Literary Terms and Logical Fallacies

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering key literary terms, devices, and logical fallacies.

Abstract Terms

Refer to ideas, feelings, qualities, or characteristics that are unable to be perceived by the senses.

Concrete Terms

Refer to people, places, or things that can be perceived by the senses.

Allegory

A work of literature or art in which the characters are explained or depicted through ideas related to morals, religion, or politics.

Allusion

A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance.

Alliteration

The repetition of consonant sounds, but usually the first letters in two or more neighboring words or syllables.

Anadiplosis

The inversion of the first and last word in a phrase or clause so that the last word of the first clause becomes the first word in the second clause.

Anaphora

The deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence, phrase, or paragraph in order to achieve an artistic effect.

Anastrophe

A rhetorical term for the inversion of conventional word order.

Antimetabole

A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the words in reverse grammatical order (A B, B A).

Antithesis

A person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.

Aphorism

A brief observation that contains a general truth, expresses an opinion and provides a statement of wisdom.

Ethos

Attempting to convince an audience by making a claim of credibility; stating that you are an authority on the subject which you are writing about.

Logos

Attempting to convince an audience by using reason and facts.

Pathos

Persuading through the use of emotional appeal.

Appositive

A noun (word, phrase, or clause) or noun phrase that renames another noun besides it.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close to each other but start with different consonants.

Asyndeton

The intentional omission of a conjunction to create a mood or change in pace.

Climax

A decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or is a major turning point in a plot.

Connotation

An idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

Deductive Logic

The process of reasoning from one or more statements to reach a logically certain conclusion.

Denotation

The literal, dictionary definition of a word, often contrasted with "connotation".

Diction

The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

Epanalepsis

The repetition of the same word or phrase, often repeating the beginning of the clause at the end of the clause and intervening words setting off the repetition.

Epistrophe

The repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses or sentences.

Euphemism

The substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.

Extended Metaphor

A comparison between two unlike things (a metaphor) that continues throughout a paragraph or lines in a poem.

Hyperbole

An exaggerated claim or statement for the sake of emphasis.

Imagery

The use of figurative language to create an image or picture in the reader’s mind.

Inductive Logic

Reasoning from facts and logic, in which the premises are viewed as supplying strong evidence for the truth of the conclusion.

Dramatic Irony

Irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play.

Situational Irony

Irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected.

Verbal Irony

Irony in which the intended meaning of a statement differs from the meaning that the words appear to express.

Juxtaposition

Placing two opposite things close together for comparing and contrasting.

Litotes

Employs an understatement by using double negatives or, in other words, a positive statement is expressed by negating its opposite expressions.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable; a mental comparison between two objects to describe something.

Metonymy

A figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which it is related, or of which it is a part.

Mood

A feeling, emotional state, or disposition of mind in the tone of a literary work; the atmosphere of the piece.

Motif

Any element, subject, idea or concept that is constantly present through the entire body of literature.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech in which two opposite, or contradictory, terms/ideas are joined to create an effect.

Paradox

A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or silly but may include a latent truth.

Parallelism

The use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same or similar in their construction, sound, meaning or meter.

Parenthesis

An explanatory or qualifying word, clause, or sentence inserted into a passage using rounded brackets.

Passive Voice

The subject of the sentence isn’t doing the “doing”/ the subject is acted upon.

Personification

The attribution of human nature or character to animals, inanimate objects, or abstract notions.

Polysyndeton

The use of many conjunctions in a brief amount of time to create a certain effect.

Rhetorical Question

A question asked with no answer expected, asked for effect or to lay emphasis on a point being discussed/make an assertion.

Satire

A use of humor, irony, or sarcasm to criticize one’s stupidity, ignorance, foolishness, etc.; ridicule.

Simile

A comparison between an aspect or the whole of a thing or concept, and another thing or concept, based on some likeness or similarity.

Symbol

A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent a whole, or vice versa.

Theme

A main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work which may be stated directly or indirectly.

Tone

The writer’s attitude toward a character, place, situation, or topic.

Tricolon Crescendo

A series of three words, phrases or clauses that are parallel in structure, length, and/or rhythm, in order of least significant to most.

Understatement

Stating less than the truth, showing a lower magnitude of something; used intentionally to make a situation seem less serious.

Zeugma

The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be grammatically or logically correct with only one.

Ad Hominem

Arising from or appealing to the emotions and not reason or logic, involving commenting on or against an opponent to undermine him instead of his arguments.

Ad Populum

Appeal to popularity in an attempt to prove a conclusion.

Appeal to Tradition

Assuming something is better simply because it is older, traditional, or has “always been done”.

Begging the Question

When a statement or claim is assumed to be true without any other evidence, using a premise to support itself.

Circular Reasoning

When the reasoner begins with what they are trying to end with.

Either/or Reasoning

Building an argument on the false assumption that only two outcomes are possible, and not realizing more exist.

Faulty Analogy

An incorrect comparison between two ideas/objects based on a similar characteristic when, in reality, the characteristic being compared is not common to both.

Faulty Authority

The attempt to bolster claims by citing the opinions of experts without evaluation and comparison of credentials and claims.

Hasty Generalization

A fallacy in which a conclusion is not logically justified by sufficient or unbiased evidence.

Ignoring the Question

The process of avoiding an answer to a specific question due to a lack of proper response.

Non Sequitur

A statement that does not logically follow the previous one.

Oversimplification

Failing to address the complexities of a matter by relying on causal factors that are insufficient to account for the event or by overemphasizing the role of one or more factors.

Pedantry

Narrow minded and trivial scholarship; a concern with details at the expense of genuinely important and significant issues.

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

A logical fallacy that says that since event X happened before event Y, event X must have caused event Y.

Red Herring

The deliberate inclusion of an idea or example to distract from the central argument.

Slippery Slope

The idea that a course of action will inevitably lead to a disastrous chain of events.

Straw Man

Misrepresenting someone's argument to make it easier to attack.

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

When a person attempts to justify an action against another person because the other person did take or would take the same action against him or her.