The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage. | 2 | |
| 8743593783 | anadiplosis | The repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause. | 3 | |
| 8743593784 | analogy | A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. | 4 | |
| 8743593785 | anaphora | One of the devices of repetition, in which the same expression (word or words) is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences. "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." | 5 | |
| 8743593786 | anecdote | A short narrative detailing particulars of an interesting episode or event. The term most frequently refers to an incident in the life of a person. | 6 | |
| 8743593787 | antecedent | The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun. | 7 | |
| 8743593788 | aphorism | A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle. (If the authorship is unknown, the statement is generally considered to be a folk proverb.) It can be a memorable summation of the author's point. | 8 | |
| 8743593789 | apostrophe | A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. It is an address to someone or something that cannot answer. The effect may add familiarity or emotional intensity. William Wordsworth addresses John Milton as he writes, "Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour: / England hath need of thee." | 9 | |
| 8743593790 | atmosphere | The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author's choice of objects that are described. This foreshadows events and can perhaps create a mood. | 10 | |
| 8743593791 | clause | A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb. Can be independent or dependent. | 11 | |
| 8743593792 | colloquial/colloquialism | The use of slang or informalities in speech or writing. | 12 | |
| 8743593793 | coherence | A principle demanding that the parts of any composition be arranged so that the meaning of the whole may be immediately clear and intelligible. | 13 | |
| 8743593794 | conceit | A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects. A _______ displays intellectual cleverness as a result of the unusual comparison being made. | 14 | |
| 8743593795 | connotation | The nonliteral, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning. May involve ideas, emotions, or attitudes. | 15 | |
| 8743593796 | denotation | The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color. | 16 | |
| 8743593797 | diction | Related to style, diction refers to the writer's word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. | 17 | |
| 8743593798 | didactic | These works have the primary aim of teaching or instructing, especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles. | 18 | |
| 8743593799 | epistrophe | The opposite of anaphors, repetition at the end of successive clauses. "They saw no evil, they spoke no evil, and they heard no evil." | 19 | |
| 8743593800 | euphemism | A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept. | 20 | |
| 8743593801 | exposition | In essays, one of the for chief types of composition, the others being argumentation, description, and narration. The purpose is to explain something. In drama, it's the introductory material, which creates the tone, gives the setting, and introduces the characters and conflict. | 21 | |
| 8743593802 | extended metaphor | A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work. | 22 | |
| 8743593803 | figurative language | Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid. | 23 | |
| 8743593804 | figure of speech | A device used to produce figurative language. Many compare dissimilar things. They include apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor, metonymy, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, synecdoche, and understatement. | 24 | |
| 8743593805 | generic conventions | This term describes traditions for each genre. They help to define each genre. | 25 | |
| 8743593806 | genre | The major category into which a literary work fits. | 26 | |
| 8743593807 | homily | It can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice. | 27 | |
| 8743593808 | hyperbole | A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. They often have a comic effect; however, a serious effect is also possible. Often, it produces irony. | 28 | |
| 8743593809 | imagery | The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. | 29 | |
| 8743593810 | inference/infer | To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented. | 30 | |
| 8743593811 | invective | an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language. | 31 | |
| 8743593812 | irony/ironic | The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant. The difference between what appears to be and what actually is true. In general, there are three major types used in language; verbal, situational, and dramatic. It's used for many reasons, but frequently, it's used to create poignancy or humor. | 32 | |
| 8743593813 | loose sentence | A type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses. If a period were placed at the end of the independent clause, the clause would be a complete sentence. | 33 | |
| 8743593814 | metaphor | A figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things or the substitution of one for the other, suggesting some similarity. | 34 | |
| 8743593815 | metonymy | A figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. A news release that claims "the White House declared" rather that "the President declared" is an example. The substituted term generally carries a more potent emotional impact. | 35 | |
| 8743593816 | mood | This term has two distinct technical meanings in English writing. The first meaning, indicative, is grammatical and deals with verbal units and a speaker's attitude, and is used only for factual sentences. The second meaning, is literary, meaning the prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work and is similar to tone and atmosphere in this usage. | 36 | |
| 8743593817 | narrative | The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events. | 37 | |
| 8743593818 | onomatopoeia | A figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words. | 38 | |
| 8743593819 | oxymoron | A figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox. | 39 | |
| 8743593820 | paradox | A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity. | 40 | |
| 8743593821 | parallelism | It refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity. This can involve, but is not limited to, repetition of a grammatical element such as a preposition or verbal phrase. | 41 | |
| 8743593822 | parody | A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule; distorts or exaggerates distinctive features of the original. | 42 | |
| 8743593823 | pedantic | An adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish. | 43 | |
| 8743593824 | periodic sentence | A sentence that presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end. This independent clause is preceded by a phrase or clause that cannot stand alone. | 44 | |
| 8743593825 | personification | A figure of speech in which the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions. | 45 | |
| 8743593826 | point of view | In literature, the perspective from which a story is told. | 46 | |
| 8743593827 | predicate adjective | One type of subject complement; an adjective, group of adjectives, or adjective clause that follows a linking verb. It is in the predicate of the sentence, and modifies, or describes, the subject. | 47 | |
| 8743593828 | predicate nominative | A second type of subject complement; a noun, group of nouns, or noun clause that renames the subject. It, like the predicate adjective, follows a linking verb and is located in the predicate of the sentence. | 48 | |
| 8743593829 | prose | One of the major divisions of genre, it refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms. In it, the printer determines the length of the line; in poetry, the poet determines the length of the line. | 49 | |
| 8743593830 | repetition | The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern. | 50 | |
| 8743593831 | Rhetor | The speaker who uses elements of rhetoric effectively in oral or written test. | 51 | |
| 8743593832 | rhetoric | From the Greek for "orator," this term describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively. | 52 | |
| 8743593833 | rhetorical modes | This flexible term describes the variety, the conventions, and the purposes of the major kinds of writing. | 53 | |
| 8743593834 | sarcasm | Involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something. It may use irony as a device, but not all ironic statements are sarcastic, that is, intended to ridicule. | 54 | |
| 8743593835 | satire | A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule. | 55 | |
| 8743593836 | semantics | The branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another. | 56 | |
| 8743593837 | style | Has two purposes: (1) An evaluation of the sum of the choices an author makes in blending diction, syntax, figurative language, and other literary devices. We can analyze and describe an author's personal ____ and make judgments on how appropriate it is to the author's purpose. (2) Classification of authors to a group and comparison of an author to similar authors. By means of such classification and comparison, we can see how an author's ____ reflects and helps to define a historical period. | 57 | |
| 8743593838 | subject complement | The word (with any accompanying phrases) or clauses that follows a linking verb and complements, or completes, the subject of the sentence by either (1) renaming it or (2) describing it. | 58 | |
| 8743593839 | subordinate (dependent) clause | Like all clauses, this word group contains both a subject and a verb (plus any accompanying phrases or modifiers), but unlike the independent clause, it cannot stand alone; it does not express a complete thought. | 59 | |
| 8743593840 | syllogism | From the Greek for "reckoning together," a syllogism (or syllogistic reasoning or syllogistic logic) is a deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises (the first one called "major" and the second, "minor") that inevitably lead to a sound conclusion. A frequently cited example proceeds as follows: | 60 | |
| 8743593841 | symbol/symbolism | Generally, anything that represents itself and stands for something else. | 61 | |
| 8743593842 | syntax | The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. Similar to diction, but you can differentiate them by thinking of ____ as the groups of words, while diction refers to the individual words. | 62 | |
| 8743593843 | theme | The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life. Usually is unstated in fictional works, but in nonfiction, it may be directly stated, especially in expository or argumentative writing. | 63 | |
| 8743593844 | thesis | In expository writing, it's the sentence or group of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or position. Expository writing is usually judged by analyzing how accurately, effectively, and thoroughly a writer has proved the ____. | 64 | |
| 8743593845 | tone | Similar to mood, it describes the author's attitude toward his material, the audience, or both. | 65 | |
| 8743593846 | transition | A word or phrase that links different ideas. | 66 | |
| 8743593847 | trope | an artful variation from expected modes of expression of thoughts and ideas; a figure of speech involving a "turn" or change of sense—a use of the word in a sense other than its proper or literal one. | 67 | |
| 8743593848 | understatement | The ironic minimizing of fact, understatement presents something as less significant than it is. The opposite of hyperbole. | 68 | |
| 8743593849 | undertone | an attitude that may lie under the ostensible tone of the piece. Under a cheery surface, for example, a work may have threatening ____. | 69 | |
| 8743593850 | unreliable narrator | An untrustworthy or naïve commentator on events and characters in a story. | 70 | |
| 8743593851 | wit | In modern usage, intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights. Is humorous, while suggesting the speaker's verbal power in creating ingenious and perceptive remarks. Usually uses terse language that makes a pointed statement. | 71 | |
| 8743593852 | zeugma | trope, one word (usually a noun or main verb) governs two other words not related in meaning. "He maintained a business and his innocence." | 72 |
