Terms : Hide Images
| 4723523503 | allusion | A reference to some famous literary work, historical figure, or event. For example, to say that a friend " had the patience of Job" means that he is as enduring as the Biblical figure of that name. These must be used with care lest the audience miss their meaning | 0 | |
| 4723523504 | argumentation | The writer's attempt to convince his reader to agree with him. It is based upon appeals of reason, evidence proving the argument, and sometimes emotion to persuade. Some attempt to merely prove a point, but others go beyond proving to inciting the reader to action. At the heart this term lies a debatable issue. | 1 | |
| 4723523505 | coherence | The principal of clarity and logical adherence to a topic that binds together all parts of a composition. A essay that has this is one whose parts--sentences, paragraphs, pages-- are logically infused into a single whole. Its opposite is one that is jumbled, illogical, and unclear. | 2 | |
| 4723523506 | description | A rhetorical mode used to develop an essay whose primary aims is to depict a scene, person, thing or idea. This type of writing evokes the look, feel, sound, and sense of events, people, or things | 3 | |
| 4723523507 | diction | Word choice. This refers to the choice of words a writer uses in an essay or other wiring. Implicit is a vast vocabulary of synonyms--different words that have more or less equivalent meanings. If only one word existed for every idea or condition, this term would not exist. But since we have a choice of words with various shades of meaning, a writer can and does chose among words to express ideas. Skilled writers determine this by the audience and occasion of their writing. | 4 | |
| 4723523508 | exposition | Writing whose chief aim is to explain. Rather than showing, as in narration, this rhetorical device tells. A majority of essays contain this device because they need to convey information, giver background, or tell how events occurred or processes work. | 5 | |
| 4723523509 | figurative language | Said of a word or expression used in a non literal way. For example, the expression "to go the last mile" may have nothing at all to do with geographical distance, but may mean to complete an unfinished task or job. | 6 | |
| 4723523510 | hyperbole | A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. These often have a comic effect; however, a serious effect is also possible. Often, this figure of speech produces irony at the same time. | 7 | |
| 4723523511 | image/ imagery | A phrase or expression that evokes a picture or describes a scene. It may be either literal, in which case it is a realistic attempt to depict with words what something looks like, or figurative, in which case the expression is used that likens the thing described to something else | 8 | |
| 4723523512 | irony | The use of language in such a way that apparent meaning contrasts sharply with the real meaning. It is a softer form of sarcasm and shares with it the same contrast between apparent and real meaning. It can also be used to create humor or poignancy. In general there are three major types used in language: 1. Verbal, the words literally state the opposite of the writer's/speaker's true meaning. 2. Situational, events turn out the opposite of what was expected. It allows the readers to make a distinction between appearances and realities, and eventually associate them to the theme of a story. 3. Dramatic, facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or a piece of fiction but known to the audience, reader, or other characters. | 9 | |
| 4723523513 | metaphor | A figurative image that implies similarity between things that are otherwise dissimilar. | 10 | |
| 4723523514 | mood | The pervading impression of feelings on the reader. Can be gloomy, sad, joyful, bitter, frightening; as many as are in any emotional range. | 11 | |
| 4723523515 | narration | A mode of writing which gives an account of events as they happen. Organizes material on the basis of chronological order or pattern. | 12 | |
| 4723523516 | oxymoron | A figure of speech in which an author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox. "Jumbo shrimp" "cruel kindness" | 13 | |
| 4723523517 | pacing | The speed at which a piece of writing moves along. Depends on the balance between summarizing action and representing action in detail. Can be affected by syntax. | 14 | |
| 4723523518 | 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. | 15 | |
| 4723523519 | parallelism | The principle of coherent writing requiring that coordinating elements be given the same grammatical form. | 16 | |
| 4723523520 | parody | a work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. As comedy, it distorts or exaggerates distinctive features of the original. As ridicule, it mimics the work by repeating and borrowing words, phrases, or characteristics in order to illuminate weaknesses in the original. | 17 | |
| 4723523521 | personification | Attributing human qualities to objects, abstractions, and animals. | 18 | |
| 4723523522 | point of view | Perspective from which a piece of writing is developed. | 19 | |
| 4723523523 | rhetoric | The art of analyzing all the choices involving language that writer, speaker, reader, or listener might make in a situation so that the text become meaningful, purposeful, and effective; the specific features of texts--written or spoken--that cause them to be meaningful, purposeful, and effective for reader or listeners in a situation. | 20 | |
| 4723557038 | rhetorical modes (modes of discourse) | The variety, conventions, and purposes of the major kinds of writing: exposition, argumentation, description, narration. | 21 | |
| 4723559339 | simile | A figure of speech which, like a metaphor, implies a similarity between things otherwise dissimilar. The simile, however, always uses the words like, as, or so to introduce the comparison. | 22 | |
| 4723564183 | slanting | The characteristic of selecting facts, words, or emphasis to achieve a preconceived intent: favorable or unfavorable. | 23 | |
| 4723565808 | style | The way a writer writes. The expression of an author's individuality through the use of words, sentence patterns, and selection of details. Any of the choices writers make while writing--about diction, sentence length, structure, rhythm, and figures of speech--that make their work sound like them. | 24 |
