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Abstract Language
Lauguage descirbing ideas and qualities rather than observable or specific things, people or places.
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Active voice
The subject of the sentence performs the action.
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Allusion
An indirect reference to something with which the reader is supposed to be familiar.
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Ambiguity
An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way.
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Analogy
A comparison to a directly parallel case.
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Anecdote
A brief recounting of a relevant episode.
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Annotation
Explanatory notes added to a text to explain, clarify, or prompt futher thought.
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Antecedent
The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.
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Apostrophe
A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. The effect may add familiarity or emotional intensity.
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Attitude of the author/tone
A writer's attitude toward his subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization.
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Classicism
Art or literature characterized by a realistic view of people and the world
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Concrete Language
Language that describes specific, observable things, peoples or places, rather than ideas or qualities.
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Diction
Word choice, particularly as an element of style.
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Colloquial
Ordinary or familiar type of conversation.
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Connotation
Implied meaning rather than literal meaning.
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Denotation
the literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations.
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Jargon
The diction used by a group which practices a similar profession or activity.
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Vernacular
Language or dialect of a particular country, language or dialect of a regional clan or group, plain everyday speech.
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Didactic
A term used to describe fiction, nonfiction or poety that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.
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Adage
A folk saying with a lesson
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Allegory
A story, fictional or non fictional, in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts.
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Aphorism
A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle.
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Homily
This term literally means "sermon," but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice.
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Ellipsis
The deliberate omission of a word or phrase from prose done for effect by the author.
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Epigram
A short poem with a clever twist at the end, or a concise and witty statement.
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Epigraph
A quotation or aphorism at the beginnning of a literary work suggestive of theme.
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Euphemism
A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.
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Explication
The act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text.
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Figurative Language
The opposite of "literal language"
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Idiom
A common, often used expression that doesn't make sense if you take it literally.
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Metaphor
Making an implied comparsion, not using "like," "as," or other such words.
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Simile
Using words such as "like" or "as" to make a direct comparison between two very different things.
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Genre
The major category into which a literary work fits.
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Gothic
Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death.
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Imagery
Word or words that create a picture in the reader's mind.
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Invective
An emotionall violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language.
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Irony
When the opposite of what you expect to happen does.
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Verbal irony
When you say something and mean the opposite/something different.
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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.
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Situational irony
Found in the plot of a book, story, or movie.
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Juxtaposition
Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.
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Mood
The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice.
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Objectivity
An author's stance that distances himself from personal involvement.
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Oxymoron
When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox.
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Paradox
A seemingly contradictory statement which is actually true.
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Parallelism/parallel structure
Sentence construction which places equal grammatical construction near each other, or repeats identical grammatical patterns.
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Anaphora
Repetition or a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row.
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Antithesis
Two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses, or even ideas, with parallel structure.
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Parenthetical idea
An idea that is set off from the rest of the sentence.
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Parody
An exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes.
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Passive voice
The subject of the sentence receives the action.
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Pedantic
Observing strict adherence to formal rules or literal meaning at the expense of a wider view.
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Persona
The fictional mask or narrator that tells a story.
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Rhetoric
The art of effective communication.
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Rhetorical question
A question not asked for information but for effect.
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Romanticism
Art or literature characterized by an idealistic, perhaps unrealistic view of people and the world, and an emphasis on nature.
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Sarcasm
A generally bitter comment that is ironically worded.
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Satire
A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of life to a humorous effect.
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Sentence
A group of words (including subject and verb) that expresses a complete thought.
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Appositive
A word or group or words placed beside a noun or noun substitute to supplement its meaning.
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Clause
A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb.
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Simple sentence
Contains one independent clause.
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Compound sentence
Contains at least two independent clauses but no dependent clauses.
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Complex sentence
Contains only one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
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Compound-complex sentence
contains two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.
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Balanced sentence
One in which two parallel elements are set off against each other like equal weights on a scale.
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Loose sentence
A complex sentence in which the main clause comes first and the subordinate clause follows.
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Periodic sentence
When the main idea is not completed until the end of the sentence.
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Declarative sentence
States an idea
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Imperative sentence
Issues a command.
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Interrogative sentence
Sentences incorporating interrogative pronouns.
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Style
The choices in diction, tone, and syntax that a writer makes.
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Symbol
Anything that represents or stands for somthing else.
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Syntax/sentence variety
Grammatical arrangement of words.
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Theme
The central idea or message of a work.
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Thesis
The sentence or groups of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or proposition.
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Transition
Smooth movement from one paragraph (or idea) to another.
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Understatement
the ironice minimizing of fact, presents something as less significant than it is.
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Litotes
A particular form of understatement, generated by denying the opposite of the statement which otherwise would be used.
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