Infelicities

Question 1

Solecism

Answer 1

any grammatical, syntactical or verbal mistake

Question 2

Malapropism

Answer 2

incorrect use of word, especially mistaking one word for a similiar sounding (e.g. effect, affect)

Question 3

Jargon

Answer 3

use of language associated with an exclusive field of study or practice, in order to impress or confuse

Question 4

Cant

Answer 4

use of insincere or pretentious language, often to moralise

Question 5

Hyperbole

Answer 5

exaggerated language

Question 6

Bombast

Answer 6

inflated or pompous language

Question 7

Fustian

Answer 7

opaque or periphrasatic language, also inflated language (twaddle, piffle, babble, gibberish)

Question 8

over-qualification

Answer 8

too much cautious or mediating language, obscuring or weakening the argument

Question 9

Generalisation

Answer 9

assuming a proposition has too broad or numerous an application

Question 10

statement of the obvious

Answer 10

saying, without irony or emphatic effect, what is unnecessary, because it is commonly known, or easily inferred from the context.

Question 11

Mixed metaphor

Answer 11

use of two or more incongruous images to describe or picture something.

Question 12

Equivocation

Answer 12

verbal ambiguity

Question 13

Amphiboly

Answer 13

syntactical amabiguity

Question 14

Syntactical Repetition

Answer 14

use of the same or similar syntactical structures

Question 15

Redundancy

Answer 15

superfluous language

Question 16

Tautology

Answer 16

unecessary repetition

Question 17

Cliché

Answer 17

Use of a word, phrase or collocation, so common as to have lost its evocative power.

Question 18

Hendiadys

Answer 18

Use of two related words, usually nouns, when one is sufficient, often for the sake of rhetorical effect.

Question 19

Euphemism

Answer 19

Use of opaque or evasive terms, when a plainer one would be uncomfortable.

Question 20

Oxymoron

Answer 20

Self-contradictory figure of speech.

Question 21

Foregrounding

Answer 21

Main term or argument insufficiently clarified or highlighted

Question 22

Proximity

Answer 22

Arrangement of sentence or paragraph so that related ideas are seperated

Question 23

Contrast

Answer 23

Insufficient clarity or proximity in intended contrast