terms Flashcards
(39 cards)
what is an allegory?
the usage of character/story elements to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning.
ex. animal farm by george orwell
what is alliteration?
the repetition of sounds in a sentence. (“she sells sea shells”)
what is an allusion?
a direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known (such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art).
ex. “plan ahead: it wasn’t raining before Noah built the ark.”
what is ambiguity?
the multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage.
ex. “i saw her duck.”
what is analogy?
a similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them.
ex. “the relationship between a supervisor and an employee is like that of a coach and a player.”
what is anaphora?
one of the devices of repetition in which the same word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences.
ex. “it was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”
what is an anecdote?
a short narrative detailing particulars of an interesting episode or event.
what is an antecedent?
the word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.
ex. “chelsey(ant.) finished her(pron.) presentation.”
what is an antithesis?
a figure of balance in which two contrasting ideas are intentionally juxtaposed, usually through parallel structure.
ex. “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
what is aphorism?
a terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or moral principle.
ex. “i think therefore i am.”
what is an apostrophe?
a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love, and is an address to someone or something that cannot respond.
ex. “milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour: england have need of thee.”
what is an asyndeton?
consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses to give the effect of multiplicity.
ex. “they spent the day wondering, searching, thinking, understanding.”
what is atmosphere?
the emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work.
what is chiasmus?
a figure of speech in which two successive phrases or clauses are paralle in syntax, but reverse the order of the analogous words.
ex. “the land was ours before we were the land’s.”
what is a clause?
a grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb.
what is colloquialism?
the use of slang or informalities in speech or writing.
what is coherence?
a principle demanding that the parts of any composition are arranged so that the meaning of the whole may be immediately clear and intelligible.
what is a complex sentence?
a sentence that combines an independent clause with at least one dependent clause.
what is a compound sentence?
two or more independent clauses joined with a comma, semicolon or conjunction.
what is a conceit?
a fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects.
what is connotation?
the nonliteral meaning of a word; the implied meaning.
ex. house vs home= warm feeling of comfort
what is a denotation?
the literal dictionary definition of a word.
what is diacope?
repetition of a word or phrase after an intervening word or phrase.
ex. “i can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. and i can picture us attacking that world, because they’d never expect it.”
what is diction?
refers to the writer’s word choices.
