Literary Terms Flashcards

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1
Q

Alliteration

A

Consecutive words with same beginning sound

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2
Q

Anaphora

A

Repetition in speech for emphasis

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3
Q

Anastrophe

A

Reversing word order

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4
Q

Aposiopesis

A

breaking off in the middle of a sentence

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5
Q

Apostrophe

A

addressing someone who isn’t present

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6
Q

Asyndeton

A

leaving out a conjunction

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7
Q

Chiasmus

A

repeating a phrase, but reversed

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8
Q

Ellipsis

A

repeating a phrase, but reversed

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9
Q

Hendiadys

A

connecting adjectives with and instead of modification

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10
Q

Hyperbole

A

Exaggeration

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11
Q

Hysteron proteron

A

reversing chronological order

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12
Q

Litotes

A

understatement through double negative

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13
Q

Metaphor

A

Comparison without like or as

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14
Q

Metonymy

A

calling something by one of its attributes

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15
Q

Onomatopoeia

A

Word representing a sound that sounds like it

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16
Q

Oxymoron

A

Contradiction

17
Q

Personification

A

Giving an inanimate object human qualities

18
Q

Pleonasm

A

using more words than necessary to say something

19
Q

Polysyndeton

A

multiple conjunctions in a list

20
Q

Prolepsis

A

speaking like a future event has happened

21
Q

Simile

A

Comparison with like or as

22
Q

Synedoche

A

calling something by the name of a part of it

23
Q

Tmesis

A

Putting words in the middle of a compound word

24
Q

Tricolon crescens

A

Three comparable, consecutive statements increasing in intensity

25
Q

Zeugma

A

When a verb or adjective modifies multiple nouns