H-p

Question 1

​a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect. “If I told you once,
I’ve told you a million times….”

Answer 1

Hyperbole

Question 2

the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience

Answer 2

Imagery

Question 3

​the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase.

Answer 3

Inversion

Question 4

a discrepancy between appearances and reality.

Answer 4

Irony

Question 5

occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else.

Answer 5

Verbal irony

Question 6

​takes place when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what
would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen.

Answer 6

Situational irony

Question 7

​is so called because it is often used on stage. A character in the play or story thinks one
thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better

Answer 7

Dramatic irony

Question 8

poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit. Ezra Pound: “The apparition of these faces in the crowd;/ Petals on a wet, black bough.” ​Juxtaposition ​is also a form of contrast by which writers call attention to dissimilar ideas or images or metaphors. Martin Luther King: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Answer 8

Juxtaposition

Question 9

​is a form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through the negation of a negative form: Hawthorne— “…the wearers of petticoat and farthingale…stepping forth into the public ways, and wedging their ​not unsubstantial persons​, if occasion were, into the throng…”

Answer 9

Litotes

Question 10

one in which the main clause comes first, followed by further dependent grammatical units. See periodic sentence​. Hawthorne: “Hester gazed after him a little while, looking with a half-fantastic curiosity to see whether the tender grass of early spring would not be blighted beneath him, and show the wavering track of this footsteps, sere and brown, across its cheerful verdure.”

Answer 10

Loose sentence

Question 11

a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles

Answer 11

Metaphor

Question 12

a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it. (conceit if it is quite elaborate).

Answer 12

Extended metaphor

Question 13

is a metaphor that has been used so often that the comparison is no longer vivid: “The head of the house”, “the seat of the government”, “a knotty problem” are all dead metaphors

Answer 13

Dead metaphor

Question 14

is a metaphor that has gotten out of control and mixes its terms so that they are visually or imaginatively incompatible. “The President is a lame duck who is running out of gas.”

Answer 14

Mixed metaphor

Question 15

​a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by something closely associated with it. “We requested from the crown support for our petition.” The crown is used to represent the monarch.

Answer 15

Metonymy

Question 16

An atmosphere created by a writer’s diction and the details selected

Answer 16

Mood

Question 17

​a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work (or in several works by one author), unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme. Kurt Vonnegut uses “So it goes” throughout Slaughterhouse-Five to remind the reader of the senselessness of death.

Answer 17

Motif

Question 18

the reasons for a character’s behavior

Answer 18

Motivation

Question 19

​the use of words whose sounds echo their sense. “Pop.” “Zap.”

Answer 19

Onomatopoeia

Question 20

​a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. “Jumbo shrimp.” “Pretty ugly.” “Bitter-sweet”

Answer 20

Oxymoron

Question 21

​a relatively short story that teaches a moral, or lesson about how to lead a good life.

Answer 21

Parable

Question 22

a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that reveals a kind of truth.

Answer 22

Paradox

Question 23

(parallelism) the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures

Answer 23

Parallel Structure

Question 24

a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer’s style.

Answer 24

Parody

Question 25

​a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.

Answer 25

Personification

Question 26

the series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the storyline

Answer 26

Plot

Question 27

​introduces characters, situation, and setting

Answer 27

Exposition

Question 28

complications in conflict and situations (may introduce new ones as well)

Answer 28

Rising action

Question 29

​that point in a plot that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest. Also called “turning point”

Answer 29

Clímax

Question 30

​the conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have been settled; often called the
denouement

Answer 30

Resolution

Question 31

​the vantage point from which the writer tells the story

Answer 31

Point of view

Question 32

one of the characters tells the story.

Answer 32

First person point of view

Question 33

​an unknown narrator, tells the story, but this narrator zooms in to focus
on the thoughts and feelings of only one character.

Answer 33

Third person point of view

Question 34

​an omniscient or all-knowing narrator tells the story, also using the third
person pronouns. This narrator, instead of focusing on one character only, often tells us everything about many characters.

Answer 34

Omnisciente point of view

Question 35

a narrator who is totally impersonal and objective tells the story, with no
comment on any characters or events.

Answer 35

Objective point of view

Question 36

the central character in a story, the one who initiates or drives the action. Usually the ​hero ​or anti-hero​; in a ​tragic hero​, like John Proctor of The Crucible, there is always a ​hamartia​, or ​tragic flaw ​in his character which will lead to his downfall.

Answer 36

Protagonist

Question 37

a “play on words” based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound alike but mean different things

Answer 37

Pun