Terms : Hide Images
| 13807019688 | Allusion | A reference to some famous literary work, historical figure, or event. For example, to say that a friend "has the patience of Job" means that he is as enduring as the Biblical figure of that name. Allusions must be used with care lest the audience miss their meaning. | 0 | |
| 13807041736 | Argumentation | Argumentation is the writer's attempt to convince his readers to agree with him. It is based upon appeals to reason, evidence proving to inciting the reader to action. At the heart of all argumentation lies a debatable issue. | 1 | |
| 13807099184 | Coherence | The principle of clarity and logical adherence to a topic that binds together all parts of a composition. A coherent essay is one whose parts--sentences,paragraphs,pages--are logically fused into a single whole. Its opposite is an incoherent essay--one that is jumbled, illogical, and unclear. | 2 | |
| 13807135293 | description | A rhetorical mode used to develop an essay whose primary aim is to depict a scene, person, thing, or idea. Descriptive writing evokes the look, feel, sound, and sense of events, people, or things. | 3 | |
| 13807154229 | Diction | word choice. Diction refers to the choice of words a writer uses in an essay or other writing. Implicit in the idea of diction is a vast vocabulary of synonyms - different words that have more or less equivalent meanings. If only one word existed for every idea or condition, diction would exist. But since we have a choice of words with various shades of meaning, a writer can and does choose among words to express ideas. The diction of skilled writers is determined by the audience and occasion of their writing. | 4 | |
| 13807273466 | exposition | writing whose chief aim is to explain. Rather than showing, as in narration, exposition tells. A majority of essays contain some exposition because they need to convey information, give background, or tell how events occurred or processes work. | 5 | |
| 13807293921 | figurative language | said of a word or expression used in a nonliteral way. For example, the expression "to go the last mile" may have nothing at all to do with geographical distance, but may mean to complete an unfinished task or job. | 6 | |
| 13807328721 | hyperbole | a figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. Hyperboles often have a comic effect; however, a serious effect is also possible. Often, hyperbole produces irony at the same time. | 7 | |
| 13807351646 | Image/Imagery | an image is a phrase or expression that evokes a picture or describes a scene. An image may be either literal, in which case it is a realistic attempt to depict with words what something looks like, or figurative, in which case the expression is used that likens the thing described to something else | 8 | |
| 13823443195 | irony | the use of language in such a way that apparent meaning contrasts sharply with the real meaning. (1) Verbal Irony- the words literally state the opposite of the writer's (or speaker's) true meaning. (2) Situational Irony- events turn out the opposite of what of is expected. (3) Dramatic Irony- facts or event that are unknown to a character in play or piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work. | 9 | |
| 13823492815 | Metaphor | a figurative image that implies the similarity between things otherwise dissimilar. | 10 | |
| 13823506625 | Mood | the pervading impression mad eon the feelings of the reader | 11 | |
| 13823578142 | Narration | An account of events as they happen. A narrative organizes material on the basis of chronological order or pattern, stressing the sequence of events and pacing these events according to the emphasis desired. | 12 | |
| 13823593412 | Oxymoron | a figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox | 13 | |
| 13823606203 | Pacing | the speed at which a piece of writing moves along. Pacing depends on the balance between summarizing action and representing action in detail | 14 | |
| 13823620855 | 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. | 15 | |
| 13823645123 | Parallelism | the principle of coherent writing requiring that coordinating elements be given the same grammatical form. | 16 | |
| 13823659760 | Parody | A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. | 17 | |
| 13823665996 | Personification | attributing human qualities to objects, abstractions, or animals | 18 | |
| 13823675634 | Point of View | the perspective from which a piece of writing is developed. In nonfiction the point of view is usually the author's. In fiction the point of view can be first or third person point of view | 19 | |
| 13823682639 | rhetoric | the art of using persuasive language. The art of analyzing all the choices involving language that a writer, speaker, reader, or listener might make in a situation so that the text becomes meaningful, purposeful, and effective; the specific features of texts, written or spoken, that cause them to be meaningful, purposeful, and effective for readers or listeners in a situation | 20 | |
| 13862576041 | rhetorical modes | this flexible term describe the variety, the conventions, and the purposes of the major kinds of writing. The four most common rhetorical modes and their purposes are as follows: 1) The purpose of exposition is to explain and analyze information by presenting an idea, relevant evidence, and appropriate discussion. 2) The purpose of argumentation is to prove the validity of an idea, or point of view, by presenting sound reasoning, discussion, and argument that thoroughly convince the reader. 3) The purpose of description is to re-create, invent, or visually present a person, place, event, or action so that the reader can picture that being described. 4)The purpose of narration is tell a story or narrate an event or series of events | 21 | |
| 13862667853 | simile | implies a similarity between two things using like or as | 22 | |
| 13862671866 | slanting | the characteristic of selecting facts, words, or emphasis to achieve a preconceived intent | 23 | |
| 13862678369 | style | the way a writer writes | 24 | |
| 13862686881 | ad hominem argument | an argument attacking an individual's character rather than his or her position on an issue | 25 | |
| 13862692649 | analogy | A comparison of two different things that are similar in some way | 26 | |
| 13862698518 | anecdote | a brief narrative offered in a text to capture the audience's attention or to support a generalization or claim | 27 | |
| 13862713708 | begging the question | The situation that results when a writer or speaker constructs an argument on an assumption that the audience does not accept. | 28 | |
| 13862716572 | causal relationship | the relationship expressing "if X is the cause, then Y is the effect." or :if y is the effect, then x caused it." | 29 | |
| 13862736082 | Colloquialism | A word or phrase (including slang) used in everyday conversation and informal writing but that is often inappropriate in formal writing (y'all, ain't) | 30 | |
| 13862741696 | Conclusion | the final paragraph that sums up the essay and brings it to a close | 31 | |
| 13862752776 | Connotation | the implication of emotional overtones of a word rather than its literal meaning | 32 | |
| 13862764045 | emphasis | A rhetorical principle that requires stress to be given to important elements in an essay at the expense of less important elements. | 33 | |
| 13862767134 | essay | short prose discussion of a single topic | 34 | |
| 13862777134 | Eupemism | less offensive way of saying something | 35 | |
| 13862779699 | example | mode of development is used in essays that make a claim and then prove it by citing similar and supporting cases | 36 | |
| 13862794744 | Generalization | a statement that asserts some broad truth based upon a knowledge of specific cases | 37 | |
| 13862800152 | logical fallacy | errors in reasoning used by speakers or writers, sometimes in order to dupe their audiences | 38 | |
| 13862812649 | objective and subjective writing | in objective writing the author tries to present the material fairly and without bias; in subjective writing the author stresses personal responses and interpretations | 39 | |
| 13862816629 | Red Herring | A side issue introduced into an argument in order to distract from the main argument. | 40 | |
| 13862820391 | Sarcasm | bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something | 41 | |
| 13862826637 | satire | often an attack on a person. the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. | 42 | |
| 13862833894 | tone | A writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization on the sentence and global levels. | 43 | |
| 13862839010 | Understatement | a way of deliberately representing something as less than it is in order to stress its magnitude | 44 | |
| 13862851372 | voice | the presence or sound of self, chosen by author | 45 | |
| 13862870603 | abstract | words or phrases denoting ideas, qualities, and conditions that exist but cannot be seen | 46 | |
| 13862882269 | ad populem argument | a fallacious argument that appeals to the passions and prejudices of a group rather than its reason | 47 | |
| 13862885119 | Allegory | The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning. | 48 | |
| 13862888089 | Anaphora | the repetition of a group of words at the beginning of successive clauses | 49 | |
| 13862909993 | Aphorism | A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle. | 50 | |
| 13862912265 | Apostrophe | a figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary person, or some abstraction | 51 | |
| 13862918214 | attitude | a writer's intellectual position or emotion regarding the subject of the writing | 52 | |
| 13862921902 | audience | the group for whom a work is intended | 53 | |
| 13862927474 | claim | The ultimate conclusion, generalization, or point, backed up by support, of an argument. | 54 | |
| 13862934556 | cliche | a stale image or expression, and the bane of good writing | 55 | |
| 13862944102 | comparison and contrast | A rhetorical mode used to develop essays that systematically match two items for similarities and differences. | 56 | |
| 13862947515 | complex sentence | A sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause | 57 | |
| 13862953809 | concrete | Said of words or terms denoting objects or conditions that are palpable, visible, or otherwise evident to the senses. | 58 | |
| 13862958379 | evidence | the logical bases or supports for an assertion or idea | 59 | |
| 13862962972 | genre | the major category into which literature fits | 60 | |
| 13862967086 | Inversion | the reversal of the normal order of words in a sentence to achieve some desired effect, usually emphasis | 61 | |
| 13863006667 | loose sentence | A type of sentence in which the main idea comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses | 62 | |
| 13863009416 | Metonymy | A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it | 63 | |
| 13863015942 | periodic sentence | A sentence that presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end. | 64 | |
| 13863018521 | Process Analysis | A type of development in writing that stresses how a sequence of steps produces a certain effect. | 65 | |
| 13863023980 | rhetorical question | a question posed with no expectation of receiving an answer | 66 | |
| 13863029184 | synecdoche | A part of something used to refer to the whole | 67 | |
| 13863032834 | syntax | the order of words in a sentence and their relationship to each other | 68 | |
| 13863044481 | transition | a word or phrase that links different ideas | 69 | |
| 13863044482 | Unity | The characteristic of having all parts contribute to the overall effect. | 70 |
