AP Language

LOGICAL FALLACY

A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid. E.g: "All Dubliners are from Ireland. Ronan is not a Dubliner, in this manner, he is not Irish."

STEREOTYPE

A stereotype is a character, with generalized traits (characteristics that make the character a group representative rather than an individual). Writers sometimes use stereotypes as minor characters. E.g: All librarians are women who are old, wear glasses, tie a high bun, and have a perpetual frown on their face.

ALLEGORY

A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. E.g.: George Orwell's "Animal Farm" or Plato's Cave.

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW

Third-person point of view has an external narrator telling the story. The words "he," "she," "it," or "they" are used in this point of view and it can be omniscient or limited. E.g.: He is a great football player. He scored the most touchdowns this season.

AD HOMINEM

"Against the man." As the name suggests, it is a literary term that involves commenting on or against an opponent, to undermine him instead of his arguments. E.g.: "How can you argue your case for vegetarianism when you are enjoying your steak?" This clearly shows how a person is attacked instead of being addressed for or against his argument.

PARENTHETICAL IDEA

1. Set off within or as if within parentheses; qualifying or explanatory: a parenthetical remark. 2. Using or containing parentheses. A parenthetical word, phrase, or remark. E.g: "Jane stayed up late, writing her report."

ANNOTATION

A critical or explanatory note or body of notes added to a text. E.g.: Reader annotations, annotated bibliography

PARABLE

1. a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson. 2. a statement or comment that conveys a meaning indirectly by the use of comparison, analogy, or the like. E.g: Jesus has mentioned a very popular parable related to Good Samaritan in the holy Bible. Gospel of Luke (10:29-37) describes that there was a traveler (may be a Jew), whom some people had robbed and beaten alongside the road and left him. A Levite and a priest passed through that way, but both ignored that man. Eventually, a Samaritan reached there and helped the injured and miserable man without thinking about his race or religious belief (generally, Samaritans despise Jews). The moral of this parable is to help all those who are in need, without having prejudice for anyone due to perceived differences.

THESIS STATEMENT

1. a short statement, usually one sentence, that summarizes the main point or claim of an essay, research paper, etc., and is developed, supported, and explained in the text by means of examples and evidence. E.g: "The core principal behind this amnesty proposal is that it is amid at those who have grown up here and are, psychologically and emotionally, Americans."

FALSE ANALOGY

A False analogy is an informal fallacy. It applies to inductive arguments. It is an informal fallacy because the error is about what the argument is about, and not the argument itself. An analogy proposes that two concepts which are similar (A and B) have a common relationship to some property. E.g: "That's why, under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance -- just as most states require you to carry auto insurance. Likewise, businesses will be required to either offer their workers health care, or chip in to help cover the cost of their workers." President Obama on Universal Health Coverage (some feel that health insurance and car insurance are different on many fundamental aspects, and this is a bad comparison)

BALANCED SENTENCE

A balanced sentence is made up of two segments which are equal, not only in length, but also in grammatical structure and meaning. It could be a periodic or cumulative sentence. A reader finds both parts equal when he goes through such a sentence. E.g.: "On days when warmth is the most important need of the human heart, the kitchen is the place you can find it; it dries the wet socks, it cools the hot little brain."

ANALOGY

A comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification. E.g.: "That movie was a roller coaster ride of emotions." While you're not flying through the air, the twists, turns and surprises of a movie plot can leave you feeling like you've been through quite an experience.

GENERALIZATION

A generalization is defined as a broad statement or an idea that applies to a group of people or things. Oftentimes, generalizations are not entirely true, because there may be examples of individuals or situations wherein the generalization does not apply. E.g: All parents try to make life difficult for their children.

HASTY GENERALIZATION

A hasty generalization is a fallacy in which a conclusion is not logically justified by sufficient or unbiased evidence. Also called insufficient sample, converse accident, faulty generalization, biased generalization, jumping to a conclusion, secundum quid, and neglect of qualifications. E.g: Homework is very hard.

GENRE

A literary genre is a style of writing. Your favorite literary genre might be science fiction, for example. The word genre means "artistic category or style," and you can talk about a movie's genre, or the genre of music that drives you crazy. E.g: poetry, drama, fiction and non-fiction

LOOSE SENTENCE

A loose sentence, also called a cumulative sentence, begins with a main clause that is followed by phrases and/or clauses that modify the main clause. These phrases or clauses add information to the main or independent clause. E.g: "Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites, and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back three thousand years, haven't yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food?"

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS (POV)

A method of narration that describes in words the flow of thoughts in the minds of the characters. E.g: "... it is nothing joined; it flows. A 'river' or a 'stream' is the metaphors by which it is most naturally described. In talking of it hereafter, let's call it the stream of thought, consciousness, or subjective life."

CACOPHONY

A mixture of harsh and inharmonious sounds. E.g.:"I detest war because cause of war is always trivial."

LIMITED OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW

A narrator has limited knowledge of just one character, leaving other major or minor characters. E.g.: J.K. Rowling uses third person limited in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The reader witnesses what Harry sees and knows his thoughts and feelings, but without ever hearing first-person narration from Harry.

PARADOX

A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself and still seems true somehow. Fancy that. Everyday examples include, "Nobody goes to the restaurant because it's too crowded." Or how about "This sentence is false." E.g:"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others".

PASSIVE VOICE

A passive voice is a type of a clause or sentence in which an action (through verb), or an object of a sentence, is emphasized rather than its subject. Simply, the subject receives the action of the verb. The emphasis or focus is on the action, while the subject is not known or is less important. E.g: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (by Douglas Adams) "In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move."

PERIODIC SENTENCE

A periodic sentence has the main clause or predicate at the end. This is used for emphasis and can be persuasive by putting reasons for something at the beginning before the final point is made. It can also create suspense or interest for the reader. E.g: "Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites, and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back three thousand years, haven't yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food?"

PREMISE

A proposition antecedently supposed or proved; something previously stated or assumed as the basis of further argument; a condition; a supposition. (logic) Any of the first propositions of a syllogism, from which the conclusion is deduced. E.g: Plebian: "Mark'd ye his words? He would not take the crown. Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious."

PUN

A pun is a play on words in which a humorous effect is produced by using a word that suggests two or more meanings or by exploiting similar sounding words having different meanings. E.g.:"It is the unkindest tied that ever any man tied."(Richard III)

AMPERSAND

A punctuation mark (&) used to represent conjunction (and). E.g.: "Marley & Me"

CARICATURE

A representation, especially pictorial or literary, in which the subject's distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect. E.g.:"Over the course of the last several weeks, commentators have taken to portraying Mr. Obama as clinical and insufficiently emotive, which is really just another way of saying the president is not really knowable. It is a caricature his opponents can exploit in part because a lot of voters remain murky on his cultural identity."

RHETORICAL QUESTION

A rhetorical question may have an obvious answer but the questioner asks rhetorical questions to lay emphasis to the point. In literature, a rhetorical question is self-evident and used for style as an impressive persuasive device. ... Such a question is used to emphasize a point or draw the audience's attention. E.g: "O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"

SIMILE

A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words "like" or "as". Therefore, it is a direct comparison. E.g: "I would have given anything for the power to soothe her frail soul, tormenting itself in its invincible ignorance like a small bird beating about the cruel wires of a cage."

STRAW MAN

A straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while refuting an argument that was not advanced by that opponent. E.g: "Procter: I have no love for Mr. Parris. It is no secret. But God I surely love. Cheever: He plow on Sunday, sir. Danforth: Plow on Sunday! Cheever: I think it be evidence, John. I am an official of the court, I cannot keep it. Procter: I - I have once or twice plowed on Sunday. I have 3 children, sir, and until last year my land give little."

TELEGRAPHIC SENTENCE

A telegraphic sentence is a concise sentence typically containing five words or less. Named for the type of short sentences commonly found in telegrams. E.g: "Sure enough, I hear a little voice from the other side of the room: 'No, mummy--no go sleep!' "I cringe. 'I'm right here, honey. I didn't go anywhere.' But my comforting words fall on deaf ears. Neil starts crying." (Tracy Hogg and Melinda Blau, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers. Random House, 2002)

THEME

A theme is the central topic a text treats. Themes can be divided into two categories: a work's thematic concept is what readers "think the work is about" and its thematic statement being "what the work says about the subject". E.g: Love and friendship are frequently occurring themes in literature. They generate emotional twists and turns in a narrative and can lead to a variety of endings: happy, sad or bittersweet. The following are famous literary works with love and friendship themes: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

ADAGE

A traditional saying expressing a common experience or observation; proverb. E.g.: But as the adage goes, joyful is the man with nothing left to lose.

OLFACTORY IMAGERY

Auditory imagery pertains to sounds, noises, music, or the sense of hearing. (This kind of imagery may come in the form of onomatopoeia). Olfactory imagery pertains to odors, scents, or the sense of smell. Gustatory imagery pertains to flavors or the sense of taste. E.g: "I was awakened by the strong smell of a freshly brewed coffee.

ZEUGMA

A zeugma is a literary term for using one word to modify two other words, in two different ways. An example of a zeugma is, "She broke his car and his heart." When you use one word to link two thoughts, you're using a zeugma. E.g: "Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law, Or some frail China-jar receive a flaw, Or stain her honour, or her new brocade." From Rape of the Lock, written by Alexander Pope.

ARGUMENTATION

An argument is the main statement of a poem, an essay, a short story, or a novel that usually appears as an introduction or a point on which the writer will develop his work in order to convince his readers. E.g.: The opening lines of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" ("It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.") The plot follows this argument.

ALLUSION

An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference. E.g.: "I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio's." This refers to the story of Pinocchio, where his nose grew whenever he told a lie.

UNDERSTATEMENT

An understatement is a figure of speech employed by writers or speakers to intentionally make a situation seem less important than it really is. E.g: "It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine." - In 'Blandings Castle.

UNRELIABLE NARRATOR

An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. ... Sometimes the narrator's unreliability is made immediately evident. E.g: Perhaps one of the most famous is Vladimir Nabakov's Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged man with a predilection for underaged girls or "nymphets" (as he calls them).

ANTECEDENT

Antecedent is the grammatical term used to refer to the noun that a pronoun replaces. An antecedent comes before a pronoun. A pronoun and its antecedent must agree in gender and number. E.g.: "While giving treats to children or friends offer them whatever they like." Them refers to the children or friends.

DICTION

Diction can be defined as style of speaking or writing determined by the choice of words by a speaker or a writer. Diction or choice of words separates good writing from bad writing. It depends on a number of factors. Firstly, the word has to be right and accurate. E.g: "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on"

SYNTAX

Diction refers to the choice of words in a particular situation while syntax determines how the chosen words are used to form a sentence. Most often than not, adopting a complex diction means a complex syntactic structure of sentences and vice versa. E.g: "That night I sat on Tyan-yu's bed and waited for him to touch me. But he didn't. I was relieved."

GUSTATORY IMAGERY

Gustatory imagery, in particular, refers to imagery related to the sense of taste. In other words, gustatory imagery refers to words, descriptions or pictures in your brain that make you think of taste. E.g: The fresh and juicy orange is very cold and sweet.

EXPLICATION

Explication is a term in research and literary criticism for the close analysis of a text or of an excerpt from a longer text. ... The term is derived from explication de texte (explanation of text), the practice in French literary studies of closely examining the language of a text to determine meaning. E.g: Nathaniel Hawthorne opens his novel, The Scarlet Letter, with a paragraph by depicting a crowd assembled in front of a prison door, waiting for Hester Prynne to show up and her scarlet letter "A." Author describes the crowd as a "throng", suggesting a mob-like and densely packed group. The mood is not pleasant, but somber اس displayed by their "sad-colored" garments, hoods and gray hats. Also, an interesting description about the hats of men as "steeple-crowned" suggests that the people of the town are associated with the church that punished Hester. Another description about women "intermixed" with men means people in the town lacking individuality. The use of passive voice "was assembled" further implies lack of individuality. (The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne)

EXPOSITION

Exposition is a literary device used to introduce background information about events, settings, characters etc. to the audience or readers. The word comes from the Latin language and its literal meaning is "a showing forth." Exposition is crucial to any story, for without it nothing makes sense. E.g: Once upon a time, there were three bears. There was a Daddy Bear, who was very big, a Mama Bear, who was middle-sized, and a Baby Bear, who was very small. They all lived together in a little cottage in the middle of the woods. Their favorite breakfast was porridge. One morning, after they made their porridge, Daddy Bear said, 'Let's go for walk in the woods until it cools.' Mama Bear and Baby Bear liked the idea, so off they went. While they were away, a little girl named Goldilocks came walking through the forest and smelled the porridge...

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Figurative language is any figure of speech which depends on a non-literal meaning of some or all of the words used. There are many types of figurative language, including literary devices such as simile, metaphor, personification, and many pun examples, to name just a few. E.g: I move fast like a cheetah on the Serengeti.

FORESHADOWING

Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story or a chapter and helps the reader develop expectations about the coming events in a story. E.g: A character's thoughts can foreshadow. For example, "I told myself this is the end of my trouble, but I didn't believe myself."

SARCASM

Generally, the literal meaning is different than what the speaker intends to say through sarcasm. Sarcasm is a literary and rhetorical device that is meant to mock with often satirical or ironic remarks with a purpose to amuse and hurt someone or some section of society simultaneously. E.g: "Friends, countrymen, lend me your ears." (Julius Caesar by Shakespeare)

HYPERBOLE

Hyperbole, derived from a Greek word meaning "over-casting" is a figure of speech, which involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis. It is a device that we employ in our day-to-day speech. ... Therefore, a hyperbole is an unreal exaggeration to emphasize the real situation. E.g: From William Shakespeare's "Macbeth", Act II, Scene II, "Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No. This my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red."

HYPOPHORA

Hypophora is a figure of speech in which a writer raises a question and then immediately provides an answer to that question. Commonly, a question is asked in the first paragraph and then the paragraph is used to answer the question. It is also known as antipophora or anthypophora. E.g: "What made me take this trip to Africa? There is no quick explanation. Things got worse and worse and worse and pretty soon they were too complicated." (Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow)

THERMAL IMAGERY

Imagery produced by sensing and recording the thermal energy emitted or reflected from the objects which are imaged. E.g: Sarah placed her bare hand on the cold snow.

EPIGRAPH

In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional context. E.g: The epigraph used by Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov is John 12:24 and it says: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit."

COLLOQUIALISM

In literature, colloquialism is the use of informal words, phrases or even slang in a piece of writing. E.g.:"I didn't want to go back no more. I had stopped cussing, because the widow didn't like it; but now I took to it again because pap hadn't no objections... But by-and-by pap got too handy with his hick'ry, and I could't stand it. I was all over with welts. He got to going away so much, too, and locking me in. Once he locked me in and was gone three days. It was dreadful lonesome."

MOOD

In literature, mood is a literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words and descriptions. Usually, mood is referred to as the atmosphere of a literary piece, as it creates an emotional situation that surrounds the readers. E.g: "The river, reflecting the clear blue of the sky, glistened and sparkled as it flowed noiselessly on."

MOTIF

In narrative, a motif (pronunciation) (help. · info) is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative (or literary) aspects such as theme or mood. E.g: "Frailty, thy name is woman"

SPEAKER

In poetry, the speaker is the voice behind the poem—the person we imagine to be saying the thing out loud. E.g: The speaker in Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" is a conflicted person, who does not tell anything about himself. However, the readers of this poem know that he is undergoing a big decision, that he has chosen a single path according to which he is directing his life, and this splits into two options ahead. Falling leaves and yellow woods are metaphors for the speaker's life, showing the downfall of his life. At this stage of life, it is not possible to return and make a new decision, because he knows the time is gone. The speaker is impulsive and adventurous, the reason that he has chosen the less traveled path. He is feeling a little regret, while his tone is also a bit sad.

INDUCTION

Induction is known as a conclusion reached through reasoning. An inductive statement is derived using facts and instances which lead to the formation of a general opinion. E.g: "Some actors are girls. Tom is a boy. Therefore, Tom is an actor."

INFERENCE

Inference is a literary device used commonly in literature and in daily life where logical deductions are made based on premises assumed to be true. E.g: "It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete."

INVERSION

Inversion, also known as anastrophe, is a literary technique in which the normal order of words is reversed in order to achieve a particular effect of emphasis or meter. E.g: "Her mother is the lady of the house, And a good lady, and wise and virtuous. I nursed her daughter that you talked withal. I tell you, he that can lay hold of her, Shall have the chinks."

FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW

Involves the use of either of the two pronouns "I" and "we". E.g.: "I felt like I was getting drowned with shame and disgrace."

APHORISM

Is a brief sentence or phrase that expresses an opinion or makes a statement of wisdom in a concise and witty manner. E.g.: A barking dog never bites.

DRAMATIC IRONY

Is a form of irony that is expressed through a work's structure: an audience's awareness of the situation in which a work's characters exist differs substantially from that of the characters', and the words and actions of the characters therefore take on a different—often contradictory—meaning for the audience than they have for the work's characters. E.g: "There's no art To find the mind's construction in the face: He was a gentleman on whom I built An absolute trust."

AUDITORY IMAGERY

Is a form of mental imagery in which the author uses words to describe something s/he wants the author to hear. E.g.: Onomatopoeias like "Boom!"

ELLIPSIS

Is a literary device that is used in narratives to omit some parts of a sentence or event, which gives the reader a chance to fill the gaps while acting or reading it out. It is usually written between the sentences as "...". E.g: "The potential for unintended humor in 'compressed' English isn't restricted to headline writing; it goes back to the days of the telegraph. One clever (though possibly apocryphal) example once appeared in the pages of Time magazine: Cary Grant received a telegram from an editor inquiring, 'HOW OLD CARY GRANT?-to which he responded: 'OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU?' The omitted verb may have saved the sender a nickel, but the snappy comeback was worth far more."

CONCESSION

Is a literary device used in argumentative writing where one acknowledges a point made by one's opponent. It allows for different opinions and approaches toward an issue, indicating an understanding of what causes the actual debate or controversy. E.g: "Dad, I know taking a trip to another country with my friends may be expensive and unsafe, but I have studied so hard the past year and I think I deserve a vacation. You already know how responsible I have been all my life; I don't think there will be any problem."

BURLESQUE

Is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects- a joke, ridicule or mockery. E.g.: "Catherine's blood ran cold with the horrid suggestions which naturally sprang from these words. Could it be possible? - Could Henry's father? - And yet how many were the examples to justify even the blackest suspicions!"

DEDUCTION

Is a method of reasoning from the general to the specific. ... In a deductive argument, a conclusion follows necessarily from the stated premises. (Contrast with induction.) In logic, a deductive argument is called a syllogism. E.g: Premise: Socrates is a man, and all men are mortal. Conclusion: Socrates is mortal. Premise: This dog always barks when someone is at the door, and the dog didn't bark. Conclusion: There's no one at the door. Premise: Sam goes wherever Ben goes, and Ben went to the library. Conclusion: Sam also went to the library.

CHIASMUS

Is a rhetorical device in which two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal of their structures in order to produce an artistic effect. E.g.: "Never let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You."

APOSTROPHE (figure of speech)

Is a term used when a speaker directly addresses someone or something that isn't present in the poem. The speaker could be addressing an abstract concept like love, a person (dead or alive), a place, or even a thing, like the sun or the sea. E.g. from 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."

ARCHETYPE

Is a typical character, an action or a situation that seems to represent such universal patterns of human nature. An archetype, also known as universal symbol, may be a character, a theme, a symbol or even a setting. E.g.: Death and Rebirth - Shows the circle of life.

ANECDOTE

Is a very short story that is significant to the topic at hand; usually adding personal knowledge or experience to the topic. Basically, anecdotes are stories. E.g.: I once found an injured Cocker Spaniel in front of my house and we took him inside, bathed him and then took him to the vet where they attended to his wounds. In the end, they found his real owner and she took him home.

COUNTERARGUMENT

Is a viewpoint that opposes your main argument. Counterarguments are part of good persuasive writing and speaking strategy because they show that you've considered other points of view. They also set up the chance to refute the opposition and show why your position is the right one to have. E.g: Bullying is often thought of as a natural part of society and when a person is bullied, the offender is to be punished. Without interference it becomes a cycle, bad for the victim and the bully who feels powerful and sometimes ashamed after the fact. A counterargument is to present evidence for the emphasis to be placed on prevention, instead of continuation of the cycle: bully then punish.

CUMULATIVE SENTENCE

Is an independent clause followed by a series of subordinate constructions (phrases or clauses) that gather details about a person, place, event, or idea. Contrast with periodic sentence. E.g: "He dipped his hands in the bichloride solution and shook them--a quick shake, fingers down, like the fingers of a pianist above the keys."

DENOTATION

Is generally defined as literal or dictionary meanings of a word in contrast to its connotative or associated meanings. E.g: "And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each."

ISOCOLON

Isocolon is a rhetorical device that involves a succession of sentences, phrases and clauses of grammatically equal length. In this figure of speech, a sentence has a parallel structure that is made up of words, clauses or phrases of equal length, sound, meter and rhythm. E.g: What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

JARGON

Jargon is a literary term that is defined as a use of specific phrases and words by writers in a particular situation, profession or trade. These specialized terms are used to convey hidden meanings accepted and understood in that field. E.g: Legal jargon used by Shakespeare Why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillities, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? Why does he suffer this mad knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery? Hum! This fellow might be in's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries: is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt? Will his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases and double ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his lands will scarcely lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha? (Hamlet to Horatio in Hamlet by Shakespeare)

JUXTAPOSITION

Juxtaposition is a literary technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts. E.g: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way..."

LITOTES

Litotes, derived from a Greek word meaning "simple", is a figure of speech which employs an understatement by using double negatives or, in other words, positive statement is expressed by negating its opposite expressions. E.g: "I am not unaware how the productions of the Grub Street brotherhood have of late years fallen under many prejudices." (Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub)

LOGOS

Logos is an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason. E.g: "We do know in part what Mr. Ewell did: he did what any God-fearing, persevering, respectable white man would do under the continued circumstances—he swore out a warrant, no doubt signing it with his left hand, and Tom Robinson now sits before you, having taken the oath with the only good hand he possesses—his right hand." ("To Kill a Mockingbird")

METAPHOR

Metaphor is a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated but share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics. E.g: She is fishing in troubled waters.

METONYMY

Metonymies are frequently used in literature and in everyday speech. A metonymy is a word or phrase that is used to stand in for another word. Sometimes a metonymy is chosen because it is a well-known characteristic of the word. E.g: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears."

NON-SEQUITUR

Non sequiturs are those literary devices which include the statements, sayings and conclusions that do not follow the fundamental principles of logic and reason. They are frequently used in theater and comedies to create comedic effects. In fact, non sequitur is a Latin phrase that means "it doesn't follow". E.g: An excerpt from "Bald Soprano" by Eugene Ionesco Mrs. Smith: There, it's nine o' clock; we have drunk the soup, and eaten the fish and chips and the English salad... That's because we live in the suburbs of London and because our name is smith. Mr. Smith: (continues to read and clicks his tongue) Mrs. Smith: Potatoes are very good, fried in fat: the salad oil was not rancid... However, I prefer not to tell them that their oil is bad. Mr. Smith: (continues to read and clicks his tongue) Mrs. Smith: However, the oil from the grocer at the corner is till the best. Mr. Smith: Mr. Smith: (continues to read and clicks his tongue)

OBJECTIVITY

Not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased: an objective opinion. 6. intent upon or dealing with things external to the mind rather than with thoughts or feelings, as a person or a book. E.g: The judge was removed from the bench because he lacked objectivity when listening to cases associated with minority defendants.

ACTIVE VOICE

One of the two "voices" of verbs. When the verb of a sentence is in the active voice, the subject is doing the acting, as in the sentence E.g.: "Kevin hit the ball." Kevin (the subject of the sentence) acts in relation to the ball.

ONOMATOPOEIA

Onomatopoeia is defined as a word, which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting. E.g: Boo. I scared you.

ANTITHESIS

Opposite. Is used as a literary device to put two contrasting ideas together. This emphasizes the difference between the two ideas and adds interest to writing. E.g.: Money is the root of all evils: poverty is the fruit of all goodness.

OXYMORON

Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect. The common oxymoron phrase is a combination of an adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting meanings, e.g. "cruel kindness" or "living death". E.g: "I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible." - Oscar Wilde

PARALLELISM

Parallelism is a literary device in which parts of the sentence are grammatically the same, or are similar in construction. It can be a word, a phrase, or an entire sentence repeated. King's famous 'I have a dream' repetition makes the speech compelling and rhythmic, as well as memorable. E.g: "To err is human; to forgive divine."

PARODY

Parody is an imitation of a particular writer, artist or a genre, exaggerating it deliberately to produce a comic effect. ... Satire, on the other hand, makes fun of a subject without a direct imitation. E.g: "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks;"

PATHOS

Pathos is a quality of an experience in life or a work of art that stirs up emotions of pity, sympathy and sorrow. Pathos can be expressed through words, pictures or even with gestures of the body. ... Pathos is a method of convincing people with an argument drawn out through an emotional response. E.g: "He had meant the best in the world, and been treated like a dog—like a very dog. She would be sorry someday—maybe when it was too late. Ah, if he could only die TEMPORARILY!"

PERSONIFICATION

Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes. The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings. E.g: "When well-appareled April on the heel Of limping winter treads."

KINESTHETIC IMAGERY

Pertains to movements or the sense of bodily movement. Organic imagery or subjective imagery, pertains to personal experiences of a character's body, including emotion and the senses of hunger, thirst, fatigue, and pain. E.g: The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric.

POLYSYNDETON

Polysyndeton is a stylistic device in which several coordinating conjunctions are used in succession in order to achieve an artistic effect. Polysyndeton examples are found in literature and in day-to-day conversations. The term polysyndeton comes from a Greek word meaning "bound together". E.g: "Let the whitefolks have their money and power and segregation and sarcasm and big houses and schools and lawns like carpets, and books, and mostly-mostly-let them have their whiteness." (Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)

QUALIFIER

Qualifier is a word or phrase (such as very) that precedes an adjective or adverb, increasing or decreasing the quality signified by the word it modifies. E.g: The council says its goal is ultimately that the qualifier "women" be dropped from its name.

REBUTTAL

Rebuttal is a literary technique in which a speaker or writer uses argument and presents reasoning or evidence intended to undermine or weaken the claim of an opponent. E.g: "For we were born of change. We broke the old aristocracies, declaring ourselves entitled not by bloodline, but endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. We secure our rights and responsibilities through a system of self-government, of and by and for the people. That's why we argue and fight with so much passion and conviction, because we know our efforts matter. We know America is what we make of it."

RED HERRING

Red herring is a kind of fallacy that is an irrelevant topic introduced in an argument to divert the attention of listeners or readers from the original issue. In literature, this fallacy is often used in detective or suspense novels to mislead readers or characters or to induce them to make false conclusions. E.g: ir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes: Hound of the Baskervilles presents a classic example of a red herring. The readers are thrown off the real murderer and start suspecting the escaped "convict" and "Barrymore". In the end, however, the mystery is resolved by the unexpected confession of "Beryl" that her husband "Stapleton" was the real culprit and was behind the whole mystery of the killer "Hound".

CONNOTATION

Refers to a meaning that is implied by a word apart from the thing which it describes explicitly. Words carry cultural and emotional associations or meanings in addition to their literal meanings or denotations. E.g: "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day"

CONSONANCE

Refers to repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. This repetition often takes place in quick succession such as in pitter, patter. It is classified as a literary term used in both poetry as well as prose. E.g: 'T was later when the summer went Than when the cricket came, And yet we knew that gentle clock Meant nought but going home. 'T was sooner when the cricket went Than when the winter came, Yet that pathetic pendulum Keeps esoteric time¨

CONCRETE DICTION

Refers to words that stimulate some kind of sensory response in the reader: as we read the words, we can imaginatively use our senses to experience what the words represent. E.g.: "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on"

RHETORIC

Rhetoric is a technique of using language effectively and persuasively in spoken or written form. It is an art of discourse, which studies and employs various methods to convince, influence or please an audience. ... Thus, you direct language in a particular way for effective communication or make use of rhetoric. E.g: Flood-tide below me! I watch you, face to face; Clouds of the west! sun there half an hour high! I see you also face to face.

SATIRE

Satire is a technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society by using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule. It intends to improve humanity by criticizing its follies and foibles. E.g: "Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law, Or some frail china jar receive a flaw, Or stain her honor, or her new brocade"

SITUATIONAL IRONY

Situational irony is a literary device that you can easily identify in literary works. Simply, it occurs when incongruity appears between expectations of something to happen, and what actually happens instead. ... It is also known as irony of situations that generally include sharp contrasts and contradictions. E.g: Romeo strives to bring out peace between Tybalt and Mercutio, and eventually between the Capulets and the Montagues. However, Mercutio's death and subsequently Romeo's pledge to kill Tybalt escalates a situation leading to his banishment and finally to the death of both Romeo and Juliet. (Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)

STYLE

Style in literature is the literary element that describes the ways that the author uses words — the author's word choice, sentence structure, figurative language, and sentence arrangement all work together to establish mood, images, and meaning in the text. E.g: The pleasures of the imagination, taken in their full extent, are not so gross as those of sense... A man of polite imagination is let into a great many pleasures... A man should endeavour, therefore, to make the sphere of his innocent pleasures as wide as possible, that he may retire into them with safety ... Delightful scenes, whether in nature, painting, or poetry, have a kindly influence on the body, as well as the mind, and not only serve to clear and brighten the imagination, but are able to disperse grief and melancholy...

SYLLOGISM

Syllogism is a rhetorical device that starts an argument with a reference to something general and from this it draws conclusion about something more specific. ... "John is a man" is minor statement or premise that is specific and "John is mortal" is the logical conclusion deduced from the two prior statements. E.g: "Flavius: Have you forgot me, sir? Timon: Why dost ask that? I have forgot all men; Then, if thou grant'st thou'rt a man, I have forgot thee."

SYMBOLISM

Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is an object representing another to give it an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant. E.g: "Ah Sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun; Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where the traveler's journey is done;"

SYNECDOCHE

Synecdoche is a literary device in which a part of something represents the whole or it may use a whole to represent a part. Synecdoche may also use larger groups to refer to smaller groups or vice versa. E.g: "O no! It is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken."

TACTILE IMAGERY

Tactile imagery is concerned with a sense of touch, physical touches or textures. E.g: 'The bed linens might just as well be ice and the clothes snow.' From Robert Frost's "The Witch of Coos.

RHETORICAL MODES

The act of capturing people, places, events, objects, and feelings in words so that a reader can visualize and respond to them. The variety, conventions, and purposes of the major kinds of language-based communication E.g.: narration, argumentation, description, exposition...

EPANALEPSIS

The epanalepsis is a figure of speech defined by the repetition of the initial word (or words) of a clause or sentence at the end of that same clause or sentence. E.g: I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody too? Then there's a pair of us-don't tell! They'd banish us you know.

ABSTRACT DICTION

The language (words and phrases) we use to describe qualities that cannot be perceived with our five senses (sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing). E.g. calling something pleasant or pleasing is abstract, while calling something yellow or sour is concrete.

EUPHONY

The literary device euphony is derived from the Greek word "euphonos" that means sweet-voiced. It can be defined as the use of words and phrases that are distinguished as having a wide range of noteworthy melody or loveliness in the sounds they create. E.g:Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch -eves run; To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, (Ode to Autumn by John Keats)

ALLITERATION

The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. E.g.: Lazy lizards lying like lumps!

ASSONANCE

The repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words. E.g.: "It beats . . . as it sweeps . . . as it cleans!" - slogan for Hoover vacuum cleaners.

SETTING

The setting of a piece of literature is the time and place in which the story takes place. The definition of setting can also include social statuses, weather, historical period, and details about immediate surroundings. ... The setting provides the backdrop to the story and helps create mood. E.g: In William Golding's novel, Lord of Flies, weather plays a very important role, as it represents mood, behavior and attitudes of young boys throughout the storyline. During the day, beach looks bright, while the ocean is calm and there is no conflict. Author describes the dense areas of the jungle as scary and dark. One night when Simon is killed, there comes a violent storm, and the ocean looks very rough in that black night. Thus, its setting includes weather conditions and ocean representing dark forces of nature present in human nature.

VERNACULAR

The speech of the "common people". E.g: "Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour;"

EXTENDED METAPHOR

The term "extended metaphor" refers to a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph, or lines in a poem. It is often comprised of more than one sentence, and sometimes consists of a full paragraph. E.g: "Bobby Holloway says my imagination is a three-hundred-ring circus. Currently I was in ring two hundred and ninety-nine, with elephants dancing and clowns cart wheeling and tigers leaping through rings of fire. The time had come to step back, leave the main tent, go buy some popcorn and a Coke, bliss out, cool down." (Dean Koontz, Seize the Night. Bantam, 1999)

DISCOURSE

The term assumes slightly different meanings in different contexts but in literature discourse means speech or writing normally longer than sentences which deals with a certain subject formally in the form of writing or speech. E.g: 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

EUPHEMISM

The term euphemism refers to polite, indirect expressions which replace words and phrases considered harsh and impolite or which suggest something unpleasant. ... For example, "kick the bucket" is a euphemism that describes the death of a person. E.g: "I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs."

IDIOM

The term refers to a set expression or a phrase comprising two or more words. An interesting fact regarding the device is that the expression is not interpreted literally. The phrase is understood as to mean something quite different from what individual words of the phrase would imply. E.g: "Every cloud has its silver lining but it is sometimes a little difficult to get it to the mint."

REGIONALISM

The theory or practice of emphasizing the regional characteristics of locale or setting, as by stressing local speech. E.g: pungle (v) To shell out; to plunk down (money); to pay up. (Usage: chiefly West)

TONE

Tone, in written composition, is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject. ... The tone can be formal, informal, serious, comic, sarcastic, sad, and cheerful or it may be any other existing attitudes. E.g: "I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

TRICOLON

Tricolon is a rhetorical term that consists of three parallel clauses, phrases, or words, which happen to come in quick succession without any interruption. The origin of this rhetorical device is traced to the Greek word tricolon, meaning "section of a sentence." E.g: "You are talking to a man who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at catastrophe."

APPEAL TO AUTHORITY

Type of fallacy that occurs when someone accepts a truth on blind faith just because someone they admire said it. E.g.: Princess Kate wears Alexander McQueen. Are you trying to say you have better fashion sense than a royal princess?

VISUAL IMAGERY

Usually it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds. The word imagery is associated with mental pictures. E.g: The night was black as ever, but bright stars lit up the sky

VERBAL IRONY

Verbal irony occurs when a speaker speaks something contradictory to what he intends to. It is an intentional product of the speaker and is contradictory to his/her emotions and actions. To define it simply, it means when a character uses statement with underlying meanings contrasting with its literal meanings, it shows that the writer has used verbal irony. Writers rely on audience's intelligence for discerning hidden meanings they intend to convey. Writers also use ironic similes to convey exactly the opposite of what they intend to say, such as "soft like concrete." E.g: Julius Caesar, the famous play written by William Shakespeare, holds an important example for verbal irony: "Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; and Brutus is an honorable man". This is said by Mark Antony who really implies that Brutus is dishonorable.

ANAPHORA

When a certain word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of clauses or sentences that follow each other. This repetition emphasizes the phrase while adding rhythm to the passage, making it more memorable and enjoyable to read. E.g.: I am awake. I am strong. I am ready.

OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW

When a narrator has knowledge about all the characters in a narrative. E.g.: Dan Brown in his novel, Da Vinci Code, uses omniscient narrative and employs several characters to speak in front of the audience, demonstrating what each character thinks and sees.

APPOSTITIVE

When a noun or word is followed by another noun or phrase that renames or identifies it, this is called appositive. This is a literary device that appears before or after a noun or noun phrase. It is always used with commas. E.g.: "Gus, Eric's black and white cat, slowly crept up behind the kittens." The phrase between commas is the appositive.

ASYNDETON

Writing style where conjunctions are omitted in a series of words. phrases or clauses. It is used to shorten a sentence and focus on its meaning. E.g.: Julius Caesar leaving out the word "and" between the sentences "I came. I saw. I conquered."

ETHOS

is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader. Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response. E.g: "Our expertise in roofing contracting is evidenced not only by our 100 years in the business and our staff of qualified technicians, but in the decades of satisfied customers who have come to expect nothing but the best."

SYNESTHESIA

synesthesia refers to a technique adopted by writers to present ideas, characters or places in such a manner that they appeal to more than one senses like hearing, seeing, smell etc. at a given time. E.g: "Tasting of Flora and the country green, Dance, and Provencal song, and sun burnt mirth!"

CONDITIONAL STATEMENT

the definition of a conditional is a grammar term that means a sentence structure that expresses a particular situation or circumstance and its consequences. An example of a conditional is a sentence telling someone that you will be mad at them if they are late. E.g: If she had left yesterday, she would be at home today. / She would be at home today if she had left yesterday.