Language Terminology Flashcards
‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ is an example of an…
Interrogative
‘Feather of lead, bright smoke, sick health’ are examples of…
Oxymorons
What is a pre-modifier?
A word which goes before a noun to alter it’s meaning. For example: big chair, yellow ball.
What is antithesis?
When two opposite ideas are used in a sentence to create a contrasting effect.
For example:
‘O brawling love! O loving hate!’
‘More light and light, more dark and dark our woes’
Note the way in which antithesis also mirrors phrasing within the sentence.
What is the difference between a Petrarchan and a Shakespearian sonnet?
Petrarchan sonnets are 14 lines long but have a 8/6 split, the octave and sestet. The octave outlines the problem; the sestet the resolution. The change between the two is called the ‘volta.’ The octave rhyme scheme is abbaabba and the sestet cdecde.
Shakespearian sonnets are 14 lines long and end with a rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme is ababcdcdefedgg. Shakespearian sonnets are written in iambic pentameter.
What is iambic pentameter?
A five foot line of verse.
Each foot compromises of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed.
Ten syllables in all.
What is sibilance?
Repetition of a hissing ‘s’ sound within a phrase or sentence.
What is a fricative?
A sound that produces a ‘th’ or ‘f’
What is a plosive?
Sounds such as the short ‘b’, ‘t’, ‘d’, ‘k’, ‘g’ and ‘p’.
Examples: Party Cab Cut Bed Book Egg
Dynamic verbs are different from stative verbs because…
Dynamic verbs show movement or action (as such they often end in ‘-ing’) these actions have a limited time.
For example: play, melt, hit.
Stative verbs however, show states or conditions that continue over time and are often mental processes.
For example: hate, think, love.
Similes are different from metaphors because…
Similes use ‘like’ or ‘as’ to compare where as metaphors say something is something else.
Simile: ‘crawled around the campfire like a hungry bear.’
Metaphor: ‘bullet rain fell from the iron sky.’
What is hubris?
A character’s tragic flaw.
List three possessive pronouns:
His, their, mine, my, hers, yours.
The register of a text considers it’s level of…
Formality
An imperative sentence does what?
Issues a command.
