Duff Language Terms, Part Two

58367761	Metaphor	a figure of speech in which one thing is referred to as another; for example, "my love is a fragile flower"
58367762	Mode	the method or form of a literary work; the manner in which a work of literature is written
58367763	Mood	similar to tone, it is the primary emotional attitude of a work (the feeling of the work; the atmosphere).
58367764	Moral	The lesson drawn from a fictional or nonfictional story. It can also mean a heavily didactic story.
58367765	Motif	main theme or subject of a work that is elaborated on in the development of the piece; a repeated pattern or idea
58367766	Narration	the telling of a story in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama; one of the four modes of discourse
58367767	Negative-Positive	Sentence that begins by stating what is NOT true, then ending by stating what is true.
58367768	Non-sequitur	Latin for "it does not follow." When one statement isn't logically connected to another
58367769	Objectivity	an impersonal presentation of events and characters. It is a writer's attempt to remove himself or herself from any subjective, personal involvement in a story. Hard news journalism is frequently prized for its objectivity, although even fictional stories can be told without a writer rendering personal judgment.
58367770	Onomatopoeia	the use of words that sound like what they mean, such as "hiss," "buzz," "slam," and "boom"
58367771	Oversimplification	When a writer obscures or denies the complexity of the issues in an argument
58367772	Oxymoron	a figure of speech composed of contradictory words or phrases, such as "wise fool," bitter-sweet," "pretty ugly," "jumbo shrimp," "cold fire"
58367773	Pacing	the movement of a literary piece from one point or one section to another
58367774	Parable	a short tale that teaches a moral; similar to but shorter than an allegory
58367775	Paradox	a statement that seems to contradict itself but that turns out to have a rational meaning, as in this quotation from Henry David Thoreau; "I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude."
58367776	Parallelism	the technique of arranging words, phrases, clauses, or larger structures by placing them side by side and making them similar in form. This may be as simple as listing two or three modifiers in a row to describe the same noun or verb; it may take the form of two or more of the same type of phrases (prepositional, participial, gerund, appositive) that modify the same noun or verb; it may also take the form of two or more subordinate clauses that modify the same noun or verb. Or, it may be a complex blend of singe-word, phrase, and clause all in the same sentence. Example (from Churchill): "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields."
58367777	Parody	a work that ridicules the style of another work by imitating and exaggerating its elements. . It can be utterly mocking or gently humorous. It depends on allusion and exaggerates and distorts the original style and content.
58367778	Pathos	an element in experience or in artistic representation evoking pity or compassion. Over-emotionalism can be the result of an excess of this.
58367779	Pedantic	a term used to describe writing that borders on lecturing. It is scholarly and academic and often overly difficult and distant
58367780	Personification	the attribution of human qualities to a nonhuman or an inanimate object
58367781	Persuasion	a form of argumentation, one of the four modes of discourse; language intended to convince through appeals to reason or emotion.
58367782	Point of View	the perspective from which a story is presented.
58367783	First person narrator	a narrator, referred to as "I," who is a character in the story and relates the actions through his or her own perspective, also revealing his or her own thoughts
58367784	Stream of Consciousness	like a first person narrator, but instead placing the reader inside the character's head, making the reader privy to the continuous, chaotic flow of disconnected, half-formed thoughts and impressions in the character's mind
58367785	Omniscient	third person narrator, referred to as "he," "she," or "they," who is able to see into each character's mind and understands all the action
58367786	Limited Omniscient	a third person narrator who reports the thoughts of only one character and generally only what that one character sees
58367787	Objective	a third person narrator who only reports what would be visible to a camera; thoughts and feelings are only revealed if a character speaks of them
58367788	Polysyndeton	Sentence which uses and or another conjunction (with no commas) to separate the items in a series. Polysyndeton appear in the form of X and Y and Z, stressing equally each member of a series. It makes the sentence slower and the items more emphatic than in the asyndeton.
58367789	Protagonist	the main character of a literary work
58367790	Red Herring	When a writer raises an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from the real issue
58367791	Reductio ad Absurdum	the Latin for "to reduce to the absurd." This is a technique useful in creating a comic effect and is also an argumentative technique. It is considered a rhetorical fallacy because it reduces an argument to an either/or choice
58367792	Regionalism	an element in literature that conveys a realistic portrayal of a specific geographical locale, using the locale and its influences as a major part of the plot
58367793	Repetition	Word or phrase used two or more times in close proximity
58367794	Rhetoric	the art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse; this focuses on the interrelationship of invention, arrangement, and style in order to create felicitous and appropriate discourse.
58367795	Rhetorical modes	exposition, description, narration, argumentation
58367796	Rhetorical Question	one that does not expect an explicit answer. It is used to pose an idea to be considered by the speaker or audience.
58367797	Sarcasm	harsh, caustic personal remarks to or about someone; less subtle than irony
58367798	Satire	A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. It doesn't simply abuse (as in invective) or get personal (as in sarcasm). It targets groups or large concepts rather than individuals.
58367799	Setting	Time and place of a literary work
58367800	Simile	a figure of speech that uses like, as, or as if to make a direct comparison between two essentially different objects, actions, or qualities; for example, "The sky looked like an artist's canvas."
58367801	Speaker	the voice of a work; an author may speak as himself or herself or as a fictitious persona
58367802	Stereotype	a character who represents a trait that is usually attributed to a particular social or racial group and who lacks individuality; a conventional pattern, expression or idea.
58367803	Straw Man	When a writer argues against a claim that nobody actually holds or is universally considered weak. Setting up a straw man diverts attention from the real issues.
58367804	Style	an author's characteristic manner of expression - his or her diction, syntax, imagery, structure, and content all contribute to style
58367805	Subjectivity	a personal presentation of evens and characters, influenced by the author's feelings and opinions
58367806	Syllogism	A form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them. This is the format of a formal argument that consists of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. Example: Major Premise:All tragedies end unhappily; Minor Premise: Hamlet is a tragedy; Conclusion: Therefore, Hamlet ends unhappily.
58367807	Symbolism	the use of symbols or anything that is meant to be taken both literally and as representative of a higher and more complex significance
58367808	Synecdoche	a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent a whole, such as using "boards" to mean a stage or "wheels" to mean a car - or "All hands on deck."
58367809	Syntactic Fluency	Ability to create a variety of sentence structures, appropriately complex and/or simple and varied in length.
58367810	Syntactic Permutation	Sentence structures that are extraordinarily complex and involved. They are often difficult for a reader to follow.
58367811	Syntax	the grammatical structure of a sentence; the arrangement of words in a sentence. It includes length of sentence, kinds of sentences (questions, exclamations, declarative sentences, rhetorical questions, simple, complex, or compound).
58367812	Theme	the central idea or "message" or a literary work
58367813	Thesis	the main idea of a piece of writing. It presents the author's assertion or claim. The effectiveness of a presentation is often based on how well the writer presents, develops, and supports this.
58367814	Tone	the characteristic emotion or attitude of an author toward the characters, subject, and audience (anger, sarcastic, loving, didactic, emotional, etc.)
58367815	Transition	a word or phrase that links one idea to the next and carries the reader from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph.
58367816	Tricolon	Sentence consisting of three parts of equal importance and length, usually three independent clauses.
58367817	Understatement	the opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended.
58367818	Unity	quality of a piece of writing (also see coherence)
58367819	Voice	refers to two different areas of writing. One refers to the relationship between a sentence's subject and verb (active and passive). The second refers to the total "sound" of a writer's style.