Language Techniques Flashcards
Alliteration
Same consonant at the beginning of each word
- She sells seashells by the seashore
Assonance
Repetition of similar vowels in successive words
- The rain in Spain
Allusion
Hint at something and expect the other person to understand what we are referencing
- Chocolate is his Kryptonite
Ad Hominem
Appealing to personal considerations rather than to reason
- All murderers are criminals, but a thief isn’t a murderer, and so can’t be a criminal
Ad Populem
Words or expressions determined to be popular with people
Anaphora
Repetition of a word or phrase to begin successive clauses
- Get busy living or get busy dying
Apostrophe
Indicates omission of one or more letters
Anastrophe
Syntax inversion that changes the order of a sentence’s structure for effect
- ‘I like apples’ becomes ‘apples I like’
Antithesis
Juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas for balance
Apposition
Two noun phrases next to each other that refer to the same person or thing
- [NP1] The living room, [NP 2] the biggest room in the house
Archaism
Use of an outdated expression
- Behold
Antagonist
Someone who offers opposition
Asyndeton
Omission of conjunctions (and / or) where they would be used
- I came, I saw, I conquered
Ambiguity
Unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning
Anachronism
Locating something at a time when it couldn’t have existed
Analogy
Drawing comparison to show similarity
- Life is like a box of chocolates
Aphorism
Concise, instructive saying / expression
- He who hesitates is lost
Bathos
Change from a serious subject to a disappointing one
Cacophony
Loud confusing disagreeable sounds
Caricature
Representation of a person exaggerated for comic effect
Catharsis
Releasing of emotional tensions
Chiasmus
Reversal of the order of words in a two part sentence
- Pleasure’s a sin, and sometimes sin’s a pleasure
Circumlocution
Indirect way of expressing something
- Twice five miles of fertile ground
Cliche
An expression that was once innovative but has lost its novelty due to overuse
- Red as a rose
Contradiction
Opposition between two conflicting forces or ideas
Colloquialism
Expression that seeks to imitate informal speech
- Y’all
- Gonna
Consonance
Specific repetition of the same consonant sound anywhere in word or sentence
- Mike likes his new bike.
Circular Reasoning
Restating a claim instead of supporting it
Connotation
Use of a word to suggest a different association than its literal meaning
- She was feeling blue
Couplet
Stanza consisting of two successive lines of verse
Deus Ex Machina
Individual appears unexpectedly to solve a difficulty
Double Entendre
Word or phrase with two meanings of which one is indecent
Dialectic
Arriving at the truth by exchange of logical arguments
Discourse
Extended verbal expression in speech or writing
Denotation
Literal meaning / definition of a word
- Dead = not living
Elision
Omission of a sound between two words
- Fish n Chips
Ellipsis
Use of ‘…’ to show a pause in a thought or to create suspense
Encomium
Formal expression of praise
Enjambment
Continuation from one line of verse into the next
Epigraph
Quotation at the beginning of a piece of writing
Equivocation
Ambiguous language to conceal the truth, avoid commitment
Epithet
Descriptive word or phrase
Eponym
Name of something is derived from a person
- Adam’s apple
Eristic
Characterised by debate or argument
Euphemism
Inoffensive expression substituted for an offensive one
- ‘Passed away’ instead of ‘died’
Euphony
Pleasing or harmonious sounds
Foreshadowing
The act of providing vague advance indications
Flashback
Transition in a story to an earlier event
False Analogy
Two things compared unfairly
Free Verse
Poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter
Figurative
Not literal
Hyperbole
Extravagant exaggeration
- Her brain is the size of a pea
Hypothesis
Message expressing opinion based on incomplete evidence
Imagery
Ability to form mental pictures of things or events
Irony
Use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning
- The police station gets robbed
Invective
Abusive language used to express blame or censure
Inversion
Altering sentence structure, may make the sentence sound grammatically incorrect
- Never a day had she missed her lessons
Jargon
Technical terminology characteristic of a particular group
Juxtaposition
Positioning two things close together with contrasting effect
- You’re making a mountain out of a molehill
Litotes
Understatement for rhetorical effect
- ‘Not the sharpest tool in the shed’ instead of ‘stupid’
Literal
Limited to the explicit meaning of the word
Maxim
A saying widely accepted on its own merits, general truth
- Actions speak louder than words
Metaphor
Figure of speech that suggests a non-literal similarity to an object
- Her eyes were diamonds
Mood
Characteristic state of feeling
Metonymy
Substituting the name of a feature for the name of the thing
- Wall Street
- The White House
Mimesis
Process of imitation or mimicry
Narrator
Someone who tells a story
Non Sequitur
Statement doesn’t logically follow on from a previous statement / claim
- Mary bakes the best cakes in town. She should run for mayor
Neologism
Newly invented word or phrase
- Mansplain
Onomatopoeia
Words that imitate the sound they denote
- Boing
- Clap
Oxymoron
Conjoined contradictory terms
- Old news
- Deafening silence
Point of View
Mental position from which things are perceived
Protagonist
Principle character
Personification
Attributing human characteristics to abstract ideas
- The wind howled in the night
Pun
Humorous play on words
- This vacuum sucks
Paradox
Statement that contradicts itself
- This is the beginning of the end
Parallelism
Using similar words / elements to emphasise similar ideas in a sentence
- Easy come, easy go
Parenthesis
Message that departs from the main subject
Parody
Composition that imitates / misrepresents a style
Pleonasm
Using more words than necessary to express meaning
- I saw it with my own eyes
Repetition
Act of doing or performing again
Rebuttal
Speech act of refuting by offering a contrary argument
Red Herrings
Writer brings up an irrelevant point to distract the reader
Rhyme
Correspondence in the final sounds of two or more lines
- Clue and blue
Rhythm
Interval during which a recurring sequence occurs
Stanza
Fixed number of lines forming a unit of a poem
Speaker
Someone who expresses in language
Sarcasm / Satire
Witty language used to convey insults or scoen
Setting
Physical position of something
Simile
Uses a comparison to describe
- As busy as a bee
Syllogism
Reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises
- If A is true then B is true
Synecdoche
Using part of something to refer to the whole thing
- Pour me a glass of bubbly
Symbol
Something visible that represents something invisible
Syllable
Unit of pronunciation
Tautology
The saying of the same thing twice over in different words
- HIV virus
Thesis
Unproved statement advanced as a premise in an argument
Trope
Language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense
- The damsel in distress
Theme
Subject matter of a conversation or discussion
Tone
General character or attitude of a place, piece of writing etc
Understatement
Something said in a restrained way for ironic contrast
Plot
Main events devised and presented as an interrelated sequence
Verisimilitude
Having the appearance of being true or real
- Hogwarts
Zeugma
Rhetorical use of a word to govern two or more words
- She broke his car and his heart
