- Allegory a work that functions on a symbolic level
- Alliteration use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verse
- Allusion a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art
- Analogy drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity in some respect
- Anaphora the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences
- Anecdote short story of an amusing or interesting event
- Antecedent a preceding occurrence or cause or event
- Antithesis an opposition or contrast of ideas that is often expressed in balanced phrases or clauses
- Aphorism a brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life
- Apostrophe a technique by which a writer addresses an inanimate object, an idea, or a person who is either dead or absent
- Argument a fact or assertion offered as evidence that something is true
- Assonance the repetition of similar vowels in the stressed syllables of successive words
- Asyndeton Commas used (with no conjunction) to separate a series of words. The parts are emphasized equally when the conjunction is omitted; in addition, the use of commas with no intervening conjunction speeds up the flow of the sentence. Asyndeton takes the form of X, Y, Z as opposed to X, Y, and Z. Ex: "Be one of the few, the proud, the Marines." Marine Corps Ex: "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." John F. Kennedy
- Attitude the relationship an author has toward his or her subject, and/or his or her audience
- Character person or animal that takes part in the action of a literary work
- Chiasmus Arrangement of repeated thoughts in the pattern of X Y Y X. It is often short and summarizes a main idea.
- Cliche an overused saying or idea
- Colloquialism characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech
- Connotation a meaning or association suggested by a word beyond its definition
- Consonance repetition of identical consonant sounds within two or more words in close proximity, as in boost/best; it can also be seen within several compound words, such as fulfill and ping-pong
- Deduction reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect)
- Denotation the literal meaning of a word
- Dependent Clause a clause in a complex sentence that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence and that functions within the sentence as a noun or adjective or adverb
- Description the purpose of this rhetorical mode is to re-create, invent, or visually present a person, place, event, or action so that the reader can picture that being described; sometimes an author engages all five senses.
- Diction the author's choice of words
- Direct Object the object that receives the direct action of the verb
- Dramatic Irony occurs when another character(s) and/or the audience know more than one or more characters on stage about what is happening
- Ethos the appeal of a text to the credibility and character of the speaker, writer, or narrator
- Euphemism an indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant
- Extended Metaphor the comparison between two things is continued beyond the first point of comparison; this extends and deepens a description.
- Genre type or category of literary work (e.g., poetry, essay, short story, novel, drama)
- Homily a sermon, or a moralistic lecture
- Cacophony harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance
- Hyperbole a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, make a point, or evoke humor
- Independent Clause a clause in a complex sentence that can stand alone as a complete sentence
- Indirect Object the object that is the recipient or beneficiary of the action of the verb
- Invective An intensely vehement, highly emotional verbal attack
- Logos an appeal based on logic or reason
- Metaphor a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity
- Metonymy symbolism; one thing is used as a substitute for another with which it is closely identified (the White House)
- Mood a prevailing emotional tone or general attitude
- Narration the act of recounting the particulars of an event in the order of time or occurrence
- Narrative consisting of or characterized by the telling of a story
- Onomatopoeia the use of words that mimic sounds. they appeal to our sense of hearing and they help bring a description to life. a string of syllables the author has made up to represent the way a sound really sounds. example: caarackle!
- Oxymoron a figure of speech consisting of two apparently contradictory terms
- Paradox a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
- Parallelism refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity.
- Parody a composition that imitates somebody's style in a humorous way
- Pathos quality in drama, speech, literature, music, or events that arouses a feeling of pity or sadness
- Personification a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes
- Point of View the perspective from which the writer tells the story (1st, 2nd, 3rd person; omniscient, limited omniscient)
- Predicate tells what the subject is or does
- Predicate Adjective follows a linking verb and describes the subject
- Predicate Noun follows a linking verb and defines or renames the subject
- Pronoun/Antecedent the antecedent is the word the pronoun replaces
- Prose ordinary speech or writing without rhyme or meter; referring to speech or writing other than verse
- Repetition sounds, words, phrases, lines or stanzaz are repeated for emphasis
- Rhetoric the art or study of effective use of language for communication and persuasion
- Sarcasm from the Greek meaning "to tear flesh," ___ involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something; it may use irony as a device
- Satire language or writing that exposes follies or abuses by holding them up to ridicule
- Situational Irony an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected, the difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does
- Stream-of-consciousness a narrative technique that places the reader in the mind and thought process of the narrator, no matter how random or spontaneous that may be
- Subject tells whom or what the sentence is about
- Syllogism deductive reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises
- Symbol anything that stands for or represents something else
- Synecdoche using a part of something to represent the whole thing
- Syntax the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language.
- Theme central idea of a work of literature
- Thesis an unproved statement put forward as a premise in an argument
- Third Person Limited point of view which represents the feelings of only one character, presenting only the actions of all remaining characters
- Tone the author's attitude toward the subject or audience, either stated or implied
- Understatement the opposite of exaggeration; it is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended
- Verbal Irony in this type of irony, the words literally state the opposite of the writer's true meaning
- Voice can refer to two different areas of writing; one refers to the relationship between a sentence's subject and verb (active and passive); the second refers to the total "sound" of the writer's style.