Terms : Hide Images
| 249618370 | ad hominem | -Attacking the person instead of the argument proposed by that individual. -An argument directed to the personality, prejudices, previous words and actions of an opponent rather than an appeal to pure reason. -An argument that appeals to the prejudices of the audience and thus strays from the topic. -Latin for "against the man." | 0 | |
| 249618371 | adverbial phrases | A group of words that modifies, as a single unit, a verb, verb form, adjective or another adverb. | 1 | |
| 249618372 | allegory | -A fiction or nonfiction narrative, in which characters, things, and events represent qualities, moral values, or concepts. -Playing out of the narrative is designed to reveal an abstraction or truth. | 2 | |
| 249618373 | allusion | A reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place, or event, or to another literary work or passage. | 3 | |
| 249618374 | analogy | -A comparison to a directly parallel case, arguing that a claim reasonable for one case is reasonable for the analogous case. -A comparison made between two things that may initially seem to have little in common but can offer fresh insights when compared. -Used for illustration and/or argument. | 4 | |
| 249618375 | anaphora | -Repetition of a word, phrase or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. -Deliberate form of repetition to reinforce point or to make it more coherent. | 5 | |
| 249618376 | anecdote | A brief recounting of a relevant episode. | 6 | |
| 249618377 | anticlimax | -Denotes a writer's intentional drop from the serious and elevated to the trivial and lowly, in order to achieve a comic or satiric effect. -An event (as at the end of a series) that is strikingly less important than what has preceded it. -The transition towards this ending. | 7 | |
| 249618378 | antithesis | A balancing of two opposite or contrasting words, phrases or clauses. | 8 | |
| 249618379 | aphorism | Pithy statement of a maxim, an opinion, or a general truth. | 9 | |
| 249618380 | appositive | Nonessential word groups (phrases and clauses) that follow nouns and identify or explain them. | 10 | |
| 249618381 | archetype | -Meaning: model, example, standard, original, classic. -Elemental patterns of ritual, mythology and folklore that recur in the legends, ceremonies and stories of the most diverse cultures. -In literature, applies to narrative designs, character types, or images which are said to be identifiable in a wide variety of works of literature, as well as myths, and even ritualized modes of social behavior. | 11 | |
| 249618382 | assonance | Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words, usually with different consonant sounds either before or after the same vowel sounds. | 12 | |
| 249618383 | asyndeton | Sentence where commas are used with no conjunctions to separate a series of words. | 13 | |
| 249618384 | bathos | -A sudden drop from the sublime or elevated to the ludicrous. -Another word for anticlimax. | 14 | |
| 249618385 | bombast | Adopted to signify verbose and inflated diction that is disproportionate to the matter it expresses. | 15 | |
| 249618386 | bowdlerize | Means to expurgate from a work any passages considered indecent or indelicate. | 16 | |
| 249618387 | chiasmus | Arrangement of repeated thoughts in the pattern of X Y Y X. | 17 | |
| 249618388 | coin a verb | To "____ _ ____" is to "invent a verb." | 18 | |
| 249618389 | common knowledge | Shared beliefs or assumptions between the reader and the audience. | 19 | |
| 249618390 | truism | A self-evident, obvious truth, especially one too obvious to mention. | 20 | |
| 249618391 | consonance | Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity. | 21 | |
| 249618392 | conventional | Following certain conventions, or traditional techniques of writing. | 22 | |
| 249618393 | deconstruction | A critical approach that debunks single definitions of meaning based upon the instability of language. | 23 | |
| 249618394 | deconstructionist | Reexamines literary conventions in light of the belief that because of the instability of language, the text has already dismantled itself. | 24 | |
| 249618395 | diacope | Repetition of a word with one or more in-between, usually to express deep feeling. | 25 | |
| 249618396 | diatribe | -Archaic meaning: a prolonged discourse. -A bitter and abusive speech or writing. -Ironical or satirical criticism. | 26 | |
| 249618397 | diction | word choice | 27 | |
| 249618398 | didactic | -Fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking. -Designed to expound a branch of theoretical, moral, or practical knowledge, or else to instantiate, in an impressive and persuasive imaginative or fictional form, a moral, religious, or philosophical theme or doctrine. | 28 | |
| 249618399 | double entendre | The term is used to indicate a word or phrase that is deliberately ambiguous, especially when one of the meanings is risqué or improper. | 29 | |
| 249618400 | either-or reasoning | Reducing an argument or issue to two polar opposites and ignoring any alternatives. | 30 | |
| 249618401 | emotional appeal | -Appealing to the emotions of the reader in order to excite and involve them in the argument. -Makes use of pathos: the quality in an experience, narrative, literary work, etc., which arouses profound feelings of compassion or sorrow. | 31 | |
| 249618402 | epic simile | -Formal and sustained similes that are developed far beyond its specific points of parallel to the primary subject. -Primary subject is called "tenor." -Secondary subject (the simile) is called "vehicle." | 32 | |
| 249618403 | epigraph | A quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme of the fiction or nonfiction text. | 33 | |
| 249618404 | aphorism | A short clever saying parting truth. | 34 | |
| 249618405 | epigram | -Originally, in Greek, _____ meant "an inscription." -Extended to encompass a very short poem whether amorous (sexual love), elegiac (longing for the past), meditative (contemplative), anecdotal (description, story, episode), or satiric (witty, sarcasm). -Poem is polished, condensed, and pointed, often with a witty end. In other words, it is pithy. -Essayists sometimes cite another writer's ______, by first setting the _____ off within the body of the essay, and then by reacting to the insightful content of the _____ as the essay continues. | 35 | |
| 249618406 | epiphany | An instance or moment of revelation. | 36 | |
| 249618407 | epithet | Denotes an adjective or adjectival phrase used to define the special quality of a person or thing. | 37 | |
| 249618408 | equivoque | Special type of pun that makes use of a single word or phrase which has two disparate meanings, in a context which makes both meanings equally relevant. | 38 | |
| 249618409 | ethical appeal | -When a writer tries to persuade the audience to respect him or her based upon a presentation of self through the text. -Reputation of the author is often a factor in ________ _________s. -Regardless of the topic or over-all purpose of the essay, the _________ _______ is always done to gain the audience's confidence. | 39 | |
| 249618410 | ethos | -Etymology: Greek, ____, meaning "moral character, nature, disposition, habit, custom." -A person's character or disposition. -The ethical basis for an argument in an essay; the authority of the author; the credibility of the author; the good will of the author. -The characteristic spirit or prevalent tone of a people or a community or that of the author in an essay. -The essential identity of an institution or system or a written work. -Ideal excellence; nobler than reality. | 40 | |
| 249618411 | euphemism | Has come to mean: to speak well in the place of the blunt, disagreeable, terrifying or offensive term. | 41 | |
| 249618412 | exigency | -A pressing or urgent situation for the author. -That which is moving the author to write the essay; the power behind the tone, purpose, point of view in the essay. | 42 | |
| 249618413 | exposition | Background information provided by author to enhance the audience's understanding of the context of a fiction or nonfiction story. | 43 | |
| 249618414 | freight-train | Sentence consisting three or more very short independent clauses joined by conjunctions. | 44 | |
| 249618415 | hyperbole | A bold overstatement or extravagant expression of fact, used for serious or comic effect. | 45 | |
| 249618416 | imagery | -Use of images, especially in a pattern of related images, often figurative, to create a strong, unified sensory impression. -Use of sensory details to create images that support the theme of the essay. | 46 | |
| 249618417 | inversion | -Variation of the normal word order (subject, verb, complement) which puts the verb or complement at the head of the sentence. -The sentence element appearing first is emphasized more than the subject that is buried in the sentence. | 47 | |
| 249618418 | verbal irony | Might be simple reversal of literal meanings of words spoken or more complex, subtle, indirect and unobtrusive messages that require the collection of hints from within the text. | 48 | |
| 249618419 | structural irony | Instead of using occasional verbal irony, the author introduces a structural feature which serves to sustain duplicity of meaning. | 49 | |
| 249618420 | dramatic irony | Involves a situation in a play or narrative in which the audience shares with the author knowledge of which the character is ignorant. | 50 | |
| 249618421 | situational irony | When the writer shows a discrepancy between the expected results of some action or situation and it actual results. | 51 | |
| 249618422 | litotes | Assertion of an affirmative by negating its contrary. | 52 | |
| 249618423 | logos | The embodied thought, the logic, including the evidence and the reasons, for the tone, purpose and point of view of the author in the essay written. | 53 | |
| 249618424 | melodramatic redundancy | Unnecessary repetition that is exaggerated, sensational and overly dramatic. | 54 | |
| 249618425 | metaphor | A figure of speech that compares two things directly which are basically dissimilar. | 55 | |
| 249618426 | metonymy | A figure of speech where the term for one thing is applied for another with which it has become closely associated in experience, or where a part represents the whole. | 56 | |
| 249618427 | monologue | A long speech by one person; a dramatic speech by one actor. | 57 | |
| 249618428 | mood | The atmosphere in the text created by the author's tone towards the subject. | 58 | |
| 249618429 | naturalistic novel | Extended fictional narrative that centers upon nature and excluding supernatural or spiritual elements, with special attention to effects of environment and heredity on human nature and action. | 59 | |
| 249618430 | new journalism | Features author's subjective responses to people and events covered in essay. | 60 | |
| 249618431 | novel | extended fictional narrative that allows greater complication of plot and more subtle examinations of character. | 61 | |
| 249618432 | novelette/novella | Fictional narrative of middle length | 62 | |
| 249618433 | oxymoron | A figure of speech in which two contradictory words are placed side-by-side for effect. | 63 | |
| 249618434 | paean | Any song of joy, praise or triumph. | 64 | |
| 249618435 | paradox | A statement that reveals a kind of truth, although it seems at first to be self-contradictory and untrue. | 65 | |
| 249618436 | parallelism | Sentence construction which places in close proximity two or more equal grammatical constructions. | 66 | |
| 249618437 | parody | -Imitates the serious materials and manner of a particular work, or the characteristic style of a particular author, and applies it to a lowly or grossly discordant subject. -An exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes. | 67 | |
| 249618438 | pathos | The emotional appeal in an essay. | 68 | |
| 249618439 | periodic | Sentence that places the main idea or central complete thought at the end of the sentence, after all introductory elements. | 69 | |
| 249618440 | polysyndeton | Sentence that uses "and" or other conjunctions multiple times with no commas to separate items in a series. | 70 | |
| 249618441 | post hoc, ergo propter hoc | When a writer implies that because one thing follows another, the first caused the second. | 71 | |
| 249618442 | pun | A play on words that are either identical in sound (homonyms) or similar in sound, but are sharply diverse in meaning. | 72 | |
| 249618443 | purple patch | Signifies a sudden heightening of rhythm, diction, and figurative language that makes a section of verse or prose—especially a descriptive passage—stand out from its context. | 73 | |
| 249618444 | red herring | When a writer raises an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from the real issue. | 74 | |
| 249618445 | refrain | A line, or part of a line, or a group of lines which is repeated in the course of a poem or an essay. | 75 | |
| 249618446 | refutation | The art of mustering relevant opposing arguments. | 76 | |
| 249618447 | rhetoric | The art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse. | 77 | |
| 249618448 | sarcasm | -In rhetorical discussions, it is better to restrict the term to obvious praise or dispraise. -________ is a form of verbal irony. | 78 | |
| 249618449 | satire | Text that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. | 79 | |
| 249618450 | sentimentalism | -What is perceived as an excess of emotion to an occasion. -In a more limited sense, refers to overindulgence in the "tender" emotions of pathos and sympathy. | 80 | |
| 249618451 | signal words | Words in an essay that alert the reader to a change in tone, direction, section, or category. | 81 | |
| 249618452 | simile | A figure of speech, comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word of comparison (like, as, or than, for example). | 82 | |
| 249618453 | straw man | -Argues against a claim that nobody actually holds or is universally considered weak. -Diverts attention away from the real issues. | 83 | |
| 249618454 | style | The choices in diction, tone, syntax that a writer makes. | 84 | |
| 249618455 | syllogism | A form of argument or reasoning, consisting of two premises and a conclusion. | 85 | |
| 249618456 | symbol | An object, place, setting, prop, event or person that represents or stands for some idea or event. | 86 | |
| 249618457 | synecdoche | A part of something is used to signify the whole. | 87 | |
| 249618458 | syntactic fluency | Ability to create a variety of sentence structures, appropriately complex and/or simple and varied in length. | 88 | |
| 249618459 | syntactic permutation | Sentence structures that are extraordinarily complex and involved. | 89 | |
| 249618460 | tautology | -A repetition of the same statement. -The repetition, within the immediate context, of the same word or phrase or the same meaning in different words; usually as a fault of style. | 90 | |
| 249618461 | theme | Central idea of a work of fiction or nonfiction; an opinion developed. | 91 | |
| 249618462 | tone | Author's attitude toward subject matter as revealed through style, syntax, diction, figurative language, and organization. | 92 | |
| 249618463 | tricolon | Sentence consisting of three parts of equal importance and length. | 93 | |
| 249618464 | verisimilitude | The achievement of an illusion of reality in the audience. | 94 |
