AICE Lang AS Terms

Alliteration

The repition of the same sound, usually of a consonant, at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other or at short intervals.

Example: The repetition of f and g in fields ever fresh, groves over green

Possible Purpose:To draw attention to what is being said.

Allusion

A reference to a statement, well-known person person, place, or event from literature, history, mythology, politics, sports, science, or arts. These usually come from a body of information that the author presumes the reader will know.

Example: The last quarter of the game was his Waterloo. (Those who know of Napoleon’s great defeat would understand this statement.)

Possible Purpose: To make a greater connection with the reader

Analogy

A comparison between persons, places, objects, or ideas for the purpose of explanation.

Example: The human heart is like a pump. It circulates. blood through your body just like a pump circulates water through a system.

Possible Purpose: To clarify what may be a difficult idea to understand by using a concept that is easier to comprehend.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect.

Example: Lincoln’s “we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow - this ground.”

Possible Purpose: To focus on what is being repeated since that is the central message.

Antithesis

Means opposition, contrast. It also means the rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences.

Example: As in “action, not words” or “they promised freedom and provided slavery”.

Possible Purpose: To emphasize the contrast.

Apostrophe

Calling out to something that is not there.

Example: When Tom Hanks talks to the volleyball “Wilson” and is expressing his despair.

Possible Purpose: To bring attention to the speaker’s inner thoughts by focusing on the “conversation” he is having with the object.

Archetype

In literary criticism, the word is most often used to refer to characters, plots, themes, and images that recur throughout the history of literature, both oral and written. These are recognized as designs or patterns.

Example: Most common is the hero’s journey - as in Luke Skywalker’s in Star Wars.

Possible Purpose: To use something that is familiar to most people as these are easily. recognizable. In this way the text becomes more accessible.

Asyndeton

Omission of the conjunctions that ordinarlily join coordinate words or clauses.

Example: “I came. I saw. I conquered.” and “Tell. Me. The. Truth.”

Possible Purpose: To force ther eader to pause and reflect, making each word or phrase stand out

Audience

A reading, viewing, or listening public.

Example: Soldiers getting ready for batle; a letter demanding a refund.

Possible Purpose: To better focus the speech or text.

Author’s Perspective

The viewpoint that an author brings to a piece of writing. Sometimes this is recognizable through the tone of the piece.

Author’s Purpose

An author’s reason for creating a particular work. The message they want to get across.

Cause and Effect

Two events are related when one event brings about the other.

Example: Because of my broken arm, the doctor said I couldn’t play baseball.

Purpose: To analyze the reasons for an action, event, or decision

Character Point of View

The viewpoint or voice of a character is developed by a writer.

Purpose: To enable readers to better understand the events of a text through a character’s thoughts, feelings, beliefs, motives, or actions

Chiasmus

Words or phrases are repeated in reverse order, in the same or a modified form. (ABBA)

Example: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

Purpose: To highlight differences but also invite comparisons.

Chronological Order

The order in which events happen in time.

Purpose: To give the reader a better understanding of how things happened