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| A mild or less negative usage for a harsh or blunt term. Example: pass away is a euphemism for die. |
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| A short, pithy statement of a generally accepted truth or sentiment. Also see adage and maxim. |
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| A locution that addresses a person or personified thing not present. Example: “Oh, you cruel streets of Manhattan, how I detest you!” |
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| The repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words in prose or poetry. |
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| Literally, “talking around” a subject; i.e., discourse that avoids direct reference to a subject. |
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| A structural element of a sentence, consisting of a grammatical subject and a predicate. Independent clauses, sometimes called main clauses, may stand on their own as complete sentences; dependent clauses, which are used as nouns or modifiers, are incomplete sentences and may not stand along grammatically. Dependent clauses are sometimes called subordinate clauses. Dependent clauses that function as adjectives, nouns, or adverbs are known, respectively, as adjective, noun, and adverbial clauses. |
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| A witty or ingenious thought; a diverting or highly fanciful idea, often stated in figurative language. |
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| The suggested or implied meaning of a word or phrase. Contrast with denotation. |
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| The repetition of two or more consonant sounds in a group of words or a unit of speech or writing. |
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| A method of reasoning by which specific definitions, conclusions, and theorems are drawn from general principles. Its opposite is inductive reasoning. |
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| The dictionary definition of a word. Contrast with connotation. |
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| The choice of words in oral and written discourse. |
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| Having an instructive purpose; intending to convey information or teach a lesson, usually in a dry, pompous manner. |
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| That portion of discourse that wanders or departs from the main subject or topic. |
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| A mild or less negative usage for a harsh or blunt term. Example: pass away is a euphemism for die. |
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| The background and events that lead to the presentation of the main idea or purpose of an essay or other work; setting forth the meaning or purpose of a piece of writing or discourse. |
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| The interpretation or analysis of a text. |
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| A series of comparisons between two unlike objects. |
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| fallacy, fallacious reasoning |
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| An incorrect belief or supposition based on faulty data, defective evidence, or false information. |
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| figure of speech, figurative language |
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| In contrast to literal language, figurative language implied meanings. Figures of speech include, among many others, metaphor, simile, and personification. |
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| A term used to describe literary forms, such as novel, play, and essay. |
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| Overstatement; gross exaggeration for rhetorical effect. |
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| A word or phrase representing that which can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, or felt; imagery is the use of images in speech and writing |
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| A method of reasoning in which a number of specific facts or examples are used to make a generalization. Its opposite is deductive reasoning. |
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| A mode of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or light sarcasm; a state of affairs or events that is the reverse of what might have been expected. |
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| A form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity. Example: He is not a bad dancer. |
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| A sentence that follows the customary word order of English sentences, i.e., subject-verb-object. The main idea of a loose sentence is presented first and is then followed by one or more subordinate clauses. See also periodic sentence. |
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| A confused use of words in which the appropriate word is replaced by one with a similar sound but inappropriate meaning. |
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| A figure of speech that compares unlike objects. When several characteristics of the same objects are compared, the device is called an extended metaphor. A metaphor referring to a particular person, place, or thing is called a metaphorical allusion; for example, referring to someone as “a Hercules.” |
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| A figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated. Example: “The White House says…” |
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| The emotional tone or prevailing atmosphere in a work of literature or other discourse. In grammar, mood refers to the intent of a particular sentence. The indicative mood is used for statements of fact; subjunctive mood is used to express doubt or a conditional attitude; sentences in the imperative mood give commands. |
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| A form of verse or prose (both fiction and nonfiction) that tells a story. A storyteller may use any number of narrative devices, such as skipping back and forth in time, ordering events chronologically, and ordering events to lead up to a suspenseful climax. Also see frame. |
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| A statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one before. |
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| adj.) Of or relating to facts and reality, as opposed to private and personal feelings and attitudes. Its opposite is subjective. |
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| The use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning. Example: bubbling, murmuring brooks. |
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| A term consisting of contradictory elements juxtaposed to create a paradoxical effect. Examples: loud silence, jumbo shrimp. |
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| A statement that seems self-contradictory but is nevertheless true. |
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The structure required for expressing two or more grammatical elements of equal rank. Coordinate ideas, compared and contrasted ideas, and correlative constructions call for parallel construction. For example:
Colleges favor applicants with good academic records, varied interests, and they should earn high score on the AP exam.
The underlined section of the sentence lacks the same grammatical form as the italicized phrases. To be correct, it should read high scores. |
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| An imitation of a work meant to ridicule its style and subject. |
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| Faulty reasoning that inappropriately ascribes human feelings to nature or nonhuman objects. |
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| A sentence that departs from the usual word order of English sentences by expressing its main thought only at the end. In other words, the particulars in the sentence are presented before the idea they support. See also loose sentence. |
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| The role or façade that a character assumes or depicts to a reader or other audience. |
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| A figure of speech in which objects and animals are given human characteristics. |
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The part of a sentence that is not the grammatical subject. It often says something about the subject. A noun that provides another name for the subject is called a predicate nominative, as in:
Lynn (subject) is the president (predicate nominative) of the company.
An adjective that describes the subject is called a predicate adjective, as in
Harold (subject) is courageous (predicate adjective). |
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| Any discourse that is not poetry. A prose poem is a selection of prose that, because of its language or content, is poetic in nature. |
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| A humorous play on words, using similar-sounding or identical words to suggest different meanings. |
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| The part of discourse wherein opposing arguments are anticipated and answered. |
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| Repetition of an idea using different words, often for emphasis or other effect. |
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| The withdrawal of a previously stated idea or opinion. |
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| The language of a work and its style; words, often highly emotional, used to convince or sway an audience. |
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| The withdrawal of a previously stated idea or opinion. |
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| The language of a work and its style; words, often highly emotional, used to convince or sway an audience. |
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| A general term that identifies discourse according to its chief purpose. Modes include exposition (to explain, analyze, or discuss an idea), argumentation (to prove a point or persuade), description (to recreate or present with details), and narration (to relate an anecdote or story). |
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| A question to which the audience already knows the answer; a question asked merely for effect with no answer expected. |
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| Language that conveys a speaker’s attitude or opinion with regard to a particular subject. |
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| A sharp, caustic attitude conveyed in words through jibes, taunts, or other remarks; sarcasm differs from irony, which is more subtle. |
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| A literary style used to poke fun at, attack, or ridicule an idea, vice, or foible, often for the purpose of inducing change. |
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| The arrangement of the part of a sentence. A sentence may be simple (one subject and one verb), compound (two or more independent clauses joined by a conjunction), or complex (an independent clause plus one or more dependent clauses). |
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| A figurative comparison using the words like or as. Example: She sings like a canary. |
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| A general term referring to diction, syntax, tone, figurative language, and all other elements that contribute to the “style,” or manner of a given piece of discourse. |
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| adj) Of or relating to private and personal feelings and attitudes as opposed to facts and reality. Its opposite is objective. |
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| The implied meaning that underlies the main meaning of an essay or other work. |
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| A form of deductive reasoning in which given certain ideas or facts, other ideas or facts must follow, as in All men are mortal; Mike is a man; therefore, Mike is mortal. |
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| The use of one object to evoke ideas and associations not literally part of the original object. Example: The American flag may symbolize freedom, the fifty states, and the American way of life, among many other things. |
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| A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole (fifty masts for fifty ships) or the whole signifies the part (days for life, as in “He had lived his days under African skies”). When the name of a material stands for the thing itself, as in pigskin for football, that, too, is synecdoche. |
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| The organization of language into meaningful structure; every sentence has a particular syntax, or pattern of words. |
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| The author’s attitude toward the subject being written about. The tone is the characteristic emotion that pervades a work or part of a work – the spirit or quality that is the work’s emotional essence. |
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| The generic name of a figure of speech such as image, symbol, simile, and metaphor. |
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| Similar to the truth; the quality of realism in a work that persuades readers that they are getting a vision of life as it is. |
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The real or assumed personality used by a writer or speaker. In grammar, active voice and passive voice refer to the use of verbs. A verb is in the active voice when it expresses action performed by its subject. A verb is in the passive voice when it expresses an action performed upon its subject or when the subject is the result of the action.
ACTIVE: The crew raked the leaves.
PASSIVE: The leaves were raked by the crew.
Stylistically, the active voice leads to more economical and vigorous writing. |
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