Honors English III Final Exam Study Guide Flashcards

Flashcards covering rhetorical strategies, rhetorical modes, literary criticisms, philosophical reviews, vocabulary, and analytical skills for the English III Final Exam.

Alliteration

The repetition of similar consonant sounds within a phrase or sentence.

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, event, place, literary work, or work of art.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines.

Antithesis

Two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect.

Asyndeton

The absence of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words; helps in reducing the indirect meaning of the phrase and presents it in a concise form.

Conduplicatio

Repetition of a key word over successive phrases or clauses; serves as an effective focusing device.

Foreshadowing

Giving clues to the reader about what will happen next.

Imagery

Language that creates a sensory impression within the reader’s mind, including visual, auditory, tactile, thermal, olfactory, gustatory, and kinesthetic appeals.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which something is described as though it were something else without using 'like' or 'as.'

Paralipsis

Pretending to omit something, which draws the audience’s attention in that direction.

Parallel structure/parallelism

Similarity in structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses; repetition of grammatical structures, not words.

Polysyndeton

Repetition of conjunctions such as 'and', 'or', 'for' and 'but' in close succession, emphasizing rhythm.

Repetition

The act of using words or phrases several times for effect.

Symbol/symbolic

The use of one object, character, or idea to represent something larger than itself.

Synecdoche

Figure of speech in which the part of something is used to represent the whole, giving deeper meaning and conciseness.

Tone

The author’s attitude towards a subject.

Narration

Telling a story—relating events in climatic sequence (can be imaginary or real).

Description

Writer captures the essence of a scene, person or thing, with words.

Process and Analysis

Gives instructions on how to do something or describes how something was done.

Cause and Effect

Focuses on explanations that show a connection between a situation and its cause or effect.

Exemplification

Gives examples that clarify what the writer is trying to say.

Definition

Spelling out exactly what a word or phrase means.

Comparison/Contrast

Point how two things are similar; to stress how they are dissimilar.

Division/Classification

Break down a subject into its constituent types; discover the nature of a subject.

Argumentation

Essay/speech whose aim is to sway or persuade a reader/listener.

Feminist Criticism

Focuses on how women’s lives or relationships of men and women are influenced or distorted by culture, time period, or gender roles.

New Historicism

Focuses on finding meaning in a text by considering the work within the framework of the prevailing ideas and assumptions of its historical era.

Marxist Criticism

Focuses on how individual lives are shaped by their class or the interaction of social classes and political institutions.

New Criticism

Focuses on interpreting a work based solely on what is within the work itself by analyzing elements such as irony, paradox, imagery, metaphor, etc.

Psychoanalytical Criticism

Focuses on demonstrating how human traits, flaws, weaknesses, and tendencies affect the outcome of the story, and how self-interest affects behavior.

Archetypal Criticism

Focuses on the assumption that there is a collection of symbols, images, characters, and motifs that evokes the same response in all people.

Suffrage

The right to vote in political elections.

Ratification

The action of signing or giving formal consent to a treaty, contract, or agreement, making it officially valid.

Dishearten

Cause (someone) to lose determination or confidence; dispirit.

Alienate

Cause (someone) to feel isolated or estranged.

Inhibit

Hinder, restrain, or prevent (an action or process).

Humiliate

Make (someone) feel ashamed and foolish by injuring their dignity and self-respect, especially publicly.

Implement

Put (a decision, plan, agreement, etc.) into effect.

Advocate

Publicly recommend or support.

Artificiality

The quality of being produced rather than natural or genuine.

Tentative

Not certain or fixed; provisional.

Indignant

Feeling or showing anger or annoyance at what is perceived as unfair treatment.

Contemptuous

Showing contempt; scornful.

Sardonic

Grimly mocking or cynical.

Didactic

Intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive.

Moralistic

Characterized by expressing or imparting morals or moral principles.

Deteriorate

Become progressively worse.

Perpetual

Never ending or changing.

Equilibrium

A state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced.

Inborn

Existing from birth.

Solitary

Done or existing alone.

Despairing

Showing the loss of all hope.

Conventional

Based on or in accordance with what is generally done or believed.

Despondent

In low spirits from loss of hope or courage.

Grievances

A real or imagined wrong or other cause for complaint or protest, especially unfair treatment.

Refutation

The action of proving a statement or theory to be wrong or false.

Thrice

Three times.

Incisive

Intelligently analytical and clear-thinking.