| Term | Definition |
|---|
| allegory | rm of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself |
| alliteration | repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words |
| allusion | brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or ficticious, or to a work of art |
| ambiguity | an unclear, indefinite, or equivocal word, expression, meaning |
| analogy | comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship |
| antecedent | a word, phrase, or clause, usually a substantive, that is replaced by a pronoun |
| aphorism | brief saying embodying a moral |
| apostrophe | when an absent person, an abstract concept, or an important object is directly addressed |
| clause | a syntactic construction containing a subject and predicate and forming part of a sentence or constituting a whole simple sentence |
| cliche | a trite, stereotyped expression |
| colloquialism | characteristic of or appropriate to ordinary or familiar conversation |
| conceit | an excessively favorable opinion of one's own ability, importance, wit, etc |
| concrete detail | identifying/describing somehting through the senses |
| connotation | implied meaning of a word |
| denotation | literal meaning of a word, the dictionary meaning |
| diction | style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words |
| didactic | eaching or intending to teach a moral lesson |
| euphemism | substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener |
| figurative language | speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning |
| genre | of or pertaining to a distinctive literary type |
| hyperbole | exaggeration or overstatement |
| imagery | language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching |
| induction | a presentation or bringing forward, as of facts or evidence |
| deduction | the act or process of deducing |
| inference | the act or process of inferring |
| irony | an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated |
| jargon | language that is characterized by uncommon or pretentious vocabulary and convoluted syntax and is often vague in meaning |
| metaphor | comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using like or as |
| metonomy | substituting a word for another word closely associated with it |
| mood | emotional attitude the author takes towards hir subject |
| motif | recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work |
| narrative | a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious |
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