Goodwin-Period 4-Terms
Anecdote
A brief story that illustrates or makes a point
Antagonist
A character or force in conflict with the protagonist; the "bad guy"
Aphorism
A concise statement of a truth or principle
Apostrophe
A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love
Foreshadowing
A narrative device that hints at coming events; often builds suspense or anxiety in the reader.
adjective
A word that describes a noun. Example: pretty, tall, short, fat, skinny
epithet
An adjective used to point out a characteristic of a person or thing, but sometimes applied to a noun or noun phrase used for a similar purpose (ex. Catherine the Great)
ethos
An appeal to credibility
Imperative Sentence
Command
Synaethesia
Describing one kind of sensation in terms of another, thus mixing senses. Ex. The silence was as thick as a forest.
Personification
Giving human qualities or traits to inanimate objects.
Logos
Logos is a literary device that can be defined as a statement, sentence or argument used to convince or persuade the targeted audience by employing reason or logic.
Epanalepsis
Repetition at the end of a clause or sentence of the word or phrase with which it began: a combination of anaphora and epistrophe.(Ex. "Mankind must put an end to war - or war will put an end to mankind." JFK)
Anadiplosis
Rhetorical repetition at the beginning of a phrase of the word or words with which the previous phrase ended. Example - he is a man of loyalty - loyalty always firm. ex: The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator.
parallelism
Similar/repetitive syntax used to convey similar/related ideas (ex. "Whether at class, at work or at home, Shasta was always busy." - "at __, at __, at __")
Anachronism
Something that is not in its correct historical time; a mistake in chronology, such as by placing a person, object or event in the wrong time period
Tautology
Something that is repeated without necessary cause.
syntax
The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.
Imagery
Visually or sensory descriptive language, paints a picture
Allusion
a brief reference to a person, place, thing, event, or idea in history, classic literature, or even pop culture usually universally known. Example- Chocolate was her Achilles' heel.
Polysyndeton
a deliberate repetition of conjunctions in successive words or phrases. (duty and morality and loyalty and obligation)
Oxymoron
a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.
Colon
a list; a definition or explanation; a result
Narrative
a sequence of connected events, whether real or fictional. It's basically a story.
Allegory
a story with two meanings, a literal meaning on the surface story and a symbolic meaning. Example- George Orwell's Animal Farm's.
Ellipses
a trailing off; equally etc.; going off into a dreamlike state; ellipsis for any omitted word, phrase, line, or paragraph from within but not at the end of a quoted passage.
Noun
a word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things Ex: Cat, house, Amy
Verb
a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, happen. Ex: Run
diction
a writer's/speaker's choice of words intended to convey a specific effect
Participles
adjectives that look like verbs (ing, ed, or en)
Conceit
an elaborate metaphor that offers a surprising or unexpected comparison between two seemingly highly dissimilar things.
Asyndeton
an emission of conjunction from construction. (I came, I saw, I conquered)
Post hoc reasoning
assumes that because two events occur close together in time, the first must be the cause of the second. Example - After running two miles, I received an A on my test. I should run before every test!
Analogy
comparing two things that have at least one thing in common. Example- I feel like a fish out of water
Syncrisis
comparison of contraries or opposites; contrast ex: He always feels hot. I always feel cold.
Parallelism
comparison of two ideas which is developed through similar grammatical structure.
predicate adjective
describes subject; an adjective that follows a linking verb (be, seem, become, etc.) and describes the subject. Examples of PREDICATE ADJECTIVES: Her dress is blue. You are not hungry.
Hasty Generalization
drawing a conclusion based on insufficient facts or ignoring exceptions. Example - "Action movies are always exciting; the car chase in Gone in 60 Seconds proves this." (The offered evidence is very insufficient)
Exclamation Point
for emphasis; for emotion
Capitalization
for proper names, formality or emphasis
Paraprosdokian
is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence, phrase, or larger discourse is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax.
Gerunds
nouns, end in -ing
Semicolon
parallel ideas; equal ideas; a piling up of detail
Chiasmus
parallelism in which separate clauses are inverted for stronger emphasis. " to stop too fearful, and too faint to go" or "all for one and one for all"
Euphony
pleasant, harmonious sound
Alliteration
repetition of consonant sounds at the start of a word. Example- Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers
Syllepsis
single word changes meaning within the sentence (You held your breath and the door for me.)
Italics
slanted text most often used for emphasis or book citations
Clause
subject and verb
Onomatopoeia
the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named. Ex. Boom, zap, and crack
Juxtaposition
the placement side by side of ideas for comparison or contrast
Infinitives
to and a verb that can act as adj, adv, or nouns
Antithesis
two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect. ex: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
Zeugma
verb governs the sentence. (We traveled to the store, movie, and back home.)
Subordinate clause
AKA dependent clause a clause, typically introduced by a conjunction, that forms part of and is dependent on a main clause (e.g., "when it rang" in "she answered the phone when it rang").
Ad hominem attacks
"name calling," using personality and/or character traits as an argument. Example - "Supporters of Ralph Nader are whiny." (The statement does nothing to prove the point.)
Dash
- interruption of a thought; an interjection of a thought into another
Synecdoche
A part is substituted for a whole or understanding one thing for another. Ex. That suit had closed a lot of cases... Suit - detective
Pun
A play on words used for comical relief in literature. (Essentially just a joke.)
Theme
A central idea or subject in a literary work. Ex. Female empowerment in The Awakening
Tragic Flaw
A character defect that causes the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy
False Analogy Fallacy
A comparison that is seemingly valid, but in which the similarities do not hold up. (Example: "People who can't go without their coffee every morning are no better than alcoholics")
Compound sentence
A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinate conjunction (and, but, or) or by a semicolon: e.g., The singer bowed to the audience, but she sang no encores.
False Dilemma/ Either/Or Fallcy
A fallacy in which 2 options are presented as the only two possible choices. (Example: "If that noise wasn't the dog, then it must have been ghosts.")
Red Herring Fallacy
A fallacy in which an outside topic is presented to draw attention away from the topic at hand. (Example: "Sure, we haven't given any healthcare benefits to our workers, but right now our concern should be customer service. The customer must always come first.")
Paradox
A figure of speech or statement that seems contradictory but actually contains a hidden truth.
Hyperbole
A figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, make a point, or evoke humor
Dramatic Irony
A form of irony that occurs when the audience/reader has a better understanding of events or individuals that one or more of the characters
Mood
A literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words and descriptions.
Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that refers to something as being the same as another thing for rhetorical effect. It may provide clarity or identify hidden similarities between two ideas. Where a simile compares two items, a metaphor directly equates them, and does not use "like" or "as" as does a simile.
Rhetorical Question
A question asked by the speaker, in which an answer is not expected. Its purpose is to make the reader think about the subject and make a point.
Motif
A recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. ex: colors like the green light and gold in The Great Gastby.
Idiom
A saying, common expression (ie. kick the bucket, back to the drawing board)
paradox
A seemingly contradictory statement that, in fact, contains some truth. (ex. "A rich man is no richer than a poor man.")
adverb
A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Example: Kindly, slowly, here, often, and very
Parallelism
Also referred to as parallel construction or parallel structure, this term comes from Greek roots meaning "beside one another." It refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity.
pathos
An appeal to emotion (ex. "The sad, lonely puppy sat whining on the side of the road as the rains came down in sheets around him".)
Simple sentence
An independent clause. It has a subject and a verb, and that's pretty much it. Example: The giant chopped down the bean tree.
Euphemism
An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant
Litotes
ironical understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g., you won't be sorry, this is no small problem)
Flashback
An organizational device used in literature to present action that occurred before current (present) time of the story. Flashbacks are often introduced as the dreams or recollections of one or more characters.
paraprosdokian
An unexpected ending to a phrase/series; used for humorous or dramatic effect (ex. "It was a beautiful day in March when I was hit by a car.")
Pathos
Appeal to emotion
Testimonials Fallacy
False authorities incorrectly evoke the backing of a well known public figure to increase their credibility. (Example: Oprah Winfrey recommending a book on her television show)
Bildungsroman
is a special kind of novel that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of its main character from his or her youth to adulthood.
Exclamatory Sentence
Emotion
Syllogism
Equating two things or ideas through an intermediate connection of another idea. If X equals Y and Y equals Z, then X equals Z.
Misleading Statistics Fallacy
Focusing on outliers or trends that do not reflect the entirety of the data to misconstrue its results. (Example: "99% of people say this is the best pen they've ever used" when only 5% of the survey group has tried any other pens)
Declarative sentence
declarative sentence is a sentence in the form of a statement: e.g., London is the capital of England.
Repetition
The act of repeating something in literature, such as a repeated phrase.
Tone
The attitude of a writer towards a subject or audience, generally conveyed through the choice of words or viewpoint
Protagonist
The main role or most significant character in literature.
direct address
The name of the person (normally) who is being spoken to. It is always a proper noun
oxymoron
Two contradictory terms placed next to each other to highlight a deeper meaning/conflict (ex. "deafening silence")
Verbal Irony
When a person says or writer one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning
Phrase
a small group of words together forming a component of a clause.
Preposition
a word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause, as in "the man on the platform," "she arrived after dinner," "what did you do it for ?".
Overstatement
an opinion that appears too broad, or certain, to be true. Example - "This is the worst book ever written." (How could the speaker possibly know this to be true?)
Complex sentence
contains an independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses: e.g., You said that you would tell the truth.
Cacophony
harsh, discordant sounds.
Loose sentence
main point at beginning; A loose sentence makes complete sense if brought to a close before the actual ending: e.g., We reached Edmonton/that morning/after a turbulent flight/and some exciting experiences.
Periodic sentence
main point at the end; A periodic sentence makes sense only when the end of the sentence is reached: e.g., That morning, after a turbulent flight and some exciting experiences, we reached Edmonton.
Begging the Question
means assuming that a certain opinion is so obvious that it does not need to be proved or assumes in the premise what the arguer should be trying to prove in the conclusion. Example - "The curfew should be repealed because discrimination against young people is wrong" (But, is the curfew really discrimination?)
Diazeugma
noun governs the sentence (He shook his head, took a breath, and walked away.
Bandwagon
occurs when someone suggests that something is true because it is popular. The flaw here is that the popularity of a position does not guarantee that it is valid. Opinions can be popular for a variety of reasons: cultural custom, religious belief, lack evidence to the contrary, small sample size, and pressures to conform to the norm. Essentially, this is the fallacy of "peer pressure." Example - "Everyone is going to the concert, so you should let me go too."
Interrogative Sentence
question
Appositives
rename nouns
Predicate noun
renames subject; a noun that follows a linking verb (be, seem, become, etc.) and defines the subject. It answers the question: what is the subject? Examples of PREDICATE NOUNS: He is a great singer. New York and London are cities.
Consonance
repetition of consonant sounds in the middle of the word.
Anaphora
repetition of the first part of the sentence ex: My life is my purpose. My life is my goal. My life is my inspiration.
Antecedent
the noun the pronoun replaces
Anistrophe/Epistrophe
the repetition of phrases or words at the end of the clauses or sentences. ex: The big sycamore by the creek was gone. The willow tangle was gone. The little enclave of untrodden bluegrass was gone.
Assonance
the repetition of vowel sounds in the middle of a word. (ex. The sergeant asked him to bomb the lawn with hotpots.)
Metonymy
the substitution of the name of an attribute for that of the thing being spoken of. ex: calling a business executive a suit.