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Rhetorical Devices/Lit. Terms
literary terms
35
English
11th Grade
10/05/2007

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Term
alliteration
Definition
repetition of initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words.
Term
allusion
Definition
brief reference to historical/literary figure, event, or object
Term
analogy
Definition
a comparison of two things, alike in certain aspects.
Term
anecdote
Definition
a short of account of an interesting event.
Term
anaphora
Definition
repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginnings of clauses.
Term
annotation
Definition
Explanatory or critical notes added to a text.
Term
aphorism
Definition
A short, astute statement of a general truth.
Term
archaic
Definition
obsolete phrasing, idiom, syntax or spelling.
Term
assonance
Definition
repetition of similar vowel sounds in the stressed syllable of adjacent words.
Term
assumption
Definition
a belief or statement taken for granted without proof.
Term
audience
Definition
one’s listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed.
Term
connotation
Definition
the emotional implications attached to a word.
Term
complex sentence
Definition
a sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
Term
denotation
Definition
the literal meaning of a word, independent of its emotional associations.
Term
diction
Definition
word choice
Term
erotema (rhetorical question)
Definition
asking a question for a purpose of asserting or denying something indirectly, rather than for eliciting a response.
Term
genre
Definition
major literary category
Term
hyperbole
Definition
use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect
Term
irony (dramatic)
Definition
information known to the audience but hidden from the characters.
Term
irony (verbal)
Definition
conveying a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word used.
Term
metaphor
Definition
implied comparison between two things of unlike nature that have something in common
Term
onomatopoeia
Definition
use of words whose sound echoes the sense.
Term
oxymoron
Definition
the yoking of two terms that are ordinarily contradictory.
Term
pacing
Definition
the relative speed or slowness with which a story is told or an idea is presented.
Term
paradox
Definition
an apparently contradictory statement that nevertheless contains some truth.
Term
parallelism
Definition
similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
Term
periphrasis
Definition
Substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name or of a proper name for a quality associated with that name.
Term
Prosopopeia (personification)
Definition
investing abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities or abilities.
Term
pun
Definition
a play on words where a word can have multiple meanings.
Term
rhetoric
Definition
the study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of “available means of persuasion.”
Term
rhetorical modes
Definition
patterns of organization to achieve a specific purpose
Term
rhetorical question
Definition
a question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer.
Term
satire
Definition
an ironic, satiric, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it.
Term
simile
Definition
an explicit comparison between two things of unlike nature that yet have something in common (using “like” or “as”).
Term
slang
Definition
vernacular speech, not accepted for formal speech-usually used in writing for humor, exaggeration or onomatopoeia effect.
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