English Literary Devices

Anastrophe

When the normal word order of a sentence is manipulated or changed.

Compound Sentence

A sentence with more than one subject or predicate.

Syntax

The placement of words or phrases to produce a coherent and grammatically sound sentence.

Parallelism

A balance of phrases or clauses with identical grammatical structures.

Juxtaposition

The situation or action of positioning two opposite elements next to or near one another.

Repetition

A literary device in which a word or phrase is repeatedly used in a speech or piece of writing.

Antithesis

A figure of speech is when words that are quite opposed to or opposite each other are paralleled to show opposition or contrast of concepts.

Pacing

The speed at which a story is told.

Epistrophe

The repetition of the same words or phrases at the end of consecutive sentences.

Complex Sentence

A sentence that contains one independent and one dependent clause.

Simple Sentence

A one-clause sentence with only one subject or predicate.

Periodic Sentence

A complex sentence that places the main idea at the end of the sentence.

Cumulative Sentence

A sentence that consists of an independent clause followed by modifiers.

Imperative Sentence

A sentence that conveys a command

Hortative Sentence

A sentence that urges someone to do something or support a side.

Parenthetical

Relating to something or inserted as parentheses.

Subordination

A technique that combines two sentences or ideas

Diction

The choice and use of words or phrases in literature.

Tone

The feeling or attitude that an author conveys in their writing.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which a phrase or word is applied to an object or action that is not possible.

Simile

A figure of speech that compares one thing with another thing of a different kind.

Personification

It is attributing personal nature or human characteristics to something that is not human.

Hyperbole

Exaggerated claims or statements that are not literal.

Understatement

A device that describes something as being less than it is.

Paradox

A situation or statement that seems contradictory at the surface level

Metonymy

It is using a word or phrase that's related to an object or idea to refer to that object or idea.

Synecdoche

Substituting a part of something for the entire thing.

Imagery

Using words to create mental pictures that appeal to the reader's senses.

Oxymoron

Using two words with opposing meanings to create a new word or phrase.

Irony

When what is said is the opposite of what is meant.

Alliteration

Repeating the same sound at the beginning of words that are close together.

Rhetorical Question

A question asked for effect

Anaphora

Repetition of the same words at the beginning of sentences.