Matthew's Technical Terms Flashcards
Emotive Language
Word choices that evoke an emotional response. It is often used to persuade the reader or listener to share the writer or speaker’s point of view, using language to stimulate an emotional reaction.
Adjectives - Appalling, Wonderful, Heavenly, Magical and Tragic.
Abstract Nouns - Freedom, Pride, Justice, Love and Terror.
Verbs - Destroyed, Vindicated, Saved, Betrayed and Adored.
Pronoun
A pronoun does the job of a noun so you don’t have to keep repeating things over and over again. (I, me, my, mine, myself, he, they, their, it………)
Alliteration
Alliteration is where beginning consonants are repeated to give a nice pattern.
Eg. Sally’s slipper slipped on a slimy slug.
Facts
Eg. “97%” or “1930s”
Opinion
Eg. “but it’s no too late”
Rhetorical Question
A question that does not require an answer.
Eg. Who would have thought the train would be late.
Adjective
Adjectives describe nouns and tell you more about them.
Eg. The man wore baggy pink socks.
Noun
A person (or animal), place or a thing.
Name three types of nouns.
Proper nouns are the names of particular people, places or things (eg. Elizabeth, Paris, Eiffel Tower)
Common nouns name kinds of things (eg. banana, dog, table)
Collective nouns name groups of things (eg. family army, herd)
Verbs
doing and being words
Adverbs
Adverbs describe verbs and often end in ‘-ly’. They say how something was done.
Eg. Martin strolled home slowly. (‘Slowly’ describes the verb.)
Adverbs can also describe adjectives.
Eg. He was very old. (‘Very’ describes the adjective ‘old’.)
Modal verbs
These are verbs that indicate likelihood, ability, permission or obligation.
Words like: can/could, may/might, will/would, shall/should and must.
“The Sea Monster should go away”
‘Should’ is the modal verb here as it indicates the likelihood of the Sea Monster going away.
Imperative Verbs
Commanding verbs. Imperative verbs tell someone to do something, or ask someone to do something.
Be careful with that!
Don’t run in the corridor!
Pass me the potatoes please.
Triplet / Rule of 3 / Power of 3
Triplets are often used to heighten a piece of writing, maybe for selling something or making a phrase/idea stick in your head. The use of a triplet will add energy and enthusiasm to a speech.
Eg. “relaxing, luxurious, extravagant” and “shiny, new, affordable”.
Triplets can also be used in conjunction with
alliteration, for example “dark, damp, dusty”.
Simile
A simile is a way of describing something by comparing it to something else.
Similes always use a comparing word like ‘as’ or ‘like’.
Eg. Fiona looks as miserable as a camel chewing a lemon.
Metaphor
A metaphor says that one thing actually is something else although it isn’t meant literally. It’s a way of creating a vivid image by making you think of both things at the same time.
Eg. His eyes were deep black oily pools.
Ellipsis
An ellipsis is a punctuation mark made up of three dots (…).
An ellipsis is used:
- To show an omission of a word or words (including whole sentences) from a text.
- To create a pause for effect.
- To show an unfinished thought.
- To show a trail off into silence.
Onomatopoeia
A word that sounds like what it means.
Eg. fizz, buzz, crash, crunch
Sibilance
Characterized by a hissing sound; noting sounds like those spelled with s in this, rose, pressure, pleasure, and certain similar uses of ch, sh, z, zh, etc.
Eg. The sly snake slithered around the sofa.
Simple sentence
A simple sentence is built from the minimum of a subject and a main verb. It can be very short in length but doesn’t have to be.
There are several reasons for using simple sentences. For example, it can be used to create emphasis or a series of short simple sentences used together may be used to create tension, as in this extract:
‘We rounded the corner. He was there. We stood in awe at the sight.’
Complex sentence
A complex sentence is built from a simple sentence which is added to a second group of words that are also built around a main verb. The second group gives more detail about the simple sentence, but it cannot stand alone.
Complex sentences add extra detail and information, for example so that a reader is able to create a vivid picture in their mind.
Eg. It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled. It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, arid vast piles of building full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the piston of the steam engine worked monotonously up and down, like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness.
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
In media res
A narrative work beginning in medias res opens in the midst of the plot. Often, exposition is bypassed and filled in gradually, either through dialogue, flashbacks or description of past events.
Syndetic list
A syndetic list is connected by conjunctions.
Eg. Birds flock and wheel and cry.
Asyndetic list
An asyndetic list uses commas instead of a conjunctions.
Eg. Birds flock, wheel, and cry.
