| Term | Definition |
|---|
| aphorism | a concise statement of a truth or principle |
| mixed metaphor | a combination of two or more metaphors that together produce a ridiculous effect |
| coup d'etat | A sudden overthrow of the government by a small group |
| quid pro quo | something for something |
| fallacy | a misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning |
| indicative mood | a mood (grammatically unmarked) that represents the act or state as an objective fact |
| eponymous | A term for the title character of a work of literature |
| adverbial clause | A subordinate clause that modifies a verb, adj., or adv.-----Tells how, how much, when, where, why, to what extent, or under what conditions. (She practices AS THOUGH HER LIFE DEPENDED ON IT. [how she practices]) |
| objective case | when a noun or pronoun is the direct object, indirect object or object of a preposition |
| c'est la vie | "That's life," in French |
| allegory | story, play, or picture in which characters are used as symbols; fable |
| infinitive | To + a verb |
| adverb | a word that modifies something other than a noun |
| antonym | two words that express opposing concepts |
| compound sentence | two or more independent clauses |
| simple sentence | one independent clause |
| complex sentence | a sentence composed of at least one main clause and one subordinate clause |
| compound-complex sentence | a sentence with two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause |
| dependent clause | a clause in a complex sentence that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence and that functions within the sentence as a noun or adjective or adverb |
| independent clause | a clause in a complex sentence that can stand alone as a complete sentence |
| subordinate clause | a clause in a complex sentence that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence and that functions within the sentence as a noun or adjective or adverb |
| clause | an expression including a subject and predicate but not constituting a complete sentence |
| phrase | an expression forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence but not containing a finite verb |
| alliteration | repetition of initial consonant sounds |
| linking verb | connects the subject of a sentence with a noun or adjective in the predicate |
| anachronism | something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred |
| main clause | a clause in a complex sentence that can stand alone as a complete sentence |
| noun clause | a subordinate clause used as a noun |
| relative clause | a clause introduced by a relative pronoun |
| induction | reasoning from detailed facts to general principles |
| inductive reasoning | reasoning from detailed facts to general principles |
| antithesis | the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to give a feeling of balance |
| malapropism | the unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar |
| iambic | one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable |
| anagram | a word or phrase spelled by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase |
| phrasal verb | an English verb followed by one or more particles where the combination behaves as a syntactic and semantic unit |
| neologism | a newly invented word or phrase |
| present tense | a verb tense that expresses actions or states at the time of speaking |
| past tense | a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the past |
| progressive tense | a tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going |
| past progressive tense | a progressive tense used to describe on-going action in the past |
| present progressive tense | a tense used to express action that is on-going at the time of utterance |
| future progressive tense | a progressive tense used to express action that will be on-going in the future |
| parallel structure | repetition of grammatical structure |
| cliche | a worn-out idea or overused expression |
| subjunctive mood | A grammatical situation involving the words "if" and "were," setting up a hypothetical situation. |
| leitmotif | a dominant or recurring theme or pattern |
| spoonerism | accidental transposition of sounds in successive words; Ex. ``Let me sew you to your sheet'' for ``Let me show you to your seat''; CF. William Spooner |
| tom swifties | An unseemly compulsion to follow the word "said" with a colorful adverb, as in "'We'd better hurry,' Tom said swiftly." This was a standard mannerism of the old Tom Swift adventure dime-novels. Good dialogue can stand on its own without a clutter of adverbial props. |
| casus belli | an event used to justify starting a war |
| esprit de corps | the spirit of a group that makes the members want the group to succeed |
| simple subject | the main word in the complete subject |
| archetype | an original model on which something is patterned |
| elliptical clause | instance in which clause elements are omitted because the context is clear |
| ambiguity | unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning |
| double entendre | an ambiguity with one interpretation that is indelicate |
| modals | Helping verbs. They help the verb give more information. |
| auxiliary verb | Helps make verb phrase. Add auxiliary verb to make sense. E.g. I walking. Becomes I AM walking. |
| complement | a word or phrase used to complete a grammatical construction |
| object complement | identifies or describes direct object (always follows D.O.) |
| predicate | one of the two main constituents of a sentence (contains the verb and its complements) |
| dystopia | a work of fiction describing an imaginary place where life is extremely bad because of deprivation or oppression or terror |
| pejorative | expressing disapproval |
| motif | a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary or artistic work |
| autoantonym | a word that can take two or more opposite meanings e.g. (overlook - both "watch over carefully" and "fail to notice") |
| etymology | the study of the sources and development of words |
| canto | a major division of a long poem |
| de facto | existing in fact whether with lawful authority or not |
| litotes | understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary) |
| allusion | passing reference or indirect mention |
| proverb | a condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people |
| modal verb | an auxiliary verb expressing necessity or possibility |
| syllogism | deductive reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises |
| trigraph | three letters combine to make one sound |
| invocation | a call for assistance, support, or inspiration |
| relative pronoun | a pronoun (as 'that' or 'which' or 'who') that introduces a relative clause referring to some antecedent |
| gerund | a noun formed from a verb (such as the '-ing' form of an English verb when used as a noun) |
| participle | verb form used as an adjective |
| mimesis | the imitative representation of nature and human behavior in art and literature |
| copula | an equating verb (such as 'be' or 'become') that links the subject with the complement of a sentence |
| diacritics | marks such as an accent or a tilde that indicate the correct pronunciation of a letter or combination of letters which, without the mark, would be pronounced differently |
| diacritical mark | an accent or other mark that indicates a change in pronunciation |
| breve | a diacritical mark (u-curved) placed over a vowel to indicate a short sound |
| cedilla | a diacritical mark (,) placed below the letter c to indicate that it is pronounced as an s |
| circumflex | a diacritical mark (^) placed above a vowel in some languages to indicate a special phonetic quality |
| anthropomorphism | the representation of objects (especially a god) as having human form or traits |
| personification | representing an abstract quality or idea as a person or creature |
| portmanteau word | a word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two different words. (smoke+fog=smog) |
| subject | one of the two main constituents of a sentence (does the action) |
| adjective | a word that expresses an attribute of something |
| preposition | a word that shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word |
| prepositional phrase | a phrase beginning with a preposition |
| participial phrase | phrase that contains a participle and its modifiers and functions as an adjective to modify a noun or pronoun |
| gerund phrase | Begins with noun form of verb ending in -ing, plus any modifiers or complements |
| infinitive phrase | contains an infinitive plus any complements and modifiers |
| noun | a person, place, thing, or idea |
| pronoun | a function word that is used in place of a noun or noun phrase |
| deduction | reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect) |
| deductive reasoning | reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect) |
| sans pareil | French phrase for "without equal" |
| non pareil | French phrase for "without equal" |
Combine with other sets
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