| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Rhetoric | the manipulation of words for a specific purpose |
| Thesis | the answer to a question |
| Tone | attitude the narrator wants the reader to take toward a setting, character, or idea |
| Mood | emotional response of the reader |
| Diction | word choice |
| Deontation | dictionary definition of a word |
| Connotation | emotional definition of a word |
| Subtext | meaning or emotion underneath the words |
| Assonance | repetition of vowel sounds |
| Consonance | same ending sounds |
| Alliteration | same beginning sound |
| Onomatopoeia | sound words, imitative harmony |
| Imagery | words that create mental pictures |
| Personification | inanimate objects or abstract ideas given human characteristics |
| Pathetic Fallacy | a form of personification – only it is not a character in the story |
| Simile | a comparison using like or as |
| Metaphor | a direct comparison |
| Extended Metaphor | a metaphor which changes and grows throughout the story |
| Controlling Metaphor | a metaphor around which the entire story revolves |
| Metonymy | describing something indirectly by referring to things around it |
| Synecdoche | a part is used to represent the whole (crown=king) |
| Pathos | words which evoke sorrow |
| Bathos | reaching for the sublime, the tone results in the absurd |
| Allusion | literary, historical, artistic reference |
| Aphorism | a short witty statement |
| Apostrophe | form of personification, speaking to an absent or dead person or object as if it is there |
| Motif | pattern; repeated image, symbol, idea |
| Symbol | a word that represents a larger idea or concept |
| Colloquial | the use of slang in writing |
| Dialect | the recreation of regional spoken language |
| Cliche | an overused expression |
| Conceit | a particularly clever extended metaphor |
| Inference | a conclusion drawn from presented details |
| Epitaph | an inscription on a tombstone |
| Epigraph | the use of a quotation at the beginning of the work which often hints at a theme |
| Eulogy | a formal speech praising one who has died |
| Homily | a sermon or moralistic lecture |
| Didactic | writing whose purpose is to instruct or teach |
| Pedantic | scholarly, academic writing that is difficult to understand |
| Figurative Language | literary devices that enable an author to operate on levels other than the literal (simile, metaphor, etc) |
| Oratory | a formal, often pompous, speech |
| Jargon | technical, specialized language |
| Irony | an unexpected outcome |
| Verbal Irony | saying one thing but meaning the opposite |
| Situational Irony | unexpected outcome in the plot |
| Dramatic Irony | where the audience knows more than the character |
| Oxymoron | contrasting words placed together for effect |
| Paradox | statement that contradicts itself – "the more you learn the less you know" |
| Pun | a play on words that are identical or similar in sounds but differ in meaning |
| Hyperbole | exaggeration |
| Understatement | making a situation seem less important or serious than it is |
| Euphemism | making something sound nicer than it is; candy-coated words |
| Antithesis | direct contrast or opposite |
| Satire | a political comment through the use of humor |
| Parody | a comic imitation that ridicules the original. It can be mocking or gently humorous |
| Sarcasm | type of irony in which a person seems to be praising something but actually insulting |
| Subtext | meaning or emotion underneath the words |
| Zeugma | a type of pun where the use of a word modifies two or more words, but used for different meanings (On the fishing trip, he caught three trout and a cold.) |
| Ambiguity | deliberately unclear, having multiple meanings |
| Conflict | choices a character makes in relation to an obstacle (problem) |
| Characterization | change and growth of the character |
| Foil | character whose behavior and values contrast with those of another character |
| Archetype | a detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in myth and literature, thought to appeal to the unconscious |
| Point of attack | when the story begins |
| Exposition | events that take place before the story begins |
| Flashback | a device that enables a writer to refer to past thoughts, events, episodes |
| Epiphany | a moment of great revelation |
| Foreshadowing | clues that tip the reader off as to what is to come later in the work |
| Anecdote | ashort account of an interesting or humorous incident, intended to illustrate or support some point |
| Climax | point of understanding or awakening (not necessarily emotional) |
| Anticlimax | when the reader expects a climax to occur and it doesn't happen |
| Denouement | the "unravelling" or resolution of the story, falling action |
| Setting | time and place of a story |
| Theme | the underlying message |
| Allegory | a story that functions on the symbolic level |
| Parable | a story that operates on the symbolic level and teaches a lesson or moral |
| Syntax | word order or organization |
| Parallelism | sentences, or parts of a sentence with similar structure |
| Repetition | using the same word or phrase for emphasis |
| Anaphora | repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences |
| Chiasmus | a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is reversed ("Susan walked, and in rushed Mary.") |
| Deductive Reasoning | a form of logic that moves from the general to the specific |
| Inductive Reasoning | a form a logic that moves from the specific to the general |
| Syllogism | a formal argument that consists of a major premise, a minor one, and a conclusion |
| Analogy | a comparison between two dissimilar ideas or things |
| Rhetorical Question | a question that does not expect an explicit answer |
| Antithesis | direct contrast or opposite |
| Juxtaposition | words, phrases, ideas placed side by side for effect |
| Ad Hominem | a rhetorical strategy that attacks the person rather than the idea |
| Non Sequitur | an inference that does not follow logically from the premise (literally, does not follow) |
| Logical Fallacy | a mistake in reasoning |
| A Priori Reasoning | a conclusion that can be arrived at without any observations of the world, but relies only on logical connections between ideas |
| Enumeration | a numbered list |
Combine with other sets
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