Key terms (prose)

Question 1

Adverb

Answer 1

word that characterises a verb (often ends ly)

Question 2

Verb

Answer 2

a doing word

Question 3

Noun

Answer 3

A person, place or thing

Question 4

Personification

Answer 4

Attributing human actions to inanimate objects

Question 5

Elision

Answer 5

The omission of one or more letters or syllables from a word (usually marked by an aspostrophe)

Question 6

Fabliau

Answer 6

A short, pithy story, usually of a bawdy kind

Question 7

Lexical set

Answer 7

words that typically form one set (e.g. monday, tuesday, wednesday … form a lexical set)

Question 8

Metaphor

Answer 8

the transfer of quality or attribute from one thing to another in such a way to imply some resemblance

Question 9

Irony

Answer 9

irony says one thing but means the opposite

Question 10

Polysyndeton

Answer 10

The use of multiple conjunctions, usually where they aren’t necessary

Question 11

Simile

Answer 11

a comparison between two things, using ‘like’ or ‘as’

Question 12

Participle

Answer 12

a word derived from a verb which functions like an adjective, ‘let SLEEPING dogs lie’

Question 13

Preposition

Answer 13

A part of speech that indicates a connection between two other parts of speech (to, with, by, from)

Question 14

Syntax

Answer 14

the way words are arranged and modified to construct sentences

Question 15

Allusion

Answer 15

An indirect reference to something outside the text (can be biblical, classical)

Question 16

Anachronism

Answer 16

A historically inaccurate detail in a literary work, included by the author either unintentionally or deliberately

Question 17

Antithesis

Answer 17

A rhetorical technique that uses parallel grammatical structure to contrast two opposing ideas

Question 18

Aphorism

Answer 18

A brief, memorable statement that captures a broad universal truth (e.g. god helps them that help themselves)

Question 19

Apostrophe

Answer 19

A rhetorical device in which a speaker addresses either an inanimate object or a person who is absent or dead

Question 20

Chiasmus

Answer 20

A figure of speech in which one phrase is followed by another that inverts its grammatical construction (e.g. bad men live that they may eat and drink; whereas good men eat and drink that they may live)

Question 21

Consonance

Answer 21

The repetition of one or more constant sounds in words that are close together

Question 22

Double Entendre

Answer 22

A figure of speech with two possible interpretations, one of which usually ironic or lewd

Question 23

Elegy

Answer 23

A poem or song of lamentation written in honour of a deceased person

Question 24

Ellipsis

Answer 24

A device used to omit details from a narrative, usually for the purpose of allowing readers to draw their own conclusion about what is missing

Question 25

Epithet

Answer 25

A descriptive phrase that accompanies or replaces the name of a character or thing (e.g. his freshe May)

Question 26

Euphemism

Answer 26

A figure of speech that softens an unpleasant or offensive idea by substituting a polite phrase instead of

Question 27

Hyperbole

Answer 27

an extreme exaggeration

Question 28

Paradox

Answer 28

A provocative statement that contradicts itself yet is typically true in some sense