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| 4772377575 | Allegory | story or poem in which the characters, setting, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities e.g. "Animal Farm", written by George Orwell, is an allegory that uses animals on a farm to describe the overthrow of the last of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the Communist Revolution of Russia before WW I. The actions of the animals on the farm are used to expose the greed and corruption of the revolution. It also describes how powerful people can change the ideology of a society. One of the cardinal rules on the farm for the animals is: "All animals are equal but a few are more equal than others." | 0 | |
| 4772381611 | Alliteration | the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words e.g. Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers | 1 | |
| 4772382729 | Allusion | a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance e.g. "And my imaginations are as foul As Vulcan's stithy. Give him heedful note;" (Hamlet by William Shakespeare) | 2 | |
| 4772384275 | Analogy | A comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar things; the comparison of a subject to something that is conceptually similar to it in order to clarify the subject's nature, purpose, or function e.g. Structure of an atom is like a solar system. Nucleus is the sun and electrons are the planets revolving around their sun. | 3 | |
| 4772398473 | Anaphora | repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer's point more coherent. e.g. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." (A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens) | 4 | |
| 4772399620 | Anecdote | Brief story, told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something, often shows character of an individual e.g. At the beginning of a speech about fire safety, the speaker tells a short cautionary tale about a serious injury that occurred as a result of not following protocol. | 5 | |
| 4772400625 | Antithesis | A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of a grammatical arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences e.g. Setting foot on the moon may be a small step for a man but a giant step for mankind. | 6 | |
| 4772403559 | Apostrophe | calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea e.g. "Oh! Stars and clouds and winds, ye are all about to mock me; if ye really pity me, crush sensation and memory; let me become as nought; but if not, depart, depart, and leave me in darkness." (Frankenstein by Mary Shelly) | 7 | |
| 4772404321 | Assonance | the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds especially in words that are together e.g. the EArly bIRd catches the wORm. | 8 | |
| 4772404845 | Asyndeton | Commas used without conjunction to separate a series of words, thus emphasizing the parts equally e.g. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle | 9 | |
| 4800292491 | Claim | A statement essentially arguable but used as a primary point to support or prove an argument e.g. "Monsters are variations from the accepted normal to a greater or a less degree. As a child may be born without an arm, so one may be born without kindness or the potential of conscience." (East of Eden by John Steinbeck) | 10 | |
| 4800295644 | Climax | point in a plot that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest. Also called "turning point" e.g. "Romeo and Juliet", the story reaches its climax in Act 3. In the first scene of the act, Romeo challenges Tybalt to a duel after he (Tybalt) killed Mercutio | 11 | |
| 4800297222 | Colloquialism | a word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations e.g. He's "out of his head" if he thinks I'm "gonna go for" such a stupid idea. | 12 | |
| 4800299127 | Counter Arguement | an argument or set of reasons put forward to oppose the main argument; set up the chance to refute the opposition and show why one position is the "right" one. Placing a counterargument in a persuasive essay increases the credibility because it shows fairness e.g. Contrary to the advantages mentioned, solar energy does have its drawbacks... | 13 | |
| 4800301641 | Diction | a speaker or writer's choice of words e.g. "Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu." (Ode to the Grecian Urn by John Keats) Keats chooses to use the formal word "adieu" instead of the informal word "goodbye". | 14 | |
| 4800302735 | Enumeration | listing the details or a process of mentioning words or phrases step by step; a type of amplification or division in which a subject is further distributed into components or parts. e.g. "[W]hen we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" (I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King Jr.) | 15 | |
| 4800441778 | Epistrophe | Device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated at the end of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences (it is the opposite of anaphora) e.g. "Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak; FOR HIM HAVE I OFFENDED. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; FOR HIM HAVE I OFFENDED. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; FOR HIM HAVE I OFFENDED...." (Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare) | 16 | |
| 4800448791 | Evidence | literary device that appears in different categories of essays and theses in the form of paraphrase and quotations. It is presented to persuade the readers and used with powerful arguments in the texts or essays e.g. (evidence found within the quotation marks) As she biked, walked, rode the bus all over the city, "she kept moving as if her life depended on it, which in some ways it did. She ran, as she had done most of her life, but this time she was running for her own sanity" (164). | 17 | |
| 4800452538 | Hyperbole | a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect e.g. Your suitcase weighs a ton! | 18 | |
| 4800453847 | Imagery | the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience e.g. "It was a rimy morning, and very damp. I had seen the damp lying on the outside of my little window... Now, I saw the damp lying on the bare hedges and spare grass... On every rail and gate, wet lay clammy; and the marsh-mist was so thick, that the wooden finger on the post directing people to our village—a direction which they never accepted, for they never came there—was invisible to me until I was quite close under it." (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens) | 19 | |
| 4926572680 | Irony | -Verbal Irony: occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else e.g. "She is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me". (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen) -Situational Irony: takes place when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen e.g. Eliot makes comparison between an evening with "a patient etherized upon a table." By portraying a beautiful natural image and comparing it with a painful and difficult medical procedure of modern world, the poet makes use of situational irony for depicting a natural beauty's loss in the corrupted world. (The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S.Eliot) -Dramatic Irony: occurs when the audience is aware of something that the characters in the story are not aware of e.g. Duncun says that he trusts Macbeth not knowing about the prophecy of witches that Macbeth is going to be the king and that he would kill him. Audience, on the other hand knows about the prophecy. | 20 | |
| 4926588591 | Jargon | a specialized set of terms and language that is used in a particular context and setting e.g. legal jargon "In August 2008, 19 individuals brought a putative class action lawsuit in the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Facebook and the companies that had participated in Beacon, alleging violations of various federal and state privacy laws. The putative class comprised only those individuals whose personal information had been obtained and disclosed by Beacon during the approximately one-month period in which the program's default setting was opt out rather than opt in. The complaint sought damages and various forms of equitable relief, including an injunction barring the defendants from continuing the program." (MAREK v. LANE, Supreme Court Order) | 21 | |
| 4926592149 | Juxtaposition | the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect e.g. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way..." (A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens) | 22 | |
| 4926595575 | Litotes | a form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through the negation of a negative form e.g. I am NOT UNAWARE how the productions of the Grub Street brotherhood have of late years fallen under many prejudices. | 23 | |
| 4926600519 | Logical Fallacy | an error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid e.g. All crows are black and the bird in my cage is black. So, the bird in my cage is a crow. | 24 | |
| 4926604135 | Metaphor | a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles e.g. "All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree." - Albert Einstein | 25 | |
| 4926609196 | Metonymy | a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by something closely associated with it e.g. We requested from the crown support for our petition. (crown-->monarch) | 26 | |
| 4926612650 | Modes of Persuasion | -Ethos: linked with morality and ethics; in this method of persuasion, writers or speakers convince their audience of their goodwill and present themselves as trustworthy e.g. Doctors all over the world recommend this type of treatment. -Logos: writers use logic, reasoning, and rationality to convince the audience of their perspectives e.g. Those who study the night before the test have a 7% higher chance of getting a C. -Pathos: writers consider love, fear, empathy and anger as strong factors to influence the emotions of their audience e.g. "He had meant the best in the world, and been treated like a dog—like a very dog. She would be sorry someday—maybe when it was too late. Ah, if he could only die TEMPORARILY!" (Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain) Tom arouses feelings of pity in readers' minds by telling how the girl, whom he loved, treated him like an animal despite his honest feelings for her. He wishes he had died and then she would feel sorry for him. | 27 | |
| 4926629432 | Narration | a report of related events presented to the listeners or readers in words arranged in a logical sequence. A narration is also known as a story. A narrative or story is told by a narrator who may be a direct part of that experience and he or she often shared the experience as a first-person narrator. Sometimes he or she may only observe the events as a third-person narrator and gives his or her verdict. e.g. Charlotte Macleod's "The Withdrawing Room" is an example of a thriller or suspense narrative. | 28 | |
| 4926635364 | Onomatopoeia | the use of words whose sounds echo their sense e.g. Bang! Zap! Snap! Crackle! Pop! | 29 |
