| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Abstract language | language without concrete or specific references such as "beauty" and ugly |
| Allegory | a story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people |
| Alliteration | the repetition of one or more initial sounds, usually consonants, in a group of words. |
| Allusion | a reference to a person, place, event from history, literature, religion, or other source meant to create an effect or enrich the meaning of the idea. |
| Ambiguity | having two or more different and sometimes conflicting meanings; lack of clarity in a work. |
| Analogy | comparison between two things to show how they are alike. |
| Annotation | the critical commentary or explanatory notes that accompany a text. |
| Antecedent | the word, phrase, or clause that is referred to by a pronoun. |
| Antithesis | direct contrast/opposition |
| Aphorism | a brief, clearly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life. |
| Appositive | noun phrase that renames or adds info |
| Apostrophe | a technique by which a writer addresses an inanimate object, an idea, or a person who is either dead or absent. |
| Atmosphere | the mood and feeling that is evoked |
| Attitude | a writers approach or feeling towards what they are writing |
| Clause | a group of related words that contain both a subject and a verb |
| Cliche | an overused or trite expression |
| Colloquial/Colloquialism | the use of slang or informalities in speech or writings; it gives a work a conversational, familiar tone. |
| Conceit | an elaborate metaphor or figurative device; a fanciful supposition (quite being used in the 17th century - associated usually with poets) |
| Concrete Detail/Concrete Language | specific examples and details |
| Connotation | the suggestion, implication, feelings associated with a word |
| Denotation | the literal meaning - dictionary definition - of a word |
| Dependent Clause | can NOT stand by itself |
| Diction | word choice |
| Didactic | intended to instruct |
| Equivocation | ambiguous, vague, intentionally evasive |
| Euphemism | substitutes a more agreeable word for an unpleasant one (pass on/died) |
| Extended Metaphor | a comparison between two unlike things that is longer than a few sentences |
| Figurative language | describes one thing in terms of another |
| Genre | literary type or class (novel, short story, comedy, tragedy) |
| Gerund | the "ing" form of a verb, but used as a noun. |
| Hyperbole | exaggeration for emphasis |
| Imagery | literal (concrete)/figurative (figures of speech) |
| Inference/Infer | basing a conclusion on what is there |
| Invective | harsh, insulting language; abusive and denunciatory |
| Inversion | the reversal of the normal word order of a sentence |
| Irony / Ironic | verbal, contrast between what is stated and what is meant; situational, contrast between what appears to be and what actually is |
| Loose Sentence | main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then adds on more detail |
| Metaphor | comparison between 2 unlike things by saying one IS the other |
| Mood | feeling that another tries to create |
| Motif | recurring element that unifies, apart of the main theme - may be a character a recurrent image or a verbal pattern |
| Narrative | a forms of verse or prose that tells a story about a series of events |
| Non sequitur | a statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one before |
| Onomatopoeia | a word that spells out a sound |
| Oxymoron | a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase |
| Paradox | a statement that seems self-contradictory but reveals a kind of truth |
| Parallelism/ Parallel structure | the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures |
| Parody | a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer's style |
| Pedantic | marked by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for leaning and formal rules |
| Periodic Sentences | a sentence that expresses the main idea at the end |
| Personification | a figure of speech in which objects or animals are given human feelings, thoughts, and attitudes |
| Point of View | who's telling the story or passage |
| Predicate | A verb with related words |
| Prose | a direct unadorned form of language, either written or spoken. Not restricted by rhythm or rhyme |
| Refute | to prove to be false or mistaken; disprove. |
| Repetition | repeats |
| Rhetoric | describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively. |
| Sarcasm | a sharp, caustic expression or remark; a bitter gibe or remark |
| Satire | a literary style used to make fun of or reticule an idea or homan vice or foible, frequently with the intent of changing or altering the subject being attacked. |
| Semantics | the branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words |
| Simile | figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two unlike objects using like, as, then, or resembles. |
| Stream of Consciousness | A style of writing that portrays the inner workins of a characters mind, and may not be orderly or immediately comprehended |
| Style | the manner, in which an author uses words, shapes ideas, forms sentences, and creates a structure to convey ideas |
| Subordinate Clause | dependent clause |
| Syllogism | a form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. |
| Symbol/ Symbolism | the representation of things by means of symbols, a symbolic representation. |
| Synecdoche | a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole |
| Syntax | order of words in a sentence |
| Theme | a topic of discussion in a piece of writing; an implicit or recurrent idea |
| Thesis | the sentence or group of sentences that directly express the authors, purpose, meaning, or proposition. |
| Tone | the writer's attitude towards subjects, characters or audience. |
| Transition | passage from one form of style to antoerh. |
| Understatement | to state with less completeness or truth then seems warranted by the facts; to express with restraint of lack of emphasis. |
| Voice | the outlook from which the events are related; narrators position in a literary work. |
| Wit | perception and understanding; intelligence |
| Anecdote | personal story |
| Stylistic Devices | elements of language that contribute to style such as diction, syntax, attitude, figures of speech, connotation, repetition, and point of view. |
| Language Devices | all the elements of language that are often used to analyze nonfiction instead of fiction or to look at rhetorical aims of a work of fiction. |
| Narrative Devices | the tools of the storyteller, such as ordering events so that they build to a climatic moment, or withholding information until a crucial or appropriate moment when revealing it will create a desired affect. They include organizational strategies, emphasis on detail, descriptive language, connotation - any of the language or stylistic devices used within the narrative. |
| Rhetorical Strategies | any devices that help a writer to achieve his purpose. These strategies place emphasis on language used to persuade but may apply to fiction as well as nonfiction. They include language devices, rhetorical aims and argumentation, and also an understanding of how a passage is constructed to achieve the purpose. |
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