English Vocab

Active Voice - The subject of the sentence performs the action. This is a more direct and preferred style of writing in most cases. “Anthony drove while Toni searched for the house.” Passive Voice- when the subject of the sentence receives the action.

Allusion - An indirect reference to something

Alter-ego – A character that is used by the author to speak the author’s own thoughts; when an author speaks directly to the audience through a character.

Anecdote - A brief recounting of a relevant episode.
Antecedent - The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.
Classicism – Art or literature characterized by a realistic view of people and the world; sticks to traditional themes and structures like romanticism
Comic relief – when a humorous scene is inserted into a serious story
Diction - Word choice, particularly as an element of style.
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 - the associations suggested by a word. Implied meaning rather than literal meaning.
Denotation - The literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations.
Jargon – The diction used by a group which practices a similar profession or activity.
Vernacular - 1. Language or dialect of a particular country. 2. Language or dialect of a regional
clan or group. 3. Plain everyday speech
Didactic - A term used to describe fiction, nonfiction or poetry that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.
Adage – A folk saying with a lesson. “A rolling stone gathers no moss.”
Similar to aphorism and colloquialism.
Allegory - A story, fictional or non fictional, in which characters, things, and events represent
qualities or concepts.
Aphorism - A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle. An aphorism
can be a memorable summation of the author's point.
Ellipsis - The deliberate omission of a word or phrase from prose done for effect by the author. “The whole day, rain, torrents of rain.”

Euphemism - A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts. “Physically challenged,” in place of “crippled.” Also used to make fun of being too correct: “vertically challenged” instead of short

Figurative Language - Writing that is not meant to be taken literally.
Analogy - An analogy is a comparison of one pair of variables to a parallel set of variables. Hyperbole: Exaggeration.
Idiom: A common, often used expression that doesn’t make sense if you take it literally.
Metaphor: Making an implied comparison, not using “like,” as,” or other such words.
Metonymy – Replacing an actual word or idea, with a related word or concept.
Synecdoche – Type of metonymy when a whole is represented by naming one of its
parts, or vice versa.
Simile: Using words such as “like” or “as” to make a direct comparison between two very
different things.

Synesthesia – a description involving a “crossing of the senses.”

Personification: Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human.
Foreshadowing – When an author gives hints about what will occur later in a story.
Genre - The major category into which a literary work fits.

Gothic – Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death. Also refers to an architectural style
Imagery - Word or words that create a picture in the reader's mind.

Invective – A long, emotionally violent, attack using strong, abusive language.
Irony - When the opposite of what you expect to happen does.
Verbal irony - When you say something and mean the opposite/something different.
Dramatic irony - When the audience of a drama, play, movie, etc. knows something that the
character doesn't and would be surprised to find out.
Situational irony - Found in the plot (or story line) of a book, story, or movie. Sometimes it
makes you laugh because it's funny how things turn out.
Juxtaposition - Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.
Mood - The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice (diction).

Motif – a recurring idea in a piece of literature
Oxymoron – When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox
Pacing – The speed or tempo of an author’s writing. sluggish, stabbing, vibrato, staccato, measured, etc.

Paradox - A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true
Parallelism – (Also known as parallel structure or balanced sentences.) Sentence construction 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.
Anaphora - Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences or
clauses in a row.
Chiasmus – When the same words are used twice in succession, but the second time, the order of the words is reversed. Also called antimetabole.
Antithesis - Two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses, or even ideas, with parallel
structure.
Zuegma (Syllepsis) - When a single word governs or modifies two or more other words, and the
meaning of the first word must change for each of the other words it governs or modifies. “The
butler killed the lights, and then the mistress.”
Parenthetical Idea - Parentheses are used to set off an idea from the rest of the sentence. It is almost considered an aside...a whisper, and should be used sparingly for effect, rather than repeatedly.
Parody - An exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes. It borrows words or phrases from an original, and pokes fun at it.
Persona - The fictional mask or narrator that tells a story. Do not confuse with alter-ego.
Poetic device – A device used in poetry to manipulate the sound of words, sentences or lines.
Alliteration- The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words.

Assonance- The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

Consonance- The repetition of the same consonant sound at the end of words or within words.

Onomatopoeia-The use of a word which imitates or suggests the sound that the thing makes.
Internal rhyme-When a line of poetry contains a rhyme within a single line.

Slant rhyme- When a poet creates a rhyme, but the two words do not rhyme exactly – they are merely similar.
End rhyme- When the last word of two different lines of poetry rhyme.
Rhyme Scheme- The pattern of a poem’s end rhymes.
Free verse- Poetry that doesn’t have much meter or rhyme.
Iambic pentameter-Poetry that is written in lines of 10 syllables, alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.
Sonnet- A 14 line poem written in iambic pentameter. Usually divided into three quatrains and a couplet.
Polysyndeton – When a writer creates a list of items which are all separated by conjunctions.
Pun – When a word that has two or more meanings is used in a humorous way.
Rhetoric - The art of effective communication.
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle- The relationships, in any piece of writing, between the writer, the audience, and the subject.
Rhetorical Question - Question not asked for information but for effect.
Romanticism – Art or literature characterized by an idealistic, perhaps unrealistic view of people and the world, and an emphasis on nature.
Sarcasm - A generally bitter comment that is ironically or satirically worded. However, not all satire and irony are sarcastic. It is the bitter, mocking tone that separates sarcasm from mere verbal irony or satire.
Satire - A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of life to a humorous effect.
Sentence - A sentence is group of words (including subject and verb) that expresses a complete thought.
Appositive - A word or group of words placed beside a noun or noun substitute to supplement its meaning.
Clause - A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb.

An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence.

A dependent, or subordinate clause cannot stand alone as a sentence and must be accompanied by an independent clause.

Balanced sentence – A sentence in which two parallel elements are set off against each
other like equal weights on a scale.
Compound sentence - Contains at least two independent clauses but no dependent
clauses.
Complex sentence - Contains only one independent clause and at least one dependent
clause.
Cumulative sentence – (also called a loose sentence) When the writer begins with an
independent clause, then adds subordinate elements.

Periodic sentence - When the main idea is not completed until the end of the sentence.
The writer begins with subordinate elements and postpones the main clause.
Simple sentence - Contains only one independent clause.

Declarative sentence - States an idea. It does not give a command or request, nor does it
ask a question.
Imperative sentence - Issues a command. “Kick the ball.”
Interrogative sentence - Sentences incorporating interrogative pronouns
Style - The choices in diction, tone, and syntax that a writer makes. Style may be conscious or unconscious.
Symbol - Anything that represents or stands for something else. Usually an acutal thing standing in for an abstract concept

Syntax/sentence variety - Grammatical arrangement of words (long v short, etc.)
Theme - The central idea or message of a work. The theme may be directly stated in nonfiction works, although not necessarily. It is rarely stated directly in fiction.
Thesis - The sentence or groups of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or proposition. It should be short and clear.
Tone - A writer's attitude toward his subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language and
organization.

Tone can be: playful, serious, businesslike, sarcastic, humorous, formal, somber, etc.
Understatement - The ironic minimizing of fact, understatement presents something as less significant than it is. The effect can frequently be humorous.
Litotes - a particular form of understatement, generated by denying the opposite of the statement which otherwise would be used.

Argument
An argument is a piece of reasoning with one or more premises and a conclusion. Essentially,
every essay is an argument that begins with the conclusion (the thesis) and then sets up the
premises.Can be called a claim or position or a stance.
Premises: Statements offered as reasons to support a conclusion are premises.
Conclusion: A conclusion is the end result of the argument – the main point being made. In an
argument one expects that the conclusion will be supported with reasons or premises.
Aristotle’s appeals The goal of argumentative writing is to persuade an audience that one’s ideas are valid, or more
valid than someone else's. - ethos, pathos, and logos.
Ethos (credibility) means being convinced by the credibility of the author.
Pathos (emotional) means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions.
Logos (logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning, using true premises and valid
arguments. This is generally considered the strongest form of persuasion.
Concession- Accepting at least part or all of an opposing viewpoint. Often used to make one’s own argument stronger by demonstrating that one is willing to accept what is obviously true and reasonable, even if it is presented by the opposition.

Conditional Statement- A conditional statement is an if-then statement and consists of two parts, an antecedent and a consequent.

Contradiction- A contradiction occurs when one asserts two mutually exclusive propositions, such as, “

Counterexample- A counterexample is an example that runs counter to (opposes) a generalization, thus falsifying it.

Deductive argument- An argument in which it is thought that the premises provide a guarantee of the truth of the conclusion.

Fallacy
A fallacy is an attractive but unreliable piece of reasoning.
Appeal to authority: The claim that because somebody famous supports an idea, the idea must be right.

Appeal to the bandwagon: The claim, as evidence for an idea, that many people believe it, or
used to believe it, or do it.
Appeal to emotion: An attempt to replace a logical argument with an appeal to the audience’s
emotions.
Bad analogy: Claiming that two situations are highly similar, when they aren't.
Cliche thinking: Using as evidence a well-known saying, as if it is proven, or as if it has no
exceptions.
False cause: Assuming that because two things happened, the first one caused the second one.

Hasty generalization: A generalization based on too little or unrepresentative data.

Non Sequitur: A conclusion that does not follow from its premises; an invalid argument.

Slippery slope: The assumption that once started, a situation will continue to its most extreme
possible outcome.
Inductive argument- An argument in which it is thought that the premises provide reasons supporting the probable truth
of the conclusion.
Sound argument- A deductive argument is said to be sound if it meets two conditions: First, that the line of reasoning from the premises to the conclusion is valid. Second, that the premises are true.