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English Vocabulary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Audience | the person(s) reading a text, listening to a speaker, or observing a performance |
| Connotation | the extra tinge or taint of meaning each word carries beyond the minimal, strict definition found in a dictionary. Ex: civil war, revolution, and rebellion have same denotation; they all refer to an attempt at social or political change |
| Context | anything beyond the specific words of a literary work that may be relevant to understanding the meaning. May be economic, social, cultural, historical, literary, biographical, etc. |
| Denotation | the minimal, strict definition of a word as found in a dictionary, disregarding any historical or emotional connotation |
| Diction | the choice of a particular word as opposed to others. The word choice a writer makes determines the reader's reaction to the object of description, and contributes to the author's style and tone |
| Ethos | the persuasive appeal of one's character, especially how this character is established by means of the speech or discourse |
| Figurative language | a deviation from what speakers of a language understand as the ordinary or standard use of words in order to achieve some special meaning or effect. Ex: are the simile and the metaphor. |
| Imagery | a common term of variable meaning includes the "mental pictures" that readers experience with a passage of literature. It signifies all the sensory perceptions referred to in a poem, whether by literal description, allusion, simile, or metaphor. |
| Irony | speaking in such a way as to imply the contrary of what one says, often for the purpose of derision, mockery, or jest. |
| Logos | the appeal to reason. Translates as "word" or "reason" and it refers to different systems of reasoning, working together to persuade an audience |
| Mood | a feeling, emotional state, or disposition of mind |
| Pathos | a writer or speaker's attempt to inspire an emotional reaction in an audience |
| Persona | an external representation of oneself that might or might not accurately reflect one's inner self, or an external representation of oneself that might be largely accurate, but involves exaggerating certain characteristics and minimizing others. |
| Rhetoric | the art of analyzing all the choices involving language that a writer, speaker, reader, or listener might make in a situation so that the text becomes meaningful, purposeful, and effective |
| Rhetorical question | any question asked for a purpose other than to obtain the information the question asks. EX: 'Why are you so stupid?" is likely to be a statement regarding one's opinion of the person addressed rather than a genuine request to know. |
| Speaker | the voice used by an author to tell a story or speak a poem.is often a created identity and should not automatically be equaled with the author's self. |
| Style | the author's words and the characteristic way that a writer uses language to achieve certain effects. An important part of interpreting and understanding fiction is being attentive to the way the author uses words. |
| Thesis | in an essay is an argument, either overt or implicit, that a writer develops and supports. |
| Alliteration | repeating a consonant sound in close proximity to others, or beginning several words with the same vowel sound. Ex: "buckets of big blue berries" alliterates with the consonant b. |
| Hyperbole | rhetorical exaggeration, this is done using comparisons. Similes, and metaphors. Ex: "I've told you a million times not to exaggerate" |
Created by:
smc8389
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