Terms : Hide Images
| 4344530396 | Allegory | The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning. | 0 | |
| 4344530397 | Alliteration | The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words (as in "she sells sea shells"). | 1 | |
| 4344530398 | Allusion | A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. These can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical. | 2 | |
| 4344530399 | Ambiguity | The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage. Meaning is not clear, can be interpretted in more than one way. | 3 | |
| 4344530400 | Analogy | A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. | 4 | |
| 4344530401 | Antecedent | The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun. | 5 | |
| 4344530402 | Antithesis | the opposition or contrast of ideas; the direct opposite. | 6 | |
| 4344530403 | Aphorism | A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle. | 7 | |
| 4344530404 | Apostrophe | A prayer like figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. It is an address to someone or something that cannot answer. The effect may add familiarity or emotional intensity. William Wordsworth addresses John Milton as he writes, "Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour: England hath need of thee." Another example is Keats' "Ode to a Grecian Urn," in which Keats addresses the urn itself. | 8 | |
| 4344530405 | Atmosphere | The emotional nod created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author's choice of objects that are described. Even such elements as a description of the weather can contribute. | 9 | |
| 4344530406 | Colloquial/Colloquialism | The use of slang or informalities in speech or writing. In literature, this contributes to style or author's purpose. | 10 | |
| 4344530407 | Literary Conceit | A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects; displays intellectual cleverness through unusual comparisons that make good sense. | 11 | |
| 4344530408 | Connotation | The non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning; may involve ideas, emotions or attitudes. A good analysis will explain the outside meanings of the author's/poet's word choice. | 12 | |
| 4344530409 | Denotation | The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color. | 13 | |
| 4344530410 | Diction | Related to style; refers to the writer's word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. | 14 | |
| 4344530411 | Didactic | From the Greek, literally means "teaching," especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles. This is a tone word! | 15 | |
| 4344530412 | Euphemism | more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept - POLITICALLY CORRECT | 16 | |
| 4344530413 | Extended Metaphor | An unusual comparison developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work; also called a conceit. | 17 | |
| 4344530414 | Figurative Language | Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid. | 18 | |
| 4344530415 | Figure of speech | A device used to produce figurative language. Many compare dissimilar things. These include apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, synecdoche, understatement. | 19 | |
| 4344530416 | Genre | The major category into which a literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama; in general, a word for the type of work/text. | 20 | |
| 4344530417 | Imagery | The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions; uses terms related to the five senses: visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory. | 21 | |
| 4344530418 | Inference/infer | To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented. When a multiple choice question asks for you to base your answer on this, make sure you notice positive and negative connotation as well. | 22 | |
| 4344530419 | Invective | an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language. (For example, in Henry IV, Part hill of flesh.") | 23 | |
| 4344530420 | Litotes | a form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite; opposite of hyperbole. Examples: "Not a bad idea," "Not many," "It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain" (Salinger, Catcher in the Rye). | 24 | |
| 4344530421 | Metonymy | (mĕtŏn′ ĭmē) A term from the Greek meaning "changed label" or "substitute name"; a figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. For example, a news release that claims "the White House declared" rather than "the President declared." | 25 | |
| 4344530422 | Mood | The prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work. Setting, tone, and events can affect the mood. Mood is similar to tone and atmosphere. | 26 | |
| 4344530423 | Narrative | The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events. | 27 | |
| 4344530424 | Oxymoron | From the Greek for "pointedly foolish," an oxymoron is a figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox. Simple examples include "jumbo shrimp" and "cruel kindness." Explain the effect that the author achieves with the use of this device. | 28 | |
| 4344530425 | 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. (Think of the beginning of Dickens' Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....") | 29 | |
| 4344530426 | Anaphora | A sub-type of parallelism, when the exact repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines or sentences. MLK used this in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech (1963) for emphasis on his ideas. | 30 | |
| 4344530427 | Parody | A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. It exploits peculiarities of an author's expression (propensity to use too many parentheses, certain favorite words, etc.). Weird Al is the epitome of this genre. | 31 | |
| 4344530428 | Pedantic | An adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish (language that might be described as "show-offy"; using big words for the sake of using big words); bombastic! | 32 | |
| 4344530429 | Point of view | In literature, the perspective from which a story is told. | 33 | |
| 4344530430 | Prose | one of the major divisions of genre; refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms. | 34 | |
| 4344530431 | Rhetoric | From the Greek for "orator," this term describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively. | 35 | |
| 4344530432 | Sarcasm | From the Greek meaning "to tear flesh," this involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something. It may use irony as a device. | 36 | |
| 4344530433 | Satire | A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule. Regardless of whether or not the work aims to reform human behavior, this is best seen as a style of writing rather than a purpose for writing. It can be recognized by the many devices used: irony, wit, parody, caricature, often humorous, is thought provoking and insightful about the human condition. Voltaire: Candide..."best of all possible worlds." | 37 | |
| 4344530434 | Synecdoche | NECK: a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole or, occasionally, the whole is used to represent a part. Examples: To refer to a boat as a "sail"; to refer to a car as "wheels"; to refer to the violins, violas, etc. in an orchestra as "the strings." | 38 | |
| 4344530435 | Synesthesia | when one kind of sensory stimulus evokes the subjective experience of another. Ex: The sight of red ants makes you itchy. In literature, this device refers to the practice of associating two or more different senses in the same image. Red Hot Chili Peppers' song title,"Taste the Pain," is an example. | 39 | |
| 4344530436 | Syntax | The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences; similar to diction, but you diction refers to individual words--this refers to the groups of words (phrases, clauses, sentence structure) | 40 | |
| 4344530437 | Theme | The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life. Universal idea. | 41 | |
| 4344530438 | Thesis | In expository writing, the thesis statement is the sentence or group of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or position. | 42 | |
| 4344530439 | Tone | Similar to mood, tone describes the author's attitude toward his material, the audience, or both. Tone is easier to determine in spoken language than in written language. Considering how a work would sound if it were read aloud can help in identifying an author's tone. Some words describing tone are playful, serious, businesslike, sarcastic, humorous, formal, ornate, sardonic, somber, etc. | 43 | |
| 4344530440 | Understatement | the ironic minimalizing of fact; presents something as less significant than it is. | 44 | |
| 4344530441 | Wit | in modern usage, intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights; is humorous, while suggesting the speaker's verbal power in creating ingenious and perceptive remarks. | 45 | |
| 4344530442 | Appositive | Noun Phrase..modifies the noun set next to it., A noun or noun substitute that is placed directly next to the noun it is describing: My student, Sidney, makes me want to retire. | 46 | |
| 4344530443 | Gerund | a verb ending in 'ing' to serve as a noun - 'Stabbing (used as a noun) is what i do said the thief.' | 47 | |
| 4344530444 | Malapropism | a word humorously misused: Example, he is the AMPLE of her eye... instead of ' he is the APPLE of her eye, | 48 | |
| 4344530445 | Parallelism (parallel syntax) | a pattern of language that creates a rhythm of repetition often combined with some other language of repetition. | 49 | |
| 4344530446 | Ex: When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative. | 50 | ||
| 4344530447 | Active Voice | The preferred voice in writing: Johnny Appleseed planted his seeds in the garden. | 51 | |
| 4344530448 | Expresses more energy and command of the argument. | 52 | ||
| 4344530449 | Asyndeton | The deliberate omission of conjunctions from series of related independent clauses. The effect id to create a tight, concise, and forceful sentence. | 53 | |
| 4344530450 | Example: Al the orcs ate the food, broke the dishes, trashed the hall, beat the dogs to the shower. | 54 | ||
| 4344530451 | Dialect | A regional speech pattern; the way people talk in different parts if the world. Dialect is a from or regionalism in wriing and is often refereed to as "colloquial language" | 55 | |
| 4344530452 | Ellipsis | the omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from the context; (Some people prefer cats; others, dogs.) | 56 | |
| 4344530453 | Epistrophe | A minor device that is the ending of a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words. When it appears in speech or essay, it is emotionally potent. | 57 | |
| 4344530454 | Ethos | One of the fundamental strategies of argumentation identified by Aristotle; basically an appeal to credibility. The writer is seeking to convince you that he or she has the background, history, skills, and/or expertise to speak on the issue. | 58 | |
| 4344530455 | Etymology | The study of the origin of words and their historical uses. | 59 | |
| 4344530456 | Juxtaposition | Making on idea more dramatic by placing it next to its opposite. | 60 | |
| 4344530457 | Logos | An appeal to reason. | 61 | |
| 4344530458 | Non Sequitur | This literally means "it does not follow" Non sequitur is an argument by misdirection and is logically irrelevant. If you use a snippet that does not support your argument or explanation of such, your ideas "do not follow." | 62 | |
| 4344530459 | Passive Voice | Th opposite of active voice; in the passive voice something happens to someone: Mordred was bitten by the dog, rather than the active form The dig bit Mordred. | 63 | |
| 4344530460 | Pathos | An appeal to emotion. This is one of the fundamental strategies of argumentation identified by Aristotle. | 64 | |
| 4344530461 | Polysyndeton | The use of consecutive coordinating conjunctions even when they are not needed. The effect is to render the reader somewhat breathless. | 65 | |
| 4344530462 | Example: He was overwhelmed, as is by a tsunami, and by the fishes, and by the seaweed, and by the salt spray from the heavens. | 66 | ||
| 4344530463 | Rhetorical Shift | This occurs when the author of an essay significantly alters his or hers diction, syntax, or both. It isn't exactly a different writer who is writing, but it feels awfully close to it. These are important to recognize because they are dramatic and usually occur at critical points in an argument. | 67 | |
| 4344530464 | synthesis | To unite a variety of sources to achieve a common end/argument | 68 | |
| 4344530465 | Thesis | The writer's statement of purpose. Every well-written essay will have one. It is how the reader identifies what the writer is arguing, the position the writer is taking, the action the writer is advocating. Essentially, it is the focal intent of the essay. | 69 | |
| 4344530466 | Zeugma | A minor device in which two or more elements in a sentence are tied together by the same verb or noun. Example: She dashed his hopes and out of his life when she walked through the door. | 70 | |
| 4344530467 | catharsis | an emotional cleansing, am emotional cleansing or purging, A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as an effect of tragic drama on its audience | 71 | |
| 4344530468 | cliche | A worn-out idea or overused expression | 72 | |
| 4344530469 | hubris | Excessive pride or self-confidence; the number one downfall of man (literature) | 73 | |
| 4344530470 | in medias res | A Latin term for a narrative that starts not at the beginning of events but at some other critical point. | 74 | |
| 4344530471 | motif | (n.) a principal idea, feature, theme, or element; a repeated or dominant figure in a design | 75 | |
| 4344530472 | stream of consciousness | a style of writing that portrays the inner (often chaotic) workings of a character's mind. | 76 | |
| 4344530473 | caesura | A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line. | 77 | |
| 4344530474 | cacophony | (n) harsh-sounding mixture of words, voices, or sounds | 78 | |
| 4344530475 | euphony | A succession of harmonious sounds used in poetry or prose; the opposite of cacophony. | 79 | |
| 4344530476 | anecdote | A short account of an interesting or humorous incident | 80 | |
| 4344530477 | anthropomorphism | attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object (Personification) | 81 | |
| 4344530478 | antihero | A protagonist (main character) who is markedly unheroic: morally weak, cowardly, dishonest, or any number of other unsavory qualities. | 82 | |
| 4344530479 | archaism | A word, expression, spelling, or phrase that is out of date in the common speech of an era, but still deliberately used by a writer, poet, or playwright for artistic purposes | 83 | |
| 4344530480 | archetype | A detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response | 84 | |
| 4344530481 | enjambment | A line having no pause or end punctuation but having uninterrupted grammatical meaning continuing into the next line. | 85 | |
| 4344530482 | nemesis | (Greek mythology) the goddess of divine retribution and vengeance | 86 | |
| 4344530483 | pastoral | In literature, concerned with the countryside | 87 | |
| 4344530484 | slant | A rhyme based on imperfect or incomplete correspondence of end syllable sounds. Synonymous with " imperfect", "off" or "near" rhyme. | 88 | |
| 4344530485 | elegy | a sorrowful poem or speech | 89 | |
| 4344530486 | Pun | play on words that sound the same but mean something different (son/sun) | 90 | |
| 4344530487 | assonance | Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity | 91 | |
| 4344530488 | foil | A character who is in most ways opposite to the main character (protagonist) or one who is nearly the same as the protagonist. The purpose of this character is to emphasize the traits of the main character by contrast only. | 92 | |
| 4344530489 | implicit | (adj.) implied or understood though unexpressed; without doubts of reservations, unquestioning; potentially contained in | 93 | |
| 4344530490 | soliloquy | A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener. | 94 | |
| 4344530491 | requiem | A song of prayer for the dead. | 95 | |
| 4344530492 | prelude | An introductory poem to a longer work of verse | 96 | |
| 4344530493 | epigram | A concise but ingenious, witty, and thoughtful statement. | 97 | |
| 4344530494 | verisimilitude | Similar to truth; quality of realism in a work that persuades the reader that he is getting a vision of life as is. | 98 | |
| 4344530495 | melodrama | A literary form in which events are exaggerated in order to create an extreme emotional response. | 99 | |
| 4344530496 | Anachronism | something or someone out of place in terms of historical or chronological context | 100 | |
| 4344530497 | grotesque | Commonly used to denote aberrations from the norm of harmony, balance and proportion. Characterized by distortion, exaggeration, absurd, or the bizarre. | 101 | |
| 4344530498 | Macabre | (adj.) grisly, gruesome; horrible, distressing; having death as a subject | 102 |
