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English Techniques Flashcards

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Proverbs and Idioms flashcards
1
Q

Hyperbole

A

Exaggeration for the sake of emphasis

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2
Q

Erotema

A

A rhetorical question

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3
Q

Euphemism

A

Polite, indirect expressions used to describe unpleasant things

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4
Q

Parallelism

A

The use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same

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5
Q

Camera angles

A

The positions from which the camcorder records shots

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6
Q

Caricatures

A

A representation of a person where certain features of that person are exaggerated or distorted

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7
Q

Stereotypes

A

A generalised belief about a group of people

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8
Q

Body language

A

Communication of information through body positions and gestures

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9
Q

Foreground/centre/background

A

How the picture is made up

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10
Q

Composition

A

The make up of something

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11
Q

Salience

A

The first part of an image that someone sees

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12
Q

Hypophora

A

Where the writer raises a question and then immediately answers it

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13
Q

Epithet

A

Where something is described as being more prominent than it actually is

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14
Q

Litotes

A

Where something is understated and the opposite is almost implied

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15
Q

Aphorism

A

A statement of truth or opinion in a concise and witty manner

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16
Q

Meiosis

A

A witty understatement that belittles or dismisses something or somebody

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17
Q

Pathos

A

A tool of persuasion that evokes emotions of pity, sympathy and sorrow

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18
Q

Logos

A

A literary device used to convince a responder by using reason or logic

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19
Q

Ethos

A

The credibility or ethical appeal of a speaker

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20
Q

Synecdoche

A

Where part of something represents a whole or vice versa

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21
Q

Amplification

A

Where a sentence is embellished by adding additional information

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22
Q

Anaphora

A

The deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence

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23
Q

Oxymoron

A

A figure of speech in which two words of opposite effect are joined to create an effect

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24
Q

Aporia

A

A figure of speech in which the speaker expresses doubt and asks the audience how to proceed

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25
Q

Asyndeton

A

Where conjunctions are eliminated between phrases and in the sentence, yet it is still grammatically correct

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26
Q

Antithesis

A

Juxtaposition of two ideas that are balanced

Eg. not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more

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27
Q

Apostrophe

A

When a character moves from addressing the audience to addressing a specific person, present or not

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28
Q

Irony

A

Verbal expression where the words mean the opposite of what is actually said

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29
Q

Metonymy

A

A reference to something of someone where only part of them is named

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30
Q

Paralypsis

A

Drawing attention to something by pretending to omit it

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31
Q

Paradox

A

A statement that at first seems incorrect, but after more thought is recognised to be true

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32
Q

Tautology

A

The repetition of one idea, reworded

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33
Q

Anthropomorphism

A

To give the characteristics of a human to an animal, object or God

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34
Q

Extended metaphor

A

A comparison between two things that is sustained for a period of time

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35
Q

Breaking the fourth wall

A

When characters or narrators ‘talk’ to the audience

‘Will you look at us by the river!’- Tim Winton/Cloudstreet

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36
Q

In media res

A

Means where the story starts in the middle of a story or event.
Often at a crucial point in the action

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37
Q

Idiomatic language

A

Has a meaning not deducible from the individual words

Eg. Skylarking

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38
Q

Compound neologisms

A

Words combined to create a new word

Eg. Chickenlegs

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39
Q

Elegiac imagery

A

Referring to the death of a person

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40
Q

Aural imagery

A

A technique that creates aural images

Eg. Onomatopoeia, belch

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41
Q

Omniscient narrator

A

The all-knowing narrator. Knows everything but doesn’t share all their knowledge with the responder. Filters knowledge

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42
Q

Personification

A

Giving human characteristics to something that isn’t human

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43
Q

Foreshadowing

A

A warning or indication of a future event

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44
Q

Vernacular

A

The language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people of a country or region
Eg. Tellya

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45
Q

Phonetic spelling

A

Spelling words the way they sound

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46
Q

Lexical chain

A

Lexical chains connect words or phrases in the text that are related.

When the nouns in several sentences are thematically related to one another or they refer to the same thing to help create links connecting ideas.

47
Q

Free indirect speech

A

A special type of third person narration that allows the narrator to slip in and out of one or more character’s conscience/consciousness

48
Q

Free direct speech

A

The actual spoken words, usually has quotation marks

49
Q

Discursive text

A

Presents and discusses issues and opinions

50
Q

Allegory

A

A text that has a hidden meaning which is different to the obvious one
ie. Animal farm

51
Q

Disjunctive

A

lacking connection or consistency

52
Q

Paratext

A

A text surrounded by another text

Olympics. Paralympics

53
Q

Peritext

A

Text that surrounds the main text

Sauce on the chicken

54
Q

Hypertext

A

Click on the source. Go to somewhere else

Digital text

55
Q

Appropriation

A

The ghost of previous texts

56
Q

Bricolage

A

Gathers different texts and reconstructs them into one text

An ensemble piece

57
Q

Pastiche

A

Made up of fragments pieced together
Play with structure
Post structured text

58
Q

Textual intervention

A

When you jump in and take over the text. You can add on to the end or change what’s already there
Eg. parody, pantomime

59
Q

Absurdism

A

When people have a seemingly pointless conversation but it actually has meaning
Rapid fire conversation

60
Q

Stream of conscious

A

No punctuation. No spaces

61
Q

What’s the difference between plagiarism and appropriation?

A

One has the same purpose, the other changes the purpose

62
Q

Anecdote

A

A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature

63
Q

Perspective

A

A character’s view of the situation or events in the story

64
Q

Syllogism

A

A form of deduction. An extremely subtle, sophisticated, or deceptive argument

65
Q

Satire

A

A literary style used to make fun of or ridicule an idea or human vice or weakness

66
Q

Bildungsroman

A

A novel or story whose theme is the moral or psychological growth of the main character

67
Q

Devices

A

A word pattern/combination of words that is used to influence or cause a reaction from a reader

68
Q

Foil

A

A person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast eg. the antagonist?

69
Q

Epistolary

A

A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters

70
Q

Epitaph

A

A piece of writing in praise of a deceased person

71
Q

Parody

A

A satirical imitation of a work of art for purpose of ridiculing its style or subject

72
Q

Delayed sentence

A

A sentence that withholds its main idea until the end. For example: Just as he bent to tie his shoe, a car hit him.

73
Q

Sarcasm

A

A form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is in fact harshly critical

74
Q

Expletive

A

A single word or phrase intended to emphasise surrounding words. (usually set off by commas) Examples: in fact, of course, after all, certainly

75
Q

Eulogy

A

Writing in praise of a person or thing

76
Q

Epiphany

A

A sudden realisation or perception

77
Q

Onomatopoeia

A

A word capturing the sound that it describes

78
Q

Utopia

A

A land of perfection

79
Q

Dystopia

A

A place where people live dehumanised, often fearful lives

80
Q

Dues ex machina

A

As in Greek theatre, use of an artificial device or contrived solution to solve a difficult situation, usually introduced suddenly and unexpectedly

81
Q

Analogy

A

Comparison of two things that are alike in some respects eg. metaphors

82
Q

Inductive

A

Conclusion or type of reasoning whereby observation or information about a part of a class is applied to the class as a whole. Contrast with deductive

83
Q

Nostalgia

A

Desire to return in thought or fact to a former time

84
Q

Chiasmus

A

Where the order of the words in the first clause is reversed in the second - “Has the Church failed mankind, or has mankind failed the Church?”

85
Q

Thesis

A

Focus statement of an essay

86
Q

Doppelganger

A

Ghostly counterpart of a living person or an alter ego

87
Q

Propaganda

A

Information or rumour deliberately spread to help or harm a person, group, or institution

88
Q

Didactic

A

Intended for teaching or to teach a moral lesson

89
Q

Abstract

A

Not relating to the concrete properties of an object. Related to ideas, concepts or qualities instead.

90
Q

Isocolon

A

Parallel structure in which the parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical structure, but also in length. For example, “An envious heart makes a treacherous ear”

91
Q

Aesthetic

A

Pertaining to the value of art for its own sake or form

92
Q

Elergy

A

Poem or prose lamenting the death of a particular person

93
Q

Antihero

A

The protagonist who does not embody the traditional qualities of a hero

94
Q

Catharsis

A

Purification or cleansing of the spirit through the emotions of pity and terror as a witness to a tragedy

95
Q

Epigraph

A

A quote at the beginning of a work, or sections, to set the tone or a theme

96
Q

Motif

A

Recurrent device, formula, or situation that often serves as a signal for the appearance of a character or event

97
Q

Anadiplosis

A

The repetition of one word at the end of one clause, at the start of the next
eg. “The crime was common, common be the pain.”

98
Q

Denotation

A

The direct, specific, dictionary definition of a word

99
Q

Realism

A

An attempt to describe life and nature without idealisation and with attention to detail

100
Q

Deductive

A

The reasoning process by which a conclusion is drawn from set of premises and contains no more facts than these premises

101
Q

Consonance

A

The repetition of two or more consonants with a change in the intervening vowels, such as pitter-patter, splish-splash, and click-clack

102
Q

Invective

A

The use of angry and insulting language in satirical writing

103
Q

Syntax

A

The way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. It is sentence structure and how it influences the way a reader perceives a piece of writing.

104
Q

Canon (canonical)

A

The works of an author that have been accepted as authentic

105
Q

Begging the question

A

To sidestep or evade the real problem

106
Q

Anachronism

A

Use of historically inaccurate details in a text; for example, depicting a 19th-century character using a computer. Some authors employ anachronisms for humorous effect, and some genres, such as science fiction or fantasy, make extensive use of anachronism

107
Q

Ambiguity

A

Where multiple meanings are possible. A situation in which either the connotative or the denotative meaning can be valid

108
Q

Connotation

A

What is implied by a word (different to dictionary definition)

109
Q

Transition words

A

Words and devices that bring unity and coherence to writing eg. however, in addition

110
Q

Authorial intrusion

A

Including them self in the picture/text

111
Q

Sophistry

A

the use of clever but false arguments, especially with the intention of deceiving

112
Q

Metatext

A

A text that reflects on a previous piece of writing

113
Q

Enjambment

A

no punctuation at the end, turns it into a narrative. Quickens the pace

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