Language Features/Authorial Choices

English

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of closely placed words, used to create rhythm, emphasis, or mood.

Allusion

An indirect reference to a person, place, event, or other text, which the writer expects the reader to recognise, adding layers of meaning.

Ambiguity

Deliberate use of language or structure that allows more than one interpretation, creating complexity or uncertainty.

Anadiplosis

The repetition of the last word of one clause or sentence at the start of the next, creating a linking or building effect.

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences, used for emphasis, rhythm, or persuasion.

Anecdote

A short personal or illustrative story used to support a point, build rapport, or make an argument more relatable.

Antithesis

The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel grammatical structure, to highlight difference or create balance.

Aphorism

A concise, memorable statement expressing a general truth or observation.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or an inanimate object.

Archetype

A recurring character, situation, or symbol that appears across many texts and cultures and represents universal human patterns.

Assonance

The repetition of similar vowel sounds in nearby words, creating musicality or mood.

Asyndeton

The deliberate omission of conjunctions between clauses or items in a list, creating speed, urgency, or a sense of abruptness.

Atmosphere

The emotional feeling or mood that a text creates for the reader, built through setting, imagery, diction, and tone.

Bathos

A sudden, often unintentional or comic shift from the elevated or serious to the trivial or ordinary.

Bildungsroman

A genre of novel that follows the psychological and moral growth of a protagonist from youth to maturity.

Caesura

A pause or break within a line of verse or sentence, often marked by punctuation, used to create emphasis, rhythm, or a dramatic effect.

Characterisation

The methods a writer uses to create and develop a character, including description, dialogue, action, thoughts, and the reactions of others.

Direct characterisation

When the narrator or writer explicitly tells the reader what a character is like.

Indirect characterisation

When a character's personality is revealed through their speech, actions, thoughts, appearance, or the reactions of others.

Chronological structure

A structure in which events are presented in the order in which they occur.

Non-linear structure

A structure in which events are presented out of chronological order, for example through flashbacks, flash-forwards, or fragmented time.

Cliché

An overused expression or idea that has lost its original impact through repetition.

Cliffhanger

An unresolved ending to a section or text that leaves the reader in suspense and encourages them to continue.

Climax

The point of greatest tension, conflict, or intensity in a narrative, often a turning point.

Colloquialism

Informal, conversational language or slang used to create realism, voice, or familiarity.

Conceit

An extended, elaborate, and often surprising comparison between two very unlike things, especially in poetry.

Connotation

The emotional, cultural, or associative meanings a word carries beyond its literal definition.

Denotation

The literal, dictionary definition of a word.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of nearby words, not only at the beginning.

Context

The social, historical, cultural, political, and personal circumstances surrounding the production or reception of a text.

Contrast

The placement of differing elements, such as ideas, characters, or images, side by side to emphasise their differences.

Convention

An established feature, technique, or expectation associated with a particular genre, form, or type of text.

Dialect

A variety of a language specific to a particular region or social group, with its own vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

Dialogue

Spoken exchange between characters, used to develop character, advance plot, and create realism.

Diction

The writer's deliberate choice of words and style of expression, including level of formality and word type.

Didactic

Intended to teach or instruct, particularly to convey a moral or political lesson.

Direct address

When a writer or speaker speaks directly to the reader or audience, often using "you," to engage or persuade them.

Dramatic irony

A situation in which the audience or reader knows something that a character does not, creating tension, humour, or pathos.

Verbal irony

When a speaker says one thing but means the opposite.

Situational irony

When the outcome of a situation is the opposite of what was expected.

Dystopia

A fictional society characterised by oppression, suffering, or injustice, often presenting a warning about real social or political trends.

Elegy

A reflective poem or text that mourns a death or loss.

Ellipsis

The omission of words, or the use of three dots, to suggest unfinished thought, hesitation, silence, or suspense.

Emotive language

Words chosen specifically to provoke an emotional response in the reader.

End-stopped line

A line of verse in which a grammatical pause or punctuation mark coincides with the end of the line.

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence or clause across a line break without punctuation, creating flow, momentum, or tension.

Epiphany

A moment of sudden insight or realisation experienced by a character.

Epigraph

A short quotation or phrase placed at the beginning of a text or chapter to suggest its theme or tone.

Epistolary form

A narrative told through documents such as letters, diary entries, or emails.

Euphemism

A mild or indirect word or phrase used in place of one considered harsh, blunt, or unpleasant.

Exposition

The part of a text that introduces background information, characters, setting, and context.

Extended metaphor

A metaphor developed over several lines, paragraphs, or throughout a whole text.

Fable

A short story, usually featuring animals or objects, that conveys a moral lesson.

Fallacy

A flaw in reasoning that weakens an argument, such as a false dilemma or ad hominem attack.

Falling action

The events following the climax that lead towards the resolution of a narrative.

Flashback

A scene that interrupts the present action to depict events from the past.

Flash-forward

A scene that jumps ahead in time to depict events that have not yet occurred in the main timeline.

Foil

A character who contrasts with another, usually the protagonist, in order to highlight particular qualities.

Foreshadowing

Hints or clues that suggest events that will occur later in the text.

Frame narrative

A story in which one narrative is embedded within another, which provides a "frame" for the story.

Free verse

Poetry that does not follow a regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern.

Genre

A category of texts defined by shared conventions of form, content, style, or purpose.

Hyperbole

Deliberate and obvious exaggeration used for emphasis, humour, or effect, not intended to be taken literally.

Iambic pentameter

A line of verse with ten syllables arranged in five unstressed-stressed pairs (iambs).

Imagery

Language that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) to create vivid mental pictures or impressions.

In medias res

A narrative technique of beginning a story in the middle of the action rather than at the start of events.

Intertextuality

The relationship between texts, where one text echoes, references, adapts, or is shaped by another.

Inversion

A reversal of the normal word order in a sentence, used for emphasis or poetic effect.

Irony

A contrast between expectation and reality, or between what is said and what is meant.

Juxtaposition

The placement of two or more contrasting elements close together to highlight their differences or create meaning.

Litotes

A form of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite (e.g. "not bad").

Magical realism

A genre in which magical or supernatural elements are presented as part of an otherwise realistic setting.

Metafiction

Fiction that draws attention to its own status as a constructed work, often breaking the illusion of reality.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that describes one thing as being another, to suggest a shared quality without using "like" or "as".

Meter

The regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of verse.

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which something is referred to by the name of something closely associated with it (e.g. "the crown" for monarchy).

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole, or the whole represents a part (e.g. "all hands on deck").

Modality

The use of language to express degrees of certainty, obligation, or possibility, often through modal verbs such as "must," "might," or "could."

Monologue

A long speech delivered by one character, often revealing thoughts, motives, or emotions to other characters or the audience.

Soliloquy

A speech in which a character speaks their thoughts aloud while alone on stage, revealing inner thoughts to the audience.

Mood

The emotional atmosphere a text creates for the reader.

Motif

A recurring element, such as an image, phrase, idea, or sound, that develops or reinforces a theme.

Narrative perspective

The position from which a story is told, which shapes how events and characters are presented.

First-person narration

A narrative told by a character within the story using "I," offering a subjective and limited viewpoint.

Second-person narration

A narrative that addresses the reader or a character as "you."

Third-person limited

A narrative told by an outside narrator who has access to the thoughts and feelings of only one character.

Third-person omniscient

A narrative told by an outside narrator who has access to the thoughts and feelings of all characters.

Unreliable narrator

A narrator whose credibility is compromised, so that the reader must question the accuracy of their account.

Stream of consciousness

A narrative technique that presents a character's continuous flow of thoughts and sensations, often without conventional structure or punctuation.

Free indirect discourse

A technique that blends a character's thoughts or speech into third-person narration without quotation marks or tags like "she thought".

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates or suggests the sound it describes.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech combining two contradictory terms to create a paradoxical effect (e.g. "deafening silence").

Paradox

A statement or situation that appears self-contradictory but reveals a deeper truth.

Parallelism

The use of repeated grammatical structures or patterns in successive phrases or clauses to create balance, rhythm, and emphasis.

Parody

An imitation of the style of a text, author, or genre for comic or critical effect.

Pathetic fallacy

The attribution of human emotions to nature or the weather, often reflecting a character's mood or foreshadowing events.

Pathos

An appeal to the audience's emotions in order to persuade them.

Ethos

An appeal based on the credibility, authority, or character of the speaker or writer.

Logos

An appeal to logic and reason through evidence, facts, and structured argument.

Kairos

An appeal based on timeliness, suggesting that the moment is the right one to act or believe.