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abstract noun
nouns that refer to a concept or thing that has no physical qualities; fear, hope defines attributes of a noun: the extravagant party
adverb
describes the action of a verb: the child slept soundly
adverbial phrase
a group of words that add extra information about how and when something happens: At the end of the day, he realised it was hopeless.
alliteration
repetition of consonant sounds
allusion
when the writer makes a reference to an event, story or famous thing that the writer expects the reader to know; common allusions relate to the bible
anaphora
repetition of a word at the beginning of a succession of lines, clauses, etc.
antagonist
the opposing force that brings conflict and is instrumental in the development of the protagonist
antithesis
words set up in opposition to each other in nearby lines or clauses
article
used to distinguish between definite (the) and indefinite (a/an) references to nouns
assonance
repetition of vowel sound in words close to each other: Men sells the wedding bells.
asyndeton
the linking of linguistic units without a conjunction: The area was surrounded by policeman, guards, women, children, protestors.
catalyst
a character in a story who causes the protagonist, or main character, to move toward some kind of action or transformation
chiasmus
a crossing of words and phrases; the arrangement of clauses or phrase is swapped; "ABBA": I do not live that I may eat, but I eat that I may live
clause
a group of words that forms a full sentence or part of a sentence
collective noun
noun that refers to a group of people, animals or things: flock, government
comparative
form of adjectives and adverbs used for comparison with the inflection -er or the adverb more: faster, more compassionate
complex sentence
made up of one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses
compound sentence
made up of at least two main clauses joined together by a co-ordinating conjunction
concrete noun
noun that refers to physical things like people, objects, places or substances: chair, vase
conjunction
word class whose function is to join together two parts of a sentence: and, or
declarative
mood used to express a statement: The road is very wet.
determiner
word class which specifies the number and definiteness of a noun: the, a, some
dramatic irony
when the audience knows something that a character on stage does not
epiplexis
often a series of rhetorical questions, seeking to shame, anger, or reproach the audience into seeing the point
epistrophe
the repetition of one or more words at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences
euphemism
a polite or subtle way of saying something bad, inappropriate or embarrassing: She is no longer with us (death).
exclamative
mood used to express surprise or shock: How cool is that!
form
the text type of a piece of writing as a whole, how it is constructed and organized
hyperbole
exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally
hypophora
in which the speaker poses a question and then answers the question
hypotactic
writing in which complex sentences dominate; suited to exploring reasons, causes and effects
imperative
mood expressing a directive (command, warning, pleading, inviting): Get down from there.
intensifier
an adverb that adds emphasis as a pre-modifier to an adverb or adjective: so cold, very unfortunate, really slowly.
interrogative
mood expressing a question: Are we nearly there yet?
irony
the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect
isocolon
parallel structures of grammatically equal length
juxtaposition
the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect
litotes
a form of understatement in which an idea is expressed ironically by negating its contrary
main clause
independent and makes sense on its own: The girl runs fast.
metaphor
an implicit comparison
modal verb
marks contrasts in attitude such as obligation, possibility and prediction: must, can, will
noun
word class with a naming function
noun phrase
words added to the noun to provide more information about it: The tall, handsome man (noun) looked sad and lonely in the busy and hectic room (noun).
oxymoron
a figure of speech where two apparently contradictory terms appear next to each other
paratactic
writing that is made up mostly of simple or compound sentences
parenthesis
the use of brackets, commas or dashes in written language to mark out optional information in a sentence: Are you (really) listening?
pathetic fallacy
a kind of personification that gives human emotions to inanimate objects of nature; weather features reflecting a mood: It rains when the character is sad.
personal pronoun
used in place of nouns referring to specific people or things: I, me, mine, you, yours, his, hers, we, they, them
personification
attributing human qualities to non-human things
point of view
first / second / third person narrative
polysyndeton
where coordinating conjunctions are used several times in close succession
possessive
a word (mine, his) or inflection (Mark's, the boys') marking possession
preposition
word class, like in, on, of, that expresses a relationship between two lexical items
prolepsis
the representation of something in the future as if it already existed or had occurred
pronoun
word class that can replace a noun phrase
proper noun
a noun naming a distinctive person, place or other unique reference which is marked with a capital letter
prose
so-called "ordinary writing" — made up of sentences and paragraphs
protagonist
the main character/s in any story, such as a literary work or drama
rhetorical question
a question used to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer
semantic field
a set of words grouped by meaning referring to a specific subject
sibilance
repeated consonant sound: s, sh, z
simile
an explicit comparison
simple sentence
a sentence made up of one main clause
subordinate clause
cannot stand alone as a complete grammatical sentence; needs another clause to complete its meaning: We arrived early because we wanted to get good seats.
superlative
form of adjectives and adverbs used for comparison with the inflection -est or the adverb most: fastest, most compassionate
syndeton
the linking of linguistic units with a conjunction: Ham and chips.
tricolon
a climax of three words or phrases
verb
word class that expresses states, actions and processes: run, want, happy
vocative
used to refer to people when talking to them: madam, sir, honey
zoomorphism
a comparison attributing animal characteristics to an object or abstract concept