Glossary Language Devices Flashcards
Simile
A comparison using “like” or “as”
Metaphor
A comparison where something IS something else
Personification
Applying a human quality to an inanimate object
Onamatopoeia
Sound effects of language
Hyperbole
An over-exaggeration
Pathetic fallacy
Using a description of the weather to retests the mood
Oxymoron
A contradictory statement
Imagery
Language that paints a picture in the readers head
Connotations
Word associations, positive or negative given word
Colloquial language
Language used in speech with an informal meaning
Rhetorical Question
A question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer
Alliteration
Use in speech or writing of several words close together which all begin with the same letter or sound
Assonance
Is the repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds within words, phrases or sentences
Sibilance
Occurs so long as “s” sounds are relatively close together within a sentence or a paragraph
Fricative
Repetitive use of a fricative consonant e.g. f, th, and ph
Sensory language
Language connected to the 5 senses to create an image or description
Idiom
A group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g. raining cats and dogs
Colloquialism
A word or phrase that is not formal or literary and is used in ordinary or familiar conversation
Irony
A literary technique by which the full significance of a character’s words or actions is clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character
Imperative
A word/sentence that gives a command or gives a request to do something
Asyndeton
A writing style where conjunctions are omitted in a series of words, phrases or clauses
Polysyndeton
Deliberate insertion of conjunctions into a sentence for the purpose of “slow[ing] up the rhythm of the prose
Allusion
Expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it
Cacophony
A harsh discordant mixture of sounds
Euphony
Quality of being pleasing to the ear
Superlative
Literary device usually an adjective or verb or adverb used to distinguish an object from three or more others or it’s type
Zoomorphism
Device of giving animal-like qualities to anything that is not that animal such as humans, Gods and inanimate objects. Include giving features of one animal to another (dog saying “meow”)
Simple sentence
Short and expresses a simple thought
Compound sentences
2 or more simple sentences joined with a connective
Complex sentences
Sentence containing a subordinate clause
Imperative
A sentence that is an order
Interrogative
A sentence that is a question
Exclamative
Sentence that is shouted
Declarative
A sentence that makes a statement or “declares” something
