English language techniques

Question 1

What is an allegory?

Answer 1

A story with a double meaning one primary (on the surface) and one secondary.

Question 2

What is alliteration?

Answer 2

Repetition of consonants at the start of words or in a sentence or phrase.

Question 3

What is a cliché?

Answer 3

An over-used, common expression.

Question 4

What is consonance?

Answer 4

Repetition of consonants throughout a sentence or phrase.

Question 5

What does contrast mean?

Answer 5

Two or more things which contrast in description and/or physicality.

Question 6

What does didactic mean?

Answer 6

Any text that instructs the reader or is obviously delivering a moral message.

Question 7

What is a disjunction?

Answer 7

A conjunction (e.g. ‘but’ or ‘yet’) that dramatically interrupts rhythm of sentence.

Question 8

What is an ellipsis?

Answer 8

A dramatic pause (…) which creates tension within a story.

Question 9

What is emotive language?

Answer 9

Words that stir the reader’s emotions.

Question 10

What is enjambment

Answer 10

A poetic technique where a sentence or phrase runs over more than one line. This assists in the flow of a poem.

Question 11

What is a euphemism?

Answer 11

A mild expression used to hide a harsh one.

Question 12

What is an exclamation?

Answer 12

An exclamatory sentence ending with “!” to communicate high emotion.

Question 13

What is form?

Answer 13

Purpose and features of a text influenced in its structure.

Question 14

What are figurative language and sound devices?

Answer 14

metonyms, hyperboles, similes, personifications, assonances, alliterations, consonance, onomatopoeia.
These devices have a powerful impact as they can work on the readers sense to strengthen the subject matter of the text.

Question 15

What is a fractured/truncated sentences.

Answer 15

Incomplete sentences used to increase tension or urgency, or reflect the way people speak to each other.

Question 16

What are gaps and silences?

Answer 16

What is not said; whose voice isn’t heard and whose voice is?

Question 17

What is humour?

Answer 17

, satire, exaggeration, irony, puns etc. Used to lighten the mood and tone of a story.

Question 18

What are icons (language technique)?

Answer 18

A single person, object or image that represents complex ideas and feelings.

Question 19

What is imagery (language technique)?

Answer 19

Vivid pictures created by words. The reader visualises characters and settings clearly.

Question 20

What is an imperative voice?

Answer 20

The forceful use of the verb at the beginning of a sentence or phrase.

Question 21

What is intertextuality?

Answer 21

A text that makes reference to another text. Might be explicit, implied or inferred.

Question 22

What is irony?

Answer 22

A distance between what is said and what is meant?

Question 23

What is juxtaposition?

Answer 23

The layering of two or more scenes to create a dramatic effect.

Question 24

What does the level of usage of language include?

Answer 24

, colloquial, informal or formal.

Question 25

What is a linear story?

Answer 25

Sequential - In chronological order.

Question 26

What is a metaphor?

Answer 26

A metaphor is a figure of speech which makes an implicit implied or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated but share some commonality.

Question 27

What is modality (language technique)?

Answer 27

The level of force within a text. High modality = forceful, low modality = gentle.

Question 28

What is a non-linear text?

Answer 28

A non-sequential narrative, events do not occur in chronological.

Question 29

What is onomatopoeia?

Answer 29

A word that echoes the sound it represents. Reader hears what is happening.

Question 30

What is a parody?

Answer 30

Conscious imitation for a satiric purpose.

Question 31

What are the three forms of person and what do they mean?

Answer 31

First, second and third person.

First person refers to the perspective of a speaker or main character (e.g. I, me, him, she, her).

Second person refers to the speaker’s audience (e.g. you).

Third person refers to everybody else (e.g. He, him, she, her, it, they, them). Includes all other nouns (e.g. James, Swedish, fish, mice).

Question 32

What is personification?

Answer 32

Human characteristics given to a non-human object.

Question 33

What is perspective?

Answer 33

A way of looking at people, objects, issues, events, texts, facts etc.

Question 34

What are plosive consonants?

Answer 34

Harsh sounds in a sentence or phrase.

Question 35

What is repetition?

Answer 35

Of words or syntax (order of words) for emphasis or persuasion.

Question 36

What is representation?

Answer 36

How a composer conveys meaning through textual features.

Question 37

What is satire?

Answer 37

Composition which ridicules in a scornful and humorous way.

Question 38

What is setting?

Answer 38

The location of a story.

Question 39

What is sibilance?

Answer 39

Repetition of ‘s’ - can sounds melodious and sweet or cold and icy.

Question 40

What is a simile?

Answer 40

Comparison of 2 objects using ‘like’ or ‘as’.

Question 41

What is symbolism?

Answer 41

When an object represents one or more (often complex) ideas.

Question 42

What is syntax (sentence structure).

Answer 42

Short, simple sentences or truncated sentences create tension, haste or urgency; compound or complex sentences are slower, often feature in formal texts.

Question 43

What is a paradox?

Answer 43

A statement which seems false, but is later proved to be true.

Question 44

What is an antithesis?

Answer 44

An expression of contrast or opposition.

Question 45

What is an oxymoron?

Answer 45

A figure of speech which utilizes contradictory terms. (e.g. faith unfaithful kept him falsely true).

Question 46

What is juxtaposition?

Answer 46

The placement of two items which create a contrasting effect.

Question 47

What is incongruity?

Answer 47

The state of being incongruous and incompatible.