Close Reading/ Analysis & Figures of Speech

Vocab

Diction

The choice and use of words and phrases in speech and writing

Syntax

How the words are structured together

Pace, structure, arrangement

Tone

The attitude of the text or speaker

Mood

The emotion the text creates for the audience

Alliteration

The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words

Colloquialism

Slang. Common phrase or word in everyday speech

Euphemism

A nicer way to say something

Antithesis

Contrast of two things.

Juxtaposed contrasting points

Hyperbole

Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally

Metaphor

A comparison of two unlike things

Simile

Comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as”

Synechdoche

Nickname where it is part of the whole

ex. “my wheels” instead of “my car”

Inversion (aka Anastrophe)

When you reverse the syntax of a sentence on purpose

ex. Yoda’s Speech

(Verbal) Irony

Sarcasm

Allusion

A reference

ex. She’s the Juliet to my Romeo”

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a successive clause

ex. I came, I saw, I conquered

Juxtaposition

Side by side placement

(image and text)

Metonymy

Nickname

ex. “The Crown” in place of “King'“ or “Queen”

Parallelism

Similar words, phrases, or clauses that employ same grammatical structure

ex. Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime”

Imagery

Sensory details in writing or in speech such as

Visual, tactile, olfactory, auditory, gustation

Personification

Human attributes to non humans

(Pathetic Fallacy)

Rhetorical Question

Question that acts as a statement, not intended to be answered

Understatement

The presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is

Greek name: Litote

Paradox

A contradiction that is true

ex. The beginning of the end