Eng II Literary Terms

Question 1

Literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions

Answer 1

Allegory

Question 2

Repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words

Answer 2

Alliteration

Question 3

Reference to something literary, mythological, biblical, or historic

Answer 3

Allusion

Question 4

Comparison between two different things which are similar in some way

Answer 4

Analogy

Question 5

Repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences

Answer 5

Anaphora

Question 6

A brief personal narrative which focuses on a particular incident or event

Answer 6

Anecdote

Question 7

Statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced

Answer 7

Antithesis

Question 8

Statement which expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance

Answer 8

Aphorism

Question 9

Act of speaking directly to an absent or imaginary person, or to some abstraction

Answer 9

Apostrophe

Question 10

Informal words or expressions not unusually accepted in formal writing

Answer 10

Colloquialism

Question 11

The implied or associative meaning of a word

Answer 11

Connotation

Question 12

The literal meaning of a word

Answer 12

Denotation

Question 13

Something which has as its primary purpose to teach or instruct

Answer 13

Didactic

Question 14

Omission of a word which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from the context

Answer 14

Ellipsis

Question 15

A moment of sudden revelation or insight

Answer 15

Epiphany

Question 16

An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant

Answer 16

Euphemism

Question 17

Major category of type of literature

Answer 17

Genre

Question 18

Intentional exaggeration to create an effect

Answer 18

Hyperbole

Question 19

Concrete sensory details which contribute to the themes of ideas of a work

Answer 19

Imagery

Question 20

Intensely vehement, highly emotional verbal attack

Answer 20

Invective

Question 21

Situation or statement where the truth is the opposite of appearances

Answer 21

Irony

Question 22

Apparently contradictory statement which actually contains some truth

Answer 22

Litotes

Question 23

Direct comparison of two different things which suggests that they are somehow the same

Answer 23

Metaphor

Question 24

Standard theme or dramatic situation which recurs in various works

Answer 24

Motif

Question 25

Inference that does not follow from the premise

Answer 25

Non sequitur

Question 26

Word formed from the imitation of natural sounds

Answer 26

Onomatopoeia