Examples A-Z

Ab Ovo

The opening descriptions of James Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man"

Abstract

Abstract: "Justice should send you to jail" Somewhat concrete: Breaking the law should send you to jail" Most concrete: Legal code 3F paragraph 2 should send you to jail"

Acronym

"M.A.D.D." (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)

"Rom-Com" (Romantic Comedy)

Active Voice

"Jack hit Ricardo in the mouth"

Adage

Adjective

"I am holding hot coffee" "The coffee is hot"

Adjective Clause

"I'm standing in the room that changed my life forever"

Adverb

"Nina ran quickly" "Nina is pretty fast" "Nina ran really quickly" "Honestly, Nina is the fastest runner on the team"

Allegory

George Orwell's "Animal Farm" with the animals representing different social classes.

Alliteration

"The cool cucumbers calmed my crazy cousin"

Ambiguity

"Chi Chi's, when you want to feel a little Mexican."

Amblysia

"I'm afraid I have some bad news..."

Anachronism

Merlin, a character wearing bifocals in the 19th century even though they were not invented yet.

Anacoluthon

"Alright kids, today we are going to learn - ahhhh, let's go play dodgeball."

Anadiplosis

"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

Anagram

The "United Tastes of America" is a program on the Cooking Channel which chronicles the history of American cuisine.

Analogy

"God is a father, who sits on a throne, and loves his children."

Anaphora

"I am the best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be."

Anastrophe

"Size matters not. Judge me by size, do you?"

Anecdote

"When I entered my freshman year of high school, I was shiftless and lazy. But as the year went on, a few things taught me how to pick a goal and stick to it. In September..."

Anecdote

"When I entered my freshman year of high school, I was shiftless and lazy. But as the year went on, a few things taught me how to pick a goal and stick to it. In September..."

Antagonist

In Jack London's "To Build a Fire," nature is the antagonist.

Antecedent

"Judith was a mean, old lady. One time, she bit me right in the nose."

Antithesis

"Napoleon was loved by his men, but history will remember his bruality"

Aphorism

"Simply. Simply"

"Simply. Simply"

Apocope

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"I need to grab a taxi (cab), so I'm not late for bio (logy)."

Aposiopesis

"If you ouch me, just one more time-"

Apostophe

"America, in the face of our common dangers..."

Appositive

"Mr. Smith, the teacher, stood in front of the room."

Archaism

"Whilst thou accompany me to purchase a cheeseburger and milkshake at McDonalds."

Archetype

"glasses" in William Golding's "Lord of the Flies."

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Assonance

"The table was hiding a a babywith rabis"

Assumption

"I always wash the lettuce before I eat it."

Asyndeton

"Sammy was brave, fearless, afraid of nothing."

Atmosphere

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John Steinbeck's "The Pearl" have an atmosphere if despair and uneasiness in the opening chapters.

Allusion

"Mr. Jones's lecture was Shakespearean it was so carefully crafted"

Argumentum ad

argumentum as baculum: ('to the stick') an argument which appeals to force or coericon

argumentum as crumenam: ('to the wallet') an argument which appeals to material interests and concerns such as money, possessions, property, and so forth.

argumentum as hominem: ('to the man') an argument which \n attacks the person holding the counterargument rather than the issue at hand.

argumentum as ignorantium: ('to ignorance')an argument that relies on an audience who is ignorant, or uninformed, on the topic at hand.

argumentum as populum: ('to the people') an argument which is meant to stir an emotional response from the audience

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Audience

Broad: audience of a YouTube video

Narrow: audience for "Motherboard Soldiering Weekly"

Bombast

“I have an affinity for that peculiarly American sandwich, known to commoners as a hamburger. I think I will ingest one, accompanied by my favorite libation.” "My dear Copperfield, a man who labors under the pressure of pecuniary embarrassments, is, with the generality of people, at a disadvantage.”

Cacophony

The excerpt from Robert Browning’s poem, “Caliban Upon Setebos”: “And squared and stuck there squares of soft whit chalk/And with a fish-tooth, scratched a moon on each/And set up endwise certain spikes of tree…”

Caricature

If a character has big ears and the author focuses on their size, the author may reference the character hearing sounds repeatedly

Chiasmus

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair."

Circumlocution

“The baserunner successfully avoided the tag” “William Shakespeare, a great English playwright…”

Claim

Ants are a nuisance"

Clause

Dependent: "Odysseus being very cunning and able to get out of any scrape." Independent: "Odysseus was cunning and could get out of any scrape."

Cliché

"As easy as pie"

Colloquialism

"a sandwich" vs. "a sub" vs. "a grinder"

Colon

"Today we did my favorite things: hiking, camping, and reading."

Complex Sentences

"Because you dropped that fly ball, you are benched."

Compound Sentence

"commas do not link independent clauses; semicolons do, or commas followed by conjunctions perform this function too."

Concrete

"He grinned as he pocketed the coin."

Connotation

Connotations of the word "fox" may be: slick, sneaky, etc.

Consonance

The repetition of two or more consonant sounds located within a series of words "Splish, splash, I was taking a bath."

Coordinating Conjunctions

"Joe and I..." "We fished and relaxed."

Deduction

All bachelors are unmarried men. (Major premise) Joseph is an unmarried man. (Minor premise) Therefore, Joseph is a bachelor. (Conclusion)

Denotation

"The denotation of "fox" is "a small woodland creature."

Dependent Clause

"Because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me."

Description

Objective: reports evidence factually (ie “The Yankees have won the most World Series Championships”) Subjective: reports evidence using figurative language (ie “The Yankees are the best team in baseball”

Dialogue

“Music is a good thing; and after all that soul-butter and hogwash I never see it freshen things so, and sound so honest and bully.” (Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”)

Diction

“That dude was pissed!” “The elder gentlemen was noticeably bothered.” “Yeah, he wasn’t angry at all.”

Didactic

Aesop’s collection of fables from 5th century B.C. Greece illustrates the lesson “unity gives strength.”

Digression

Iliad and Odyssey by Homer Intentional: Authors move away from the main point to focus on subplots or minor issues that are peripheral to the central idea. Unintentional: Authors wander in writing due to a lack of focus/anchoring idea

Direct Object

"James fought his nemesis behind Wal-Mart."

Dysphemism

"I hate your stupid, ugly, monster face." Instead of "I think you're unattractive."

Ellipses

According to the American Cancer Society, “Cancer can be reduced by 50% by regulating your daily intake of known carcinogens…cigarettes are known to contain the most cancer-causing agents.”

Elliptical Construction

"Junior year was tough and senior year the same."

Emphasis

“Get to your room, now!” (now would be italicized to emphasis vocal intensity and change) the placement of important ideas and words within sentences and longer units of writing so that they have the greatest impact. the end has the most impact, the beginning has nearly as much, and the middle often has the least.

Epigram

“Simply. Simply.” “There are no gains without pains.” a concise statement that illustrates a deep truth or widely held belif

Epistle

The “Letters of Abelard and Heloise” is a medieval example of a story told through letters.

Epistrophe

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child."

Epithet

All twelve of Shakespeare’s tragedies such as “Romeo and Juliet”

Eponymous

"Romeo and Juliet"

Ethos

“My 10 years of experience as a military general should indicate that I am ready to lead the country as President of the United States.”

Euphemism

"We put Fido to sleep" is a euphemism for "We Euthanized the dog."

Evidence

Figures of Speech

Comparisons that highlight the similarities betweem unlike things. “The boxer is like a lion.” “The wrestler is an animal.'“

Figurative Language

"I felt the sunshine on my skin, hearing the buzzing of the bees, while gazing at the gentle babble of the brook in the distance."

Foreshadowing

At the beginning of a baseball novel, a scene in which the young protagonist is shown throwing rocks into glass bottles could foreshadow his eventful career as a pitcher in the Major Leagues.

Gobbledygook

"It's time to realize our strategic growth mindset and use operational mindfulness to make our presence known in the industry with quality implementation methodologies." This quote says a lot but also nothing at all as its wordiness makes no true sense to listeners

Harangue

The opening lines to Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (uses imagery, “world of misery,” and diction, “power,” to clearly indicate the haranguing tone of the sermon.)

Hyphaersis

The lyrics to Francis Scott Key’s “The Star Spangled Banner” “O’er the ramparts we watched, were so galantly streaming…O say does that star spangle banner yet wave o’er the land part of the free…”

Hyperbole

“You really drive me up the wall!” “The lunch line is a thousand people long!”

Hypostatization

“Guilt forced me to confess.” “Justice is the leader of this country.”

Direct Object

"James fought his nemesis behind Wal-Mart."

Dysphemism

"I hate your stupid, ugly, monster face." Instead of "I think you're unattractive."

Ellipses

According to the American Cancer Society, “Cancer can be reduced by 50% by regulating your daily intake of known carcinogens…cigarettes are known to contain the most cancer-causing agents.”

Elliptical Construction

"Junior year was tough and senior year the same."

Emphasis

“Get to your room, now!” (now would be italicized to emphasis vocal intensity and change) the placement of important ideas and words within sentences and longer units of writing so that they have the greatest impact. the end has the most impact, the beginning has nearly as much, and the middle often has the least.

Epigram

“Simply. Simply.” “There are no gains without pains.” a concise statement that illustrates a deep truth or widely held belif

Epistle

The “Letters of Abelard and Heloise” is a medieval example of a story told through letters.

Epistrophe

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child."

Epithet

All twelve of Shakespeare’s tragedies such as “Romeo and Juliet”

Eponymous

"Romeo and Juliet"

Ethos

“My 10 years of experience as a military general should indicate that I am ready to lead the country as President of the United States.”

Euphemism

"We put Fido to sleep" is a euphemism for "We Euthanized the dog."

Evidence

Figures of Speech

Comparisons that highlight the similarities betweem unlike things. “The boxer is like a lion.” “The wrestler is an animal.'“

Figurative Language

"I felt the sunshine on my skin, hearing the buzzing of the bees, while gazing at the gentle babble of the brook in the distance."

Foreshadowing

At the beginning of a baseball novel, a scene in which the young protagonist is shown throwing rocks into glass bottles could foreshadow his eventful career as a pitcher in the Major Leagues.

Gobbledygook

"It's time to realize our strategic growth mindset and use operational mindfulness to make our presence known in the industry with quality implementation methodologies." This quote says a lot but also nothing at all as its wordiness makes no true sense to listeners