Ava English Study

Alliteration

Several words that share the same first letter.

Allusion

A reference to another work of literature, person, or event.

Anecdote Personal Anecdote

A short personal story.

Aristotelian Triangle

A diagram that illustrates the interrelationship among the speaker, audience, and subject in determining a text.

Audience

The listener, viewer, or reader of a text.

Context

The circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a text.

Counterargument

An opposing argument to the one a writer is putting forward an argument or set of reasons put forward to oppose an idea or theory developed in another argument.

Diction

A writer's or speaker's choice of words.

Ethos

Greek for "character." Demonstrates authors are credible and trustworthy to speak on a given topic. Established by both who you are and what you say.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration

Imagery

Visually descriptive or figurative language

Inclusive Language

Words that make the reader feel part of a group. "We" is an obvious one.

Logos

Greek for "embodied thought." Reasonable by offering clear, rational ideas and using specific details, examples, facts, statistics, or expert testimony to back them up.

Metaphor

Saying one thing IS another thing.

Occasion

The time and place a speech is given or a piece is written.

Parallelism or Parallel Structure

Repetition of types (example: nouns, adjectives, participial phrases) of words or phrases.

Pathos

Greek for "suffering" or "experience." Emotionally motivates their audience. Plays on the audience's values, desires, and hopes, on the one hand, or fears and prejudices, on the other.

Personification

Giving a nonhuman thing human qualities

Purpose

The goal the speaker wants to achieve.

Refutation

A denial of the validity of an opposing argument. In order to sound reasonable.

Repetition

Word or phrase used two or more times in close proximity

Rhetoric

As Aristotle defined the term, "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion." In other words, it is the art of finding ways to persuade an audience.

Rhetorical Appeal

Used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find most important or compelling.

Rhetorical Question

A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.

Simile

Saying one thing is LIKE another thing.

SOAPS

A diagram that illustrates the interrelationship among the speaker, occasion, audience, and subject in determining a text.

Speaker

The person or group who creates a text. This might be a politician who delivers a speech, a commentator who writes an article, an artist who draws a political cartoon, or even a company that commissions an advertisement.

Subject

The topic of a text. What the text is about.

Sybolism

One thing represents something else.

Tone

Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character.

Tantalize

to tease by keeping something out of reach

Obdurate

hard; unmoved by persuasion

Googol

the figure 1 followed by 100 zeroes, equal to 10 to the 100th power

Boudoir

a woman's dressing room, bedroom, or private sitting room

Votary

a person devoted to something

Oscillate

to swing back and forth

Irreparable

cannot be repaired

Buttress

to support or prop

Valor

courage; bravery

Somnambulist

sleepwalker

Incarcerate

to put in prison

Formidable

frightening; dreadful; awe-inspiring

Truncated

cut off; shortened

Remorse

regret for having done wrong

Impropriety

improper conduct; bad manners

Dormant

sleeping; inactive

Polyglot

using several languages

Truculent

savage; fierce

Contretemps

an embarrassing incident

Holocaust

widespread destruction; especially by fire

Paraphernalia

personal belongings; equipment

Titanic

huge; powerful

Carcinogen

a substance that causes cancer

Gyrate

to revolve around a point or axis

Nodule

a small lump

Prostrate

lying flat; stretched out with face on the ground

Deciduous

shedding at a certain stage

Bonafide

made in good faith; genuine

Nadir

the lowest point

Salutary

promoting health; beneficial

Bizarre

out of the ordinary; eccentric; freakish

Equilibrium

a state of balance

Promontory

a high point of land or rock projecting into water

Progeny

offspring; descendants

Decanter

a vessel used to receive liquid poured from another

Cuisine

food; style of cooking

Xenophobia

fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners

Metamorphosis

a transformation; a marked alteration

Juxtapose

to place side by side

Bellicose

warlike; quarrelsome

Masticate

to chew; to soften by crushing

Luminary

one who is notable in a particular field

Archetype

the original pattern or model

Apparition

unusual or unexpected sight

Sediment

matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid

Pulchritude

physical beauty

Fecund

fruitful; productive

Dexterous

skillful with the hands; mentally adroit

Pogrom

an organized persecution or massacre

Satiated

fully fed; fully satisfied

Conflagration

a large, destructive fire

Exodus

a mass departure

Penurious

stingy; extremely poor

Nocturnal

pertaining to the night; active at night

Celestial

heavenly

Bombast

pretentious, inflated speech or writing

Lugubrious

exaggeratedly or affectedly mournful

Recalcitrant

stubbornly resistant to authority or restraint

Apex

highest point; summit

Doggerel

loose, irregular verse; inferior poetry

Plummet

to fall or plunge straight downward

Lineage

descent in a direct line from an ancestor

Comatose

unconscious; inactive

Amphibious

able to function both on land and in water

Ravenous

hungry; very eager

Potable

fit to drink

Distaff

pertaining to females; a stick that holds wool or flax for spinning

Corona

a halo of light around the sun or moon

Pariah

an outcast

Rendezvous

an appointment; a meeting place