English Terminology Flashcards
Allusion
When a reference is made to a text, event, person or place. By alluding to one of these, the writer relies on the reader’s contextual knowledge.
Analogy
When two unrelated objects are compared for their shared qualities so as to make a rational argument.
Anaphora
The repetition of the same word or phrase in a succession of phrases or sentences.
Aposiopesis
When a sentence is purposefully left incomplete or cut off. It’s caused by an inability or unwillingness to continue speaking. This allows the ending to be filled in by the reader’s imagination.
Colloquialism
A kind of expression of grammar that is associated with ordinary, everyday speech rather than formal language.
Conjunction
Words used to connect words, phrases and clauses. A contrasting conjunction (such as ‘but’) can indicate a tonal shift, especially if it is at the start of a sentence.
Connotation
A word’s connotation is the aura of emotion that is associated with the word through personal experience. Essentially, its what you think or feel when someone says that word.
Detonation
The literal, factual meaning of a word.
Diction
Word choice
Direct Speech
Also known as dialogue. Its opposite would be indirect speech where the writer summarises what the character says for the reader.
Double Entendre
Something that has two meanings on purpose, one that typically has sexual connotations. It is similar to a pun, but does not have to be sexual.
Ellipsis
Three full stops to indicate an omission of information or trailing off in the middle of saying something.
Epistrophe
The opposite of anaphora - where a certain phrase or words is repeated at the end of sentences that follow each other. This creates rhythm while emphasising the repeated phrase.
Expletive
Swear words
Euphemism
A word or phrase that makes something sound better than it actually is.
Hyperbole
Exaggeration for effect.
Hypophora
When you ask a question, then answer it.
Imagery
How the writer conjures up the senses in your head. There are five types of imagery:
- Visual: what you see
- Auditory: what you hear
- Olfactory: what you smell
- Tactile: what you touch
- Gustatory: what you taste
Imperative
‘Bossy verbs’, commanding someone/something
Irony
A device which states something that is in discordance with what is expected.
Jargon
The special technique language of any trade, profession, branch, or scholarship. It may be used for the purpose of obfuscation.
Juxtaposition
the placement of two opposite ideas in close proximity. these ideas can be expressed through words or images and is often used to draw our attentions to an inherent tension or conflict.
Listing
Can be asyndetic (where the items are separated by commas) or syndetic (when they are separated by ‘and’).
Litote
An understatement for effect.
Metanoia
Self-correction, where a writer or speaker deliberately goes back and modifies a statement that they just made, usually either to strengthen it or soften it.
Motif
A repeated symbolic image or idea. Motifs can be symbols, sounds, actions, ideas, or words.
Onomatopoeia
Language that sounds like what it literally means.
Oxymoron
When two contradictory words are combined. If you are not sure if it is an actual oxymoron, call it ‘oxymoronic’.
Paradox
A statement that on the surface appears to make no sense.
Personification
Attributing human qualities to something that is not human.
Semantic field
A group of words that are related or analogous in meaning.
Synecdoche
When you refer to an entity by one of its parts. for example, calling your car your ‘wheels’.
Syntax
The order of words
