Language devices

Question 1

Imagery

Answer 1

Very descriptive writing that uses the language of the senses.
Example: The eerie silence was shattered by her scream.

Question 2

Symbolism

Answer 2

When an object takes on a deeper meaning.
Example: Symbols of love can be cupid or a heart.

Question 3

Simile

Answer 3

A direct comparison of two UNLIKE items using LIKE or AS. Example: As easy as pie.

Question 4

Metaphor

Answer 4

A figure of speech in which things are compared by stating that one thing IS another.
Example: Time is money.

Question 5

Personification

Answer 5

When human characteristics are given to non-living objects or animals.
Example: The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.

Question 6

Hyperbole

Answer 6

Great exaggeration.
Example: I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.

Question 7

Alliteration

Answer 7

Repetition of words with the same beginning sounds. Example: Becky’s beagle barked and bayed, becoming bothersome for Billy.

Question 8

Repetition

Answer 8

Repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis
Example: I can’t read/I can’t write/ I can’t spell

Question 9

Line breaks

Answer 9

Where the poet chooses to end one line and begin another, especially used in free verse.
Example: We real cool. We/Left school.

Question 10

End Rhyme

Answer 10

A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line.
Example: We real cool. We left school.

Question 11

internal Rhyme

Answer 11

A word inside a line rhymes with another word on the same line.
Example: He wouldn’t quit, this boxer spit more rhymes than Chaucer.

Question 12

Rhetorical question

Answer 12

A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.
Example: Why don’t I ever get what I want?

Question 13

What is consonance?

Answer 13

Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words near each other.
Example: The silken, sad, uncertain sound.

Question 14

Assonance

Answer 14

Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words near each other.
Example: I stop a lot on the bobbing water.

Question 15

Allusion

Answer 15

A reference to another work of literature, person, or event
Example: Michael Jordan couldn’t have blocked that shot that day.

Question 16

stanza

Answer 16

A group of lines in a poem

Question 17

Meter

Answer 17

A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

Question 18

Verbal irony

Answer 18

In this type of irony, the words literally state the opposite of the writer’s true meaning

Question 19

Dramatic irony

Answer 19

(Theater) irony occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience, but not by the characters in the play.

Question 20

Onomatopoeia

Answer 20

A word that imitates the sound it represents.

Question 21

Direct chracterisation

Answer 21

When the author makes statements about a character’s personality directly to the reader

Question 22

Foreshadowing

Answer 22

The use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot

Question 23

Hypophora

Answer 23

A figure of speech in which the speaker poses a question and then answers the question

Question 24

Indirect characterisation

Answer 24

The character’s personality is revealed through that character’s thoughts, words, or interactions with others

Question 25

irony

Answer 25

The use of language to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning

Question 26

Parallel structure

Answer 26

The repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures