A-Z Terms

Assumption

a belief or principle that is taken for granted

adverb

a word that modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, or an entire sentence

Ex: "Nina ran___"
- Quickly
- Pretty fast
- Really quickly

Anecdote

a short story

Anagram

when letters of a word or phrase are rearranged to make a new word or phrase

Ex: "United Tastes of America"

Adjective

words that modify nouns

Ex: "hot" "Cold" "Sweet" "Salty"

Appositive

a modifier that is built from a noun which modifies another noun or pronoun

Ex: "Mr Smith, the teacher, stood."

Allusion

a reference to a person, place, or thing drawn from history, literature, etc.

Ex: "Mr jones' lecture was shakespearean."

Apostrophe

an abstract idea, dead person, thing, or place is addressed directly despite it being unable to respond

Active voice

a sentence where teh subject is the doer not the receiver

Ex: "Jack hit Ricardo in the mouth"

Adjective Clause

a group of words containing a noun-verb pair that describes a noun and functions

Ex: "Im stnading in the room that changed my life forever."

Alliteration

the repetition of consonant sounds

Ex: "The cool cucumbers calmed my crazy cousin

Acronym

a word formed from the initial letters or syllables of a sequence of words

Ex:
letter - "MADD" mothers against drunk driving

Syllable - rom-com (romantic comedy)

Antagonist

character who opposes the main character

Archetype

a recognizable theme, symbol, or character that holds a familiar place's consciousness

Audience

intended recipient for a piece of writing or speech

Anacoluthon

when a sentence begins one way, pauses, and ends in another

Ex: "Alright kids, today we are going to learn--ah, lets go play dodgeball"

Archaism

outdated form of writing

Assonance

vowel sounds that are repeated

Ex: "The table was hiding a baby with rabies."

Abstract

ideas concepts or qualities

Ex: liquid, gas, sadness

Amblysia

modified language used in preparation for tragic or alarming news

Ex: "I am afraid I have some bad news..."

Allegory

interconnected symbols that represent ideas or concepts

Ambiguity

the use of language when multiple meaning are possible

Apocope

deliberate removal of a letter from the end of a word

Ex: trig(onometry)

Anaphora

repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of phrases or clauses to emphasize

Ex: "we will face them in the... we will face them at..."

Ab Ovo

a narrative structure that proceeds in a chronological order

Ex: "Once upon a time..."

Anachronism

a historically inaccurate detail in a text typically used to synthesize ideas and perspectives from different times into a unified reference

Antithesis

an opposition expressed in phrases or clauses

Ex: "Nepolean was loved, but will be remembered for his brutality"

Asyndeton

When conjunctions that normally connect sentences/phrases are removed

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

Atmosphere

a compound term encompassing the tone

Analogy

comparison between two things that share an abstract

Antecedent

the word a pronoun replaces in a sentence

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Ex: "Bob went shopping. He bought clothes."

Anastrophe

the inversion of normal word order in a sentence

Aposiopesis

a breaking off speech meant to indicate rising emotion

Aphorism

concise statement illustrating a deep truth

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Ex: "simplify, simplify."

Anadiplosis

repetition of the final word of a clause at the beginning of the following clause for emphasis

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Ex: "fear is...fear leads to anger. Anger..."

Bombast

inflated or pretentious language that does not match the context of its use

Cacophony

am author's choice of words, usually alliterative, that create harsh, discordant and granting sounds when read aloud

Caricature

when an author exaggerates or distorts certain traits/characteristics of an individual for a ludicrous effect

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

Chiasmus

the reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses

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Ex: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair."

Circumlocution

unnecessary wordiness, or the use of many words when a few would express an idea with greater clarity.

Claim

the proposition put forth in an argument

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Ex: "Ants are a nuisance"

Clause

a statement that contains a noun and a verb

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Ex:

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

Independent: "Odysseus was cunning and could get out of any scrape."

Cliche

an expression that becomes ineffective through overuse

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Ex: "As easy as pie"

Colloquialism

an informal expression that is conversational in nature and reflects the culture or an area or group; vernacular

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Ex: "a sandwich" vs. "a sub" vs. "a grinder"

Colon

a form of punctuation typically used to introduce lists in a sentence

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

Complex Sentence

a sentence composed of one independent clause and one dependent clause

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

Compound Sentence

a sentence composed of two or more independent clauses

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

Concrete

concrete words refer to specific, particular, or material details

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Ex: "He grinned as he pocketed the coin."

Connotation

the implied of suggested meaning of a word

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

Coordinating Conjunction

words that provide a loose link among items that are equal in rank

Ex: "Joe and I...", "We fished and relaxed."

Deduction

the process of reasoning from a general claim to the specific cases

Denotation

the direct relationship between a term and the object, idea, or action it signifies.

Ex: "the denotation of "fox" is "a small woodland creature."

Dependent Clause

A clause that cannot stand alone as a sentence; it requires an independent clause to give it meaning.

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

Description

one of the four primary modes of writing in composition courses

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Objective: reports evidence factually

Subjective: reports evidence using figurative language

Dialougue

spoken words

Diction

the choice of words, closely linked with tone

Didactic

writing that attempts to teach a moral or lesson

Digression

movement away from the main focus in speech or writing

Direct Object

a person or thing affected by the action

Ex: "James fought his nemesis."

Dysphemism

a disparaging expression used to describe someone or something

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

Ellipses

three successive periods (. . .) that indicate the intentional omission of words in a thought or quotation.

Elliptical Construction

the deliberate omission of words from a sentence

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

Epistle

a work of poetry or prose that is presented as a series of letters

Epistrophe

a figure of speech where successive phrases or clauses all end 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."

Epithet

a word or phrase which is attached to a character

Eponymous

a person in a work of fiction whose name is derived from the title

Ex: "Romeo and Juliet"

Ethos

the characteristic spirit or idea that informs a work

Euphemism

a milf or pleasant-sounding expression that substitutes for a harsh, indelicate idea

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

Evidence

the grounds upon which a judgement or argument is based

Figurative Language

a categorical term for all uses of language that imply an imaginative comparison (appeals to senses)

Ex: "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"

Figures of Speech

Comparisons highlighting the similarities between unlike things

Ex: “The boxer is like a lion.”

Foreshaddowing

Foreshaddowing

Gobbledygook

a mode of speech where the language is completely unintelligible

Ex: "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

Hypostatization

a form of personification in which an abstract concept takes on living qualities

Ex: "Guilt forced me to confess" or "Justice is the leader of this country"

Harangue

an emotionally based speech meant to spur an audience into action

Hyphaersis

the omission of a letter from a word to condense the number of syllables

Ex: "O'er" instead of "over"

Hyperbole

exaggeration used for emphasis, typically for comical effect Ex: "The lunch line is a thousand people long!"

Idiom

a word or phrase that is used habitually that suggests meaning by conventional use not denotation.

Ex: "Time to rise and shine"

Imagery

a mental picture that is conjured by specific words and associations

Independent Clause

A clause that can stand alone as a sentence

Ex: "Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me." The second half of that sentence is an independent clause, "he kindly stopped for me."

Induction

the logical process of arriving at conclusions based off of the experience of specific cases/scenarios

Inference

the process of arriving at a conclusion based on a hint

Ex: Someone could infer that someone is angry based on their clenched fists

Irony

a mode of expression in which an intended outcome is substituted with the reverse of what is expected

Ex: "The day Chris decided on sobriety, he got run over by a Bud Light truck and died."

Juxtaposition

when two contrasting things are placed next to each other Ex: comparing the coldness of one room to the warmth of another

Litote

a form of understatement in which the opposite is used to acheive emphasis

Ex: "She's not a bad hockey player" (two negative words are used to convey a positive meaning)

Logos

the use of reason as a controlling principle in an argument Ex: Data, evidence, or factual information

Loose Syntax

A sentence in which the main clause is presented first follwed by a series of dependent clauses.

Ex: "The corpse was stuffed into the trunk as drove the car carefully, his shaggy hair whipped by the wing, his eyes hidden behind wraparound mirror shades..."

Malapropism

the substitution of a word for a word with a similar sound in which the resulting phrase makes no sense and often creates a comic effect.

Ex: "Let's create a little dysentery among the ranks"

Standard Metaphor

a figure of speech that makes a connection between two unlike things

Ex: "my heart is a rose"

Extended Metaphor

a metaphor that extends over several lines, verses, or chapters

Ex: "Writing this research paper is a grind. My brain is not operating. I am running out of steam."

Implied Metaphor

a less direct metaphor

Ex: "The boxer pecked away at his opponent."

Dead Metaphor

a metaphor that has become so common that we no longer notice it as a figure of speech

Ex: "My sister drives me out of my mind."

Metonymy Metaphor

a figure of speech in which something closely related to a thing is substituted for the thing itself

Ex: "here comes the crown" (the crown stands for the king himself)

Mixed Metaphor

a faulty metaphor that switches the terms of comparison before it finishes

Ex: "We are at the crossroads of an enormous precipice."

Synecdoche Metaphor

A substitution of a part for a whole (or vice versa)

Ex: "five hundered hands were needed to build the bridge." (the manual laborers are represented by their hands, the instrument of their labor)

Mood

the audience's attitude or feelings towards a subject

Narration

one of the four primary modes of writing; to tell what happened.

Neologism

a newly invented or coined word

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Ex: Shakespeare invented words like "accomodation," "countless," "dishearten," etc.

onomatopoeia

a word that captures the essence of what it describes or stands for

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"the bees buzzed and zoomed."

oxymoron

a pair of contradictory words or ideas joined together in one expression

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Love is a "cold fire"