English

42. Epitaph

1. A short inscription in prose or verse on a tombstone or monument 2. A statement or speech commemorating someone who has died: a funeral orientation Example: "I had a lover's quarrel with the world." This brief but telling epitaph can be found on Robert Frost's grave, an excerpt from his poem "The Lesson for Today."

13. Aphorism

1. A tersely phrased statement of truth or opinion. 2. A brief state of a principle Example: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." (Gandalf, "The Lord of the Rings")

38. Diction

1. The choice and use of words in speech or writing. 2. A way of speaking, usually assessed in terms of prevailing standards of pronunciation and elocution. Example: "If they warn't the beatenest lot, them two frauds, that ever I struck."

71. Mood

1. The quality of a verb that conveys the writers attitude toward a subject. 2. The emotion evoked by a text. Example: She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large caterpillar, that was sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long hookah, and taking not the smallest notice of her or of anything else.

5. Allusion

A breif, usually indirect reference to a person, place, or event-- real or fictional. Example: His opponent was looking for his Achilles' heel to beat him.

54. Genre

A category of artistic composition, as in film or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content. Example: Maus is an example of a literary genre called the graphic novel, sometimes better known as the comic book. In Maus, Spiegelman tells the story of the Holocaust using animal characters.

48. Extended metaphor

A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem. Example: But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,Who is already sick and pale with grief,That thou her maid art far more fair than she:Be not her maid, since she is envious;Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.

18. Argument

A course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating truth or falsehood Example: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him! (William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)"

Hasty Generalization

A fallacy in which a conclusion is not logically justified by sufficient or unbiased evidence. Example: My father smoked four packs of cigarettes a day since age fourteen and lived until age sixty-nine. Therefore, smoking really can't be that bad for you.

15. Appeal to Authority

A fallacy in which a speaker or writer seeks to persuade not by giving evidence but by appealing to the respect people have for a famous person or institute. Example: In the movie Mean Girls, a girl that goes to school with The Plastics tells the camera that she went out and bought army pants and flip flops because the most popular girl in school, Cady Heron, wore army pants and flip flops.

50. False dilemma

A fallacy of oversimplification that offers a limited number of options when in fact more options are available. Example: Vote for me or live through four more years of higher taxes. If you want our country to be safe, we must increase military spending.

16. Appeal to Ignorance

A fallacy that uses an opponents inability to disprove a conclusion as proof of the conclusions correctness Example: There is no compelling evidence that UFOs are not visiting the Earth; therefore, UFOs exist, and there is intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe.

67. Litotes

A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite. Example: But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,I am no prophet—and here's no great matter

68. Metaphor

A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common. Example: "Lightning begun to flicker out from under his eyebrows so you wanted to climb a tree first, and find out what the matter was afterwards."

69. Metonymy

A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common. Example: A "head count" is when somebody determines the number of people in a particular place—"head" stands in for people

83. Personification

A figure of speech in which an intimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities. Example: "The lightning kept whimpering."

57. Hyperbole

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect; an extravagant statement. Example: "My heart jumped up amongst my lungs."

75. Oxymoron

A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradict itself. Example: Fair is foul, and foul is fair:Hover through the fog and filthy air.

98. Simile

A figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually in a phrase introduced by "like" or "as" Example: "a fishline as thick as my little finger"

44. Eulogy

A formal expression of praise for someone who has recently died. Example: "My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me." Mark Antony's monologue is perhaps the most famous example of a eulogy in all of literature.

24. Clause

A group of words that contain a subject and a predicate Example: "Tom and me found the money that the robbers hid in the cave, and it made us rich."

79. Parody

A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule. Example: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.The evil that men do lives after them;The good is oft interred with their bones...

73. Non Sequitur

A logical fallacy in which a statement is made that does not connect in a logical or clear way to a previous premise or statement. Example: POLONIUS: If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a daughter that I love passing well. HAMLET: Nay, that follows not. (Shakespeare's Hamlet)

81. Periodic Sentence

A long and frequently involved sentence, marked by suspended syntax, in which the sense is not completed until the final word-- usually with an emphatic climax. Example: "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius." - Ralph Waldo Emerson in Self-Reliance

60. Induction

A method of reasoning by which an orator collects a number of instances and forms a generalization that is meant to apply to all instances. Example: Mary and Jim are left-handed and use left-handed scissors. Bill is also left-handed. Conclusion: Bill also uses left-handed scissors.

35. Deduction

A method of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the stated premises. Example: "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." (Sherlock Holmes)

96. Sarcasm

A mocking, often ironic or satirical remark. Example: "Was there a lack of graves in Egypt, that you took us away to die in the wilderness?" (Exodus 14:11)

87. Propoganda:

A model of logical fallacy meant to elicit an emotional response from the audience. Example: The film Triumph of the Will is a work of Nazi propaganda. The film presents Hitler and the other Nazi leaders as figures of boundless strength and honor, lifting the German nation to new heights of prosperity.

43. Ethos

A persuasive appeal based on the projected character of the speaker or narrator. Example: "That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth."

94. Rhetorical Question

A question asked merely for effective with no answer expected. Expected: Can anyone look at the record of this Administration and say, "Well done"? Can anyone compare the state of our economy when the Carter Administration took office with where we are today and say, "Keep up the good work"? Can anyone look at our reduced standing in the world today say, "Let's have four more years of this"?

37. Dialect

A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, and/ or vocabulary. Example: "What's de use makin' up de camp fire to cook strawbries en sich truck? But you got a gun, hain't you?

27. Comparison

A rhetorical strategy in which a writer examines similarities and/or differences between two people, places, ideas, or objects Example: From Shakespeare's As You Like It-Life is compared to a play upon the stage: "All the world's a stage and men and women merely players. One man in his time plays many parts."

72. Narrative

A rhetorical strategy that recounts a sequence of events, usually in chronological order. Example: Yes, often, I am reminded of her, and in one of my vast array of pockets, I have kept her story to retell. It is one of the small legion I carry, each one extraordinary in its own right. Each one an attempt—an immense leap of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it.

14. Apostrophe

A rhetorical term for breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing Example: Thou still ravishing bride of quietness,Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme

53. Flashback

A shift in a narrative to an earlier event that interrupts the normal chronological development of a story. Example: "My name is Fabian Vas. I live in Witless Bay, Newfoundland. You would not have heard of me. Obscurity is not necessarily failure, though; I am a bird artist, and have more or less made a living at it. Yet I murdered the lighthouse keeper, Botho August, and that is an equal part of how I think of myself."

47. Exposition

A statement or type of composition intended to give information about an issue. Example: I almost tell them right then and there. Tears flood my eyes. They noticed I've been trying to draw. They noticed. I try to swallow the snowball in my throat. This isn't going to be easy. I'm sure they suspect I was at the party. Maybe they even heard about me calling the cops.

76. Paradox

A statement that appears to contradict itself. Example: "Finn, thanks to the treasure that he and Tom Sawyer found, is one of the richest children in town, but he dresses in rags, can't be bothered to wear shoes, and prefers to sleep in an old barrel.

64. Isocolon

A succession of phrases of approximately equal length and corresponding structure. Example: Julius Caesar's quotes "Veni, vidi, vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered).

97. Satire

A text or performance that uses irony, derision, or wit to expose or attack human vice, foolishness, or stupidity. Example: Family feuds: " The two families go to the same church, but they bring their guns just in case action starts again. The families listen to a sermon about brotherly love, and they both agree it was a great message."

40. Encomium

A tribute or Eulogy in prose or verse glorifying people, objects, ideas or events Example: "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful." (1 Corinthians 13:4-5) This has often been interpreted as Paul's encomium to love.

21. Chiasmus

A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the pats reversed. Example: Adam, first of men,To first of women, Eve

28. Complement

A word or word group that completes the predicate in a sentence. Example: "Now she had got a start, and she went on and told me all about the good place."

86. Pronoun

A word that takes the place of a noun; Example: "Poor William...asks me to invite everybody to come to the funeral...But he needn't a worried--it was jest what I was at."

85. Post Hoc Reasoning

After this, therefore because of this. Example: "Nearly all heroin addicts used marijuana before they tried heroin. Clearly marijuana use leads to heroin addiction."

23. Claim

An arguable statement, which may be a claim of fact, value, or policy. Example: "Remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it."Your father's right," she said. "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

1. Ad Hominem

An argument based on the failings of an adversary rather than on the merits of the case;a logical fallacy that involves a personal attack. Example: A. "All murderers are criminals, but a thief isn't a murderer, and so can't be a criminal." B. "Well you're a thief and a criminal, so there goes your argument.

29. Concession

An argument strategy by which a speaker or writer acknowledges the validity of an opponents point. Example: "I said earlier that the decadence of our language is probably curable. Those who deny this would argue that language merely reflects existing social conditions, and that we cannot influence its development by any direct tinkering with words or constructions. So far as the general tone or spirit of language goes, this may be true, but it is not true in detail."

22. Circular argument

An argument that commits the logical fallacy of assuming what is attempting to prove. Example: The new book by Stephen King is very well written because he is such a good writer.Example:

49. Fallacy

An error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid. Example: "Hitler was a veggie lover, so I don't trust vegans." "Well, Isaac Newton trusted in Alchemy, do you suppose you know more than Isaac Newton?"

92. Repetition

An instance of using a word, phrase, or clause more than once in a short passage-- dwelling on a point. Example: One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish,Black fish, Blue fish, Old fish, New fish. Yes. Some are red, and some are blue.Some are old and some are new.Some are sad, and some are glad,And some are very, very bad.

90. Red Herring

An irrelevant point to divert attention from the main issue. Example: As to poor Lestrade's discovery it was simply a blind intended to put the police upon a wrong track, by suggesting Socialism and secret societies. It was not done by a German. The A, if you noticed, was printed somewhat after the German fashion. Now, a real German invariably prints in the Latin character, so that we may safely say that this was not written by one, but by a clumsy imitator who overdid his part. It was simply a ruse to divert inquiry into a wrong channel.

99. Straw man

Argument where the debater selects the oppositions weakest or most insignificant point to argue against in order to divert the audiences attention from the real issues. Example: Othello (by William Shakespeare) "DESDEMONA: And have you mercy too! I never did Offend you in my life, never loved Cassio OTHELLO: By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in 's hand. O perjured woman, thou dost stone my heart,I saw the handkerchief."

26. Colloquial

Characteristic of writing that seeks the effect of informal spoken language as distinct from formal or literary English Example: "I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary."

61. Invective

Denunciation or abusive language; discourse that casts blame on somebody or something. Example: "He is deformed, crooked, old and sere, Ill-faced, worse bodied, shapeless everywhere; Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind; Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.

2. Ad Populum

Evading issues in an argument by appealing to the audiences emotional reactions to certain subjects Example: "A majority of voters cant be wrong." "Everyone is doing it, so there must be something to it." (Also referred to as the bandwagon fallacy)

3. Allegory

Extending metaphor so that objects, persons, and actions in a text are equated with meanings that lie outside the text. Example: Huck represents the ignorant, poor, whites. Jim represents the former slaves. Tom represents the white middle class that makes laws.

78. Paralipsis

Giving emphasis by professing to say little or nothing of a subject Example: "We will not speak of all Queequeg's peculiarities here; how he eschewed coffee and hot rolls, and applied his undivided attention to beefsteaks, done rare." From Herman Melville's Moby-DickExample:

39. Didactic

Intended or inclined to teach or instruct, often excessively. Example: Examples of didactic literature include Aesop's Fables.

Inversion

Inverted order of words in a sentence. Example: "Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines," ("Sonnet 18" by Wiliam Shakespeare)

51. Figurative language

Language in which figures of speech freely occur. Example: But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

25. Climax

Mounting by degrees through words or sentences of increasing weight and in parallel construction with an emphasis on the high point or culmination of a series of events. Example: The climax of "Life of Pi" comes when his boat at last lands in Mexico and he is rescued: I struggled to shore and fell upon the sand. I looked about. ... This beach, so soft, firm and vast, was like the cheek of God, and somewhere two eyes were glittering with pleasure and a mouth was smiling at having me there.

100. Style

Narrowly interpreted as those figures that ornament speech or writing: broadly, as representing a manifestation of the person speaking or writing. Example: 1. She picked a red rose from the ground. 2. Scarlet was the rose that she plucked from the earth. 3. From the ground she delicately plucked the ruby rose, cradling it in her hands as if it were a priceless jewel.

17. Archaic Diction

Old fashioned or out dated choice of words Example: To be afeared used to mean not to be scary, but to be afraid. And how many people today understand that the word wherefore in "wherefore art thou Romeo" means why, not where?

88. Prose

Ordinary writing (both fiction and nonfiction) as distinguished from verse. Example: The "regular people" in Shakespeare's plays usually speak in prose - their words are "prosaic" and therefore don't need to be elevated. Heroic and noble characters, by contrast, speak in verse to highlight the beauty and importance of what they have to say.

66. Juxtaposition

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts. Example: "Seeing photos of ancestors a century past is like looking at your own fingerprints—circles and lines you can't recognize until someone else with a stranger's eye looks close and says that's you."

8. Analogy

Reasoning or arguing from parallel cases Example: That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet.So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title.

7. Andiplosis

Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause. Example: "Mr. Potter," I write, and I put clothes on him, even though I do not see him naked, for he was my father, and just now he is not yet dead.

11. Antimetabole

Repetition of words in reverse order. Example: Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.

95. Running style

Sentence style that appears to follow the mind as it worries a problem through, mimicking the opposite of periodic sentence style. Example: "I was stirring in my bed, not wanting to wake up. I rubbed my eyes and kicked the covers off of me, thinking about the day ahead. I finally made contact with the hardwood floor and pulled my body out of the bed.

34. Cumulative Sentence

Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence, and then builds an adds on. Example: "The radiators put out lots of heat, too much, in fact, and old-fashioned sounds and smells came with it, exhalations of the matter that composes our own mortality, and reminiscent of the intimate gases we all diffuse."

56. Hortative sentence

Sentence that exhorts, advises, calls to action Example: "Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us." -John F. Kennedy

59. imperative Sentence

Sentence used to command, enjoin, implore. or entreat. Example: John F. Kennedy stated, "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

82. Persona

The aspect of someones character that is presented to or perceived by others; specifically a role or character adopted by an author or speaker. Example: "It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me.

89. Purpose

The authors intended message. Example: An author's purpose is reflected in the way he writes about a topic. For instance, if his purpose is to amuse, he will use jokes or anecdotes in his writing.

36. Denotation

The direct or dictionary meaning of a word, in contrast to its figurative or associated meanings. Example: "When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."

32. Connotation

The emotional implications and associations that a word may carry. Example: In The Lord of the Flies, the boys infamously use a conch shell as a tool for order; whoever holds it is allowed to speak. However, as the story progresses, the conch begins to stand for more than the right to speak:

74. Onomatopoeia

The formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. Example: ''...when it was just the bluest and blackest - fst!" The "fst" word is used to create the sound that the trees are making as the wind blows in them.

33. Coordination

The grammatical connection of two or more ideas to give them equal emphasis and importance. Contrasts with subordination. Example: I spent my entire paycheck last week, so I am staying home this weekend.

19. Assonance

The identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words. Example: "Soft language issued from their spitless lips as they swished in low circles round and round the field, winding hither and thither through the weds."

12. Antithesis

The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases Example: Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.

30. Confirmation

The main part of a text in which logical arguments in support of a position are elaborated. Example: "This food would likewise bring great custom to taverns; where the vintners will certainly be so prudent as to procure the best receipts for dressing it to perfection, and consequently have their houses frequented by all the fine gentlemen."(Jonathan Swift, "A Modest Proposal")Example:

80. Pathos

The means of persuasion that appeals to the audiences emotions. Example: "What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him—yea, compel him, as it were—to add hypocrisy to sin? Heaven hath granted thee an open ignominy, that thereby thou mayest work out an open triumph over the evil within thee and the sorrow without. Take heed how thou deniest to him—who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself—the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips!"

10. Antecedent

The noun or noun phrase referred to by a pronoun. Example: "Then Mary Jane she fetched the letter her father left behind, and the king he read it out loud and cried over it."

46. Exigence

The occasion of praise for someone who has recently died. Example: A congressman delivers a speech arguing that we need stricter gun control. The exigence is that the congressman believes stricter gun control will lead to less gun violence.

20. Asyndeton

The omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses(opposite of polysyndeton) Example: O speak for labor; to plead the cause of the men and women and children who toil; to serve the working class, has always been to me a high privilege; a duty of love.

91. Refutation

The part of an argument wherein a speaker or writer anticipates and counters opposing points of view. Example: "If indeed very strong objections have obtained much currency, or have been just stated by an opponent, so that what is asserted is likely to be regarded as paradoxical, it may be advisable to begin with a Refutation."

31. Conjunction

The part of speech (or word class) that serves to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. Example: "Her sister, Miss Watson, a tolerable slim old maid, with goggles on, had just come to live with her, and took a set at me now with a spelling-book."

84. Point of View

The perspective from which a speaker ow writer tells a story or presents information. Example: As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

6. Ambiguity

The presence of two or more possible meanings in any passage. Example: "The word good has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man."

41. Epiphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the end of several clauses Example: The Tempest (By William Shakespeare) "Hourly joys be still upon you! Juno sings her blessings on you ... Scarcity and want shall shun you, Ceres' blessing so is on you."

4. Alliteration

The repetition of an initial consonant sound. Example: Fabulous Finn, funny Finn, fancy Finn

9. Anaphora

The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses. Example: It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on the grass on his stomach. It rained all over the place.

77. Parallelism

The similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses. Example: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.The evil that men do lives after them;The good is oft interred with their bones...

65. Jargon

The specialized language of a professional, occupational, or other group, often meaningless to outsiders. Example: "The worst scenario would be for Bruiser to get indicted and arrested and put on trial. That process would take at least a year. He'd still be able to work and operate his office. I think. They can't disbar him until he's convicted."

93. Rhetoric

The study and practice of effective communication. Example: "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us."

45. Euphemism

The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit. Example: "No word in the B vocabulary was ideologically neutral. A great many were euphemisms. Such words, for instance, as joycamp (forced-labour camp) or Minipax Ministry of Peace, i. e. Ministry of War) meant almost the exact opposite of what they appeared to mean."

63. Irony

The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. A statement or situation where the meaning is directly contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea. Example: "Huck chides himself for his sinful ways, allowing a slave to escape."

52. Figures of speech

The various uses of language that depart from customary construction, order, or significance. Example: On and on, now east now west, wound the poor thread that once had been our drive. Sometimes I thought it lost, but it appeared again, beneath a fallen tree perhaps, or struggling on the other side of a muddied ditch created by the winter rains.

70. Mode of Discourse

The way in which information is presented in a text. The four traditional modes are narration, description, exposition, and argument. Example: A Character (By William Wordsworth) "I marvel how Nature could ever find space For so many strange contrasts in one human face: There's thought and no thought, and there's paleness and bloom And bustle and sluggishness, pleasure and gloom."

58. Imagery

Vivid description language that appeals to one or more of the senses. Example: Description of the River: "Sometimes we'd have the whole river to ourselves for the longest time. Yonder was the banks and the island, across the water; and maybe a spark--which was a candle in a cabin window."