Terms : Hide Images
| 10782183904 | Allegory | Story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities. | 0 | |
| 10782183905 | Alliteration | repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together | 1 | |
| 10782183906 | Allusion | a reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture. An indirect reference to something. | 2 | |
| 10782183907 | amiguity | Deliberately suggesting two or me e different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work. An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way-this is done on purpose by the author, when it is not done on purpose, it is vagueness, and detracts from the work. | 3 | |
| 10782183908 | Analogy | Comparison made between two things to show how they are alike | 4 | |
| 10782183909 | 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. | 5 | |
| 10800909865 | Anastrophe | Inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sentence. Purpose is rhythm or emphasis or euphony. It is a fancy word for inversion. | 6 | |
| 10800909866 | Anecdote | Brief story, told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something, often shows character of an individual | 7 | |
| 10800909867 | Antagonist | Opponent who struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a story. | 8 | |
| 10800909868 | Antimetabole | repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order | 9 | |
| 10800909869 | Antithesis | Balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by means of grammatical structure | 10 | |
| 10800909870 | Antihero | Central character who lacks all the qualities traditionally associated for heroes. May lack courage, grace, intelligence, or moral scruples. | 11 | |
| 10800909871 | Anthropomorphism | attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object (Personification) | 12 | |
| 10800909872 | Aphorism | A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life, or of a principle or accepted truth. | 13 | |
| 10800909873 | Apostrophe | calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea | 14 | |
| 10800909874 | Apposition | Placing in immediately succeeding order of two or more coordinate elements, the latter of which is an explanation, qualification, or modification of the first (often set off by a colon). | 15 | |
| 10800909875 | Assonance | The repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds especially in words that are together. | 16 | |
| 10800909876 | Asyndeton | Commas used without conjunction to separate a series of words, thus emphasizing the parts equally. | 17 | |
| 10800909877 | Balance | Constructing a sentence so that both halves are about the same length of importance. Sentences can be unbalanced to serve a special effect as well. | 18 | |
| 10800909878 | Characterization | The process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character. | 19 | |
| 10800909879 | Indirect characterization | The author reveals to the reader what the character is like by describing how the character looks and dresses, by hearing what the character says, revealing private thoughts and feelings, effect on other characters. | 20 | |
| 10800909880 | Direct characterization | The author tells us directly what character is like. | 21 | |
| 10800909881 | Static character | Is one who does not change much in the course of a story. | 22 | |
| 10800909882 | Dynamic character | One who changes in some important way as result of story's action. | 23 | |
| 10800909883 | Flat character | Has only one or two personality tests. One dimensional like a piece of cardboard. Summed up in one phrase. | 24 | |
| 10800909884 | Round character | Has more dimensions to their personalities- they are complex | 25 | |
| 10800909885 | Chiasmus | In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is syntactically balances against the first, but with the parts reversed. | 26 | |
| 10800909886 | Cliche | Word or phrase, often figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse. | 27 | |
| 10800909887 | Colloquialism | Word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations. | 28 | |
| 10800909888 | Comedy | In general, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main character or characters. | 29 | |
| 10800909889 | Conceit | An elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different. | 30 | |
| 10800909890 | Confessional poetry | A 20th century term used to describe poetry that uses intimate material form the poets life. | 31 | |
| 10800909891 | Conflict | The struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story. External: conflicts between two people, person and nature, etc. interval: conflict with self. | 32 | |
| 10800909892 | Connotation | The associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition. | 33 | |
| 10800909893 | Couplet | Two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry. | 34 | |
| 10800909894 | Dialect | A way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or if the inhabitants of a certain geographical area. | 35 | |
| 10800909895 | Diction | Speaker or writers choice of words | 36 | |
| 10800909896 | Didactic | Form of fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking | 37 | |
| 10800909897 | Elegy | A poem of mourning, usually about someone who has died. | 38 | |
| 10800909898 | Epanalepsis | Device of repetition in which same rxpression repeated both at beginning and end of line, clause, or sentence. | 39 | |
| 10800909899 | Epic | Long, narrative poem, written in heightened language, which recounts the deeds of a heroic character who embodies the values of a particular society. | 40 | |
| 10800909900 | Epigraph | Quotation or aphorism at beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme. | 41 | |
| 10800909901 | Epistrophe | device of repetition in which the same expression is repeated at the end of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences | 42 | |
| 10818343212 | Epithet | an adjective or adjective phrase applied to a person or thing that is frequently used to emphasize a characteristic quality | 43 | |
| 10818343213 | Essay | a short piece of nonfiction prose in which the writer discusses some aspect of a subject | 44 | |
| 10818343214 | Explication | act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text, usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language. | 45 | |
| 10818343215 | Fable | a very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about how to succeed in life. | 46 | |
| 10818343216 | farce | a type of comedy in which ridiculous and often stereotyped characters are involved in silly, far-fetched situations | 47 | |
| 10818343217 | figurative language | Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, but are used to describe. Similes and metaphors are common forms. | 48 | |
| 10818343218 | Flashback | A scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time | 49 | |
| 10818343219 | Foil | A character who acts as contrast to another character. Often a funny side kick to the dashing hero, or a villain contrasting the hero. | 50 | |
| 10818343220 | Foreshadowing | the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot | 51 | |
| 10818343221 | Free verse | Poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme | 52 | |
| 10818343222 | Hyperbole | a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement for effect | 53 | |
| 10818343223 | Hypotactic | sentence marked by the use of connecting words between clauses or sentences, explicitly showing the logical or other relationships between them | 54 | |
| 10818343224 | Imagery | the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience | 55 | |
| 10818343225 | Inversion | the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase | 56 | |
| 10818343226 | Irony | a discrepancy between appearances and reality | 57 | |
| 10818343227 | verbal irony | occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else | 58 | |
| 10818343228 | 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. | 59 | |
| 10818343229 | Dramatic irony | is so called because it is often used on stage. A character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better. | 60 | |
| 10818343230 | Juxtaposition | poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit | 61 | |
| 10818343231 | Litotes | is a form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through the negation of a negative form: Hawthorne--- "...the wearers of petticoat and farthingale...stepping forth into the public ways, and wedging their not unsubstantial persons, if occasion were, into the throng..." | 62 | |
| 10818343232 | Local color | a term applied to fiction or poetry which tends to place special emphasis on a particular setting, including its customs, clothing, dialect and landscape. | 63 | |
| 10818343233 | loose sentence | one in which the main clause comes first, followed by further dependent grammatical units | 64 | |
| 10818343234 | lyric poem | a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of a speaker | 65 | |
| 10818343235 | 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 | 66 | |
| 10818343236 | implied metaphor | does not state explicitly the two terms of the comparison | 67 | |
| 10818343237 | extended metaphor | is a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it. (conceit if it is quite elaborate). | 68 | |
| 10818343238 | dead metaphor | is a metaphor that has been used so often that the comparison is no longer vivid: "The head of the house", "the seat of the government", "a knotty problem" are all dead metaphors. | 69 | |
| 10818343239 | mixed metaphor | is a metaphor that has gotten out of control and mixes its terms so that they are visually or imaginatively incompatible. "The President is a lame duck who is running out of gas." | 70 | |
| 10818343240 | Metonymy | a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing is referred to by something closely associated with it | 71 | |
| 10818343241 | Mood | An atmosphere created by a writer's diction and the details selected. | 72 | |
| 10818343242 | Motif | a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work (or in several works by one author), unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme | 73 | |
| 10818343243 | Onomatopoeia | the use of words whose sounds echo their sense | 74 | |
| 10818343244 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. | 75 | |
| 10818343245 | Parable | a relatively short story that teaches a moral, or lesson about how to lead a good life. | 76 | |
| 10818343246 | Paradox | A statement that appears to be self-contradictory, but that reveals a kind of truth | 77 | |
| 10818343247 | Koan | is a paradox used in Zen Buddhism to gain intuitive knowledge: "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" | 78 | |
| 10818343248 | parallel structure | (parallelism) the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures. | 79 | |
| 10818343249 | Paratactic Sentence | simply juxtaposes clauses or sentences. I am tired: it is hot. | 80 | |
| 10818343250 | Parody | a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer's style | 81 | |
| 10818343251 | Periodic | Sentence that places the main idea or central complete thought at the end of the sentence, after all introductory elements. | 82 | |
| 10818343252 | Personification | A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes | 83 | |
| 10818343253 | Plot | the series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the storyline. | 84 | |
| 10818343254 | Polysyndeton | Sentence which uses conjunction with no commas to separate the items in a series. | 85 | |
| 10818343255 | Protagonist | The central character in a story, the one who initiated or drives the action. Usually hero or antihero. | 86 | |
| 10818343256 | Pun | A "play on words" based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sounds alike but mean different things. | 87 | |
| 10818343257 | Quatrain | A poem consisting of four lines, or four lines of a poem that can be considered as a unit. | 88 | |
| 10818343258 | Refrain | A word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated, for effect, several times in a poem. | 89 | |
| 10818343259 | Rhythym | A rise and fall of the voice produced by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in language | 90 | |
| 10818343260 | Rhetoric | Art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse | 91 | |
| 10818343261 | Rhetorical question | A question asked for an effect, and not actually requiring an answer. | 92 | |
| 10818343262 | Romance | In general, a story in which an idealized hero or heroine undertakes a quest and is successful | 93 | |
| 10818343263 | Satire | A type of writing that ridicules the shortcomings of people or institutions in an attempt to bring about change. | 94 | |
| 10818343264 | Simile | A figure of speech that makes an explicitly comparison between two unalienable things using like, as, than, or resembles | 95 | |
| 10818343265 | Soliloquy | A long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are on stage | 96 | |
| 10818343266 | Stereotype | A fixed idea or conception of a character or an idea which does not allow for any individuality, often based on religious, social, or racial prejudices | 97 | |
| 10818343267 | Stream of consciousness | A style of writing that portrays the inner (often chaotic) workings of a characters mind. | 98 | |
| 10818343268 | Style | The distinctive way in which a writer uses language: writers distinctive use of fiction, tone, and syntax. | 99 | |
| 10801287751 | Suspense | Feeling of uncertainty and curiosity about what will happen next in a story | 100 | |
| 10801287752 | Symbol | A person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself. | 101 | |
| 10818343269 | Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole. "If you done drive properly, you will lose your wheels." Wheels represent entire car. | 102 | |
| 10818343270 | Syntactic fluency | Ability to create a variety of sentence structures, appropriately complex and/or simple and varied in length | 103 | |
| 10818343271 | Syntactic permutation | Sentence structures that are extraordinarily complex and involved. Often difficult for reader to follow. | 104 | |
| 10818343272 | Tall tale | An outrageously exaggerated, humorous story that is obviously unbelievable. | 105 | |
| 10818343273 | Telegraphic sentence | A sentence shorter than 5 words in length | 106 | |
| 10818343274 | Theme | The insight about human life that is revealed in literary work. | 107 | |
| 10818343275 | Tone | Attitude writer takes toward subject of work, characters in it, or audience, revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization. | 108 | |
| 10818343276 | Tragedy | In general, a story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other unhappy end | 109 | |
| 10818343277 | Tricolon | Sentence of three parts of equal important and length, usually 3 independent clauses | 110 | |
| 10818343278 | Understatement | A statement that says less than what is meant | 111 | |
| 10818343279 | Unity | Unified parts of the writing are related to one central idea or organizing principle. Unity is dependent upon coherence. | 112 | |
| 10818343280 | Vernacular | The language spoken by the people who live in a particular locality. | 113 |
