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English 12 literary terms and examinable words

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Term
Term
Abstract   No physical. Ideas and emotions are abstract, as are love, justice, and honour  
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Allegory   A story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden. Example: Animal Farm  
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Alliteration   Repetititon of initital consonant sounds  
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Analogy   Ilustration of an idea by means of an example that is similar or parallel to it in some significant features  
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Anecdote   A brief story of an interesting incident  
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Antecedent Action   Action that takes place before a story line opens  
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Antithesis   A contrast or opposition of ideas  
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Apathy   A lack of interest  
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Apostrophe   A speech addressed to a dead or absent person or abstract object  
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Archaic   Belonging to an earlier time.Words or expressions that have passed out of use.  
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Assonance   repetition of similiar or identical vowel sounds  
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Ballad   A narrative poem that tells a story. Told in a straightforward and dramatic manner, and often about love, honor and courage  
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Blank Verse   Is written in unrhymed iambic pentameters  
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Charicature   Distorted representation of a person or event to produce a ridiculous effect  
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Chronological   In order of time  
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Chronology   The measurement of time or the ordering of events  
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Cliche   A phrase that is so common that the novelty has worn off  
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Colloquial   Informal, suitable for everyday speech but not for formal writing  
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Concrete   Solid, physical not abstract.  
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Connotation   Implied or additional meaning for a word or phrase.  
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Deduction   A conclusion reached by logic or reasoning, or by examining all the available information  
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Denotation   The explicit or direct meaning of a word of expression  
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Discrepancy   Distinct difference between two things that should not be different  
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Dissonance   Harsh sound or discordance.  
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Epic   A long poem that is often about a heroic character. Thes style is elevated and the poetry offten represents religious, or cultural ideals. Example :the Odyssey  
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Epilogue   A final address to the audience, often delivered by a character in the drama  
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Fantasy   A literary genre. As a rule, it contains events, characters, or settings that would not be possible or that would not be found in real life  
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Foreshadowing   A technique whereby an event or incident is indicated beforehand when the autor includes hints or clues about the main events of the story  
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Free verse   Is usually written in variable rhythmic cadence. It may be rhymed or unrhymed, but the rhymes may not occur at the end of lines  
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Hyperbole   A figure of speech that uses exaggeration for effect.  
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Imagery   Language that evokes sensory impressions. Creates pictures in the reader's mind.  
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Imitative Harmony   Words that seem to imitate the sounds to which they refer. Buzz and whisper are examples. Also called onomatopoeia  
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Interior Monologue   Conversation like thoughts of a character  
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Irony   The difference between actions and words-between reality and appearance  
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Jargon   Special vocabulary of a particular group or activity. Sometimes used for confusing or unintelligible language  
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Justification   The giving of reasons or support; for example, giving an argument or reason that shows that an action or belief is reasonable or true  
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Juxtaposition (or contrast)   The deliverate contrast of characters, settings, or situations for effect. The effect many be demonstration of character of heightening of mood  
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Lyric   A short poem that expresses the private emotions or thoughts of the writer. Sonnets, odes and elegies are examples.(In modern use, lyrics are the words to songs.)  
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Metamorphosis   An change in appearance or character  
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Metaphor   Comparison without using like or as  
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Metonymy   Figure of speech that replaces the name of one thing with the name of one thing with the name of something closely associated with it. For example: the White House generally means the American government  
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Metrical poetry   Is written in regular, repeating rhythms and may be rhymed or unrhymed. Rhymes are gegular, like the rhythm and are often found at the end of a line.  
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Monologue   A literary form: an oral or written coposition in which only one person speaks. A kind of soliloquy: a speech or narrative presented by one person  
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Mood   In a story, the atmosphere. When a writer orders the setting, action, and characters of a story so as to suggest a dominant emotion or pattern of emotions  
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Motif   A recurring theme, situation, incident, idea, image, or character type that is found in literature  
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Ode   A poem expressing lofty emotion. Often celebrate and event, or are addressed to nature or to some admired person, place or thing.  
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Oxymoron   A combination of two usually contradictory terms in a compressed paradox. For example, living dead  
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Parable   A short, often simple story that teaches or explains a lesson, often moral or religious lesson  
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Paradox   An apparenatly self-contradictory statement that is in fact true  
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Parallelism   The arrangement of similarly constructed clauses, verses or sentences, suggesting some correspondence between them  
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Ode   A poem expressing lofty emotion. This stype of poem often celebrates and event, or is addressed to nature or to some admired person  
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Onomatopoea   Words that seem to imitate the sounds to which they refer. Buzz and whisper are examples. Also called onomatopoeia  
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Oxymoron   A combination of two usually contradictory terms in a paradox. For example: living dead  
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Parable   A short, often simple story that teaches or explains a lesson, often a moral or religious lesson  
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Paradox   An apparently self-contradictory statement that is in fact true  
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Parallelism   The arrangement of similarly constructed clauses, verses or sentences.  
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Personification   The giving of human characteristics to inanimate objects  
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First Person Point of View   The story is told by one of the characters in the story (I). The narrator is in the story. First person narrators only know what they themselves think, feel do, see, and hear  
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Objective Point of View   The story is told without telling any charactes' thoughts and feelings. Only the characters' actions and words are told. This point of view is a lot like the camera's point of view in a movie.  
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Third Person Point of View, Omnicient   The story is told through the eyes of one or more characters(he, we, they) The narrator is outside the story, and tells what the characters think, and feel, an do.  
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Precedent   Something that serves and an example or justification for subsequent situtations  
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Prologue   An introduction to a play, often delivered by the chorus(in ancient Greece, a group, but in modern plays, one actor) who plays not part in the following action  
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Pun   A humorous expression that depends on a double meaning, either between different senses of the same word or between two similar sounding words  
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Rhetoric   The art of speaking or writing  
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Rhetorical Question   A question for which a reply is not required or even wanted. The question is asked for effect ; often to make a statement: Is there anyone that does not believe in freedom?  
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Ridicule   Contemptuous laughter of mockery. May be an element of satire  
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Satire   A form of writing that exposes the failing of individuals, institutions, or societies to riducle or scorn in order to correct or expose some eveil or wrongdoing. The word is sometimes used as a synonym for ridicule  
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Simile   Comparison using like or as  
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Soliloquy   A speech by a character who is alone on a stage, or whose presence is unrecognized by the characters. The purpose is to make the audience aware of the characters's thoughts or to give information concerning other characters or about the action  
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Sonnet   A lyric poem fourteen lines long and usually iambic pentameter. Shakespearean,and Italian  
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Syllogism   A form of logical argument that derives a conclusion from two premises. Example: All men must die. Socrates is a man. Thus Socrates will die  
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Symbol   Anything that stands for or represents something other than itself. In literature, a symbol is a word or phrase referring to an object, scene, or action that also has some further significance associated with it.  
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Synecdoche   Figure of speech that replaces the name of something with the name of a part of the same thing. Many hands make light work.  
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Thesis   A statement that is made as the first step in argument or a demonstration  
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Tone   A particular way of speaking or writing. Also describes the general feeling of a piece of work. It can demonstrate the writer's attitude towards characters, settings, conflicts. Example: thoughtful, chatty, formal, tragic or silly  
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