English 9 Honors Final Study Guide

9th Grade English Final Study Guide

Logos

the appeal to reason, a well-thought-out and well-structured position.  Refers to the logic of reasons and support.

 

Pathos

the use of emotion in debate or argument, appeals to an audience’s feelings and sympathies.

Ethos

the credibility that  speaker or writer brings to the subject (can be function of the writer’s reputation for honesty and expertise).

Allusion

a reference, explicit or implicit, to something [or someone] in previous literature or history.

Anaphora

the deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive clauses, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs.

Chiasmus

a figure of speech in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order, in the same or a modified form, ex: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” or “one for all and all for one.”

Diacope

a word or phrase is repeated after a brief interruption, ex: “Bond.  James Bond” or “Run, Toto—run!” or Cardigan’s “Love me.  Love me.  Say that you love me.” 

Double Epithet

two words of identical or almost identical meaning joined by  a  conjunction.  “extravagant and erring”, “big and mighty.”

Epistrophe

when you end subsequent sentences, clauses or paragraphs with the same word, ex:  “When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child.” 

Epizeuxis

repeating a word immediately in the same context, e.g., “simplify, simplify” or “The horror! The horror!” 

Litotes

 a figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite, ex: “This is no small problem.” 

Merism

a figure of speech in which something is not named but rather all of its parts are named, i.e. such as saying “ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls” instead of “people” or how wedding vows do not say “in any circumstances” but rather use the following multiple merisms, “…for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health” 

Parallelism

 the repetition of the same grammatical pattern within a sentence; you create a parallel construction, so that if you put one part on top of the other, you could draw parallel lines between matching parts of speech, ex: “what we say and what we do.”

Polyptoton

repeated use of one word as different parts of speech or in different grammatical forms, ex: “I have been a stranger¹ in a strange² land” (¹noun, ²adjective) or “Please³ Please⁴ Me” (³interjection, ⁴verb). 

Preterition

  a figure of speech by which in pretending to pass over something, a summary mention of it is made, or attention is called to it. For example: “I don’t intend to dwell on my opponent’s embezzlement of funds.”

Rhetorical Question

asking a question when the answer is self-evident, and not meant to be literally answered by the audience.

Tricolon

  a figure of speech comprised of three clearly defined parts, i.e., “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness” or the more humorous “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” 

Tricolon Crescens

a figure of speech comprised of three clearly defined parts, listed in ascending order of importance or size (“days, weeks, years”).

exorbitant

(adj.) unreasonably high; excessive

interim

(n.) the time between; (adj.) temporary, coming between two points in time

malign

(v.) to speak evil of, slander; (adj.) evil

obstreperous

(adj.) noisy, unruly, disorderly

tirade

(n.) a long, angry speech, usually very critical

dross

(n.) refuse, waste products

flippant

(adj.) lacking in seriousness; disrespectful, saucy

pugnacious

(adj.) quarrelsome, fond of fighting

auxiliary

(adj.) giving assistance or support; (n.) a helper, aid

candid

(adj.) Frank, sincere; impartial; unposed

feign

(v.) to pretend

flair

(n.) a natural quality, talent, or skill; a distinctive style

incredulous

(adj.) disbelieving, skeptical

repugnant

(adj.) offensive, disagreeable, distasteful

scuttle

(v.) to sink a ship by cutting holes in it; to get rid of something in a decisive way; to run hastily, scurry; (n.) a pail

diminutive

(adj.) small, smaller than most others of the same type

extemporaneous

(adj.) made or delivered on the spur of the moment

languid

(adj.) drooping; without energy, sluggish

mire

(n.) mud; wet, swampy ground; a tough situation; (v.) to get stuck

obtrusive

(adj.) forward; undesirably prominent; thrust out

slipshod

(adj.) untidy in dress, personal habits, etc.; careless, sloppy

comport

(v.) to conduct or bear oneself, behave; to be in agreement

demure

(adj.) sober or serious in manner, modest

divulge

(v.) to tell, reveal; to make public

forestall

(v.) to prevent by acting first