language words 6

Anadiplosis

The repetition of the final word or words of a sentence or line at the beginning of the next (e.g., "Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering").

Anecdote

A short, interesting or amusing account of an incident, often biographical, used to illustrate a point.

Aphorism

A brief, cleverly worded statement that expresses a general truth or makes a wise observation about life.

Appositive

A noun or noun phrase that immediately follows and renames or explains another noun or pronoun (e.g., "My father, Bob, worked for NASA").

Asyndeton

The deliberate omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words (e.g., "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship").

Dissonance

The deliberate use of harsh, inharmonious, or discordant sounds in poetry or prose to achieve a jarring effect.

Ethos

A rhetorical appeal directed at establishing credibility, character, ethics, and moral authority.

Homily

Literally meaning "sermon," any serious talk, speech, or lecture offering moral or spiritual advice.

Logos

A rhetorical appeal directed at logic, reason, and rational argumentation using facts, evidence, and structured reasoning.

Periodic sentence

A sentence that withholds its main clause or central idea until the very end to build suspense or create emphasis (e.g., "Despite Barbara's irritation at Jack, she loved him").

Persona

The speaker, voice, or projected character assumed by an author within a piece of writing.

Stream of consciousness

A literary technique presenting the continuous, unedited flow of ideas, associations, and feelings that make up an individual's conscious experience.

Synthesis

The combination of separate elements, sources, or ideas to form a coherent, unified whole.

Voice

The distinct personality, rhythm, fluency, and stylistic tone that makes a writer's work unique.

Zeugma

A figure of speech in which a single word governs two adjacent words in the same construction, but applies to them in different senses or makes literal sense with only one (e.g., "He closed the door and his heart on his lost love").