Lit Terms Year 12

Question 1

Diction

Answer 1

A writer’s overall choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to help create meaning.

Question 2

Formal Diction

Answer 2

Consists of a dignified, impersonal, and elevated use of language; it follows the rules of syntax exactly and is often characterized by complex words and lofty tone.

Question 3

Informal Diction

Answer 3

Represents the plain language of everyday use and often includes idiomatic expressions, slang, contractions, and many simple, common words.

Question 4

Poetic Diction

Answer 4

Refers to the way poets sometimes employ elevated language that differs from the common speech and writing of their time, choosing words for their supposed poetic qualities.

Question 5

Denotation

Answer 5

The literal meaning of a word

Question 6

Connotation

Answer 6

The suggestion or implication created by a word or phrase, i.e. slink vs. stride.

Question 7

Imagery

Answer 7

Concrete details designed to appeal to the reader’s five senses.

Question 8

Sound

Answer 8

Words can simulate action (rustle, blare, flicker) or be musically suggestive (swoon, horror, still). Such words are significant to atmosphere.

Question 9

Euphony

Answer 9

The pleasant combination of agreeable sounds.

Question 10

Cacophony

Answer 10

A combination of harsh, dissonant sounds.

Question 11

Onomatopoeia

Answer 11

Words that replicate natural or mechanical sounds (whirr, hiss, gurgle).

Question 12

Allusion

Answer 12

A reference to a person, place, or thing from literature, history, art, religion, politics, or popular culture.

Question 13

Apostrophe

Answer 13

The direct address to an absent or deceased person as if he or she were present, or to an animal or object, or to an abstract idea that is personified.

Question 14

Hyperbole

Answer 14

A deliberate exaggeration.

Question 15

Irony

Answer 15

A word used to signify its opposite.

Question 16

Metaphor

Answer 16

A comparison of two unlike things without using like or as.

Question 17

Oxymoron

Answer 17

A figure of speech in which opposite, or contradictory terms are combined.

Question 18

Paradox

Answer 18

A statement that appears self-contradictory but nonetheless reveals a truth.

Question 19

Personification

Answer 19

A simile or metaphor used to endow something inanimate with human characteristics.

Question 20

Pun

Answer 20

A play on words for humorous effect.

Question 21

Simile

Answer 21

A comparison of two unlike things using like or as.

Question 22

Symbol

Answer 22

A tangible item that represents an intangible idea.

Question 23

Understatement

Answer 23

Deliberately representing something as much less than it really is.

Question 24

Allegory

Answer 24

A story in which the people and places are symbolic.

Question 25

Aside

Answer 25

In drama, lines spoken by a character in an undertone or aloud directly to the audience.

Question 26

Atmosphere

Answer 26

Describes the mood established by the setting and action, the emotional climate of a literary work.

Question 27

Setting

Answer 27

Refers to the time and place, including details of scenery.

Question 28

Comic relief

Answer 28

Humor inserted into a play to break a tragic or serious mood.

Question 29

Character

Answer 29

Person or animal who takes part in the plot.

Question 30

Dynamic Character

Answer 30

Changes in the course of the play or story. Its opposite is a static character.

Question 31

Stock character

Answer 31

Has little or no range of personality beyond the type that he or she is intended to represent.

Question 32

Epiphany

Answer 32

A sudden, momentous insight about the nature or truth of something, usually triggered by an experience that is, in itself, ordinary.

Question 33

Foil

Answer 33

A character who highlights the qualities of a main character by contrast or by parallel. The foil must be of the same age and situation.

Question 34

Foreshadowing

Answer 34

Hints of events to come. May be expressed or implied, but do not consider any of the ensuing plot that you know.

Question 35

Immediacy

Answer 35

The writer’s aim to make readers feel as if they are present; often, successful imagery creates immediacy

Question 36

Mood

Answer 36

A synonym for atmosphere, the feeling that the setting and action establish.

Question 37

Point of View

Answer 37

The perspective from which an author tells a story: first person, third person limited omniscient, omniscient.

Question 38

Soliloquy

Answer 38

Lines in drama in which a character speaks his thoughts to the audience as if speaking to himself; the character is alone onstage.

Question 39

Tone

Answer 39

The attitude of the author or narrator toward the subject matter. A writer establishes tone through techniques such as connotation, figures of speech, imagery, and sentence structure.

Question 40

Syntax

Answer 40

The placement of words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence.

Question 41

Inverted syntax

Answer 41

The natural order of a sentence is the subject before the verb; in an inverted sentence either the verb or the predicate precedes the subject.

Question 42

Balanced Sentence

Answer 42

The phrases or clauses balance each other by virtue of their likeness in stricter, meaning, or length.

Question 43

Dangling modifier

Answer 43

A phrase placed too far away from what it is describing in the sentence; hence it “dangles” and modifies something it should not, often with humorous results.

Question 44

Juxtaposition

Answer 44

A device which places normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases next to each other for a surprising or with effect. Juxtapose means to set side by side; it can occur in words side by side, paragraphs side by side, chapters side by side, or parallel situations for characters.

Question 45

Parallelism

Answer 45

Phrases, clauses, or words of similar construction.

Question 46

Parenthesis

Answer 46

A word, clause, or phrase that interrupts a sentence that is grammatically complete without it. A writer uses parenthesis-often marked by dashes, commas, or parentheses-to qualify or add to a statement.

Question 47

Repetition

Answer 47

Words or sounds repeated to enhance rhythm or add emphasis.

Question 48

Restatement

Answer 48

Repeating an idea in different words. “the calm, the tranquility, the peace of the woods in the twilight.”