English Language devices

Analogy

Uses two similar ideas to draw comparisons between the two

Antithesis

Contradictory sentences next to each other

Archetype

Immediately recognisable character or concept that makes it easy for audiences to categorise them

Assonance

Repeated vowel sounds

Allegory

A story with two meanings (one literal, one implied)

Alliteration

Repeated consonants at the beginning of words

Allusion

Subtle reference to something recognisable (event, person, place, etc)

Ambiguity

When something is left to the reader’s imagination

Atmosphere

Feeling/ mood created by a place

Characterisation

How characters are introduced, described, and developed (the process)

Cliche

Common/ overused expression

Connotations

Ideas associated with specific words/ phrases, going beyond literal meanings

Contrast

Two opposing things are presented together to highlight their differences

Context

The time, place, and social setting where a text was created

Dramatic irony

Where information is revealed to the audience that the characters dont know, adding tension

Emotive language

Words chosen to illicit a specific response in the reader

Euphemism

A milder word to replace a potentially vulgar one

Exclamation

A sentence ending with a ‘!’ or said with shock/ excitement

Frame narrative

A story within a story, linked by a character involved in both

Foil

A character who directly contrasts the main character to emphasise the main character’s attributes

Foreshadowing

Hinting at a later event

Form

Structure of the text based on the text type

Figurative language

Words/ phrases with an additional meaning beyond their literal one

Fractured sentences

incomplete sentences

Hyperbole

Over-exaggerated statement

Icons

An image or person that symbolises a larger theme/ idea

Imagery

Words used to create an image in the readers mind

intertextuality

When a text makes reference to another text

Irony

A disconnect between what is said and what is meant, usually with an underlying insulting tone

Juxtaposition

Contrast two opposites

Language choices

Word choices based on connotations

Linear and non-linear

How the narrative flowed/ is told

Metaphor

Comparing two things by saying one ‘is’ - NO ‘like’ or ‘as’

Metonymy

Referring to something not by its real name, but by a figurative one

modality

The strength or force of word (high modality = high force)

Mood or tone

Emotional or mental feeling that objects/ settings express (similar to atmosphere)

Motif

An idea, theme, or symbol that is present throughout an entire text

Omission

What is left out of a scene

Onomatopoeia

A word that represents a sound

Parallels

Two characters or ideas that parallel each other, but with different outcomes

Oxymoron

Two contradictory words or concepts used together to create a strange complex

Pathetic fallacy

Giving a non-human object some kind of human feelings/ senses

Person or narrative perspective

First, second, or third person

Personification

Giving human characteristics to non-human objects

Rhetorical question

A question that is said without the intention of having an answer

Setting

The location of a narrative

Sibilance

Repetition of specifically the ‘s’ sound in a sentence

Simile

Using “like'“ or “as” to compare two things

Sound devices

Sounds produced by words

Symbolism

When an object or person represents a complex idea, concept, or theme

Syntax

The way a sentence is constructed - short, long, fragmented, compound

Theme

Overall message or moral of a narrative