Glossary Language Devices

Question 1

Simile

Answer 1

A comparison using “like” or “as”

Question 2

Metaphor

Answer 2

A comparison where something IS something else

Question 3

Personification

Answer 3

Applying a human quality to an inanimate object

Question 4

Onamatopoeia

Answer 4

Sound effects of language

Question 5

Hyperbole

Answer 5

An over-exaggeration

Question 6

Pathetic fallacy

Answer 6

Using a description of the weather to retests the mood

Question 7

Oxymoron

Answer 7

A contradictory statement

Question 8

Imagery

Answer 8

Language that paints a picture in the readers head

Question 9

Connotations

Answer 9

Word associations, positive or negative given word

Question 10

Colloquial language

Answer 10

Language used in speech with an informal meaning

Question 11

Rhetorical Question

Answer 11

A question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer

Question 12

Alliteration

Answer 12

Use in speech or writing of several words close together which all begin with the same letter or sound

Question 13

Assonance

Answer 13

Is the repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds within words, phrases or sentences

Question 14

Sibilance

Answer 14

Occurs so long as “s” sounds are relatively close together within a sentence or a paragraph

Question 15

Fricative

Answer 15

Repetitive use of a fricative consonant e.g. f, th, and ph

Question 16

Sensory language

Answer 16

Language connected to the 5 senses to create an image or description

Question 17

Idiom

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Colloquialism

Answer 18

A word or phrase that is not formal or literary and is used in ordinary or familiar conversation

Question 19

Irony

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Imperative

Answer 20

A word/sentence that gives a command or gives a request to do something

Question 21

Asyndeton

Answer 21

A writing style where conjunctions are omitted in a series of words, phrases or clauses

Question 22

Polysyndeton

Answer 22

Deliberate insertion of conjunctions into a sentence for the purpose of “slow[ing] up the rhythm of the prose

Question 23

Allusion

Answer 23

Expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it

Question 24

Cacophony

Answer 24

A harsh discordant mixture of sounds

Question 25

Euphony

Answer 25

Quality of being pleasing to the ear

Question 26

Superlative

Answer 26

Literary device usually an adjective or verb or adverb used to distinguish an object from three or more others or it’s type

Question 27

Zoomorphism

Answer 27

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”)

Question 28

Simple sentence

Answer 28

Short and expresses a simple thought

Question 29

Compound sentences

Answer 29

2 or more simple sentences joined with a connective

Question 30

Complex sentences

Answer 30

Sentence containing a subordinate clause

Question 31

Imperative

Answer 31

A sentence that is an order

Question 32

Interrogative

Answer 32

A sentence that is a question

Question 33

Exclamative

Answer 33

Sentence that is shouted

Question 34

Declarative

Answer 34

A sentence that makes a statement or “declares” something