English Terminology Quiz
ANASTROPHE: A scheme in which normal word order is changed for emphasis. Example: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country
CONFIRMATION BIAS: Tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses.
UNDERSTATEMENT:
BIAS: Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.
CLAIM: An assertion of the truth of something, typically one that is disputed or in doubt.
SYNTAX (AND ALL DIFFERENT FORMS):
ANECDOTE: A brief recounting of a relevant episode. Anecdotes are often inserted into fictional or non-fictional texts as a way of developing a point or injecting humor.
PARADOX: A seemingly contradictory situation that is actually true. “You can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without getting a job”.
DICTION (AND ALL DIFFERENT FORMS): Word choice, particularly as an element of style. Different types of words have significant effects on meaning. An essau written in academic diction would be much less colorful, but perhaps more precise that street slang. You should be able to describe an author’s diction. You SHOULD NOT write in your thesis, “The author uses dicion…” This is essentially saying, “The author uses words to write.” Instead use the type of diction (formal, informal, ornate, or plain).
Colloquial: Ordinary or familiar type of conversation. A “colloquialism” is a common or familiar type of saying, similar to an adage or an aphorism.
CONNOTATION: Rather than the dictionary definition (denotation), the associations suggested by a word. Implied meaning rather than literal meaning.
ANTITHESIS: Two opposite or contracting words, phrases, or clauses, or even ideas, with parallel structure. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
PARALLELISM: Sentence constructions which places equal grammatical constructions near each other, or repeats identical grammatical patterns. Parallelism is used to add emphasis, organization, or sometimes pacing to writing. “Cinderella swept the floor, ducted the mantle, and beat the rugs.”
TONE: The atmosphere or emotion an author conveys through word choice, etc. Refers to how you say or write something.
JARGON: The diction used by a group that practices a similar profession or activity. Lawyers speak using particular words, as do soccer players.
METONYMY: Replacing an actual word or idea, with a related word or concept. “Relations between London and Washington have been strained,” does not literally mean relations between the two cities, but between the leaders of The United States and England.
SYNECDOCHE: A kind of metonymy when a whole is represented by naming one of its parts, or vice versa. “The cattle rancher owned 500 head” “Check out my new wheels”
ANAPHORA: Repetitions of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences or clauses in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer's point more coherent. “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
ANTECEDENT: The noun or noun phrase that a pronoun refers to. "When giving treats to ~friends~ or ~children~, give them what they like, emphatically not what is good for them."
ANALOGY: An analogy is a comparison of one pair of variables to a parallel set of variables. When a writer uses an analogy, he or she argues that the relationship between the first pair of variables is the same as the relationship between the second pair of variables. “America is to the world as the hippo is to the jungle”.
ASYNDETON/POLYSYNDETON:
Polysyndenton: When a writer creates a list of items which are all separated by conjunctions. “I walked the dog, and fed the cat, and milked the cows”
Asyndeton: Omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses
"Anyway, like I was saying, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo."
ARRANGEMENT: The parts of a speech or, more broadly, the structure of a text. Arrangement is one of the five traditional canons or subdivisions of classical rhetorical training.
EUPHEMISM: A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts. Sometimes they are used for political correctness. “Physically challenged,” in place of “crippled.” Sometimes a euphemism is used to exaggerate correctness to add humor. “Vertically challenged” in place of “short”.
THE APPEALS (X3):
Ethos (Credibility): Means being convinced by the credibility of the author. We tend to believe people whom we respect. In an appeal to ethos, a writer tries to convince the audience that he or she is someone worth listening to.
Pathos (Emotional): Means persuading by appealing to the reader’s emotions.
Logos (Logical): Means persuading by appealing to the reader’s emotions.
COUNTER-ARGUMENT: a contrasting, opposing, or refuting argument.
INDUCTIVE: A method of reasoning that moves from specific instances to a generalization. Specific to general.
DEDUCTIVE: A method of reasoning from the general to the specific.
In a deductive argument, a conclusion follows necessarily from the stated premises. (Contrast with induction.)
In logic, a deductive argument is called a syllogism. In rhetoric, the equivalent of the syllogism is the enthymeme.
JUXTAPOSITION: Placing things side by side for the purpose of comparison. Authors often use juxtaposition of ideas or examples in order to make a point. (For example, an author might juxtapose the average day of a typical American with that of someone in the third word in order to make a point of social commentary).
INVERSION: reversal of the usual or natural order of words; anastrophe.
SUBTEXT: _ or undertone is content of a work which is not announced explicitly by the characters (or author) but is implicit or becomes something understood by the observer of the work as the production unfolds.