Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
74 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Allegory
|
Def. (n.)=A story, poem, or picture that can be read to reveal a hidden meaning, usually a moral or real-life one. Example= The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis is considered a religious allegory with Aslan as Christ and Edmund as Judas. |
|
|
Alliteration
|
Def. (n.)=The constant occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of or closely attached words. Example= "Garry’s giraffe gobbled gooseberryies greedily, getting good at grabbing goodies." |
|
|
Allusion
|
Def. (n.)= Any expression used to call something to mind without saying it directly; an indirect reference. Example= "When she lost her job, she acted like a Scrooge, and refused to buy anything that wasn’t necessary.” A reference to Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. |
|
|
Ambiguity
|
Def. (n.)= The multiple meanings of a word, phrase, sentence, or a passage as a whole. Example= "Each of us saw her duck." We do not know if they saw her ducking, or they saw her duck, as in the animal. |
|
|
Anadiplosis
|
Def. (n.)= The repetition of the last word in one clause and the same word in the beginning of the next clause, within a phrase. Example= "The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story!” |
|
|
Analogy
|
Def. (n.)= A comparison between two things. Example= "There are plenty of fish in the sea", Considers an individual to move on to another mate. |
|
|
Anaphora
|
Def. (n.)= The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of clauses. Example= “My life is my purpose. My life is my goal. My life is my inspiration.” |
|
|
Anecdote
|
Def. (n.)= A short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. Example= In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, when Paris talks to Abigail about what he saw in the woods. |
|
|
Antecedent
|
Def. (n).= A noun or pronoun to which another noun or pronoun refers to. Example= "The weather is great today; let's make the most of it by going to the beach." The word "it" is a pronoun because it refers to the weather. |
|
|
Aphorism
|
Def. (n.)= A pithy observation that contains a general truth. Example= Benjamin Franklin's quote, "Life’s Tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late." |
|
|
Apostrophe
|
Def. (n.)= A figure of speech in which the poet addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or a thing. Example= In Shakespeares play Macbeth, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee!I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.”, Macbeth talks to a dagger as a real person. |
|
|
Atmosphere
|
Def. (n.)= The tone or mood of a place or situation, within a piece of literature. Example= In The Vision by Dean Kootz, "The woman raised her hands and stared at them; stared through them. |
|
|
Clause
|
Def. (n.)= Grammatical unit that has a subject and a verb. Example= "I despise individuals of low character "When the Saints go marching in" |
|
|
Colloquial |
Def. (n.)= The use of slang or informal use of writing. Example= "Go bananas"- Go insane "Buzz off"- Go away Constantly seen in Mark Twain's, Huckleberry Fin |
|
|
Coherence
|
Def. (n.)= When combined together,every paragraph, every sentence, and every phrase contribute to the meaning of the whole piece. Example= 1.For me, the worst thing about waiting tables was the uniform. 2.Sometimes someone I knew would come in and I'd feel embarrassed by my outfit. 3.Now I have a job in an office, where I can wear my own clothes. |
|
|
Conceit
|
Def.(n.)= A fanciful comparison in writing or speech; an extended metaphor. Example= In John Donne's A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, "If they be two, they are two so As stiff Twin compasses are two; Thy soul, the fix’d foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if th’ other do"; he compares his souls with legs of a compass. |
|
|
Connotation
|
Def.(n.)= The emotions and associations connected to a word. Example= Wall Street is usually connected to "wealth" or "power" when somebody talks about it. |
|
|
Denotation
|
Def.(n.)= The dictionary definition of any given word. Example= Wall Street- A street in lower Manhattan that is the original home of the New York Stock Exchange. |
|
|
Didactic
|
Def.(n.)= Works that aim to teach the reader a lesson or moral. Example= George Orwell's Animal Farm, depicts how powerful ideology is, and that it can alter societies greatly. |
|
|
Diction
|
Def.(n.) = The author's choice in words throughout his/her work. Example= In Ode to the Grecian Urn, "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on"; the formal use of "ye" instead of "you". |
|
|
Epistrophe
|
Def.(n.)= Repetition at the end of successive clauses. Example= Abraham Lincoln's quote,"And that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth" |
|
|
Euphemism |
Def.(n.)= More agreeable or less offensive word in exchange for a generally uneasy word or concept. Example= Saying someone Passed away ,instead of died, is a common everyday occurrence. |
|
|
Exposition |
Def.(n.)= One of the four types of essay writing, this one specifically being used to explain something. Example= The book "Finding the Titanic". |
|
|
Extended Metaphor |
Def.(n.)= A metaphor made very long, being seen many times in or throughout a work. Example= Shakespeare's quote, "All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.” |
|
|
Figurative Language |
Def.(n.)= Writing or speech that is not meant to be literal and is usually used to be imaginative and to think beneath the surface. Example= I'm so hungry I could eat a horse; it implies how starved this individual is and how they would like to eat. |
|
|
Figure of Speech |
Def.(n.)= Any device used to create figurative language. Example= Apostrophe, Hyperbole, Irony, Metaphor, Metonymy, Oxymoron, Paradox, Personification, Simile, Synecdoche, and Understatement |
|
|
Generic Conventions |
Def.(n.)= Describes traditions for each genre. Example= Almost all Westerns use the Iconography of cowboy hats, horses and spurs to place them in their genre. Situation Comedies will often have canned laughter, a few specific and long-running characters and locations and with several catch-phrases. |
|
|
Genre |
Def.(n.)= The major category into which a literary work fits. Example= The main categories are prose, poetry, and drama, but can also be broken down into short stories, fiction, non-fiction, etc. |
|
|
Homily |
Def.(n.)= Any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice. Example= Father Bill's quote in 1984, “Perhaps many of you grew up during the depression. If so, you know what it means to be poor. I did not grow up during the depression, but I grew up in a poor family." |
|
|
Hyperbole |
Def.(n.)= A figure of speech using exaggeration or overstatements. Example= I’ve told you a million times; emphasizes how many times this person had to say the same thing, but not literally a million times. |
|
|
Imagery |
Def.(n.)= Sensory details or figurative language used to describe, cook up emotion, or represent abstractions. Example= Teena Marie's, “Portuguese Love”, "On a starry winter night in Portugal Where the ocean kissed the southern shore There a dream I never thought would come to pass Came and went like time spent through an hourglass" |
|
|
Inference |
Def.(n.)= To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented. Example= Norman sees cookie crumbs on the floor and chocolate around his son's mouth; Norman can infer that his son got into the cookie jar. |
|
|
Invective |
Def.(n.)= An emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language. Example= Jonathan Swift's quote, "I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth." |
|
|
Irony
|
Def.(n.)= Difference between what appears to be and what actually is true. There is verbal. dramatic, and situational irony. Example= Verbal- Saying “Oh, fantastic!” when the situation is actually very poor. Dramatic- In "Romeo and Juliet", Romeo thinks Juliet is dead and the audience knows she is not. Situational- A pilot had a fear of heights. |
|
|
Loose Sentence
|
Def.(n.)= A loose sentence (also called a cumulative sentence) is a type of sentence in which the main idea is elaborated by the successive addition of modifying clauses or phrases. Example= Florida is a great vacation spot for families, with Disney World, Universal Studios, and Sea World. |
|
|
Metaphor
|
Def.(n.)= A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally meant. Example= The light of my life; no physical light is seen, but that this person brings upon a sense of joy or happiness to the other person. |
|
|
Metonymy |
Def.(n.)= The substitution of the name of an attribute for that of the thing meant. Example= Suit for Business executive The Track for Horse Racing |
|
|
Mood
|
Def.(n.)= A temporary state of mind or feeling that is brought upon from a passage. Example= Charles Dicken's , Pickwick Papers, " The river, reflecting the clear blue of the sky, glistened and sparkled as it flowed noiselessly on.” |
|
|
Narrative
|
Def.(n.)= The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events. Example= “Faerie Queen” by Edmund Spenser |
|
|
Onomatopoeia |
Def.(n.)= A figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words. Example=Murmur, Whinny, Crack, Hum, Hiss, Buzz |
|
|
Oxymoron |
Def.(n.)= A figure of speech in which apparently opposite terms appear in conjunction. Example= Jumbo shrimp Cruel Kindness |
|
|
Paradox |
Def.(n.)= A seemingly absurd statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true. Example= A quote from George Bernard Shaw, "What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young" |
|
|
Parallelism
|
Def.(n.)= The grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity. Example=John Kennedy's quote, “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” |
|
|
Parody
|
Def.(n.)= A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. Example= "Young Frankenstein"- Spoof on classic monster movies |
|
|
Pedantic |
Def.(n.)= An adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish. Example= "Reality Bites quote, "At the beep please leave your name, number and a brief justification for the ontological necessity of modern man's existential dilemma and we'll get back to you." |
|
|
Periodic Sentence |
Def.(n.)= A sentence that presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end. Example=Positive thinking, by helping us stay focused and maintaining a good attitude, is important for a happy life.
|
|
|
Personification |
Def.(n.)= A figure of speech in which the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions. Example= -She did not realize that opportunity was knocking at her door. -The wind howled its mighty objection. |
|
|
Point of View |
Def.(n.)= The perspective from which a story is told. Example= First Person- TKAM, “It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.” Third Person- 1984, “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” |
|
|
Predicate Adjective |
Def.(n.)= An adjective, group of adjectives, or adjective clause that follows a linking verb. Example= The lumber is large and heavy. When her car broke down, she felt alone and forlorn.My friend’s mood stayed relaxed and calm all evening. |
|
|
Predicate Nominative |
Def.(n.)= A noun, group of nouns, or noun clause that renames the subject, and follows a linking verb. Example= At the end of the tournament, Tiger Woods was the leader. |
|
|
Prose
|
Def.(n.)= One of the major divisions of genre, refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms. Example= Charles Dicken's , “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.” |
|
|
Repetition |
Def.(n.)= The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern. Example= Emily Dickinson's quote, "I’m nobody! Who are you? |
|
|
Rhetor |
Def.(n.)= The speaker who uses elements of rhetoric effectively in oral or written test. Example= Martin Luther King Jr., when he delivered his historic speech to thousands. |
|
|
Rhetoric |
Def.(n.)= Describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively. Example= The purchase of Alaska was referred to as "Seward's Folly" by people who thought this action was wrong for America. |
|
|
Rhetorical Modes |
Def.(n.)= Describes the variety, the conventions, and the purposes of the major kinds of writing. Example= The purpose of exposition The purpose of argumentation The purpose of description The purpose of narration |
|
|
Sarcasm |
Def.(n.)= Involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something. Example= Oscar Wilde's quote, "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go." |
|
|
Satire |
Def.(n.)= The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule criticize people's stupidity or vices. Example= The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain has numerous amounts of satire present. |
|
|
Semantics |
Def.(n.)= The branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another. Example= Some see the glass half empty and others see the glass half full. A flowering plant could be referred to as a weed or a garden flower.One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. |
|
|
Style |
Def.(n.)= An evaluation of the sum of the choices an author makes in blending diction, syntax, figurative language, and other literary devices;Classification of authors to a group and comparison of an author to similar authors.
Example= Jonathan Swift to George Orwell or William Faulkner to Ernest Hemingway or the Renaissance or the Victorian period. |
|
|
Subject Complement |
Def.(n.)= The word or clauses that follows a linking verb and complements, or completes, the subject of the sentence by either renaming it or describing it. Example= It was he who caught the winning touchdown Friday night. |
|
|
Subordinate Clause |
Def.(n.)= Like all clauses, this word group contains both a subject and a verb,but unlike the independent clause, the subordinate clause cannot stand alone; it does not express a complete thought. Example= "...Who ate handfuls of Cheerios with his bare hands" |
|
|
Syllogism |
Def.(n.)= A form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn from two given or assumed propositions. Example= "All love is wonder; if we justly do |
|
|
Symbolism |
Def.(n.)= Anything that represents itself and stands for something else. Example= Natural Symbols-Dove is peace Conventional Symbols- American Flag is freedom Literary Symbols- Whale in "Moby Dick" is overcoming of struggle |
|
|
Syntax |
Def.(n.)= The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. Example= P J Kavanagh’s in his poem "Beyond Decoration" says "Go out I cannot", instead of using I cannot go out". |
|
|
Theme
|
Def.(n.)= The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life. Example= Iliad and Odyssey by Homer, has a theme, "War and violence blinds man of the beauty of nature and the human dignity that unites us all." |
|
|
Tone |
Def.(n.)= Describes the author's attitude toward his material, the audience, or both. Example= The author may use angry, cheerful, or neutral words. |
|
|
Transition |
Def.(n.)= A word or phrase that links different ideas. Example= Furthermore, in final analysis, in addition to |
|
|
Trope |
Def.(n.)= An artful variation from expected modes of expression of thoughts and ideas., a figure of speech involving a "turn" or change of sense. Example= Metaphor, synecdoche, metonymy, personification, hyperbole, litotes, irony, oxymoron, onomatopoeia. |
|
|
Understatement |
Def.(n.)= The ironic minimizing of fact, understatement presents something as less significant than it is. Example= "It is a bit cold today,” when the temperature is 5 degrees below freezing. |
|
|
Undertone |
Def.(n.)= An attitude that may lie under the tone of the piece. Example= William Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence has a grim undertone. |
|
|
Unreliable Narrator |
Def.(n.)= An untrustworthy commentator on events and characters in a story. Example= Huck Finn is one of American literature’s most famous of this type. |
|
|
Wit |
Def.(n.)= In modern usage, intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights. Example= "I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is a delicate exotic fruit, touch it and the bloom is gone." , The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde. |
|
|
Zeugma |
Def.(n.)= A trope, one word governs two other words not related in meaning. Example= "The farmers in the valley grew potatoes, peanuts, and bored." |
|
|
|
|
