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english techniques Flashcards

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1
Q

What is Aesthetic?

A

Pertaining to the value of art for its own sake or for form.

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2
Q

What is Allegory?

A

Narrative form in which characters and actions have meanings outside themselves; characters are usually personifications of abstract qualities.

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3
Q

What is Alliteration?

A

The repetition of initial consonant sounds or any vowel sounds within a formal grouping, such as a poetic line or stanza, or in close proximity in prose.

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4
Q

What is Allusion?

A

A figure of speech which makes brief, even casual reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object to create a resonance in the reader or to apply a symbolic meaning to the character or object of which the allusion consists.

For example, in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the surname of the protagonist, George Milton, is an allusion to John Milton, author of Paradise Lost.

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5
Q

What is Anachronism?

A

Use of historically inaccurate details in a text; for example, depicting a 19th-century character using a computer.

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6
Q

What is Anadiplosis?

A

Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the next clause.

For example, ‘The crime was common, common be the pain.’ (Alexander Pope)

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7
Q

What is Analogy?

A

Comparison of two things that are alike in some respects. Metaphors and similes are both types of analogy.

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8
Q

What is Anaphora?

A

Regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses.

For example, ‘We shall fight in the trenches. We shall fight on the oceans. We shall fight in the sky.’

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9
Q

What is Anastrophe?

A

Inversion of natural speaking order.

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10
Q

What is Anecdote?

A

A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature.

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11
Q

What is Antagonist?

A

Character or force in a literary work that opposes the main character, or protagonist.

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12
Q

What is Antanagoge?

A

A negative and positive statement in one; used to present a problem and a subsequent solution.

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13
Q

What is Anthropomorphism?

A

The attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to a god, animal, or object.

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14
Q

What is Antihero?

A

Protagonist of a literary work who does not embody the traditional qualities of a hero.

For example, the protagonists created by Byron in Don Juan and Childe Harold.

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15
Q

What is Antimetabole?

A

The repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed order.

For example, ‘I know what I like, and I like what I know.’

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16
Q

What is Antithesis?

A

The juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words or phrases.

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17
Q

What is Aphorism?

A

A concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief.

The writings of Benjamin Franklin contain many aphorisms, such as ‘Early to bed and early to rise/Make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.’

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18
Q

What is Apophasis?

A

This device works in a similar way as irony, where you might say something while denying it.

For example, ‘I’m not saying that it is your fault, but you were the one who broke the vase.’

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19
Q

What is Apostrophe?

A

A figure of speech in which a person, thing, or abstract quality is addressed as if present.

For example, the invocation to the muses usually found in epic poetry.

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20
Q

What is Aside?

A

When a character speaks to an audience typically without the other characters hearing what is being said.

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21
Q

What is Assonance?

A

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually in successive or proximate words.

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22
Q

What is Asyndeton?

A

The practice of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses, giving a more extemporaneous effect.

For example, ‘He was brave, fearless, afraid of nothing.’

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23
Q

What is Bildungsroman?

A

A novel or story whose theme is the moral or psychological growth of the main character.

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24
Q

What is Catharsis?

A

Purification or cleansing of the spirit through the emotions of pity and terror as a witness to a tragedy.

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25
What is Chiasmus?
Figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of parallel clauses is reversed in the second. ## Footnote For example, 'Has the Church failed mankind, or has mankind failed the Church?'-- T.S. Eliot.
26
What is Colloquial?
Ordinary language; the vernacular. ## Footnote For example, depending on where in the United States you live, a sandwich is called a sub, a grinder, or a hero.
27
What is Connotation?
What is implied by a word. ## Footnote For example, the words sweet, gay, and awesome have connotations that are quite different from their actual definitions.
28
What is Consonance?
The repetition of two or more consonants with a change in the intervening vowels, such as pitter-patter, splish-splash, and click-clack.
29
What is Contradiction?
A direct opposition between things compared; inconsistency.
30
What is Denotation?
The dictionary definition of a word; the direct and specific meaning.
31
What is Deus ex machina?
As in Greek theater, use of an artificial device or contrived solution to solve a difficult situation, usually introduced suddenly and unexpectedly.
32
What is Diacope?
A repeated word or phrase split up by another word, to display strong emotion. ## Footnote For example, 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank god we are free at last.'
33
What is Diction?
An author's choice of words to convey a tone or effect.
34
What is Didactic?
Intended for teaching or to teach a moral lesson.
35
What is Dramatic Irony?
When the audience knows something that the character doesn’t.
36
What is Elegy?
Poem or prose lamenting the death of a particular person. ## Footnote Perhaps the most famous elegy is Thomas Grey's poem, 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.'
37
What is Epanalepsis?
Repetition of a word at the end of a clause that was used at the beginning of a clause.
38
What is Epiphany?
A sudden or intuitive insight or perception into the reality or essential meaning of something usually brought on by a simple or common occurrence or experience.
39
What is Epigraph?
Quote set at the beginning of a literary work or at its divisions to set the tone or suggest a theme.
40
What is Epitaph?
A piece of writing in praise of a deceased person.
41
What is Epistolary?
A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters.
42
What is Epistrophe?
Repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.
43
What is Eponym?
Use a famous person's name to convey an idea.
44
What is Eulogy?
A speech or writing in praise of a person or thing; an oration in honor of a deceased person.
45
What is Euphemism?
Substitution of a milder or less direct expression for one that is harsh or blunt. ## Footnote For example, using 'passed away' for 'dead.'
46
What is Ethos?
An ethical appeal that convinces the audience of the speaker's credibility or character.
47
What is Expletive?
A single word or short phrase intended to emphasize surrounding words. ## Footnote Commonly, expletives are set off by commas. Examples: in fact, of course, after all, certainly.
48
What is Foil?
A person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast.
49
What is Foreshadow?
To hint at or present things to come in a story or play.
50
What is Genre?
Term used to describe literary forms, such as tragedy, comedy, novel, or essay.
51
What is Hyperbole?
An overstatement characterized by exaggerated language.
52
What is Hypophora?
A question followed by an answer.
53
What is Imagery?
Sensory details in a work; the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, call to mind an idea, or describe an object.
54
What is In medias res?
Opening a story in the middle of the action, requiring filling in past details by exposition or flashback.
55
What is Intertextual reference?
When one text directly references another.
56
What is Invective?
The use of angry and insulting language in satirical writing.
57
What is Irony?
A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant.
58
What is Isocolon?
Parallel structure in which the parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical structure, but also in length. ## Footnote For example, 'An envious heart makes a treacherous ear' (Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston).
59
What is Juxtaposition?
Placing of two items side by side to create a certain effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish some other purpose.
60
What is Litote?
Form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis and intensity. ## Footnote For example, 'She is not a bad cook.'
61
What is Logos?
An appeal to an audience's reason through logic.
62
What is Metaphor?
A figure of speech that implies rather than directly describes something by comparing it to something else.
63
What is Metonymy?
A specific type of metaphorical expression when a thing refers to something else that is closely associated.
64
What is Mood?
The feeling or ambience resulting from the tone of a piece as well as the writer/narrator's attitude and point of view.
65
What is Motif?
Recurrent device, formula, or situation that often serves as a signal for the appearance of a character or event.
66
What is Onomatopoeia?
A word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes, such as buzz.
67
What is Oxymoron?
A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements, as in 'jumbo shrimp' or 'deafening silence.'
68
What is Paradox?
A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true.
69
What is Parallelism?
Recurrent syntactical similarity where several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed alike to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences equal in importance.
70
What is Parody?
A satirical imitation of a work of art for the purpose of ridiculing its style or subject.
71
What is Pathetic Fallacy?
A figure of speech where the natural world is given human emotions, usually reflecting the mood of the characters.
72
What is Pathos?
Emotional appeal through devices such as emotive language to create sympathy.
73
What is Persona?
The voice or figure of the author who tells and structures the story and who may or may not share the values of the actual author.
74
What is Personification?
Treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person by giving it human qualities.
75
What is Perspective?
A character's view of the situation or events in the story.
76
What is Point of view?
The view the reader gets of the action and characters in a story.
77
What is Polysyndeton?
Overabundance of conjunctions in a list.
78
What is Prose?
The ordinary form of written language without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse.
79
What is Protagonist?
The chief character in a work of literature.
80
What is Pun?
A humorous play on words.
81
What is Realism?
The literary practice of attempting to describe life and nature without idealization and with attention to detail.
82
What is Rhetorical question?
Asking a question that is not intended to be answered but rather makes people think.
83
What is Satire?
A literary style which makes fun of or ridicules an idea, human vice or weakness.
84
What is Sarcasm?
A sharp caustic remark; a form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually bitterly or harshly critical. ## Footnote For example, a coach saying to a player who misses the ball, 'Nice catch.'
85
What is Simile?
A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind.
86
What is Soliloquy?
Passage in a drama in which a character expresses his thoughts or feelings aloud while either alone upon the stage or with the other actors keeping silent.
87
What is Stichomythia?
In a play, a dialogue in which two characters speak alternate lines of verse, usually during a strong argument or intensely emotional scene.
88
What is Synecdoche?
A specific type of metaphor when one word is representative for another word or concept.
89
What is Syntax?
The way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences.
90
What is Theme?
The central or dominant idea or concern of a work; the main idea or meaning.
91
What is Thesis?
Focus statement of an essay; premise statement upon which the point of view or discussion in the essay is based.
92
What is Tone?
The attitude a literary work takes towards its subject and theme.
93
What is Tricolon?
List of three using similar syntactical structure.
94
What is Utopia?
An imaginary place of ideal perfection; the opposite of a dystopia.
95
What is Voice?
The acknowledged or unacknowledged source of words of the story; the speaker, a 'person' telling the story or poem.
96
What is Zeugma?
Grammatically correct linkage of one subject with two or more verbs or a verb with two or more direct objects. ## Footnote For example, 'I held her hand and my tongue.'
97
What is Zoomorphism?
When we give animal qualities to anything that is not that particular animal.

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