Tools of the Trade
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46 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 A fictional work in which the characters represent ideas or concepts | Allegory |
| The repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring works or syllables | Alliteration |
| A passing reference to a familiar person, place, or thing drawn from history, the Bible, mythology, or literature | Allusion |
| Repetition of a work or words at the beginning of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences. | Anaphora |
| A brief narrative of an entertaining and presumable true incident | Anecdote |
| A concise statement of a principle, a terse formulation of truth or sentiment | Aphorism |
| Language that is overly rhetorical (pompous); especially when considered in context | Bombast |
| A form of antithesis in which the seconds half of the statement inverts the word order of the first half. | Chiasmus |
| A roundabout or indirect way of speaking; the use of more words than necessary to express an idea | Circumlocution |
| Language that describes specific, observable things, people, or places, rather than ideas or qualities | Concrete Language |
| To association, images, or impressions carried by a word, as opposed to the word's literal meaning | Connotation |
| The dictionary meaning of a word, the literal meaning. | Denotation |
| Choice of words especially with regard to correctness, clearness, or effectiveness | Diction |
| A rhetorical device in which words are consciously omitted, perhaps because their meaning can be inferred | Ellipsis |
| A quotation or motto at the beginning of a book or chapter | Epigraph |
| The substitution of mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt. | Euphemism |
| A metaphor, or implied comparison, that is sustained for several lines or that becomes the controlling image of an entire poem. | Entended Metephor |
| A term for all uses of language that imply imaginative comparison | Figurative Language |
| Obvious, extravagant exaggeration or overstatement, not intended to be taken literally, but used figuratively to create humor or emphasis. | Hyperbole |
| The making of "pictures in words;" appeals to the sense of taste, smell, hearing, and touch, and to internal feelings, as well as to the sense of sing. | Imagery |
| A sentence in which the subject follows the verb | Inverted Sentence |
| The comic substitution of one word for another similar in sound but quite different in meaning. | Malapropism |
| A figure of speech; an implied analogy in which one thing is imaginatively compared to or identified with another, dissimilar thing. | Metaphor |
| A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it | Metonymy |
| The climate of feeling in a literary work | Mood |
| The use of words whose sound imitates the sound of the thing being named | Onomatopoeia |
| A figure of speech in which to contradictory words or phrases are combined in a single expression, given the effect of a condensed paradox. | Oxymoron |
| A statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true | Paradox |
| The technique of showing that words, phrases, clauses, or larger structures are comparable in the content and importance by placing them side by side and making them similar in form. | Parallelism |
| A figure of speech in which human characteristics and sensibilities are attributed to animals, plants, inanimate objects, natural forces, or abstract ideas. | Personification |
| The particular perspective from which a story is told | Point of View |
| A form of wit, not necessarily funny, involving a play on a word with two or more meanings. | Pun |
| The art of speaking or writing effectively; the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion | Rhetoric |
| A question who's answer is obvious | Rhetorical Question |
| A term used to describe any form of literature that blends ironic humor and wit with criticism for the purpose of ridiculing folly, vice, stupidity--the whole range of human foibles and frailties--in individuals and institutions | Satire |
| A figure of speech that uses like, as, or as if to compare two essentially different objects, actions, or attributes that share some aspect of similarity | Simile |
| Refers to contrast between what is intended or expected and what actually occurred. | Situational Irony |
| A writer's characteristic way of saying things | Style |
| An argument that utilizes deductive reasoning and consists of major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion | Syllogism |
| Anything that signifies, or stands for, something else | Symbol |
| A figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole thing | Synecdoche |
| The way words are arranged in a sentence | Syntax |
| The central idea of a piece of work | Theme |
| The reflection in a work of the author's attitude toward his or her subject, characters, and readers | Tone |
| A type of verbal irony in which something is purposely represented as being far less than it actually is | Understatement |
| A figure of speech in which there is contrast between what is said and what is actually meant | Verbal Irony |
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