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| type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses. |
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| A sentence in which the main clause or its predicate is withheld until the end; for example, Despite heavy winds and nearly impenetrable ground fog, the plane landed safely. |
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| names a number of figures of speech and general strategies including: copia (discovery of ideas and expression); schemes for naming divisions of a text, for the purpose of expanding or expounding a topic or increasing rhetoric force (arrangement), possibly as a stylistic vice (like hyperbole), in association with emotional effects such as climax |
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| begins with a general statement that it then expands in a series of particulars, as this description of a ward in a state mental hospital: "The geriatric section is always the most unattractive, poorly lighted, no brightness, no pictures, no laughter." |
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| the use of a single characteristic to identify a more complex entity. It is also known as denominatio or pars pro toto (part for the whole). |
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figure of speech that presents a kind of metaphor in which:
* A part of something is used for the whole,
* The whole is used for a part,
* The species is used for the genus,
* The genus is used for the species, or
* The stuff of which something is made is used for the thing.
hands" to refer to workers, "head" for cattle, "threads" for clothing, "wheels" for car, "mouths to feed" for hungry people, "white hair" for the elderly |
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a quotation that is placed at the start of a work or section that expresses in some succinct way an aspect or theme of what is to follow.
*Watership Down |
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| text honoring the deceased, most commonly inscribed on a tombstone or plaque. Traditionally an epitaph is in verse, but there are exceptions. |
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| Any exclamation or oath, especially one that is obscene or profane, as in “Dammit, I forgot to buy the milk.” |
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| designed or intended to teach; intended to convey instruction and information |
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1. Like a pedant, overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.
2. Being showy of one's knowledge, often in a boring manner.
3. Often used to describe a person who emphasizes their knowledge through the use of vocabulary.
4. Being finicky or picky with language. |
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| a stylistic scheme in which conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. Examples are veni, vidi, vici and its English translation "I came, I saw, I conquered." Its use can have the effect of speeding up the rhythm of a passage and making a single idea more memorable. |
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a figure of speech in which the speaker emphasizes the magnitude of a statement by denying its opposite.
"He was not unfamiliar with the works of Dickens," provided the implication is that he was very familiar with them.
"Reaching the moon was no ordinary task." |
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| of a pronoun it is the word which the pronoun stands for. |
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| The antecedent of a pronoun is the word which the pronoun stands for. |
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| a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms (e.g. "deafening silence") |
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| include words (such as "gonna" or "grouty"), phrases (such as "ain't nothin'" and "dead as a doornail"), or sometimes even an entire aphorism ("There's more than one way to skin a cat") |
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is the repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of several consecutive sentences or verses to emphasize an image or a concept.
Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition! |
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| s a balance of two or more similar words, phrases, or clauses. The application of parallelism in sentence construction improves writing style and readability. |
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| a group of words consisting of a subject and a predicate, although, in non-finite clauses, the subject is often not explicitly given |
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| conjunctions that join a dependent clause and an independent clause. In English, a subordinate conjunction appears at the beginning of, and establishes the nature of, a subordinate clause. For example, after, although, if, unless, because. |
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| a rhetorical figure of speech that consists of a play on words, i.e. using a word in a way other than what is considered its literal or normal form |
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| a rhetorical figure of speech that consists of a play on words, i.e. using a word in a way other than what is considered its literal or normal form |
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a kind of logical argument in which one proposition (the conclusion) is inferred from two others (the premises)
major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. Each of the premises has one term in common with the conclusion: in the case of the major premise this is the major term, or predicate of the conclusion; in the case of the minor premise it is the minor term, the subject of the conclusion. For example:
Major premise: All men are mortal.
Minor premise: Socrates is a man.
Conclusion: Socrates is mortal. |
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