| Term | Definition |
|---|
| soapstone | speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, tone |
| analogy | a comparison of two things |
| connotation | an idea or feeling that a work envokes |
| denotation | definition of a word |
| synecdoche | part represents the whole |
| allusion | a literary or historical reference |
| hyperbole | an exageration |
| parallelism | the state of corresponding to |
| understatement | the representation of something as smaller or less important than it is |
| litotes | a thought expressed by denying its opposite |
| rhetorical question | a question that doesn't require an answer |
| anaphora | the repitition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences |
| asyndeton | the absense of a conjunction betweed two parts of a sentance |
| chiasmus | when words are repeated in reverse order in the same form |
| apostrophe | speaking to someone that isn't there |
| narration | telling a story |
| description | a mode of writing that conveys the evidence of the senses |
| example | instances or general ideas provided by writer |
| comparison | examining similarities between two things |
| contrasting | examining differences between two things |
| process | the step by step method of how something is done |
| analyze | to break a subject into its parts |
| classification | sorting out plural things into categories |
| alliteration | repetition of similar initial sounds |
| assonance | repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds |
| consonance | repetition of two or more consonants with a change in intervening vowels |
| ethos | credibility |
| flashback | an earlier event inserted in normal chronology of a narration |
| imagery | the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, call to mind an idea, or describe an object |
| inference | a conclusion arrived at by considering facts and observations |
| irony | the contrast between what is stated and what is really meant |
| juxtaposition | the location of one thing adjacent to another to create an affect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish a purpose |
| metaphor | one thing pictured as if it were something else |
| metonymy | an attribute or commonly associated feature used to name or designate something |
| mood | a feeling resulting from the tone of a piece |
| onomatopoeia | a word capturing the sound of what it describes |
| oxymoron | the combination of two contradictory elements |
| paradox | a statement that seems contradictory but is probably true |
| pathos | a literary element that stimulates pity and sorrow |
| personification | treating an abstraction of nonhuman object as if it were a person |
| point of view | the relation in which an author stands to a subject of discource |
| rhetoric | the art of using words to persuade in writing or speaking |
| sarcasm | a form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually critical |
| satire | a literary that holds up human failings to ridicule and censure |
| simile | a comparison using like or as |
| style | the manner in which a writer combines and arranges words |
| symbolism | use of a person, place, or thing to stand for something else |
| syntax | word order |
| theme | the idea or focus of a work |
| tone | the attitude the narrator takes toward a subject |
| voice | how elements of the style of a piece come together to express the author's feelings |
| allegory | a narrative in which the characters, behavior, and setting demonstrate multiple levels of meaning and significance |
| antithesis | the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced parallel words, phrases, grammatical structures, or ideas |
| aphorism | a concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief |
| ethos | appeals to authority |
| logos | appeals to logic |
| pathos | appeals to emotion |
| attitude | sense expressed by the tone of voice or the mood of a piece of writing; the author's feelings toward his or her subject, characters, events, or themes; his/her feelings toward the reader |
| begging the question | an argumentative ploy where the arguer sidesteps the question or the conflict, evades or ignores the real question |
| canon | that which has been accepted as authentic |
| claim | an assertion of something as fact |
| colloquial | a term identifying the diction of the common, ordinary folks, especially in a specific region or area |
| conceit | a comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature, in particular an extended metaphor within a poem |
| convention | an accepted manner, model, or tradition |
| critique | an assessment or analysis of something, such as a passage of writing, for the purpose of determining what it is, what its limitations are, and how it conforms to the standard of the genre |
| deductive reasoning | the method of argument in which specific statements and conclusions are drawn from general principles: movement from the general to the specific |
| dialect | the language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group |
| diction | the specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose or effect |
| didactic | writing or speech that is instructive in purpose |
| elegy | a poem or prose that laments, or meditates upon the death of a person or persons |
| epistrophe | the repetition of a phrase at the end of successive sentances |
| epitaph | writing in praise of a dead person, most often inscribed upon a headstone |
| eulogy | a speech or written passage in praise of a dead person |
| euphemism | an indirect, kinder, or less harsh or hurtful way of expressing unpleasant information |
| exposition | the interpretation or analysis of a text |
| extended metaphor | a series of comparisons within a piece of writing |
| figurative language | has levels of meaning expressed through figures of speech |
| genre | a type or class of literature |
| homily | a sermon or serious talk |
| inductive reasoning | a method of reasoning or argument in which general statements and conclusions are drawn from specific principles: movement from specific to general |
| isocolon | parallel structure in which the parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical structure but also in length |
| jargon | specialized or technical language of a trade or profession |
| loose sentence | a long sentence that starts with its main clause, which is followed by several dependent clauses and modifying phrases |
| mode of discourse | the way in which information is presented in written or spoken form |
| periodic sentence | a long sentence in which the main clause is not completed until the end |
| prose | the ordinary from of written language without metrical structure |
| realism | attempting to describe nature and life without idealization and with attention to detail |
| rebuttal | an argument technique wherein opposing arguments are anticipated and countered (also known as refutation) |
| zeugma | a grammatically correct construction in which a word, usually a verb or adjective, is applied to two or more nouns without being repeated |
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