Terms : Hide Images
| 10852060292 | Allegory | The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning; usually deals with moral truth or a generalization about human exsistence | 0 | |
| 10852060293 | Alliteration | The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words; can reinforce meaning, unify ideas, supply a musical sound, and/or echo the sense of the passage | 1 | |
| 10852060294 | Allusion | A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art; can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical; there are many more possibilities, and a work may simultaneously use multiple layers of allusion | 2 | |
| 10852062722 | Ambiguity | The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage | 3 | |
| 10852062723 | Analogy | A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them; can also make writing more vivid, imaginative, or intellectually engaging | 4 | |
| 10852062724 | Antecedent | The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun | 5 | |
| 10852065465 | Antithesis | the opposition or contrast of ideas; the direct opposite. | 6 | |
| 10852065466 | Aphorism | A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle; can be a memorable summation of the author's point | 7 | |
| 10852067952 | Apostrophe | A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love; many imply a personification of the object adressed | 8 | |
| 10852067953 | 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 to the atmosphere; frequently atmosphere foreshadows events. Perhaps it can create a mood. | 9 | |
| 10852070978 | Caricature | a verbal description, the purpose of which is to exaggerate or distort, for comic effect, a person's distinctive physical features or other characteristics | 10 | |
| 10852070979 | Clause | A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb | 11 | |
| 10852074264 | Colloquial/Colloquialism | The use of slang or informalities in speech or writing; not generally acceptable for formal writing, they give a work a conversational, familiar tone; these expressions in writing include local or regional dialects. | 12 | |
| 10852074265 | Conceit | A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects; displays intellectual cleverness as a result of the unusual comparison being made | 13 | |
| 10852076270 | Connotation | The non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning. | 14 | |
| 10852076271 | Denotation | The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color. | 15 | |
| 10852076272 | Diction | Related to style, refers to the writer's word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. | 16 | |
| 10852076273 | Didactic | "teaching"; have the primary aim of teaching or instructing especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles | 17 | |
| 10852078442 | Euphemism | "good speech"; are a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept; may be used to adhere to standards of social or political correctness or to add humor or ironic understatement | 18 | |
| 10852078443 | Extended Metaphor | A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work. | 19 | |
| 10852078444 | Figurative Language | Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid. | 20 | |
| 10852081641 | Figure of Speech | A device used to produce figurate language; many compare dissimilar things; include apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor, metonymy, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, synecdoche, and understatement. | 21 | |
| 10852081642 | Generic Conventions | This term describes traditions for each genre; these conventions help to define each genre; for example, they differentiate an essay and journalistic writing or an autobiography and political writing; on the AP language exam, try to distinguish the unique features of a writer's work from those dictated by convention. | 22 | |
| 10852085053 | Genre | The major category into which a literary work fits; the basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama. | 23 | |
| 10852085054 | Homily | "sermon"; can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice | 24 | |
| 10852085055 | Hyperbole | A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement; have comic effect but serious effect is also possible; often produces irony | 25 | |
| 10852085056 | Imagery | The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. | 26 | |
| 10852088932 | Interference/Infer | to draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented | 27 | |
| 10852088933 | Invective | An emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language. | 28 | |
| 10852093615 | Irony/Ironic | the contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant, or the difference between what appears to be and what is actually true; often use to create poignancy or humor | 29 | |
| 10872320027 | Verbal Irony | when the words literally state the opposite of the writer's meaning | 30 | |
| 10872320028 | Situational Irony | when events turn out the opposite of what was expected; when what the characters and readers think ought to happen is not what does happen | 31 | |
| 10872323375 | Dramatic Irony | when facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work. | 32 | |
| 10852093616 | Litotes | A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite | 33 | |
| 10852096110 | Loose Sentence/Non-Periodic Sentence | A type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses; generally create loose style. | 34 | |
| 10852096111 | Metaphor | A figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things or the substitution of one for the other, suggesting some similarity. | 35 | |
| 10852096112 | Metonymy | "changed label" or "substitute name"; is a figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it | 36 | |
| 10852098318 | Mood | The prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work; setting, tone, and events can affect this; is similar to tone and atmosphere. | 37 | |
| 10852098319 | Narrative | The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events. | 38 | |
| 10852098320 | Onomatopoeia | A figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words. | 39 | |
| 10852098321 | Oxymoron | "pointedly foolish"; is a figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox | 40 | |
| 10852100920 | 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. | 41 | |
| 10852100921 | Parallelism | "beside one another"; refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity | 42 | |
| 10871436412 | Anaphora | A sub-type of parallelism, when the exact repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines or sentences | 43 | |
| 10871436413 | Parody | A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. | 44 | |
| 10871436414 | Pedantic | An adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish. | 45 | |
| 10871439822 | Periodic Sentence | A sentence that presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end; effect is to add emphasis and structural variety | 46 | |
| 10871439823 | Personification | A figure of speech in which the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions; used to make these abstractions, animals, or objects appear more vivid to the reader | 47 | |
| 10871439824 | Point of View (POV) | the perspective from which a story is told | 48 | |
| 10871442791 | Prose | One of the major divisions of genre; refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms. | 49 | |
| 10871442792 | Repetition | The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern. | 50 | |
| 10871442793 | Rhetoric | "orator"; describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively | 51 | |
| 10871450157 | Rhetorical Modes | describes the variety, the conventions, and the purposes of the major kinds of writing; four most common include exposition, argumentation, description and narration | 52 | |
| 10872453383 | Exposition | The purpose of this rhetorical mode is to explain and analyze information by presenting an idea, relevant evidence, and appropriate discussion. | 53 | |
| 10872453384 | Argumentation | The purpose of this rhetorical mode is to prove the validity of an idea, or point of view, by presenting sound reasoning, discussion, and argument that thoroughly convince the reader. | 54 | |
| 10872455847 | Description | The purpose of this rhetorical mode is to re-create, invent, or visually present a person, place, event, or action so that the reader can picture that being described. Sometimes an author engages all five senses. | 55 | |
| 10872455848 | Narration | The purpose of this type of rhetorical mode is to tell the story or narrate an event or series of events. | 56 | |
| 10871450158 | Sarcasm | "to tear flesh"; involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something; when done well, this can be witty and insightful | 57 | |
| 10871450159 | Satire | A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule. | 58 | |
| 10871450160 | Semantics | The branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another. | 59 | |
| 10871452848 | Style | has two purposes: (1) an evaluation of the sum of the choices an author makes in blending diction, syntax, figurative language, and other literary devices. (2) classification of authors to a group and comparison of an author to similar authors | 60 | |
| 10871452849 | Subject Complement | The word (with any accompanying phrases) or clause that follows a linking verb and complements, or completes, the subject of the sentence by either (1) renaming it (the predicate nominative) or (2) describing it (the predicate adjective). | 61 | |
| 10872518465 | Predicate Nominative | a noun, group of nouns, or noun clause that renames the subject. It, like the predicate adjective, follows a linking verb and is located in the predicate of the sentence. | 62 | |
| 10872524582 | Predicate Adjective | an adjective, a group of adjectives, or adjective clause that follows a linking verb. It is in the predicate of the sentence, and modifies, or describes, the subject. | 63 | |
| 10871457190 | Subordinate Clause | this word group contains both a subject and a verb, but unlike the independent clause, ti cannot stand alone; it does not express a complete thought; depends on a main clause to complete its meaning | 64 | |
| 10871457191 | Syllogism | "reckoning together"; is a deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises (first one called "major" and the second called "minor") that inevitably lead to a sound collection | 65 | |
| 10871461084 | Symbol/Symbolism | Generally, anything that represents itself and stands for something else. | 66 | |
| 10872580719 | Natural Symbols | objects and occurrences from nature to symbolize ideas commonly associated with them | 67 | |
| 10872584441 | Conventional Symbols | those that have been invested with meaning by a group | 68 | |
| 10872584442 | Literary Symbols | sometimes also conventional in the sense that they are found in a variety of works and are more generally recognized | 69 | |
| 10871461085 | Synecdoche | 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. | 70 | |
| 10871465308 | Synesthesia | when one kind of sensory stimulus evokes the subjective experience of another | 71 | |
| 10871465309 | Syntax | The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. | 72 | |
| 10871465310 | Theme | The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life | 73 | |
| 10871465311 | Thesis | is the sentence or group of sentences that directly expressed the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or position | 74 | |
| 10871468713 | Tone | describes the author's attitude toward his material, the audience, or both | 75 | |
| 10871468714 | Transition | a word or phrase that links different ideas | 76 | |
| 10871468715 | Understatement | the ironic minimalizing of fact; presents something as less significant than it is; the effect can frequently be humorous and emphatic. | 77 | |
| 10871473391 | Wit | intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights | 78 |
