https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WW4ca5VbNzj8ILJHLeb-1UHLnIrgYgtJBnc31suVC5s
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| 9908076555 | Analogy | Explaining something complex by comparing it to something more simple. Ex. "An amateur playing in a professional game is like an ibex stepping into a lion's den." | 0 | |
| 9908076556 | Anecdote | Offering a brief narrative episode. This device can serve many functions in a text—for example, introducing an issue, serving as evidence, to illustrate a point, and so on. Ex. "When I went to buy my morning coffee, I ran into an old friend. He told me he had won the lottery and he was about to buy a yacht. Two months later I heard he had declared bankruptcy." | 1 | |
| 9908076557 | Aphorism/ Maxim | A brief sentence or phrase that expresses an opinion or makes a statement of wisdom. Ex. A bad penny always turns up. Ex. A barking dog never bites. Ex. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. | 2 | |
| 9908076558 | Argument | The combination of reasons, evidence, etc that an author uses to convince an audience of their position. Ex. Too comprehensive a concept for a single example! In effective rhetoric, every phrase serves to further build the argument. | 3 | |
| 9908076559 | Aristotelian appeals | Three different methods of appealing to an audience to convince them—ethos, logos, and pathos. | 4 | |
| 9908076560 | Ethos | Setting up a source as credible and trustworthy. Ex. "Given my PhD in the subject and years of experience in the field" is an appeal to ethos. | 5 | |
| 9908076561 | Logos | Appealing to someone's sense of concrete facts and logic. Citing peer-reviewed scientific studies is an appeal to logos. Ex. "A study done by the University of California states kids are getting better as delaying gratification." | 6 | |
| 9908076562 | Pathos | Involves appealing to someone's emotions. Ex. Animal shelters ads with pictures of cute sad animals and dramatic music are using pathos. | 7 | |
| 9908076563 | attitude | The writer's personal views or feelings about the subject at hand. Ex. Something like "the deplorable state of this school" would convey that the author has a negative attitude towards the school. | 8 | |
| 9908076564 | Audience | Who the author is directing his or her message towards Ex. When you create a resume, your audience is potential employers. | 9 | |
| 9908076565 | Colloquialism | In literature, this is the use of informal words, phrases, or even slang in a piece of writing. Ex. Bamboozle - to deceive Ex. Bo bananas, or go nuts - go insane or be very angry Ex. Wanna - want to | 10 | |
| 9908076566 | Compare and contrast | Discussing the similarities and differences between two things to some persuasive or illustrative purpose. Ex. "Hybrid cars have a much smaller carbon footprint than traditional midsize vehicles." | 11 | |
| 9908076567 | Concession | Agreeing with the opposing viewpoint on a certain smaller point (but not in the larger argument). Ex. "While I admit that hybrid cars have higher carbon production costs than conventional automobiles, this is dramatically offset by the much-smaller lifetime carbon footprint of the vehicles." | 12 | |
| 9908076568 | Conotation | The implied meaning of a word; words can broadly have positive, negative, or neutral connotations. Ex. conscientious = positive connotation Ex. fussy = negative connotation | 13 | |
| 9908076569 | Context | The extra-textual environment in which the text is being delivered. Ex. If I am delivering a congratulatory speech to awards recipients, the immediate context might be the awards presentation ceremony; the broader context might be the purpose or significance of the awards themselves. | 14 | |
| 9908076570 | controlling image | repetition so as to stress the theme of a work or a particular symbol. It is an image a poet uses to carry forward the sense of the poem. It shapes the nature and form of the work as well. Ex. "Mark but this flea, and mark in this, How little that which thou deny'st me is; It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea our two bloods mingled be" The literary device helps support the poem because without it the author would not be able to explain his love and much as he does with it. | 15 | |
| 9908076571 | controlling metaphor | a metaphor that runs through an entire work and determines the form or nature of that work | 16 | |
| 9908076572 | Counter argument | The argument(s) against the author's position. Ex. If I want to eliminate the dress code, a counter argument might be that this will place a burden on students of a lower socioeconomic status, who must now afford an entire school wardrobe or risk unwanted attention. | 17 | |
| 9908076573 | deductive reasoning | A form of logical reasoning wherein a general principle is applied to a specific case. Ex. If all planets orbit a star, and Theta II is a planet, then it must orbit a star. | 18 | |
| 9908076574 | Denotation | The literal, dictionary-definition meaning of a word. Ex. The denotation of "chair" is "a place to sit." | 19 | |
| 9908076575 | Diction | The style of language used; generally tailored to be appropriate to the audience and situation. Ex. You might say "What's up, loser?" to your little brother, but you would probably say "How are you doing today?" to your principal. | 20 | |
| 9908076576 | Didactic | A text with an instructive purpose, often moral. Ex. Aesop's fables are an example of a didactic work. Ex. The tortoise and the hair is an example of didactic. | 21 | |
| 9908076577 | Epigraph | A literary device in the form of a poem, quotation, or sentence - usually placed at the beginning of a document or a simple piece - having a few sentences, but which belongs to another writer. An epigraph can serve different purposes, such as it can be used as a summary, introduction, example, or an association with some famous literary work, so as to draw a comparison, or to generate a specific context for the piece. Ex. Many famous poems provide good examples of epigraph. For instance, "Mistah Kurtz, he dead," is a line from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, which was used in the famous poem The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot to describe how modern people have dead souls, like the character Kurtz of Heart of Darkness. It is because they have taken materialism as their demigod, and accepted its domination, submitting their spirits to it like Kurtz did. | 22 | |
| 9908076578 | Euphemism | Referring to something with a veiled phrase instead of saying it directly Ex. "She let Bob go," is a euphemism for "she fired Bob." | 23 | |
| 9908076579 | Evidence | The information presented meant to persuade the audience of the author's position. Ex. If I were arguing that Anne is a good student, I might reference her straight-A report card and her 1500 SAT score as pieces of evidence. | 24 | |
| 9908076580 | Exemplification | Providing examples in service of a point. Ex. "The Town Beautification Funds are being sorely misused; the streets are full of litter, the parks are full of broken equipment, and City Hall's facade is drab and crumbling." | 25 | |
| 9908076581 | Alliteration | It is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series. Ex. But a better butter makes a batter better Ex. A big bully beats a baby boy. Ex. Coca-Cola | 26 | |
| 9908076582 | Allusion | A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers. It is just a passing comment and the writer expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot the allusion and grasp its importance in a text. Ex. The rise in poverty will unlock the Pandora's box of crimes. - This is an allusion to one of Greek Mythology's origin myth, "Pandora's box". Ex. "This place is like a Garden of Eden." - This is a biblical allusion to the "garden of God" in the Book of Genesis. | 27 | |
| 9908076583 | Anaphora | In writing or speech, the 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." Ex. "My life is my purpose. My life is my goal. My life is my inspirartion." Ex. "Buying diapers for the baby, feeding the baby, playing with the baby: This is what your life is when you have a baby." | 28 | |
| 9908076584 | Assonance | This takes place when two or more words, close to one another repeat the same vowel sound, but start with different consonant sounds. Ex. We light fire on the mountain. Ex. Go and mow the lawn. | 29 | |
| 9908076585 | Consonance | Consonance refers to repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. This repetition often takes place in quick succession, such as in "pitter, patter." Ex. The ship has sailed to the far off shore Ex. She ate seven sandwiches on a sunny Sunday last year. Ex. Shelley sells shells by the seashore | 30 | |
| 9908076586 | Hyperbole | A figure of speech that involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis. It is important not to confuse hyperbole with simile and metaphor. It does make a comparison, like simile and metaphor. Rather, hyperbole has a humorous effect created by an overstatement. Ex. My grandmother is as old as the hills. Ex. Your suitcase weighs a ton! Ex. I am dying of shame. | 31 | |
| 9908076587 | Idiom | Refers to a set expression or a phrase comprising two or more words. An interesting fact regarding the device is that the expression is not interpreted literally. The phrase is understood to mean something quite different from what individual words of the phrase would imply. Alternatively, it can be said that the phrase is interpreted in a figurative sense. Ex. A chip on your shoulder - means you are holding a grudge. Ex. High as a kite - means you are drunk or on drugs. Ex. Sick as a dog - means you are very ill. | 32 | |
| 9908076588 | Imagery | to use figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. Ex. It was dark and dim in the forest. The words "dark" and "dim" are visual images. Ex. The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. "Screaming" and "shouting" appeal to our sense of hearing, or auditory sense. | 33 | |
| 9908076589 | Verbal irony | The use of words to mean something different than what they appear to mean. Ex. "Thanks for the ticket officer you just made my day!" Ex. "I can't wait to read the seven hundred page report." | 34 | |
| 9908076590 | Situational irony | The difference between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. Ex. when someone buys a gun to protect himself, but the same gun is used by another individual to injure him. One would expect that the gun would keep him safe, but it has actually caused him injury. | 35 | |
| 9908076591 | Dramatic irony | When the audience is more aware of what is happening than a character. Ex. in a movie where a detective does not know that the criminal responsible for the crimes in the city is his partner. The audience however is already aware of this fact and waits anxiously to know what will happen once the character finds out what they already know. | 36 | |
| 9908076592 | Litotes | a figure of speech that employs an understatement by using double negatives or, in other words, a positive statement expressed by negating its opposite expressions. Ex. using the expression "not too bad" for "very good" is an understatement, as well as a double negative statement that confirms a positive idea by negating the opposite Ex. They do not seem the happiest couple around. Ex. The ice cream was not too bad. | 37 | |
| 9908076593 | Metaphor | a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated, but which share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics. Ex. The assignment was a breeze. (This implies that the assignment was not difficult.) Ex. The skies of his future began to darken. (Darkness is a threat; therefore, this implies that the coming times are going to be hard for him.) | 38 | |
| 9908076594 | Metonymy | a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated. We can come across examples of metonymy both from literature and in everyday life. Ex. "England decides to keep check on immigration." (England refers to the government.) Ex. "The pen is mightier than the sword." (Pen refers to written words, and sword to military force.) | 39 | |
| 9908076595 | Onomatopoeia | defined as a word which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting. Ex. The buzzing bee flew away. Ex. The sack fell into the river with a splash. Ex. The books fell on the table with a loud thump. | 40 | |
| 9908076596 | Oxymoron | a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect. The common oxymoron phrase is a combination of an adjective preceded by a noun with contrasting meanings, such as "cruel kindness," or "living death". Ex. Open secret Ex. Tragic comedy Ex. Seriously funny Ex. Awfully pretty | 41 | |
| 9908076597 | Personification | a 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. Look at my car. She is a beauty, isn't she? Ex. The wind whispered through dry grass. Ex. The flowers danced in the gentle breeze. | 42 | |
| 9908076598 | Sarcasm | In simple words it means to speak bitterly. Generally, the literal meaning is different than what the speaker intends to say through sarcasm. Sarcasm is a literary and rhetorical device that is meant to mock, often with satirical or ironic remarks, with a purpose to amuse and hurt someone, or some section of society, simultaneously. | 43 | |
| 9908076599 | Simile | a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words "like" or "as." Therefore, it is a direct comparison. Ex. Our soldiers are as brave as lions. Ex. Her cheeks are red like a rose. Ex. He is as funny as a monkey. | 44 | |
| 9908076600 | Symbolism | the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities, by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. Ex. The dove is a symbol of peace. Ex. A red rose, or the color red, stands for love or romance. Ex. Black is a symbol that represents evil or death. | 45 | |
| 9908076601 | Synecdoche | a literary device in which a part of something represents the whole, or it may use a whole to represent a part. It may also use larger groups to refer to smaller groups, or vice versa. It may also call a thing by the name of the material it is made of, or it may refer to a thing in a container or packaging by the name of that container or packing. Ex. The word "bread" refers to food or money, as in "Writing is my bread and butter," or "He is the sole breadwinner." Ex. The phrase "gray beard" refers to an old man. Ex. The word "sails" refers to a whole ship. Ex. The word "suit" refers to a businessman. | 46 | |
| 9908076602 | tautology | The repetitive use of phrases or words that have similar meanings. In simple words, it is expressing the same thing, an idea, or saying, two or more times. A grammatical refers to an idea repeated within a phrase, paragraph, or sentence to give an impression that the writer is providing extra information. Ex. "Your acting is completely devoid of emotion." Devoid is defined as "completely empty." Thus, completely devoid is an example of tautology Ex. "Repeat that again," and "reiterate again." To repeat or reiterate something is to do or say it again. Ex. "Shout it, shout it, shout it out loud!" When a person shouts, it is always aloud. | 47 | |
| 9908076603 | Understatement | Deliberately minimizing something, usually for humorous effect. Ex. "My mom's a little bit irritated I crashed the car—I'm grounded for the next twenty-four months." | 48 | |
| 9908076604 | Genre | The specific type of work being presented. Broader categories include "novel" and "play," while more specific genres would be things like "personal essay" or "haiku." Ex. Shakespeare wrote famous plays. Ex. The book series Harry Potter is very interesting. | 49 | |
| 9908076605 | Implication | When something is suggested without being concretely stated. Ex. "Watch your wallet around Paul," implies that Paul is a thief without coming out and saying "Paul is a thief." Ex. When a professor says, "All the other professors in this college are pushovers," he implied that he was a tough professor. | 50 | |
| 9908076606 | Inductive reasoning | Making a generalization based on specific evidence at hand. Ex. All of the planets in this solar system orbit a star, so all planets probably orbit stars. Ex. Jennifer leaves for school at 7:00 a.m. Jennifer is always on time. Jennifer assumes, then, that she will always be on time if she leaves at 7:00 a.m. | 51 | |
| 9908076607 | Juxtaposition | Placing two very different things together for effect. Ex. "There they stood together, the beggars and the lords, the princesses and the washerwoman, all crowding into the square." | 52 | |
| 9908076608 | occasion | The reason or moment for writing or speaking. Ex. When giving a graduation speech, the occasion is graduation. | 53 | |
| 9908076609 | Organization | How the different parts of an argument are arranged in a piece of writing or speech. Ex. Think about the outlines you write in preparation for drafting an argumentative essay and you'll have an idea of what organization is. | 54 | |
| 9908076610 | Paradox | A phrase or assertion that appears to contradict itself (but the contradiction itself may have its own meaning). Paradoxical phrases include "dark angel," "fresh rot," "blissful hell," etc. | 55 | |
| 9908076611 | Parallelism | Repeated structural elements in a sentence. Ex. "We went to sea; we went to war; we went to bed." | 56 | |
| 9908076612 | Paraphrasing | involves taking a set of facts or opinions and rewording them. When paraphrasing, it is important to keep the original meaning and to present it in a new form. Basically, you are simply writing something in your own words that expresses the original idea. | 57 | |
| 9908076613 | Parody | Using the form of something to mimic and make fun of it. Ex. Weird Al is the master of the musical parody genre. | 58 | |
| 9908076614 | Peroration | The concluding part of a speech | 59 | |
| 9908076615 | Persona | the person who is understood to be speaking (or thinking or writing) a particular work. The persona is almost invariably distinct from the author; it is the voice chosen by the author for a particular artistic purpose. | 60 | |
| 9908076616 | Purpose | The author's persuasive intention. Ex. If you are trying to convince your mother you should get a dog, your purpose in addressing an essay on the subject to her would be to convince her that you should get a dog. | 61 | |
| 9908076617 | Repetition | Re-using a word or phrase repeatedly for effect or emphasis. Ex. "We run, and we run, and we run, like rats on a wheel." | 62 | |
| 9908076618 | Rhetoric | The use of spoken or written word (or a visual medium) to convey your ideas and convince an audience. Ex. Almost everything is an example of this! | 63 | |
| 9908076619 | Rhetorical triangle | The relationship between the author, the audience, the text/message, and the context. Ex. The author communicates to the reader via the text; and the reader and text are surrounded by context. | 64 | |
| 9908076620 | Horation satire | After the Roman satirist Horace: Satire in which the voice is indulgent, tolerant, amused, and witty. The speaker holds up to gentle ridicule the absurdities and follies of human beings, aiming at producing in the reader not the anger of a Juvenile, but a wry smile. | 65 | |
| 9908076621 | Juvenalian satire | After the Roman satirist Juvenal: Formal satire in which the speaker attacks vice and error with contempt and indignation Juvenalian satire in its realism and its harshness is in strong contrast to Horatian satire. | 66 | |
| 9908076622 | Speaker | The persona adopted by the author to deliver his or her message; may or may not actually be the same person as the author. Ex. Similar to the difference between author and narrator in a work of fiction. | 67 | |
| 9908076623 | Style | The author's own personal approach to rhetoric in the piece; similar to voice. Ex. We might say the Taylor Swift's songwriting style is straightforward and emotive. | 68 | |
| 9908147623 | Syntax | The way sentences are grammatically constructed. Ex. "She likes pie," is syntactically simple. On the other hand, "As it so happened, when Barbara got out of class early she liked to have a piece of pie—key lime or pecan, always—at the corner diner; while she was there she watched the people passing by the window and imagined herself inside each of their lives, riding in their heads for moments and moments until the afternoon was whiled away and she'd become fifty people," is syntactically complicated. | 69 | |
| 9908147624 | Synthesis | Combining sources or ideas in a coherent way in the purpose of a larger point. Ex. A typical research paper involves synthesizing sources to make a broader point about the topic. | 70 | |
| 9908147625 | Tone | The use of stylistic devices to reveal an author's attitude toward a subject. Ex. Only a narrow distinction from attitude. The phrase "the deplorable state of this school" reveals a negative attitude, but the word choice of "deplorable" is part of the author's tone. | 71 | |
| 9908147626 | Voice | An author's unique sound. Similar to style. Ex. Think of the way that you can recognize a pop singer on the radio without hearing who it is first. | 72 | |
| 9908147627 | Themes | Overarching ideas or driving premises of a work. Some themes you will probably hear in your high school graduation speech include leaving behind a legacy, moving into the great unknown, becoming an adult, and changing the world. | 73 |
