Diction/sytax Vocab

Front 1

trope

Back 1

artful diction

Front 2

metaphor

Back 2

figure of speech that says one thing is another in order to explain by comparison

Front 3

simile

Back 3

relates two things using 'like' or 'as'

Front 4

personification

Back 4

attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or idea

Front 5

hyperbole

Back 5

over-exaggeration

Front 6

alliteration

Back 6

repetition of the same sound beginning several words in sequence

Front 7

allusion

Back 7

brief reference to a person, event, or place

Front 8

archaic diction

Back 8

old-fashioned or outdated choice of words

Front 9

oxymoron

Back 9

paradoxical juxtaposition of words that seem to contradict one another

Front 10

zeugma

Back 10

use of two different words in a grammatically similar way but producing different, often incongruous meanings

Front 11

imagery

Back 11

descriptive words to paint a vivid image

Front 12

apostrophe

Back 12

figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary person, or some abstraction

Front 13

conceit

Back 13

fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor

Front 14

epigram

Back 14

brief, pithy, often paradoxical saying

Front 15

euphemism

Back 15

indirect, less offensive way of saying something considered unpleasant

Front 16

dissonance

Back 16

harsh, inharmonious, or discordant sounds

Front 17

idiom

Back 17

expression in a given language that cannot be understood from the literal meaning of the words in the expression

Front 18

invective

Back 18

intensely vehement, highly emotional verbal attack

Front 19

litotes

Back 19

type of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite

Front 20

metonymy

Back 20

substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it

Front 21

pun

Back 21

play on words, often achieved through the use of words with similar sounds but different meanings

Front 22

synechdoche

Back 22

using one part of an object to represent the entire object

Front 23

synethesia

Back 23

describing one kind of sensation in terms of another

Front 24

tautology

Back 24

needless repetition which adds no meaning or understanding

Front 25

understatement

Back 25

deliberate representation of something as lesser in magnitude than it actually is, a deliberate under-emphasis

Front 26

scheme

Back 26

artful syntax

Front 27

parallelism

Back 27

similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses

Front 28

juxtaposition

Back 28

placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts

Front 29

antithesis

Back 29

opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction

Front 30

anaphora

Back 30

repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or liens

Front 31

antimetabole

Back 31

repetition of words in reverse order

Front 32

asyndeton

Back 32

omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words

Front 33

polysyndeton

Back 33

use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions than is necessary or natural

Front 34

cumulative sentence

Back 34

sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence, and then builds and adds on

Front 35

hortative sentence

Back 35

sentence that exhorts, advises, calls to action

Front 36

imperative sentence

Back 36

sentence used to command, enjoin, implore, or entreat

Front 37

inversion

Back 37

inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-subject order)

Front 38

periodic structure/sentence

Back 38

sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end

Front 39

rhetorical question

Back 39

figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer

Front 40

chiasmus

Back 40

statement consisting of 2 parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed, ex: "Susan walked in, and out rushed Mary."

Front 41

balanced sentence

Back 41

sentence in which words, phrases, or clauses are set off against one another to emphasize a contrast

Front 42

ellipsis

Back 42

omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from context, ex: "Some people prefer cats; others, dogs."

Front 43

syllepsis

Back 43

construction in which one word is used in 2 different senses

Front 44

hypothetical question

Back 44

question that raises a hypothesis or conjecture

Front 45

solecism

Back 45

nonstandard grammatical usage, ex: "...between you and I."