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| Alliteration |
The repition of inital consonant sounds; such as "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". |
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| Allusion |
References to literary, artistic, scientific, or historical people, places, or things; the storm was small, not like the "Katrina catastrophe" in 2005. |
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| Antithesis |
A statement in whcih direct opposites are contrasted in the same sentence. |
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| Aphorism |
A brief, sometimes clever saying that expresses a principle, truth or observation about life; such as "The early bird catches the worm:. |
| Apostrophe |
A literary device in which the speaker directly addresses someone dead, someone missing, an abstract quality, or something non human as if she/he/it were present. |
| Appositive |
A clause, set off by commas or a comma and a period , that gives greater detail or a clue to context; such as The boy, with the blue shirt, was not happy and threw a tantrum. |
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| Inference |
A conclusion, possibly based on several pieces of evidence; like putting "mental" puzzle pieces together. |
| Aside |
It is a written digression, a time in a novel, when the author steps outside the story, speaking directly to the reader. |
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| Cause and Effect |
An organizational pattern in which the author analyzes reasons for a chain of events. |
| Characterization |
The process by which the writer reveals the personalities of the people of the work. |
| Chronological or sequencial order |
An organizational pattern that places the events in the order of occurrence. |
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| Comparison and Contrast |
Organizational pattern that shows similarities and/or differences |
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| Conflict |
The tension created in the story by the struggle or outcome of the stuggle; one of the narrative devices to address the tone of the passage; the tip of the plot summary web |
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| Contrast |
A literary technique in which the author examines two opposites. |
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| Didactic |
A type of writing that is preachy or bossy. |
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| Epigram |
A brief, clever, and usually memorable statement. |
| Euphemism |
The substitution of a mild or less negative word or phrase for a harsh or blunt one; such as "potty" for toilet and "boogies" for snot |
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| Foreshadoing |
A literary technique in which the author gives hints about future events. |
| Hyperbole |
A figure of speech in which the author over exaggerates to accomplish some purpose; a "tragic meal" or a "deadly smell" |
| Imagery |
Sentences that appeal to the five senses. |
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| Juxtaposition |
Placing two items side by side to create a certain effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish a purpose. |
| Metaphor |
A direct comparison in which an unknown item is understood by directly comparing it to a known item; such as, The ship was a "toy" on the stormy sea. Often contains the word "was" or "is". |
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| Oxymoron |
A juxtaposition of two unlike things to create ambiguity through contradiction; such as a "happy funeral". |
| Onomatopoeia |
Using a word that emits the sound of the word; such as pop, crunch, smash, pow, bing |
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| Parallelism or Parallel structure |
Recurrent syntactical similarity. In this structural arrangement several parts of a sentence or several sentences are developed and phrased similarly; such as I came, I say, I conquered OR Then God said, Then God said |
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| Personification |
Metaphorically represents an animala or inanimate object as having human attricutes, attributes of form, character feeling, behavior, and so on; such as, The angry ocean swallowed the oceanliner in one gulp. |
| Pun |
A play on words based upon the multiple meanings of words; such as, "You stink" which could mean 1. untalented or 2. bad odor |
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| Rhetorical question |
A literary device in which a question is asked that actually requires no answer; such as, How stupid is that? |
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| Simile |
An indirect comparison using like or as. for example, small as a mouse, big as a house, |
| Stereotypes |
Anything that represents something in a typical way; such as the drunk, the nurse, the cop, the grandmother. A picture of that character pops into your mind. |
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| Satire |
Humourous writing that comments on flaws, customs, personality, institutions or ideas. For example, "The Simpsons" cartoon constantly satires someone or something. |
| idiom |
An informal word or phrase that is not literal; for example, "beats me" or" keep an eye on him" |
Beef Production
