dagen terms

Allusion

Direct or indirect reference to something (normally a text, can be commonly known) EX: Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.

Anecdote

Brief recounting of a relevant episode, anecdotes are often inserted into texts to develop points or interject humor Ex: "During the Great Depression, a man once sold his car just to buy food for his family. Years later, he joked that it was the best ‘trade-in’ he ever made."

Apostrophe

Figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or personified abstract like liberty or love, address someone or something that cannot answer. It gives vent or displays intense emotion. EX: Milton thou shouldst be living at this hour, England hath need of thee.

Asyndeton

Omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses EX: On his return he received medals, honors, treasures, titles, fame

Polysyndenton

Excessive use of conjunctions in a list EX: They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and talked and flunked.

Diction

Writer’s word choice, particularly as an element of writing style. EX: Ornate diction, formal diction, casual diction

Connotation

Ideas and emotions associated with its word, extends beyond literal meaning of the word

Denotation

Literal meaning of the word

Enumeratio

figure of amplification (means of extending thoughts to add importance) in a subject is divided into constituent parts or details, and may include a listing of causes, effects, problems, solutions, conditions, parts or consequences. EX: Who’s gonna turn down a junior mint? It’s chocolate, it’s peppermint; it’s delicious

Analogy

A comparison of one set of variables to a parallel set of variables, explains something unfamiliar by associating it with or pointing out its similarity to something more familiar. EX: America is to the world as the hippo is to the jungle.

Hyperbole

Wild exaggeration EX: My mother will kill me if I go out again.

Metaphor

Implied comparison between unlike things without using like or as. EX: my feet are popsicles.

Metonymy

Replacement of an actual word or idea with a related word or concept EX: I could not understand his tongue (referring to speech)

Synecdoche

Kind of metonymy in which a whole is represented by naming one of its parts EX: Check out my new wheels (referring to a car)

Simile

Using like or as to compare two things EX: my feet are so cold they feel like popsicles

Synesthesia

Description involving a crossing of senses EX: I was blinded by his loud clothing

Personification

Giving human like qualities to something that is not human EX: the old truck groaned as it went up the hill

Hypophora

A writer or speaker poses a question and then promptly answers it, uses to stoke curiosity or potentially guide the audience’s thoughts in a specific direction EX: When the enemy struck on that June day of 1950, what did America do? It did what it has always done in all times of peril. It appealed to the heroism of its youth.

Irony (Verbal)

Contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is meant (SARCASM)

Irony, Dramatic

the audience knows something the character doesn’t

Irony, Situational

Plot events turn out the opposite of expected

Juxtaposition

Placing things die by side or close together for the purpose of comparison or contrast.

Oxymoron

Apparently contradictory things suggesting a paradox EX: Wise Fool

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory observation or situation which is actually true EX: Life is a preparation for the future, and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none.