Glossary of Grammar and Composition Terms
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97 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 alliteration | the repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of consecutive words or syllables |
| allusion | an indirect reference, often to another text or a historic event |
| analogy | an extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things |
| anecdote | a short account of an interesting event |
| annotation | explanatory or critical notes added to a text |
| antecedent | the noun to which a later pronoun refers |
| antithesis | parallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting ideas |
| aphorism | a short, astute statement of a general truth |
| appositive | a word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun |
| archaic diction | the use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language |
| argument | a statement put forth and supported by evidence |
| assertion | an emphatic statement; declaration. An assertion supported by evidence becomes an argument |
| assumption | a belief or statement taken for granted without proof |
| asyndeton | leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses |
| attitude | the speaker's position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone |
| audience | one's listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed |
| authority | a reliable, respected source--someone with knowledge |
| bias | prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue |
| cite | identifying a part of a piece of writing as being derived from a source |
| claim | an assertion, usually supported by evidence |
| close reading | a careful reading that is attentive to organization, figurative language, sentence structure, vocabulary, and other literary and structural element of a text |
| colloquialism | an informal or conversational use of language |
| compare | to examine similarities |
| common ground | shared beliefs, values, or positions |
| complex sentence | a sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause |
| concession | a reluctant acknowledgment or yielding |
| connotation | that which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word's literal meaning |
| context | words, events, or circumstances that help determine meaning |
| contrast | to examine differences |
| coordination | grammatical equivalence between parts of a sentence, often through a coordination conjunction such as and, or but |
| counterargument | a challenge to a position; an opposing argument |
| credible | worthy of belief; trustworthy |
| cumulative sentence | an independent clause followed by subordinate clauses or phrases that supply addition detail |
| declarative sentence | a sentence that makes a statement |
| deduction | reasoning from general to specific |
| denotation | the literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition |
| diction | word choice |
| documentation | bibliographic information about the sources used in a piece of writing |
| elegiac | mournful over what has passed or been lost; often used to describe tone |
| epigram | a brief witty statement |
| ethos | a greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals |
| explication of text | explanation of a text's meaning through an analysis of all of its constituent parts, including the literary devices used; also called close reading |
| facts | information that is true or demonstrable |
| figurative language | the use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect |
| figure of speech | an expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning |
| fragment | a word, phrase, or clause that does not form a full sentence |
| hortatory | urging, or strongly encouraging |
| hyperbole | exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis |
| imagery | vivid use of language that evokes a reader's senses |
| imperative sentence | a sentence that requests or commands |
| induction | reasoning from specific to general |
| inversion | a sentence in which the verb precedes the subject |
| irony | a contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result |
| juxtaposition | placement of two things side by side for emphasis |
| logos | a Greek term that means "word"; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals |
| metaphor | a figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit comparison |
| modifier | a word, phrase, or clause that qualifies or describes another word, phrase, or clause |
| narration | retelling an event or series of events |
| occasion | as aspect of context; the cause or reason for writing |
| omniscient narrator | an all-knowing, usually third-person narrator |
| oxymoron | a figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms |
| pacing | the relative speed or slowness with which a story is told or an idea is presented |
| paradox | a statement that seems contradictory but is actually true |
| parallelism | the repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns |
| parody | a piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule |
| pathos | a greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals |
| persona | the speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing |
| personification | assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects |
| polemic | an argument against an idea, usually regarding philosophy, politics, or religion |
| premise; major, minor | two parts of a syllogism. the concluding sentence of a syllogism takes its predicate from the major premise and its subject from the minor premise. major premise: all mammals are worm-blooded. minor premise: all horses are mammals. conclusion: all horses are warm-blooded |
| pronoun | a word used to replace a noun or noun phrase |
| propaganda | a negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information |
| purpose | one's intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing |
| refute | to discredit and argument, particularly a counterargument |
| rhetoric | the study of effective, persuasive language use |
| rhetorical question | a question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer |
| satire | an ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it |
| scheme | pattern of words or sentence construction used for rhetorical effect |
| sentence patterns | the arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions--such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex |
| sentence variety | using a variety of sentence patters to create a desired effect |
| simile | a figure of speech that uses "like" or "as" to compare two things |
| simple sentence | a statement containing a subject and predicate; an independent clause |
| source | a book, article, person, or other resource consulted for information |
| speaker | a term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing |
| style | the distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech |
| subject | in rhetoric, the topic addressed in a piece of writing |
| subordinate clause | created by a subordinating conjunction, a clause that modifies an independent clause |
| syllogism | a form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise |
| syntax | sentence structure |
| synthesize | combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex |
| thesis | the central idea in a work to which all parts of the work refer |
| thesis statement | a statement of the central idea in a work, may be explicit or implicit |
| tone | the speaker's attitude toward the subject or audience |
| topic sentence | a sentence, most often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph, that announces the paragraph's idea and often unites it with the work's thesis |
| trope | artful diction; the use of language in a way that is not literal; also called a figure of speech |
| understatement | lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic effect |
| voice | in grammar, a term for the relationship between a verb and a noun. in rhetoric, a distinctive quality in the style and tone of writing |
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