Terms : Hide Images
| 3270071732 | Abstract Language | Language describing ideas and qualities rather than observable or specific things, people or places. The observable or "physical" is usually described in concrete. | 0 | |
| 3270074115 | Ad hominem | Latin for "against man." When a writer personally attacks his or her opponents of their arguments. | 1 | |
| 3270075901 | Allegory | A story, fictional or nonfictional, in which characters, things and events represent qualities or concepts. The interaction of these characters, things and events is meant to reveal an abstraction of the truth. These characters, etc. may be symbolic of the ideas referred to. | 2 | |
| 3270079262 | Alliteration | The repetition of the intitial identical consonant sounds; use for emphasis and style. | 3 | |
| 3270083478 | Allusion | An indirect reference to something (usually a literary text) with which the reader is supposed ot be familiar. This is often used with humorous intent, to establish a connection between writer and reader, or to make a subtle point. | 4 | |
| 3270087603 | Ambiguity | An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way. Also, the manner of expression of such an event or situation ca be this. Unintentional use of this is usually vagueness. | 5 | |
| 3270090856 | Anachronism | An event, object, custom, person or thing that is out of order in time. | 6 | |
| 3270100351 | Analogy | A comparison to a directly parallel case. Used by writers to argue that a claim resonable for one case is reasonable for a chosen other case. | 7 | |
| 3270114198 | Anaphora | Repetition of a word, phrase or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This a deliberate form or repition and helps make the writer's point more coherent. (i.e. "The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic.") | 8 | |
| 3270128700 | Anastrophe | Inversion of the usual order of words. | 9 | |
| 3270129155 | Anecdote | A brief recounting of a relevant episode. These are often interjected into fictional or nonfictional texts as a way of developing a point or interjecting humor. | 10 | |
| 3270133489 | Annotation | Explanatory notes added to a text to explain, cite sources, or give bibliographical data. | 11 | |
| 3270136035 | Anthimeria | The use of a word as if it were a member of a different word class (part of speech); typically, the use of a noun as if it were a verb. (i.e. Facebook me later.) | 12 | |
| 3270138547 | Antecedent | The word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers. | 13 | |
| 3270141503 | Anthithesis | A balancing of two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses. (i.e. "from rags to riches... the world will little note nor long remember...") | 14 | |
| 3270143691 | Antonomasia | The identification of a person by an epithet or appellative that is not his name (i.e. "his lordship"). | 15 | |
| 3270145791 | Aphorism | A short, often witty statement of a principle or truth about life. | 16 | |
| 3270150710 | Aposiopesis | A breaking off from speech, usually because of rising emotion or excitement. (i.e. "Touch me one more time, and I swear ---.") | 17 | |
| 3270146272 | Apostrophe | Usually in poety but sometimes in prose; the device of calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person or to a place, thing or personified abstraction. (i.e. "Oh, you cruel streets of Manhattan, how I detest you!") | 18 | |
| 3270153541 | Argument | A single assertion or series of assertions presented and defended by the author. | 19 | |
| 3270154576 | Argumentation | Writing that attempts to prove the validity of a point of view or an idea by presenting reasoned, valid points; persuasive writing is a form of this. | 20 | |
| 3270155859 | Assonance | Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity. | 21 | |
| 3270175261 | Asyndeton | Commas used (with no conjunction) to separate a series of words. The parts are empasized equally when the conjunction is omitted; in addition, the use of commas with no intervening conjunction speeds up the flow of the sentence. These sentences take the form of X, Y, Z as opposed to X, Y, and Z. (i.e. "He was tall, handsome, foreign, intriguing.") | 22 | |
| 3270207521 | Authority | Arguments that draw on recognized experts or persons with highly relevant experience are said to rest on this. Readers are expected to accept claims if they are in agreement with this expert's view. | 23 | |
| 3270210855 | Backing | Support or evidence for a claim in an argument. | 24 | |
| 3270211524 | Bathos | Insincere or overdon sentimentatlity; may address a sudden change in emotion; may be used to create humor but might be misinterpreted as poor judgment on the part of the writer. | 25 | |
| 3270229528 | Balance | Construction in which both halves of the sentence (or paragraphs, presentation of a longer work) are about the same length and importance. | 26 | |
| 3270230621 | Begging the Question | Often called circular reasoning, this occurs when the believability of the evidence depends on the believability of the claim. | 27 | |
| 3270232304 | Bombast | Inflated, pretentious language | 28 | |
| 3270232483 | Burlesque | Broad parody; where as a parody will imitate and exaggerate a specific work (i.e. "Romeo and Juliet") this term means that and entire style or form, such as myths, are exaggerated into ridiculousness. | 29 | |
| 3270238149 | Cacophony | Harsh, awkward, or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry or prose; the opposite of euphony. | 30 | |
| 3270239183 | Caricature | Descriptive writing that greatly exaggerates a specific feature of a person's appearance or a face of personality. | 31 | |
| 3270241693 | Causal Relationship | A writer asserts that one thing results from another. To show how one thing produces or brings about another is often relevant in stabling a logical argument. (Cause/Effect) | 32 | |
| 3270256774 | Chiasmus | Arrangement fo repeated thought in the pattern of XYYX; this is often short an dsummarizes a main idea. (i.e. "I drilled him and crammed him and crammed him and drilled him.") [sometimes called Antimetabole] | 33 | |
| 3270258245 | Classicism | The principles and styles admired in the classics of Greek and Roman literature, such as objectivity, sensiblilty, restraint, and formality. | 34 | |
| 3270260333 | Coherence | Quality of a piece of writing in which all the parts contribute to the development of the cental idea, theme or organizing principle. | 35 | |
| 3270261306 | Colloquialism | A word or phrase used in everyday conversation and informal writing but that is inappropriate in formal witing. (i.e. "Huck Finn") | 36 | |
| 3270263657 | Common Knowledge | Shared beliefs or assumptions; a writer may argue that if something if widely believed, then readers should accept it. | 37 | |
| 3270264562 | Conceit | An elaborate figure of speech in which two seemingly dissimilar things or situations are compared. | 38 | |
| 3270265795 | Concrete Language | Language that describes specific, observable things, people or places, rather than ideas or qualities; the opposite of this is abstract language. | 39 | |
| 3270267011 | Connotation | Rather than the dictionary definition, the associations suggested by a word; implied meaning rather than literal meaning or denotation. | 40 | |
| 3270303915 | Conundrum | A riddle whose answer is or involves a pun; it may also be a paradox or difficult problem. | 41 | |
| 3270304727 | Consonance | Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity. | 42 | |
| 3270305715 | Conventional | Following certain conventions, or traditional techniques use of writing (i.e. the five paragraph theme). An over-reliance on this may result in a lack of originality. | 43 | |
| 3270309164 | Denotation | Literal meaning of a word as defined in a dictionary. | 44 | |
| 3270309665 | Description | The picturing in words of something or someone through detailed observation of color, motion, sound, taste, smell, and touch; one of the four modes of discource. | 45 | |
| 3270310938 | Descriptive detail | Graphic, exact, and accurate presentation of the characteristics of a person, place or thing. | 46 | |
| 3270312017 | Diction | Word choice, particularly as an element of style. Different types and arrangements of words have significant effects on meaning. (i.e. Academic essays do not typically contain slang and are less colorful.) | 47 | |
| 3270315677 | Didactic | A term used to describe fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson/moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking; may be dry and pomous. | 48 | |
| 3271674602 | Digression | The portion of discourse that wanders or departs from the main subject or topic. | 49 | |
| 3271676594 | Discourse | Spoken or written language, including literary works (i.e. description, exposition, narrion, persuasion). | 50 | |
| 3271684641 | Dissonance | Harsh or grating sounds that do not go together. | 51 | |
| 3271685901 | Dramatic Irony | When the reader is aware of an inconsistency between a fictional or nonfictional character's perception of a situation and the truth of the situation. | 52 | |
| 3271689277 | Dysphemism | A deliberate subsitution of a disagreeable, offensive, or disparaging word for an otherwise inoffensive term (i.e. pig instead of policeman). | 53 | |
| 3271695345 | Either-Or Reasoning | When the writer reduces an argument or issue to two polar opposites and ignores any alternatives. | 54 | |
| 3271697197 | Elegy | A poem or prose selection that laments or mediates on the death of someone or something of value. | 55 | |
| 3271699697 | Elliptical | Sentence structure which leaves out something in the second half. Usually, there is subject-verb-object combination in the first half of the sencence, and the second half of the sentence will repeat the structure but omit the verb and use a comma to indicate the left out material. | 56 | |
| 3271742374 | Emotional Appeal | When a writer appeals to an audience's emotions (often through pathos) to excite and involve them in the argument. | 57 | |
| 3271744796 | Epigram | A concise, witty saying in poetry or prose that either stands alone or is part of a larger work; it may also refer to a short poem of this type. | 58 | |
| 3271747377 | Epigraph | A quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work - suggestive of theme. | 59 | |
| 3271752080 | Epiplexis | A device in which the speaker reproaches his audience in order to arouse, incite, or convince them. | 60 | |
| 3271759373 | Epistophe | Ending successive sentences or clauses with the same word or words for emphasis. (i.e. "They loved football. They ate football. They slept football.") | 61 | |
| 3271763484 | Equivocation | When a writer uses the same term in two different senses in an argument. | 62 | |
| 3271767460 | Etymology | An account of the history of a particular word or element of a word; the study of historical linguistic change, esp. as manifested in individual words. | 63 | |
| 3271804538 | Euphemism | A figure of speech in which an indirect statement is substituted from a direct one in an effort to avoid bluntness. (i.e. "passed away" "vintage") | 64 | |
| 3271822603 | Euphony | A succession of harmonious sounds used in poetry or prose; the opposite of cacophony. | 65 | |
| 3271825498 | Ethical Appeal | When a writer tries to persuade the audience to respect and believe him or her based on a presentation of image of self through the text. Reputation is sometimes a factor in these, but in all cases the aim is to gain the audience's confidence. | 66 | |
| 3271833325 | Ethos | The fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the character or disposition of community, group, or person; the moral element that determines a fictional character's actions rather than his thoughts or emotions. | 67 | |
| 3271841761 | Example | An individual instance taken to be representative of a general pattern. Arguing by using this is considered reliable if what is used is demonstrably true or factual as well as relevant. | 68 | |
| 3271846112 | Exegesis | A detailed analysis or interpretation of a work of prose or poetry. | 69 | |
| 3271874987 | Exemplum | A brief tale used in medieval times to illustrate a sermon or to teach a lesson. | 70 | |
| 3271885319 | Explication | The act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text. This usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language. | 71 | |
| 3271894783 | Expose | A factual piece of writing that reveals the weaknesses, faults, frailties, or other shortcomings. | 72 | |
| 3271902010 | Exposition | Background information provided by a writer to enhance a reader's understanding of the context of a fictional or nonfictional story. | 73 | |
| 3271907046 | Extended Metaphor | A sustained comparison that is developed throughout a piece of writing. | 74 | |
| 3271911227 | False Analogy | When two cases are not sufficiently parallel to lead readers to accept a claim of connection between them. | 75 | |
| 3271919717 | Fiction | A product of a writer's imagination, usually made up of character, plot, setting, point of view, and theme. This is often described as lies told with the consent of the reader. | 76 | |
| 3271926766 | Figurative Language | A word or words that are inaccurate literally, but describe by calling to mind sensations or reponses that the thing described evokes. This may be in the form of metaphors or similes, both of which are nonliteral comparisons. (i.e. "All the world's a stage.") | 77 | |
| 3271935966 | Figures of Speech | Expressions, such as similes, metaphors, and personifications, that make imaginative, rather than literal, comparisons or associations. | 78 | |
| 3271942234 | Folklore | Traditional stories, songs, dances, and customs that are preserved among people; this usually precedes literature, being passed down orally from generation to generation until recorded by scholars. | 79 | |
| 3272011379 | Foreshadowing | The use of a hint or clue to suggest a larger event that occurs later in the work. | 80 | |
| 3272013836 | Form | The shape or structure of a literary work. | 81 | |
| 3272014744 | Generalization | When a writer bases a claim upon an isolated example or asserts that a claim is certain rather than probable. Sweeping forms of these occur when a writer asserts that a claim applies to all instances instead of some. | 82 | |
| 3272023770 | Genre | A type or literary work, such as a novel or poem; there are also sub forms of this, such as science fiction or sonnet, within the larger forms of this. | 83 | |
| 3272047567 | Harangue | A forceful tirade, sermon, or lecture. | 84 | |
| 3272048718 | Homily | A lecture or sermon on a religious or moral theme meant to guide human behavior. | 85 | |
| 3272050384 | Hubris | The excessive pride or ambition that leads a tragic hero to disregard warning of impending doom, eventually causing his or her downfall. | 86 | |
| 3272059024 | Humor | Anything that causes laughter or amusement; up until the end of the Renaissance, this meant a person's temperament. | 87 | |
| 3272062819 | Hyperbole | Conscious exaggeration used to heighten effect: overstatement for rhetorical effect. Not intended literally, this is often humorous. | 88 | |
| 3272070587 | Hypophora | A figure of speech where the speaker poses a question and then answers the question. (Also referred to as anthypophora or antipophora.) | 89 | |
| 3272076614 | Idiom | A use of words, a grammatical construction peculiar to a given language, an expression which cannot be translated literally into a second language. (i.e. flat broke, on the wagon; "It's raining cats and dogs.") | 90 | |
| 3272082795 | Idyll | A short descriptive narrative, usually a poem, about an idealized country life; also called a pastoral. | 91 | |
| 3272087238 | Image | A word or words, either figurative or literal, used to describe a sensory experience or an object perceived by the sense - this is always a concrete representation. | 92 | |
| 3272091304 | Imagery | The use of images, especially in a pattern of realted images, often figurative, to create a strong, unified sensory impression. | 93 | |
| 3272094723 | Indirect quotation | A rendering of a quotation in which actual words are not stated but only approximated or paraphrased. | 94 | |
| 3272099455 | Induction | The process that moves from a given series of specifics to a generalization. | 95 | |
| 3272101685 | Inference | A conclusion one can draw from presented details. | 96 | |
| 3272104129 | Interior Monologue | Writing that records the conversation that occurs inside a character's head. | 97 | |
| 3272106939 | Invective | Harsh, abusive language directed against a person or cause. | 98 | |
| 3272110009 | Inversion | Variation of the normal word order (subject first, then verb, then complement) which puts a modifier or the verb as first in the sentence. The element that appears first is emphasized more than the subject. | 99 | |
| 3272117840 | Irony | When a reader is aware of the reality that differs from a character's perception of reality (the dramatic form of this). The literal meaning of a writer's words may be the verbal from of this. | 100 | |
| 3272125666 | Jargon | The language of a profession; also, confused speech, resulting particularly from the mingling of several languages/dialects. The result of this is language that may sound uncouth or outlandish, producing gibberish or nonsense. | 101 | |
| 3272132777 | Lampoon | A crude, coarse, often bitter satire ridiculing the appearance or character of a person or situation. | 102 |
