Terms : Hide Images
| 5475949213 | Antithesis | Two opposite ideas put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect; emphasizes contrast by parallel structures of the contrasted phrases or clauses. Ex. "Setting foot on the moon may be a small step for a man but a giant step for mankind." | 0 | |
| 5475957196 | Apostrophe | A writer or speaker addresses an imaginary character, non-existent person, or abstract idea in such a way as if it were present and capable of understanding feelings. Ex. "Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee! I have thee not, and yet I see thee still." In his mental conflict before murdering King Duncan, Macbeth has a strange vision of a dagger and talks to it as if it were another person. | 1 | |
| 5475963522 | Distinctio | Introductory reference to a word's meaning is made (e.g., "by x I mean", "which is to say that", "that is") followed by a further elaboration of that word's meaning. Ex. When I say hot, I do not mean she was warm -- I mean she was very sexy! Now when you say 'rough', do you mean difficult or do you mean harsh, because both make sense, although I would have thought the latter most appropriate. | 2 | |
| 5475968943 | Epithet | Describes a place, a thing or a person in such a way that it helps in making the characteristics of a person, thing or place more prominent than they actually are. Ex. "The earth is crying-sweet, And scattering-bright the air, Eddying, dizzying, closing round, With soft and drunken laughter..." The description of the air and earth is enhanced by the usage of epithets: crying-sweet, scattering-bright, and soft and drunken laughter. Imagery. | 3 | |
| 5475978375 | Simile | Figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things with the help of the words "like" or "as". Ex. Our soldiers are as brave as lions. He is as cunning as a fox. | 4 | |
| 5475982303 | Asyndeton | Used in literature and poetry to intentionally eliminate conjunctions between the phrases and in the sentence, yet maintain grammatical accuracy. Ex. "Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, shrunk to this little measure?" | 5 | |
| 5475984668 | Climax | Point in a narrative at which the conflict or tension hits the highest point; at times referred to as a crisis. Decisive moment or a turning point in a storyline. | 6 | |
| 5475989766 | Enumeratio | Used for listing the details or a process of mentioning words or phrases step by step. Subject is divided into constituent parts or details; listing. Ex. "Much will be said about my father the man, the storyteller, the lover of costume parties, a practical joker, the accomplished painter..." A barbershop quartet is a singing group which blends four voices: bass, baritone, tenor I and tenor II. | 7 | |
| 5476002055 | Metabasis | Brief statement of what has been said and what will follow, whose function is to keep the discussion ordered and clear in its progress. Ex. "Such, then, would be my diagnosis of the present condition of art. I must now, by special request, say what I think will happen to art in the future." -Kenneth Clark | 8 | |
| 5476010013 | Procatalepsis | Speaker or writer gives response to the objection of an opponent in his speech by repeating his objection. It could also be that he responds to his own objection in order to strengthen his argument by using counterarguments. Once the speakers bring attention to a possible rebuttal, they immediately refute or discredit it. Ex. ""I know what you're going to say...'That if they look at it properly they'll see that it wasn't our fault. But will they look at it properly? Of course they won't. You know what cats they are..." | 9 | |
| 5476019026 | Hyperbole | Exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis Ex. Your suitcase weighs a ton! I am dying of shame. I am trying to solve a million issues these days. | 10 | |
| 5476021689 | Litotes | Understatement by using double negatives; positive statement expressed by negating its opposite expressions. Ex. New York is not an ordinary city. You are not as young as you used to be. I cannot disagree with your point of view. Ken Adams is not an ordinary man. You are not doing badly at all. | 11 | |
| 5476041423 | Analogy | Comparison in which an idea or a thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it; explains that idea or thing by comparing it to something that is familiar. Ex. Life is like a race. The one who keeps running wins the race and the one who stops to catch a breath loses. Just as a sword is the weapon of a warrior, a pen is the weapon of a writer. | 12 | |
| 5476044747 | Hyperbaton | Inversion in the arrangement of common words. - For emphasis - interrupts the natural flow of sentences. Ex. "Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding" | 13 | |
| 5476048725 | Anaphora | Deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect. Ex. "Every day, every night, in every way, I am getting better and better." | 14 | |
| 5607430043 | Sententia | Figure of argument in which a wise, witty, or pithy maxim or aphorism is used to sum up the preceding material. Ex. "We are now well into our fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident purpose of putting an end to slavery agitation. However, under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. A house divided against itself cannot stand." | 15 | |
| 5607434151 | Zeugma | Figure of speech in which a word, usually a verb or an adjective, applies to more than one noun, blending together grammatically and logically different ideas. Ex. In "John lost his coat and his temper", the verb "lost" applies to both noun "coat" and "temper". Losing a coat and losing temper are logically and grammatically different ideas that are brought together. | 16 | |
| 5607440466 | Hypophora | Raises a question and then immediately provides an answer to that question. Ex. "Thirty-one cakes, dampened with whiskey, bask on window sills and shelves. Who are they for? Friends. Not necessarily neighbor friends: indeed, the larger share is intended for persons we've met maybe once, perhaps not at all. People who've struck our fancy. Like President Roosevelt". | 17 | |
| 5607444632 | Antanagoge | Negative point is balanced with a positive point. Ex. Yes, I know I've lost my job, but I'm so looking forward to spending time at home. True, he always forgets my birthday, but he buys me presents all year round. | 18 | |
| 5607449646 | Aporia | Speaker purports or expresses to be in doubt or in perplexity regarding a question (often feigned) and asks the audience how he/she ought to proceed. Ex. "To be, or not to be: that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all....." | 19 | |
| 5607456372 | Eponym | Name of a legend or real person that writers associate with some other person, object, institution or thing. Simply, we can define it as a famous person whose name is given to someone else. Ex. Homer has derived the name of ancient epic "The Odyssey" from a major character, Odysseus. Sandwich was given the name of a British politician John Montagu, who was fourth Earl of Sandwich. | 20 | |
| 5607461290 | Allusion | Brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. The writer expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot it grasp its importance in a text. Ex. "Hey! Guess who the new Newton of our school is?" - "Newton", means a genius student, alludes to a famous scientist Isaac Newton. "Stop acting like my ex-husband please." | 21 | |
| 5607464759 | Parenthesis | Qualifying or explanatory sentence, clause or word that writers insert into a paragraph or passage; provides extra information, interrupts syntactic flow of words, and allows the readers to pay attention on explanation. Ex. "—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster." | 22 | |
| 5607471648 | Understatement | Employed by writers or speakers to intentionally make a situation seem less important than it really is; usually has an ironic effect. Ex. "It was O.K." is an understatement if someone who got the highest score in a test said this when asked about his result. "It is a bit cold today," when the temperature is 5 degrees below freezing. | 23 | |
| 5687171778 | Extended Metaphor | Refers to a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem, or even an entire work of literature; may act as a theme in the work of literature. | 24 | |
| 5687199742 | Personification | Figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes. The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings. Ex. When we say, "The sky weeps" we are giving the sky the ability to cry, which is a human quality. | 25 | |
| 5687267852 | Pun | Play on words in which a humorous effect is produced by using a word that suggests two or more meanings or by exploiting similar sounding words having different meanings. Ex. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. An elephant's opinion carries a lot of weight. What is the difference between a conductor and a teacher? The conductor minds the train and a teacher trains the mind. | 26 | |
| 5818567635 | Rhetorical Question | Used to lay emphasis to the point or draw the audience's attention. The questioner himself knows the answer already or an answer is not actually demanded from the audience. Ex. "Are you stupid?" "Did you hear me?" "O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" "What made you think of love and tears And birth and death and pain?" | 27 | |
| 6297555596 | Example | Provides conrete and/or specific details to support abstract ideas or generalizations; support for thesis | 28 | |
| 6297561751 | Definition | Explaining a word, object, or idea in such a way that the readers know precisely what the writer means | 29 | |
| 6297594112 | Diction | Style of speaking or writing dependent on word choice | 30 | |
| 6297610675 | Syntax | Study of rules that govern the ways in which words combine; arrangement of words in a sentence Grammar | 31 | |
| 6297624387 | Parallelism | Use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; similar in construction, sound, meaning, or meter | 32 | |
| 6297640590 | Chiasmus | "Structure reversal" Ex. "Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you." | 33 | |
| 6297677302 | Anadiplosis | Repetition of a word in successive clauses in such a way that the second clause starts with the same word which marks the end of the previous clause Ex. "When I give, I give myself." | 34 | |
| 6297689692 | Conduplicatio | Repetition of key word over successive phrases or clauses | 35 | |
| 6297696040 | Polysyndeton | Several coordinating conjunctions used in succession | 36 | |
| 6297705537 | Metonomy | Describing something by using words associated with it Ex. Crown - in place of a royal person | 37 | |
| 6297715454 | Synecdoche | Describing something by substituting the part for the whole (kinda) | 38 | |
| 6297734084 | Epistrophe | The repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences Ex. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...we had everything before us, we had nothing before us...." | 39 | |
| 6297753964 | Symploce | Repetition of words at the beginning and the end of successive clauses or sentences | 40 | |
| 6297762991 | Parataxis | The placing of clauses or phrases one after another, without words to indicate coordination or subordination Ex. Tell me, how are you? | 41 | |
| 6297774621 | Pathos | Appealing to emotions | 42 | |
| 6297778164 | Ethos | Appeal of speaker or writer to him/herself Credibility, morality, likeability, etc. | 43 | |
| 6297785480 | Logos | Appealing to reason and logic | 44 | |
| 6297787008 | Bandwagon | Importance of being in the "in" crowd If the majority agrees, so should the reader! | 45 | |
| 6297790882 | Testimonial | Using a famous or important figure for endorsement or appeal | 46 | |
| 6297796776 | Transfer | Defining or judging someone by who they do or do not associate with | 47 | |
| 6297799779 | Plain folks | Speaker tries to seem like an everyday person in order to make him/herself seem more trustworthy or credible | 48 | |
| 6297804711 | Name calling | Denigrating a group or individual | 49 | |
| 6297808363 | Glittering generalities | Vague word or phrase used to evoke positive feelings rather than to convey information Ex. Freedom! Security! Tradition! Change! Prosperity! | 50 | |
| 6329590142 | Enthymeme | An argumentative statement in which the writer or the speaker omits one of the major or minor premises, does not clearly pronounce it, or keeps this premise implied. Ex. "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." — Lloyd Bentsen to Dan Quayle in US Vice-Presidential debate in 1988. (The hidden premise: Jack Kennedy was a great man, but you are not.) | 51 | |
| 6329603563 | Syllogism | Starts an argument with a reference to something general and from this it draws conclusion about something more specific. Ex. "Flavius: Have you forgot me, sir? Timon: Why dost ask that? I have forgot all men; Then, if thou grant'st thou'rt a man, I have forgot thee." - Shakespeare | 52 | |
| 6329633107 | Oxymoron | Two opposite ideas joined to create an effect; commonly a combination of an adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting meanings. Ex. Foolish wisdom "In order to lead, you must walk behind." | 53 | |
| 6329647824 | Paradox | Statement that appears to be self-contradictory or silly but may include a latent truth. Ex. I am nobody. "I can resist anything but temptation." - Oscar Wilde | 54 | |
| 6329669745 | Diacope | Repetition of a phrase or word broken up by other intervening words. Ex. It will have blood: They say blood will have blood. | 55 | |
| 6329684991 | Scesis onomaton | A successive series of words or phrases whose meanings are generally equivalent. Ex. "America is all about opportunity. That's why my parents came to America more than 40 years ago. And that's why most of your parents came here generations ago in search of an opportunity, a chance, a fair shake." - Bobby Jindal, | 56 |
