n. An ability to move quickly and easily; keeness and liveliness, quickness.

Ex. Readers are fascinated by Sherlock's agility in assembling the facts and solving the mystery His keen mind never fails to amaze us.

v. to become less and less; to decrease; to shrink.

Ex. Holmes popularity never seems to dwindle. Over a century after his creation, he is still a favorite character in drama and film, as well as fiction.

v. to slip away or to pass (as with time).

Ex. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle supervised the making of the first movies about Holmes in the days of silent film. From then until now, a decade as not elapsed without someone making a film about the great detective.

v. to irritate or annoy greatly.

Ex. The success of Sherlock Homes stories began to exasperate Doyle because writing the stories kept him from doing more serious work. At one point, he became so frustrate that he decided to kill the detective.

adj. apparently uconcerned or uninterested; casually indifferent.

Ex. Readers were outraged by Doyle's nonchalant attitude toward their hero. They pleaded with him not to be indifferent to read more of Holmes' adventures.

v. to draw back or in; to withdraw; to take back; to recant

Ex. Fortunately, it was fairly easy to bring Homles back to life. Doyle did not have to retract the story of Holmes' death completely. He simply had to allow Holmes to survive a fall from a cliff.

v. to excel; to go beyond the limits.

Ex. Other fictional detectives have been quite popular with readers, but none has been able to surpass Holmes in the hearts of many detective-fiction fans. For these fans no one is better than Holmes.

adj. easily influenced or affected; unresistant; sensitive and impressionable.

Ex. Dr. Watson, Holmes' friend, is more susceptible to trickery and flattery than Holmes. Unlike Holmes he can be easily fooled.

n. a thin layer of valuable wood put over other wood; an outwardly attractive appearance that hides what is underneath.

Ex. Holmes is an excellent judge of character. He can see through an attractive veneer and recognize a person's true character.

adj. on guard against danger or deception; cautious; suspicious

Ex. Holmes is always wary when dealing with his archenemy, the evil Moriarty, but in spite of Holmes' caution, the villian slips away.

a comparison between two diferent things tht are similar in some way.

Ex. Juliet uses an analogy when she says, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (2.2, 43-44); her point is that Romeo's surname [last name] "Montague" shouldn't matter.

a concise statement that expresses succinctly a general ruth or idea, often using rhyme or balance.

Ex. "Lost time is never found again."

the repetition of words or phrases at the begining of consecutive lines or sentences

Ex. This famous example is from Winston Churchill

Ex. We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans and we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air.

the repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words.

Ex. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

The use for rhetorical effect, of more conjuctions than is necessary or natural.

Ex. We have ships and men and money ad stores