English Literature - Language Key terminology

Question 1

Alliteration

Answer 1

The repetition of identical consonant sounds, most often the sounds beginning words.

Question 2

Allusion

Answer 2

A reference to another text or idea

Question 3

Assonance

Answer 3

Repeated vowel sounds in words that are close to each other. It is sometimes referred to as a slant rhyme.

Question 4

Figurative language

Answer 4

Using a word or phrase that does not have its normal everyday, literal meaning. Writers can use figurative language to make their work more interesting or more dramatic than literal language which simply states facts.

Question 5

Imagery

Answer 5

Imagery means using figurative language in a way that appeals to our physical senses. Although the word ‘imagery’ sounds like it refers only to visual language—what we see—it also refers to any of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.

Question 6

Metaphor

Answer 6

A comparison between two unlike things, this describes one thing as if it were something else. Does not use ‘like’ or ‘as’ for the comparison (see simile).

Question 7

Onomatopoeia

Answer 7

A blending of consonant and vowel sounds designed to imitate or suggest the activity being described.

Question 8

Oxymoron

Answer 8

When words have opposite meaning but are together; they contradictory

Question 9

Personification

Answer 9

Attributing human characteristics to nonhuman things or abstractions.

Question 10

Simile

Answer 10

A direct comparison between two dissimilar things; uses ‘like’ or ‘as’ to state the terms of the comparison.

Question 11

Sibilance

Answer 11

Sibilance is a figure of speech in which a hissing sound is created within a group of words through the repetition of ‘s’ sounds. These soft consonants are s, with sh, ch, and th, including three others such as z, x, f and soft c.