Terms : Hide Images
| 4152669111 | Ad hominem argument | Literally, "to the man." The appealing to personal considerations rather than logic or reason; personal attacks rather than logical ones. | 0 | |
| 4152671036 | Allegory | A work with two levels of meaning, a literal one and a symbolic one. | 1 | |
| 4152672035 | Alliteration | The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words. | 2 | |
| 4152673897 | Allusion | An indirect reference to a person, place, event, or literary work with which the author believes the reader will be familiar. | 3 | |
| 4152675275 | Ambiguity | A technique in which a word, phrase, or event has more than one meaning or can be interpreted in more than one way. | 4 | |
| 4152676574 | Analogy | A point-by-point comparison between two things for the purpose of clarifying the less familiar of the two subjects. | 5 | |
| 4152679125 | Anaphora | A repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive lines, clauses, or sentences. | 6 | |
| 4152681436 | Anecdote | A brief story that focuses on a single episode or event in a person's life and that is used to illustrate a particular point. | 7 | |
| 4152683085 | Antecedent | The word, phrase, or clause that a pronoun refers to. | 8 | |
| 4152684360 | Aphorism | A brief statement, usually one sentence long, that expresses a general principle or truth about life. | 9 | |
| 4152686276 | Apostrophe | A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary preson or personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. | 10 | |
| 4152687956 | Assonance | The repetition of vowel sounds within words. | 11 | |
| 4152809342 | Atmosphere | The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, establish partly by the setting and party by the author's choice of objects that are described. | 12 | |
| 4152810801 | Clause | A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb. | 13 | |
| 4152813304 | Colloquial/Colloquialism | The use of slang or informalities in speech in writing. | 14 | |
| 4152815325 | Conceit | A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects. | 15 | |
| 4152816690 | Concession | In an argument, conceding that the opposing side has some validity | 16 | |
| 4152818047 | Connotation | The emotional response evoked by a word, in contrast to its denotation, which is its literal meaning. | 17 | |
| 4152822863 | Denotation | Literally, the dictionary definition of a word. | 18 | |
| 4152825509 | Diction | A writer's or speaker's choice of words. | 19 | |
| 4152829227 | Didactic | Literally means "teaching." Has the primary aim of teaching or instructing, especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles. | 20 | |
| 4152830513 | Elegy | A poem written in tribute to a person, usually someone who has died recently. | 21 | |
| 4152831971 | Euphemism | From the Greek for "good speech," more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts. | 22 | |
| 4152833064 | Extended Metaphor | Compares two things at some length and in various ways. | 23 | |
| 4152835330 | Figurative Language | Language that communicates ideas beyond the literal meaning of words. | 24 | |
| 4152838510 | Figures of Speech | A device used to produce figurative language. | 25 | |
| 4152839890 | Generic Conventions | This term describes traditions for each genre. | 26 | |
| 4152841458 | Genre | Refers to the distinct types into which literary works can be grouped. | 27 | |
| 4152843311 | Homily | This term literally means "sermon," but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice. | 28 | |
| 4152844774 | Hyperbole | A figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or for humorous effect. | 29 | |
| 4152846799 | Imagery | The descriptive words and phrases that a writer uses to re-create sensory experiences. | 30 | |
| 4152848427 | Inference/Infer | To draw reasonable conclusions from the information presented. | 31 | |
| 4152849533 | Invective | An emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language. | 32 | |
| 4152851257 | Irony/Ironic | Refers to a contrast between appearance and reality. | 33 | |
| 4152852994 | Kinesthetic Imagery | Re-creates the tension felt through muscles, tendons, or joints in the body. | 34 | |
| 4152856704 | 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. | 35 | |
| 4152862982 | Metaphor | A figure of speech that compares two things that have something in common without using "like" or "as". | 36 | |
| 4152866964 | Metonomy | A term from the Greek meaning "changed label" or "substitute name," a figure of speech which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. | 37 | |
| 4152868694 | Mood | The feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader. | 38 | |
| 4152872878 | Narrative | Any type of writing that is primarily concerned with relating an event or a series of events. | 39 | |
| 4152875997 | Onomatopoeia | A figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words. | 40 | |
| 4152877303 | Oxymoron | A special kind of concise paradox that brings together two contradictory terms. | 41 | |
| 4152878817 | Paradox | A statement that seems to contradict itself but may nevertheless suggest an important truth. | 42 | |
| 4152879970 | Parallelism | It refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity. | 43 | |
| 4152881205 | Parody | Writing that imitates either the style or the subject matter of a literary work for the purpose of criticism, humorous effect, or flattering tribute. | 44 | |
| 4164215465 | Pedantic | An adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish. | 45 | |
| 4164216277 | Periodic Sentence | A sentence that presents its central meaning in the main clause at the end. | 46 | |
| 4164218586 | Personification | A figure of speech in which an object, animal, or idea is given human characteristics. | 47 | |
| 4164219178 | Point of View | Point of view refers to the narrative perspective from which events in a story or novel are told. | 48 | |
| 4164219968 | Predicate Adjectives | A type of subject complement—an adjective, group of adjectives, or adjective clause that follows a linking verb. | 49 | |
| 4164220792 | Predicate Nominative | A type of subject complement—a noun, group of nouns, or noun clause that renames the subject. | 50 | |
| 4164221686 | Primary Sources | Materials written or created by people who were present at events. | 51 | |
| 4164222588 | Prose | Generally refers to all forms of written or spoken expression that are not in verse. | 52 | |
| 4164223879 | Repetition | A technique in which a sound, word, phrase, or line is repeated for emphasis or unity. | 53 | |
| 4164224594 | Rhetoric | From the Greek for "orator," this term describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently and persuasively. | 54 | |
| 4164226714 | Rhetorical Modes | This flexible term describes the variety, the conventions, and the purposes of the major kinds of writing. | 55 | |
| 4164228063 | Rhetorical question | A question that is not meant to be answered but the answer may be obvious. | 56 | |
| 4164229139 | Sarcasm | A type of verbal irony, refers to a critical remark expressed in a statement in which literal meaning is the opposite of actual meaning. | 57 | |
| 4164229771 | Satire | A literary technique in which foolish ideas or customs are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society. | 58 | |
| 4164230651 | Simile | A figure of speech that compares two things that have something in common, using a word such as like or as. | 59 | |
| 4164233396 | Stream of Consciousness | A technique that was developed by modernist writers to present the flow of a character's seemingly unconnected thoughts, responses, and sensations. | 60 | |
| 4164234604 | Subject complement | The word (with any accompanying phrases) or clause that follows a linking verb. | 61 | |
| 4164235677 | Syllogism | From the Greek for "reckoning together," this is a deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises. | 62 | |
| 4164236738 | Symbol/Symbolism | Generally, anything that represents or stands for something else. | 63 | |
| 4164237366 | Syntax | The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses and sentences. | 64 | |
| 4164238162 | Theme | An underlying message that a writer wants the reader to understand. | 65 | |
| 4164238837 | Thesis | In expository writing, this is the sentence or group of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or proposition. | 66 | |
| 4164240570 | Tone | A writer's attitude toward his or her subject. | 67 | |
| 4164241634 | Transition | A word or phrase that links different ideas. | 68 | |
| 4164243189 | Understatement | A technique of creating emphasis by saying less than is actually or literally true. | 69 | |
| 4164244115 | Voice | This refers to a writer's unique use of language that allows a reader to "hear" a human personality in his or her writing. | 70 | |
| 4164244830 | Wit | In modern usage, this is intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights. | 71 |
