Week 3 English Comp Vocab

Front 1

Irony

Back 1

the use of words to convey a meaning that is theopposite of its literal meaning:

the irony of her reply, “How nice!” when I said I had towork all weekend.

Front 2

Juxtaposition

Back 2

an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.

Front 3

Kennings

Back 3

a conventional poetic phrase used for or in addition to the usual name of a person or thing, especially in Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon verse, as “a wave traveler” for “a boat.”.

Front 4

Litote

Back 4

Litotes is a form of understatement, always deliberate and with the intention of emphasis. However, the interpretation of negation may depend on context, including cultural context.

Front 5

Malapropism

Back 5

the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often with unintentionally amusing effect, as in, for example, “dance a flamingo ” (instead of flamenco ).

Front 6

Metaphor

Back 6

something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.

Front 7

Metonymy

Back 7

the substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant, for example suit for business executive, or the track for horse racing.

Front 8

Mood

Back 8

a distinctive emotional quality or character:

The mood of the music was almost funereal.

Front 9

Motif

Back 9

a distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition.

"the nautical motif of his latest novel"

Front 10

Negative Capability

Back 10

describes the capacity of human beings to transcend and revise their contexts

Front 11

Nemesis

Back 11

the inescapable agent of someone's or something's downfall.

Front 12

Onomatopoeia

Back 12

the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (e.g., cuckoo,sizzle ).

Front 13

Oxymoron

Back 13

a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g., faith unfaithful kept him falsely true ).

Front 14

Paradox

Back 14

a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.

"in a paradox, he has discovered that stepping back from his job has increased the rewards he gleans from it"

Front 15

Pathetic Fallacy

Back 15

literary term for the attributing of human emotion and conduct to all aspects within nature. It is a kind of personification that is found in poetic writing when, for example, clouds seem sullen, when leaves dance, when dogs laugh, or when rocks seem indifferent.

Front 16

Periodic Structure

Back 16

In literature, the concept of a periodic structure refers to a particular placement of sentence elements such as the main clause of the sentence and/or its predicate are purposely held off and placed at the end instead of at the beginning or their conventional positions.

Front 17

Periphrasis

Back 17

the use of separate words to express a grammatical relationship that is otherwise expressed by inflection, e.g., did go as opposed to went and more intelligent as opposed to smarter.

Front 18

Personification

Back 18

the attribution of human nature or character to animals, inanimate objects, or abstract notions, especially as a rhetorical figure.

Front 19

Plot

Back 19

Also called storyline . the plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story.

Front 20

Point of View

Back 20

the position of the narrator in relation to the story, as indicated by the narrator's outlook from which the events are depicted and by the attitude toward the characters.

Front 21

Polysyndeton

Back 21

the use of a number of conjunctions in close succession.

Front 22

Portmanteau

Back 22

consisting of or combining two or more separable aspects or qualities.