English Terms Flashcards
Alliteration
the repeittion of a begining consonant sounds in a phrase or sentence
allusion
a refence to a well-known person, event, or place from history, music, art, or another literary work.
anaphora
the reptition of the same word or phase at the beginning of two or more lines or clauses
anastrophe
the order of the noun and the adjective in the sentence are exchanged
anthropomorphism
attributing human characteristic to an animal or inanimate object
aphorism
a statement of truth or opinion expressed in a concise and witty manner
assonance
when two or more words close to one another repeat the same vowel sound but start with different consonant sounds
chiasmus
a figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clasues is reversed in the seconds
colloquialism
the use of informal words or phrases
euphemism
a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.
flashback
interruption inserting past events in order to provide background or context to current events
hyperbole
exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis
litotes
an intention use of understatement that renders an ironical effect
malapropism
misusing words by substituting words with similar sounding words that have different meanings, creating a situation of confusion and amusement.
metonymy
the substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant
parallelism
using the same pattern of words or similar grammatical structure to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance.
pathetic fallecy
attributing of human emotion and actiosn to nature, a type of personification
portmanteau
two or more words are joined together to coin a new rod
simile
a figure of speech comparing two unlike things using like or as
syndecdoche
a figure of speech that uses a part of something to represent the whole, or vice versa
