English Language Techniques Glossary

Flashcards on English Language Techniques based on lecture notes.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of the words in a sentence. It creates rhythm and emphasis.

Anaphora

The repetition of a phrase or word at the beginning of multiple sentences. It emphasizes a connection to a concept such as home and dreams.

Anecdote

A personal story used to give insight into the composer and evoke pathos.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds in a sentence to create a soft resonance.

Atmosphere

The mood of a piece described using words of feeling created by other techniques including sensory imagery.

Characterisation

The qualities and actions of the characters in a text, created with a variety of techniques including internal dialogue and dialogue.

Collective pronouns

The use of “we”, “us”, to create a sense of unity between author and audience and/or represent a collective.

Contrast

Putting two things side by side to reinforce their differences.

Cumulative listing

The use of three or more verbs, nouns or adjectives in a row to create a list that emphasizes or shows diversity.

Derogatory

Language that is used to hurt and abuse, usually phrases directed at a particular group or person intending to cause harm.

Dialogue

The exchange between two or more people spoken aloud, represented by quotation marks and dialogue tags. The effect is a quick way to represent relationships, character and/or launch into action.

Direct address

Use of second person pronouns “you” to speak directly to the audience creating a sense of immediate connection used to influence.

Oxymoron

When two words directly contradict each other to create a new meaning that doesn’t make complete logical sense.

Enjambment

A poetic technique, running a sentence over two lines so a break occurs mid sentence to keep the sentence running and break the rhythm of a regular clause.

Internal dialogue

The thoughts inside a character’s head giving perspective and characterisation into the way in which they think and what they feel.

Ethos

A rhetorical appeal that establishes the credibility or trustworthiness of the author creating a bond between composer and audience.

Flashback and Flashforward

A shift in time to the past, to provide more context to a character or situation, or create a nuanced form. A flashforward is a shift in time to the future, often used to create suspense.

Foreshadowing

When a text preempts what will happen through inferences, atmosphere and tone creating feelings of suspense and investment.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration used to emphasizes the impact, or feeling of a situation by taking it beyond realty.

Jargon

Words specific to a profession, skillset or field of work that creates specificity and can denote knowledge specific to characters and/or the target audience.

Juxtaposition

Placing two things side by side to emphasise their differences.

Metaphor

Comparing two things saying one thing is another with similar effect to a simile but with greater abstraction.

Modality – high or low

The confidence of language used. High modality is very forward and strong, low modality is less certain.

Motif

When a symbol is repeated throughout a text, reinforcing the ideas it represents and is exploring.

Natural imagery

Using the sense to describe the natural world evoking location, tone and can symbolise key ideas.

Onomatopoeia

Words that represent the sounds they are making building interest and quickly convey noise in the written form.

Oxymoron

When two words directly contradict each other to create a new meaning that doesn’t make complete logical sense.

Paradox

The connecting of two ideas that are inherently contradictory creating a cognitive dissonance to arrive at a new idea.

Personification

Giving an object or animal human qualities gathering human empathy by making it more relatable.

Pun

A play on words where one word has a double meaning in the context of the sentence used to create humour and layers of meaning.

Repetition

Repeating a word or phrase two or more times to provide emphasis.

Rhetorical question

A question asked of the audience without the expectation of an answer used to provoke thought.

Sensory Imagery

Description using five senses creating a better understanding of the world we are building or reading about.

Sibilance

Repetition of the ‘s’ consonant in a sentence creating a smooth sound.

Simile

Comparing two things using “like” or “as” linking two images/ideas/things mostly for descriptive effect.

Slang

Informal language specific to a certain group or demographic conveying the nuance of location, character and can also communicate world view.

Superlative

A description that takes something to its furthest extreme.

Symbolism

When an object, character, location, etc represents an abstract idea grounding abstraction and convey it in something more concrete.

Tone

Related to our relationship with the audience and is often described as formal or informal/casual created by our choice of diction.

Truncated sentences

Short sentences that can emphasise high emotion and/or create a rapid or broken rhythm on the page.

Zoomorphism

Assigning animal attributes to a human, idea, or object used to represent themes of degraded human life.

Allegory

When a text is representing another story through an extended metaphor with moral messages giving audiences a greater chance to engage with them.

Allusion

When a text makes reference to an aspect of religion, history or culture to layer upon and strengthen its meaning offering context to a work by placing it in relation to other aspects of society.

Anadiplosis

When the last word/phrase of one sentence is repeated at the beginning of the next emphasizing the ideas and linking clauses.

Asyndeton

The omission of conjunctions in a sentence and replacing them with commas making a piece more concise and taking out any confusion of meaning.

Character foil

Creating two characters who serve as each other’s opposite strengthening their characterisation.

Circular structure

When a narrative begins and ends at the same point emphasizing the exploration of time, change and human control over their own fates.

Counter argument

Presenting the other side of an argument in a persuasive piece in order to take it apart and prove your argument stronger.

Epigraph

A short quotation at the beginning of a book or chapter that is reflective of its themes provoking the reader to contemplate where they will find them in the following text.

Epistolary form

Relating to letters including different perspectives and providing readers with quick insights as letters are often of a personal and private nature.

Epistrophe

The repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive sentences/clauses putting the weight of the clause into the repeated subject.

Genre

The style a text is written in and the predetermined conventions of that style.

Hyperbaton

A device which inverts the normal order of words in a sentence, often used for the emphasis of a particular word.

Hypophora

The speaker poses the question and then answers it leading to a more immediate idea or message and creating a rhythm of question, answer.

In media res

Beginning “in the middle of things” quickening the pace and getting rid of unnecessary detail or exposition.

Intertextual reference

When a text references another text to enhance its meaning and connect themes and ideas demonstrating the field that the text sits in by acknowledging what has come before and adds layers of complexity.

Metonymy

When a word or name is used in place of something it’s closely related to substituting the bigger thing and is often used for poetic effect.

Multimodal

The employment of multiple modes (text, audio, visual, physical, interactive) to create layers of meaning.

Parody

When a text imitates a certain style of text to satirise it employing exaggeration to make obvious the characteristics it wishes to unpick.

Pathetic Fallacy

When the weather is used to reflect the mood of the characters creating a strong sense of atmosphere and conveys the characters’.