Useful Concepts

Question 1

brevity

Answer 1

briefness in speech or writing

Question 2

irony

Answer 2

incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs

Question 3

paradox

Answer 3

a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory but in reality expresses a possible truth.

Question 4

anticlimax

Answer 4

letdown in thought or emotion; something disappointing coming after something exciting

Question 5

mock heroic

Answer 5

a form of satire in which trivial subjects, characters or events are treated with the elevated language and elaborate devices

Question 6

allegory

Answer 6

A literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions

Question 7

ambivalent

Answer 7

simultaneously feeling opposing feelings

Question 8

exhortation

Answer 8

a communication intended to persuade the recipients to take some action

Question 9

elegiac

Answer 9

expressing sorrow often for something past

Question 10

antithesis

Answer 10

the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to give a feeling of balance (ex. “go big or go home”)

Question 11

couplet

Answer 11

a stanza consisting of two successive lines of verse

Question 12

pragmatic

Answer 12

concerned with practical matters

Question 13

somber

Answer 13

grave or even gloomy in character

Question 14

indignant

Answer 14

angered at something unjust

Question 15

equivocation

Answer 15

falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language

Question 16

allusion

Answer 16

indirect reference

Question 17

usurpation

Answer 17

wrongfully seizing and holding (an office or powers) by force

Question 18

aloof

Answer 18

remote in manner

Question 19

colloquial

Answer 19

informal spoken language

Question 20

didactic

Answer 20

teaching with moral highground

Question 21

oxymoron

Answer 21

conjoining contradictory terms (as in ‘deafening silence’)

Question 22

discursive

Answer 22

rambling; wandering in thought or writing

Question 23

feign

Answer 23

make believe with the intent to deceive

Question 24

flippant

Answer 24

lacking in seriousness

Question 25

rhetoric

Answer 25

pursuasive/effective language

Question 26

conjecture

Answer 26

jumping to conclusions

Question 27

idyllic

Answer 27

peacful in a natural way

Question 28

disparaging

Answer 28

derogatory

Question 29

pastoral

Answer 29

a literary work idealizing the rural life (especially the life of shepherds)

Question 30

trite

Answer 30

overused or lacking originality