English Terminology Flashcards
Anastrophe
Inversion of the usual syntactical order of words
Ex:
Yoda said, “joined the dark side, dooku has.”
Apostrophe
The rhetorical addressing of a usually absent person or a usually personified thing (“turn away”)
“God deliver me from fools.” English proverb[4]
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Corinthians 15:55, Saint Paul of Tarsus
Aposiopesis
The omission of or the leaving of a thought incomplete usually by a sudden breaking off of a…
“Get out, or else—!” To mark the occurrence of aposiopesis with punctuation, an em dash (—) or an ellipsis (…) may be used.
Anaphora
Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence, clause or phrase. An anaphora is the intended use of repetition that is applied to secure emphasis, emphasis, emphasis.
In time the savage bull sustains the yoke,
In time all haggard hawks will stoop to lure,
In time small wedges cleave the hardest oak,
In time the flint is pierced with softest shower.
Apposition
An arrangement of words in which a noun or noun phrase is followed by another noun or noun phrase.Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side, with one element serving to identify the other in a different way. The two elements are said to be in apposition. One of the elements is called the appositive, although its identification requires consideration of how the elements are used in a sentence.
My sister, Alice Smith, likes jelly beans.
Alice Smith, my sister, likes jelly beans
Asyndeton
Omission of conjunction words that normally join coordinate words or clauses
Ex: “I came, I saw, I conquered “
Isocolon
A figure of speech in which a sentence is composed of two or more parts (cola) perfectly equivalent in structure, length and rhythm.
Ex: veni, vedi, vici
Polysyndeton
the use of several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some could otherwise be omitted (as in “he ran and jumped and laughed for joy”). The word polysyndeton comes from the Greek “poly-“, meaning “many,” and “syndeton”, meaning “bound together with”. “When thou dost ask me blessing I’ll kneel down and ask of thee forgiveness. So we’ll live and pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh at gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues talk of court news, and we’ll talk with them too”
Parenthetical insertion (parenthesis)
An amplifying or explanatory word, phrase, or sentence inserted in a passage from which it is usually set off by punctuation; a remark or passage that departs from the theme of a discourse
Surrealist
Very strange or unusual: having the quality of a dream
Existential
Grounded in existence or the experience of existence: affirming existence
Allegory
A story in which the characters and events are symbols that stand for ideas about human life or for political or historical situations
Allusion
A statement that refers to something without mentioning it directly
Allusion, extended
As a normal allusion, but extended throughout a work
Exposition
The act of explaining something: a public show or exhibition
Foreshadowing
To give a suggestion of something that has not yet happened
Hyperbole
Language that describes something as better or worse than it really is
Verbal irony
The use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning
Situational irony
Incongruity between the actual results of a sequence of events and the normal expected outcome
Dramatic irony
Incongruity between a situation in a drama that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play
Metaphor
A word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar
Extended metaphor
Like a normal metaphor but extended throughout a work
Simile
A phrase that uses the word like or as to describe someone or something by comparing it with someone or something else that is similar
Conduplicato
Repetition throughout a sentence or phrase.
