IB English Paper 1 Stylistic Devices

Varied sentence length

Long sentence directly followed by a short sentence (strengthens writing style)

Allusion

Echoing another speech or phrase (associate self with ideas of original text, create bond with audience evoking shared knowledge)

Juxtapostion

When two things that are different are right next to each other (creates drama)

Polysyndeton

Use of any conjunction repeatedly (stresses importance of each item)

Metaphor

Two things compared without like or as (imagery, connections in brain)

Parallelism

Repeated structure in a sentence (adds balance, rhythm and clarity)

Hypophora

Answering the author's own question (readers feel like author has the answers, establishes ethos)

Repetition (Anaphora)

Repetition of words or phrases (when properly used, creates structure and power to instill an idea in the minds of the readers)

Antithesis

Two opposite ideas places next to each other (creates drama, plays up the difference)

Weasel words

Words or phrases that appear to be significant but are truly meaningless (creates illusion of ethos, pathos and logos)

Ethos

Ethics (research, credibility, standards)

Pathos

Emotions (humor, fear, nostalgia)

Logos

Logic (facts and statistics)

Discourse

Written or spoken communication

Three purposes of media

Inform, persuade, entertain

Media triangle

Text, purpose, audience

Elements to language

Diction, tone, metaphor, imagery, length, repetition, volume, color

Register

Variety of language which is distinctive for a specific context created by choices a speaker makes

Formal register

Speeches and presentations

Casual

Used in group discussion with friends, includes gaps, interruptions, pauses and errors

Intimate

Private conversations between friends, family and loved ones (tone, volume and unspoken actions may be as important as spoken words)

Manipulations of register create...

An authors style

Relay

Text and image working together in a complementary relationship (look at words and images together to figure out a meaning)

Euphemism

Making unpleasant things sound more milder or less offensive (used when talking about taboos or situations that are difficult to accept)

Emotive (loaded) language

Words with connotations that sound more extreme than more bland or basic vocabulary

Vague language

Words like a lot, frequently, many, far away which are misleading (different readers can have different interpretations of the words)

Cacophony

Harsh sounding and generally unpleasant

Visual imagery

Sight

Tactile imagery

Touch

Olfactory imagery

Smell

Gustatory imagery

Taste

Alliteration

Repetition of consonant sounds

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds

Caesura

Strong pause within a line of a verse

Figurative language

Similes and metaphors

Hyperbole

Exaggeration

Foreshadowing

Hints to what is to come in a play, poem or story

Personification

Inanimate objects with living qualities

Rhyme

Matching of a final vowel or consonant sound

Rhythm

When a poem has a beat to each line after the other

Theme

Overall idea of a piece of literature

Diction

Refereing to style, to the writer's word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness or effectiveness.

Didactic

teaching or instructing, especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles.

Imagery

The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions (to create vivid images).

Infer (Inference)

To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented.

Invective

An emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong or abusive language.

Irony

The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant.

Verbal Irony

Words are used to suggest the opposite of what is meant.

Situational Irony

Events turn out the opposite of what was expected.

Dramatic Irony

Facts or events are unknown to a character but known to the reader or audience or other characters in work.

Metonomy

the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. (eg "the White House" for the Presdient)

Mood

Grammatically, the verbal units and a speaker's attitude (indicative, subjunctive, imperative); literaily, the prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a word.

Narrative

The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events.

Oxymoron

From the Greek for "pointedly foolish," author group apparently contradictory terms to suggest paradox.

Paradox

A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity.

Parody

A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with speicific aim of comic affect and /or ridicule.

Pedantic

overly scholarly, academic, or bookish.

Point of View

The perspective from which a story is told.

Prose

Genre, including fiction and nonfiction, written in ordinary language.

Sarcasm

itter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something.

Satire

A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and convention for reform or ridicule.

Semantics

The branch of linguistics that studies that meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another.

Style

An evaluation of the sum of the choices an author makes in blending diction, syntax, figurative language, and other literary devices.

Subject Complement

The word or clause that follows a linking verb and complements, or completes, the subject of the sentence by either renaming it or describing it.

Symbol (Symbolism)

Anything that represents or stands for something else. (natural, conventional, literary)

Syntax

The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses and sentences.

Transition

A word or phrase that links different ideas.

Understatement

The ironic minimalizaing of fact, presents something as less signficant than it is.

Wit

Intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights.

Pensive

reflecting deep or serious thoughts

Petulant

easily irritated or annoyed

Pious

displaying a reverence for God

Pretentious

exaggerated show of dignity or importance

Provincial

limited in perspective, self centered

Puritanical

strict or severe in matters of morality

Sardonic

scornfully or cynically mocking,sarcastic

Satiric

ridiculing to show weakness in order to make a point or teach

Sentimental

colored by emotion rather than realism

Skeptical

showing doubt

Stark

plain, harsh,bleak

Stolid

having or revealing little emotion

Terse

effectively concise,brief

Timorous

timid

Trite

stale, worn out

Turgid

pompous, excessively ornate or complex in style or language

Urbane

sophisticated

Whimsical

playful, unpredictable

Wry

satiric, bitter

Zealous

highly motivated, fervent

haughty

proud and vain to the point of arrogance

iconoclastic

inclined to attack cherished beliefs and emotions

imperious

arrogantly domineering; overbearing

incredulous

unbelieving

indignant

marked by anger aroused by justice

inflammatory

likely to stir up anger or trouble

insipid

vapid; boring

insolent

rude,arrogant

irreverent

showing disrespect for things that are normally respected

lucid

easily understood

ludicrous

ridiculous; laughable