language and literature techniques Flashcards
alliteration
words beginning with the same letter
‘the sly snake slithered slowly’
assonance
the same vowel sound is repeated but the consonants are different;
‘he passed her a shARp, dARk glANce, shot a cOOl, fOOlish look across the room.’
dissonance
a discordant combination of sounds.
‘the clash, spew and slow pang of grinding waves against the quay.’
imagery
comparing something real with something imagined (fake). using similes, metaphors and personification.
irony
being sarcastic
metaphor
a word or phrase used to imply figurative, not literal or ‘actual’, resemblance;
‘he flew into the room.’
simile
a phrase which establishes similarity between two things to emphasise the point being made. This usually involves the words ‘like’ or ‘as’;
‘he is as quick as an arrow in flight’, ‘as white as snow’, ‘like a burning star’.
onoemtopeia
a word that sounds like what it means
‘Boom’ ‘buzz’ ‘crash’ ‘whoosh’
oxymoron
two words that have conflicting meanings that would normally negate each other. Opposites
eg. bitter sweet
pathos
language that evokes feelings of pity or sorrow (sadness)
personification
putting human qualities on something not human
e.g. ‘the washing machine growled with hunger’
repetition
when you repeat a word
e.g. LOL LOL LOL
symbolism
objects, colours, sounds and places work as symbols. they remind us of something
eg. black = death
juxtaposition
two or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts.
syntax
The grammatical order of words in a sentence or line of verse or dialogue
