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Use of Language
Literary and Rhetorical Terms
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Allegory | A story, fictional or nonfictional, in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts. The interaction of these characters, things, and events is meant to reveal an abstraction or a truth. These characters, etc. may be symbolic or t |
| Allusion | Indirect reference to something (usually a literary text) with which the reader is supposed to be familiar. Allusion is often used with humorous intent to establish a connection between writer and reader, or to make a subtle point. |
| Anaphora | Repetiion of a work, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer's point more coherent. |
| Antithesis | A balancing of two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses. |
| Apostrophe | A form of personification in which the absent or dead are spoken to, and the inanimate, as if animate. |
| Assonance | Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity. |
| Chiasmus | Arrangement of repeated thoughts in the pattern of XYYX. Chiamus is often short and summarizes a main idea. |
| Connotation | Rather than the dictionary definition, the associations suggested by a word. Implied meaning rather than literal meaning or denotation. |
| Consonance | Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity. |
| Diction | Word choice, particulary as an element of style. Different types and arrangements of words have significant effects on meaning. An essay written in academic diction would be much less colorful, but perhaps more precise than street slang. |
| Figurative Language | A word or words that are inaccurate literally, but describe by calling to mind sensations or responses that the thing described evokes.(Metaphor, Personification, Simile, Symbol) |
| Metaphor | A comparison of two things, often unrelated. A figurative verbal equation results where both "parts" illuminate one another. |
| Personification | Figurative language in which inanimate objects, animals, ideas, or actions are endowed with human traits or human form. |
| Simile | A figurative comparison of two things, often dissimilar, using the connecting words "like" or "as". |
| Symbol | An object existing within a work that stands first for itself, on a literal level, and second for something else, on a figurative level. |
| Hyperbole | Conscious exaggeration used to heighten effect. Not intended literally, hyperbole is often humorous. |
| Image | A word, or words, either figurative or literal, used to describe a sensory experience or an object perceived by the sense. An image is always a concrete representation. Imagery is the use of images, especially in a pattern of related images, often figur |
| Inversion | Variation of regular sentence structure. The element that appears first is emphasized more than the subject. |
| Irony | Humor created through a use of opposites or contradictions. (Dramatic Irony, Situational Irony, Verbal Irony) |
| Dramatic Irony | Irony that occurs when the reader knows more about the narrative situation thant he characters involved. |
| Situational Irony | A discrepancy between the expected result and actual results when enlivened by perverse appropriateness. |
| Verbal Irony | When a reader is aware of a discrepancy between the real meaning of a situation and the literal meaning of the writer's words. |
| Litotes | A form of understatement in which a positive is stated by negating its opposite. (Also known as meiosis.) |
| Metonymy | A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated, as in the use of Washington for the United States government or of the sword for military power. |
| Mood | An atmosphere created by a writer's word choice (diction) and the details selected. Syntax is also a determiner of mood because sentence strength, length, and complexity affect pacing. |
| Onomatopoeia | The use of a word whose pronunciation suggests its meaning. |
| Oxymoron | A rhetorical antithesis. Juxtaposing two contradictory terms. |
| Paradox | A seemingly contradictory statement which is actually true. This rhetorical device is often used for emphasis or simply to attract attention. |
| Parody | An exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes. The writer of a parody uses the quirks of style of the imitated piece in extreme or ridiculous ways. |
| Point of View | The perspective from which a fictional or nonfictional story is told. First-person, third-person, or omniscient points of views are commonly used. |
| Repetition | Word or phrase used two or more times in close proximity. |
| Satire | A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. Satire doesn't simply abuse (as in invective) or get personal (as in sarcasm). Satire targets groups or large concepts rather than individu |
| Sarcasm | A type of verbal irony. Although our current culture is saturated with sarcasm, it is not considered to be a sophisticated form of humor. |
| Style | The choices in diction, tone, and syntax that a writer makes. In combination they create a work's manner of expression. Style is thought to be conscious and unconscious and may be altered to suit specific occasions. Style is often habitual and evolves |
| Syntax | The grammatical arrangement of words in sentences. |
| Synecdoche | A figure of speech when a part of something is used to stand for the whole. |
| Theme | The central idea of a work of fiction or nonfiction, revealed and developed in the course of a story or explored through argument. |
| Tone | A writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization on the sentence and global levels. |
| Imagery | Is the use of images, especially in a pattern of related images, often figurative, to create a strong, unified sensory impression. |
Created by:
cutter25
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