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| 5931681782 | Alliteration | The repetition of the same initial consonants of words or of stressed syllables in any sequence of neighboring words Purpose: Alliteration highlights a particular part of a piece through the repetition of initial consonants. The repetition of certain sounds creates emphasizes not only the words in the passage themselves but on the pattern, creating a musical effect. |  | 0 |
| 5931685925 | Allusion | An indirect or passing reference to an event, person, place, or artistic work Purpose: Allusion allows the audience to connect the characteristics of one object/concept to another. More often than not, an allusion in a literary work refers to some feature of another, previous literary work. |  | 1 |
| 5931688658 | Analogy | Comparing two things or instances in time often based on their structure and used to explain a complex idea in simpler terms Purpose: Analogies are typically used to clarify or explain an author's idea to the reader by likening a new idea to an older, better known one. They typically appear as similes that allow the reader to more easily understand the author's meaning. It's important for the reader to be able to understand or able to infer using context clues the meaning of the comparison. | 2 | |
| 5931692933 | Antithesis | A device used to create contrast by placing two parallel but opposite ideas in a sentence Purpose: Antithesis literally means opposite, but the rhetorical definition calls for parallel structures of contrasting words or clauses. These opposing words or clauses are placed in close proximity within a sentence in order to create a focal point for the reader. |  | 3 |
| 5931694258 | Consonance | Repetition of consonant sounds two or more times in short succession within a sentence or phrase Purpose: Consonance is, again, a device used by writers in order to create focus on a particular part of a piece. In many cases, consonance appears in poetry as a device used to create slant rhymes. |  | 4 |
| 5931698281 | Diction | Refers to the author's word choice Purpose: Diction is the umbrella term used to identify an author's choice of words. This is important to define because understanding diction allows the reader to identify other concepts like the tone of a piece, the intended audience, or even the era in which the piece was written. |  | 5 |
| 5931701741 | Ellipsis | When one or more words are omitted from a sentence Purpose: Often, ellipsis is used to omit some parts of a sentence or even an entire story, forcing the reader to figuratively fill in the gaps. This heavily depends on the reader being not only invested but also immersed in the story enough to care about what happens during those gaps. |  | 6 |
| 5931703406 | Ethos | A characteristic spirit of a given culture, era, or community or its beliefs; Ethos, in purely rhetorical terms, is a label used to identify an appeal to the ethics of a culture or individual Purpose: The purpose of an appeal to ethos, an ethical appeal, is to establish the speaker's credibility through exposition of that speaker's character. Identifying an ethical appeal will be of particular use to readers when analyzing the work of the ancients. |  | 7 |
| 5931706026 | Hyperbole | An intentionally exaggerated statement or claim not meant to be taken literally but creating a desired humorous effect Purpose: A hyperbole involves exaggeration in order to create emphasis. Unlike other figurative language devices, hyperbole creates emphasis through the humorous effect that is created by the author's overstatement. |  | 8 |
| 5931708688 | Imagery | Visually descriptive or figurative language Purpose: Imagery is used to characterize objects, actions, and ideas in a way that appeals to our physical senses. The true purpose of imagery is to create a visual imagination of the scenarios or things being described. |  | 9 |
| 5931710012 | Irony | The expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite of what the writer intends to achieve a humorous effect or to add emphasis. Purpose: Irony makes a work of literature more intriguing and forces the readers to use their imagination and comprehend the underlying meanings of the texts. |  | 10 |
| 5931717622 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction Purpose: An oxymoron is a juxtaposition of two opposing words with the intended effect of creating emphasis through the nonsensical nature of this device. Oxymoron is used to characterize conflicting emotions, thoughts, or occurrences. |  | 11 |
| 5931719694 | Pathos | A quality that evokes pity or sadness Purpose: Pathos is a term used to identify an appeal to the pathetic. A writer may want a reader to sympathize with a character and employ a pathetic appeal to inspire feelings of pity, sympathy, or sadness. |  | 12 |
| 5931722939 | Personification | The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristic to a nonhuman or the representation of an abstract quality in human form. Purpose: A writer might employ personification in order to apply human characteristics to something nonhuman, thus furthering the writer's use of imagery and figurative language. Helps readers relate to non-human subjects | 13 | |
| 5931726291 | juxtaposition | Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts |  | 14 |
| 5931728138 | Symbol/Symbolism | A thing that represents or stands for another thing like an object that represents an abstract idea Purpose: Employing symbolism is a way for a writer to attach meaning to an object or action, some symbol within the piece, that goes beyond the face-value of the symbol itself. Symbols represent something more than their literal meanings. Allows writers to add multiple layers of meaning to their work, making characters and themes more universal, and engaging readers' interest |  | 15 |
| 5931740688 | Euphemism | An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant Euphemism helps writers to convey those ideas which have become a social taboo and are too embarrassing to mention directly |  | 16 |
| 5931749291 | Figurative Language | Using figurative language is an effective way of communicating an idea that is not easily understood because of its abstract nature or complexity. Although figurative language does not offer a literal explanation, it can be used to compare one idea to a second idea to make the first idea easier to visualize |  | 17 |
| 5933075026 | Logos | An appeal to reason. Logos is one of the fundamental strategies of argumentation identified by Aristotle. It occurs when a writer tries to convince you of the logic of his argument. writers may use inductive argumentation or deductive argumentation, but they clearly have examples and generally rational tome to their language. The problem with logos is that is can appear reasonable until you dissect the argument and then find fallacies that defeat the viability of the argument on the reader's eyes. Of course, that presupposes that the readers is able to identify the fallacies. | 18 |
