| 6039584073 | allegory | Def: Using character or story elements to represent a double meaning.
Example: TJ Eckleberg's omniscience eyes comparable to God's eyes of judgement | | 0 |
| 6039584074 | alliteration | Def: Repeated sound of the first letter or the same letter sounds of a phrase.
Example: "Before the taking of a toast and tea." The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock | | 1 |
| 6039603753 | allusion | Def: An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
Example: Dante's Inferno - Refers to the story of Dante's trip through hell before T.S. Elliot derives his own story related to it | | 2 |
| 6039603754 | ambiguity | Def: A statement which contains more than one meaning.
Example: "Is it a boy or a girl?" she asked delicately. "That dog? That dog's a boy." "It's a bitch," said Tom decisively. The Great Gatsby. | | 3 |
| 6039603755 | anadiplosis | Def: The repetition of the last word of a preceding clause. The word is used at the end of a sentence and then used again at the beginning of the next sentence. (Yoda)
Example: "...looking from the car to the tire and from the tire to the observers in a pleasant, puzzled way." The Great Gatsby. | | 4 |
| 6039603756 | analogy | Def: A comparison.
Example: The grass is always greener on the other side. | | 5 |
| 6039604901 | anaphora | Def: Deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence.
Example: "Thirty-the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair" | | 6 |
| 6039604902 | anecdote | Def: A short and interesting story.
Example: Gatsby's butler's nose - A story that describes the backstory of the butler | | 7 |
| 6039869632 | antecedent | Def: A word or pronoun in a line or sentence refers to an earlier word.
Example: "Me thinks the wind has spoke aloud at land,/ A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements/ If it hath ruffianed so upon the sea/What ribs of oak, when moutains melt on them..." "Othello" by William Shakespeare. "Wind" is replaced by "it". | | 8 |
| 6039869633 | aphorism | Def: A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle.
Example: "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." "To Kill a Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee. | | 9 |
| 6039869634 | apostrophe | Def: A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.
Example: "O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!" Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. | | 10 |
| 6039871202 | atmosphere | Def: The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work (established by setting and word choice).
Example: "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary..." The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. | | 11 |
| 6039871203 | clause | Def: A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb. A clause comes in four types: independent, dependent, relative or noun clause.
Example: "When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people." Two independent clauses and a combined dependent clause. | | 12 |
| 6039871204 | colloquial/colloquialism | Def: Use of slang or informalities in speech or writing.
Example: "What's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and it ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?" The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain | | 13 |
| 6039873247 | coherence | Def: The parts of any composition be arranged so that the meaning of the whole may be immediately clear and intelligible. Combine to make every paragraph, every sentence, and every phrase contribute to the meaning of the whole piece.
Example: "Credit cards are convenient, but dangerous. People often get them in order to make large purchases easily without saving up lots of money in advance." (topic sentence/thesis and key terms) | | 14 |
| 6039873248 | conceit | Def: A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects.
Example: "How like a winter hath my absence been." Sonnet 97 by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare later uses imagery to compare his separation from his lover to winter | | 15 |
| 6039874807 | connotation | Def: The nonliteral, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning.
Example: "The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes." The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Yellow is associated with sickness, caution, decay, jealousy. | | 16 |
| 6216936461 | denotation | Def: The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color. | | 17 |
| 6216936462 | diction | Def: The writer's word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness.
Example: In To Kill a Mockingbird, the characters Jem (a child) and Atticus (a lawyer) have different speech patters. | | 18 |
| 6216936463 | didactic | Def: Greek for "teaching." Have the primary aim of teaching or instructing, especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles.
Example: To Kill a Mockingbird is didactic in many respects. Atticus Finch is the voice of moral teaching, as he instructs his children about prejudice and courage. | | 19 |
| 6216938121 | epistrophe | Def: Repetition at the end of successive clauses (opposite of anaphora).
Example: "...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address | | 20 |
| 6216939315 | euphemism | Def: Greek for "good speech," a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept.
Example: You aren't poor, you are economically disadvantaged. "West Egg was less fashionable" Nick Caraway, The Great Gatsby. | | 21 |
| 6216939316 | exposition | Def: The purpose is to explain and analyze information by presenting an idea, relevant evidence, and appropriate discussion.
Example: In Star Wars, the film begins with scrolling text that explains previous events. | | 22 |
| 6216940568 | extended metaphor | Def: A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work.
Example: "All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players." As You Like It, William Shakespeare (goes on for multiple lines about this comparison) | | 23 |
| 6216940569 | figurative language | Def: Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid.
Example: Her head was spinning from all the new information. | | 24 |
| 6216941558 | figure of speech | Def: A device used to produce figurative language (hyperbole, irony, metaphor, oxymoron, etc.)
Example: "Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get." Forest Gump | | 25 |
| 6216941559 | generic conventions | Def: Traditions for each genre; help to define each genre.
Example: Darkness/weapons/creepy noises are conventions of horror. | | 26 |
| 6216941560 | genre | Def: The major category into which a literary work fits.
Example: Poetry, non-fiction, fiction, drama, etc. | | 27 |
| 6216943097 | homily | Def: Literally means "sermon," but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice.
Example: In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch sits in church every Sunday and listens to her pastor as he gives his weekly homily. | | 28 |
| 6216943098 | hyperbole | Def: Using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. Often humorous or ironic.
Example: I've told you a million times to clean your room! | | 29 |
| 6216944621 | imagery | Def: The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions.
Example: When the protagonists shoots the elephant in George Orwell's essay, "Finally I fired my two remaining shots into the spot where I thought his heart must be. The thick blood welled out of him like red velvet, but still he did not die." | | 30 |
| 6346793599 | inference/infer | Def: To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented. When a multiple choice question asks for an inference to be drawn from a passage, the most direct, most reasonable inference is the safest answer choice.
Example: "It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete." The reader must infer that Gatsby is dead as it isn't directly stated. | | 31 |
| 6346793600 | invective | Def: An emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language.
Example: Myrtle and Tom's altercation in the hotel room is invective as they yell at each other. | | 32 |
| 6346793601 | irony/ironic | Def: The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant. The difference between what appears to be and what is true. Three types of irony: verbal, situation, dramatic
Example: "Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it" (11). Great Gatsby. | | 33 |
| 6346794003 | loose sentence | Def: A type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses. If a period were placed at the end of the
independent clause, the clause would be a complete sentence. A work containing many loose sentences often seems informal, relaxed, and conversational. Generally loose sentences create loose style.
Example: "I spent my Saturday nights in New York, because those gleaming, dazzling parties of his were with me so vividly that I could still hear the music and the laughter, faint and incessant, from his garden, and the cars going up and down his drive"(179). | | 34 |
| 6346794004 | metaphor | Def: A figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things or the substitution of one for the other, suggesting some similarity.
Example: Describing Gatsby's car: .terraced with a labyrinth of windshields that mirrored a dozen suns. Sitting down behind many layers of glass in a sort of green leather conservatory... | | 35 |
| 6346794005 | metonymy | Def: A term from the Greek meaning "changed label" or "substitute name," metonymy is a figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. A news release that claims "the White House declared" rather that "the President declared" is using metonymy. The substituted term generally carries a more potent emotional impact.
Example: "And a little later I participated in that delayed Teutonic migration known as the Great War." | | 36 |
| 6346794595 | mood | Def: is grammatical and deals with verbal units and a speaker's attitude; literary, meaning the prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work.
Example: The mood of the Great Gatsby is largely dark, pessimistic, and describes the purposelessness of the wealthy. | | 37 |
| 6346794596 | narrative | Def: The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events.
Example: The narrative of the Great Gatsby is told by Nick in first person | | 38 |
| 6346795047 | onomatopeia | Def: a figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words.
Example: "When she moved about there was an incessant clicking as innumerable pottery bracelets jingled up and down upon her arms" (30). | | 39 |
| 6346797181 | oxymoron | Def:a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction
Example: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." - Animal Farm | | 40 |
| 6346797182 | paradox | Def: A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity.
Example: "I must be cruel to be kind." - Hamelet. "I drove over to East Egg to see two old friends whom I scarcely knew at all" (6). Great Gatsby | | 41 |
| 6346798642 | parallelism | Def: the use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose that correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, meaning, etc.
Example: "I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life." | | 42 |
| 6413610427 | parody | Def: a work that imitates the style or content of another with an aim of comic effect or ridicule
Example: The I love Lucy scene where they're at the converter belt wrapping chocolates, but it's going too fast. | | 43 |
| 6413610428 | pedantic | Def: describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish. Comes from a French word, pedant, means "to teach or to act as pedagogue."
Example: "It's all scientific stuff; it's been proved... I know I'm not very popular. I don't give big parties. I suppose you've got to make your house into a pigsty in order to have any friends-in the modern world." Great Gatsby
In this paragraph, Tom Buchanan is trying to look like a learned person but he winds up everything looking foolish. The last line is it. | | 44 |
| 6413612844 | periodic sentence | Def: sentence that presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end
Example: In spite of heavy snow and cold temperatures, the game continued. | | 45 |
| 6413612845 | personification | Def: figure of speech where the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions; more vivid
Example: "The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes /The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes." The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock By T.S. Eliot | | 46 |
| 6413612846 | point of view | Def: the perspective from which a story is told; first person (I), second person (narrator), third person (he she it)
Example: ""I gazed-and gazed-but little thought/What wealth the show to me had brought." Daffodils by William Wordsworth | | 47 |
| 6413614723 | predicate adjective | Def: one type of subject complement: modifies the subject of the sentence, and is connected to the subject by a linking verb.
Example: Children grow older every day | | 48 |
| 6413614724 | predicate nominative | Def: second type of subject complement; noun, group of nouns, noun clause that renames subject; modifies or describes subject
Example: "Cats, snakes and owls are natural enemies of mice." | | 49 |
| 6413616633 | prose | Def: major division of genre, refers to fiction/nonfiction and all its forms; determines length of line
Example: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." 1984 by George Orwell | | 50 |
| 6413616634 | repetition | Def: duplication of any element of language: sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, grammatical pattern
Example: "And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." Robert Frost "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" | | 51 |
| 6413616635 | rhetor | Def: speaker who uses elements of rhetoric effectively in oral or written test | | 52 |
| 6413618887 | rhetoric | Def: Greek "orator" : describes principles of governing art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively
Example: When at a restaurant, the server suggests, "Can I add some of our delicious sweet potato fries to your entree for a dollar more?" | | 53 |
| 6413618888 | rhetorical modes | Def: flexible term describing variety, conventions, purposes of major kinds of wiring
Example: the list of the nine rhetorical modes (Narration, Definition, Comparison/Contrast) | | 54 |
| 6413624260 | sarcasm | Def: Greek "to tear flesh"; involves bitter, caustic language meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something; use irony, but not all; intended to ridicule; witty and insightful or cruel
Example: Not the brightest crayon in the box now, are we? | | 55 |
| 6576110032 | satire | Def: A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule. It can be recognized by the many devices used effectively by the satirist: irony, wit, parody, caricature, hyperbole, understatement, sarcasm, and humor.
Example: The eulogy to past sat vocabulary. | | 56 |
| 6576110033 | semantics | Def: The branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another.
Example: How advertisers use certain words to convey certain impressions. | | 57 |
| 6576110034 | style | Def: 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.
Example: Narrative (Jane Eyre) | | 58 |
| 6576111595 | subject complement | Def: The word (with any accompanying phrases) or clauses that follows a linking verb and complements, or completes, the subject of the sentence by either (1) renaming it or (2) describing it. The former is technically a predicate nominative, the latter a predicate adjective. Multiple-choice questions.
Example: Maria is my neighbor. He becomes very sentimental sometimes," explained Gatsby. | | 59 |
| 6576111596 | subordinate clause | Def: Like all clauses, this word group contains both a subject and a verb (plus any accompanying phrases or modifiers), but unlike the independent clause, the subordinate clause cannot stand alone; it does not express a complete thought.
Example: He borrowed somebody's best suit to get married and never ever told me about it, and the man came after it one day when he was out. (The Great Gatsby) | | 60 |
| 6576111597 | syllogism | Def: From the Greek for "reckoning together." A deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises (the first one called "major" and the second, "minor") that inevitably lead to a sound conclusion. The conclusion is valid only if each of the two premises is valid.
Example: "With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good." —Smucker's jams | | 61 |
| 6576114209 | symbol/symbolism | Def: Generally, anything that represents itself and stands for something else. Usually something concrete that represents something more abstract. Three categories: (1) Natural ____ (2) Conventional ____ (3) Literary ____
Example: The green light in the Great Gatsby. | | 62 |
| 6576114210 | syntax | Def: The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. Similar to diction, but of groups of words.
Example: "What light from yonder window breaks?" (Romeo and Juliet). | | 63 |
| 6576114211 | theme | Def: The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life. Usually theme is unstated in fictional works, but in nonfiction, the theme may be directly stated, especially in expository or argumentative writing.
Example: the American dream in the Great Gatsby. | | 64 |
| 6576114212 | thesis | Def: The sentence or group of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or position.
Example: You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. (To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee) | | 65 |
| 6576115087 | tone | Def: Similar to mood, it describes the author's attitude toward his material, the audience, or both.
Example: "The Great Gatsby" varies from euphoric to darkly cynical. | | 66 |
| 6576115088 | transition | Def: A word or phrase that links different ideas. Used especially, although not exclusively, in expository and argumentative writing, effectively signal a shift from one idea to another.
Example: Furthermore, consequently, nevertheless, for example, in addition, likewise, similarly and on the contrary. | | 67 |
| 6576115089 | trope | Def: an artful variation from expected modes of expression of thoughts and ideas., a figure of speech involving a "turn" or change of sense—a use of the word in a sense other than its proper or literal one. Common types of tropes include: metaphor, synecdoche, metonymy, personification, hyperbole, litotes, irony, oxymoron, onomatopoeia, etc.
Example: "Two households, both alike in dignity..." (Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare) (Ironic) | | 68 |
| 6576116220 | understatement | Def: The ironic minimizing of fact, presents something as less significant than it is. The effect can frequently be humorous and emphatic. Opposite of hyperbole.
Example: "I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain." (Catcher in the Rye) | | 69 |
| 6576116221 | undertone | Def: an attitude that may lie under the ostensible tone of the piece. Under a cheery surface, for example, a work may have threatening undertones. William Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence has a grim undertone.
Example: "...I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands." (Great Gatsby) With Nick Caraway, Fitzgerald has portrayed an undertone of homosexuality. | | 70 |
| 6576118014 | unreliable narrator | Def: An untrustworthy or naïve commentator on events and characters in a story. Huck Finn is on of American literature's most famous of this type.
Example: Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby | | 71 |
| 6576118015 | wit | Def: Intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights. Humorous, while suggesting the speaker's verbal power in creating ingenious and perceptive remarks. Historically, it originally meant basic understanding.
Example: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen) | | 72 |
| 6576118016 | zeugma | Def: a trope, one word (usually a noun or main verb) governs two other words not related in meaning.
Example: "He maintained a business and his innocence." | | 73 |
