English Terminology

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Words in referring to the English school subject that not everyone knows!

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Begging the Question: An argumentative ploy where the arguer sidesteps the question or conflict, evades or ignores the real question.
Deductive Reasoning: The method of argument in which specific statements and conclusions are drawn from general principals: the movement from the general to the specific, in contrast to inductive reasoning.
Assonance: The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually in successive or proximate words (ex. she s(e)lls sea sh(e)lls by the s(e)a shore)
Extended Metaphor: A detailed and complex metaphor that extends over a long section of work. (Also known as conceit.)
Narrator: The "voice" who "tells" the story.
Structure: The organization of the various elements in a work.
Inference: A conclusion or proposition arrived at by considering facts, observations, or some other specific data.
Parable: A short fiction that illustrates an explicit moral lesson through the use of analogy. Many can be found in the bible.
Parody: A work that imitates another work for comic effect by exaggerating the style and changing the content of the original. (ex. Scary Movie)
Chiasmus: A figure or speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses is revered in the second. May involve repetition of the same words. (ex. pleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin's a pleasure)
Consonance: The repetition of two or more consonants with a change in the intervening vowels (ex. pitter-patter, splish-splash)
Parallel Structure: The use of similar forms in writing for nouns, verbs, phrases or thoughts. (ex. Martha takes notes quickLY, accurateLY, and thorughLY.)
Connotation: The implied, suggested, or underlying meaning of a word or phrase.
Homily: A sermon, but more contemporary uses include any serious talk, speech or lecture involving moral or spiritual life.
Pastoral: A work that describes the simple life of country fold, who live a timeless, painless life in a world full of beauty, music and love. (Also called an ecologue, a bucolic, or idyll) (ex. Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.)
Paradox: A statement that seems contradictory but may actually be true. (ex. 1960's protesters had to "fight for peace.")
Rhetorical Question: A question that is asked simply for the sake of stylistic effect and is not expected to be answered.
Stock Character: One who appears in a number of stories and plays. (ex. Wicked stepmother, damsel in distress, prince charming, etc.)
Alliteration: The sequential repetition of a similar initial sound, usually applied to consonants, usually in closely proximate stressed syllables. (ex. Ten Tiny Toes)
Stereotype: Characterization based on conscious or unconscious assumptions that one aspect (such as gender, age, religion, occupation, etc.) is predictably accompanied by a certain character traits, actions, or values. In literature, stereotyped or stock characters are often used to fulfill a particular purpose of the author. (ex. Wicked Witch in Snow White.)
Irony: The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant. The intended meaning is often the opposite of what is stated. Types: Verbal - What the author/narrator says is actually the opposite of what is meant; Situational - when events end up the opposite of what is expected; Dramatic - when facts or situations are known to the reader or audience but not to the characters.
Euphemism: An indirect, kinder, or less harsh or hurtful way of expressing unpleasant information.
Attitude: The sense expressed by the tone of voice or mood of a piece of writing; the author's feelings toward her/his subject, characters, events, or theme. It might even be her/his feelings for the reader.
Didactic: Writing or speech is didactic when it has an instructive purpose or lesson. Often associated with a dry, pompus presentation, regardless of its innate value to the reader/listener. (From the Greek meaning "good teaching")
Aphorism: A concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief. (ex. spare the rod and spoil the child)
Symbolism: Use of a person, place, thing, event, or pattern that figuratively represents or "stands for" something else. Often the thing or idea represented is more abstract or general than the symbol, which is concrete.
Claim: In argumentation, an assertion of something as fact
Onomatopoeia: A word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes. The purpose of onomatopoeia is to make a passage more effective for the reader or listener. (ex. buzz, pow, moo)
Appeals to...authority/emotion/logic: Rhetorical arguments in which the speaker claims to be an authority or expert in a field, or attempts to play upon the emotions, or appeals tot he use of reason. (ethos = authority, logos = logic, pathos = emotion)
Inductive Reasoning: The method of reasoning or argument in which general statements and conclusions are drawn from specific principals: movement from the specific to the general. General supposition is made after investigating specific instances, used often in scientific study.
Theme: The message or insight about life or human nature that the writer presents. A theme may imply how a person should live but should not be confused with a moral/lesson. - look at what happens to the main character!
Litote: A figure of speech that emphasizes its subject by a conscious understatement. (ex. the saying not bad is used to comment about something that is well done.)
Apostrophe: An address or invocation to something that is inanimate - such as an angry lover who might scream at the ocean in his dispair
Anecdote: A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature.
Caricature: A depiction in which a character's characteristics or features are so deliberately exaggerated as to render them absurd
Simile: A direct, explicit comparison of one thing to another, USUALLY USING the words like or as to draw the connection (ex. "There was a steamy mist in all the hollows and it had roared in its forlornness up the hill like an evil spirit.")
Tone: The attitude the narrator/writer takes toward a subject and theme; the tenor of a piece of writing based on particular stylistic devices employed by the writer. Unlike mood, which is intended to shape the reader's emotional response, tone reflects the feelings of the writer.
In Medias Res: "In the midst of things." Refers to opening a story in the middle of the action, necessitating filling in past details by exposition or flashback.
Synecdoche: When a part is used to signify a whole. (ex. All hands on deck! - "hands" refers to the whole of the sailors.)
Realism: Attempting to describe nature and life without idealization and with attention to detail. (ex. Mark Twain is, Thoreau is not [too romantic])
Informal Diction: Language that is not as lofty or impersonal as formal diction; similar to everyday speech. "ex. OK, bye, hey, huh?)
Characterization: The way a writer creates and develops character's personalities. (ex. physical description, characters actions, feelings, and words, narrator's comments about the character)
Imagery: Any sensory detail or evocation in work. Basically, imagery involves any or all the five senses.
Dialect: The language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group. (ex. Minnesota "you betcha!" Southerners "y'all!") Dialect is most often found in fiction, sometimes it is evident in speeches from a different era of culture
Mode of Discourse: The way in which information is presented in written or spoken form. The Greeks believed there were only four modes of discourse: narration, description, exposition (cause and effect, process analysis, comparison/contrast), and argumentation. Contemporary thought often includes other modes, such as personal observation and narrative reflection.
Plot: The arrangement of the narration based on the cause-effect relationship of the events. EXPOSITION: Sets the scene, introduces and identifies the characters, and establishes the situation or conflict at the beginning of a story or play. RISING ACTION: The development of action in a work, usually the beginning. Creates complications and suspense. CLIMAX: The point at which the action stops rising and begins falling or reversing; the point of maximum interest or tension. FALLING ACTION (or denouement): Where the complications of the rising action are untangled. RESOLUTION: The end. Tells how the conflict/problems ends.
Overstatement: Exaggerated language. A.k.a. hyperbole
Epistrophe: In rhetoric, the repetition of a phrase at the end of successive sentences (ex. If women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work...their families will flourish.)
Cacophony: The purposeful use of harsh sounds for effect. It may include the use of alliteration and onomatopoeia, as well as other sound devices (ex. Beat! beat! drums! - blow! bugles! blow!)
Eulogy: A speech or written passage in praise of a person; an oration in honor of a decease person. Elegy laments, eulogy praises.
Juxtaposition: The location of one thing as being adjacent or juxtaposed with another. This placing of two items side by side creates a certain effect, reveals an attitude, or accomplishes some purpose of the writer. (ex. In The Loved One, the writer relies on juxtaposition to establish the dark humor of the novel - a funeral parlor is juxtaposed with a ritzy human funeral parlor.)
Asyndeton: A style in which conjunctions (and/but/or/for/nor/so/yet) are omitted, usually producing a fast-paced, more rapid prose (ex. I came, I saw, I conquered)
Rhyme: The repetition of the same or similar sounds, most often at the end of lines.
Mood: The feeling or atmosphere that a writer created for the reader. Descriptive words, imagery, figurative language, and tone help create mood.
Hyperbole: Overstatement characterized by exaggerated language, usually to make a point or draw attention. (ex. I'm really beat)
Ethos: In rhetoric, the appeal of a text to the credibility and character of the speaker, writer, or narrator.
Nonfiction: Writing about real people, places, and events.
Flashback: An interruption in the chronological order of the story to present something that happened before the beginning of the story. (Also called retrospection.)
Formal Diction: Language that is lofty, dignified, and impersonal. Such diction is often used in narrative epic poetry.
Convention: An accepted manner, model, or tradition.
Soliloquy: A monologue in which the character in a play is alone and speaking only to herself or himself.
Tragedy: A drama in which a character (usually good and noble and of high rank) is brought to a disastrous end in his or her confrontation with a superior force. Often the protagonist's downfall is a direct downfall of a fatal flaw in his or her character.
Message: A misleading term for theme (the central idea or statement of a story). It is misleading because it suggests a simple packaged statement that pre-exists.
Rhythm: The modulation of weak and strong (stressed and unstressed) elements of speech.
Antagonist: A force that is in opposite to the protagonist, or main character...a.k.a. The Bad Guy
Protagonist: The main character in a work, who may or may not be heroic. Usually changes after the story's climax.
Allegory: A prose or poetic narrative in which the characters, behavior, and even the setting demonstrate multiple levels of meaning and significance - often universal symbol or personified abstraction (ex. Death = "grim reaper")
Style: The manner in which a writer combines and arranges words, shapes ideas, and utilizes syntax and structure. It is the distinctive manner of expression that represents that author's typical writing style.
Metonymy: A figure of speech in which an attribute or commonly associate feature is used to name or designate something (ex. "the pen is mightier than the sword" - the pen stands for publishing, the sword for military.)
Prose: The ordinary form of written language (not poetry.)
Euphony: The use of flowing, smooth harmonious sounds. It makes use of repeated vowel sounds and the so-called liquid consonants (l and r). (ex. all day the wind breathes low and mellower tone.)
Caesura: A pause in a line of verse, indicated by natural speech patters rather than due to specific metrical patterns
Allusion: A literary, historical, religious, or mythological reference.
Epitaph: Writing in praise of a dead person, most often inscribed upon a headstone.
Archetype: Recurrent designs, patterns of action, character types, themes, or images which are identifiable in a wide range of literature - (ex. damsel in distress; female fatale [causes downfall of significant male character])
Foreshadowing: A hint or clue about an event that will occur later in the story.
Epic: A poem that celebrates, in continuous narrative, the achievements of mighty heroes and heroines. It uses elevated language and grand, high style. (ex. Star Wars!)
Farce: A play or scene in a play or book that is characterized by broad humor, wild antics, and often slapstick or physical humor.
Comparison and Contrast: A mode of discourse in which two or more things are compared, contrasted, or both.
Rhetoric: The art of using words to persuade in writing or speaking. All types of writing may seek to persuade, and rhetoricians study these genres for their persuasive qualities.
Loose Sentence: A long sentence that starts with its main clause, which is followed by several dependent clauses and modifying phrases. (ex. THE CHILD RAN, frenzies and ignoring all hazards, as if being chased by demons.)
Cannon: That which has been accepted as authentic, such a s in cannon law (ex. Theories of Einstein)
Syntax: The way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. Syntax is sentence structure and how it influences the way the reader receives a particular piece of writing. It is important in establishing the tone of a piece and the attitude of the author/narrator.
Speaker: The person, not necessarily the author, who is the voice of a poem.
Figurative Language/ Figure of Speech: Figurative language has levels of meaning expressed through figures of speech - personification, metaphor, hyperbole, irony, oxymoron, litote, etc.
Fiction: Writing that comes from an writer's imagination.
Zeugma: A grammatically correct construction in which a word, usually a verb or adjective, is applied to two or more nouns without being repeated. Often used to comic effect. (ex. The thief TOOK MY WALLET and the 5th ave. BUS)
Genre: A type or class of literature - narrative, biography, poetry, etc.
Pathos: The element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow. In argument or persuasion it tends to be the evocation of pity from the reader/listener.
Diction: The specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose, or effect. (ex. "I hadn't so much forgot as I couldn't bring myself to remember." - more impact than just saying "I chose not to remember.")
Narrative/Narrative Structure: A mode of discourse that tells a story of some sort and it is based on sequences of connected events, usually presented in a straightforward, chronological framework.
Periodic Sentence: A long sentence in which the main clause is not completed until the end (ex. Looking as if she were being chased by demons, ignoring all hazards, THE CHILD RAN; THE CHILD, who looked as if she were being chased by demons, frenzied and ignoring all hazards, RAN.)
Metaphor: One thing pictured as if it were something else, suggesting a likeness or analogy. Metaphor is an implicit comparison or identification of one thing with another, WITHOUT using verbal signals such as like or as. (ex. it is the east and Juliet is the sun.)
Rebuttal/Refutation: An argument technique wherein opposing arguments are anticipated and countered.
Isocolon: Parallel structure in which the parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical structure, but also in length. (ex. Many are called, but few are chosen.)
Critique: An assessment or analysis of something, such as a passage of writing, for the purpose of determining what it is, what its limitations are, and how it conforms to the standard of the genre.
Anaphora: The regular repetition of the same words or phrases at the beginning of successive phrases of clauses (ex. it takes teachers, it takes clergy, it takes a family, it takes business people, it takes community,,,)
Motif: A recurrent device, formula, or situation that often serves as a signal for the appearance of a character or event. (ex. In The Great Gatsby, the recurring image/motif of the color green is found throughout the novel.)
Colloquial: Ordinary language, the vernacular. (ex. Hot Dish = Casserole - depends on where you live!)
Antithesis: The juxtaposition (close together) of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, grammatical structure, or ideas.
Setting: The time and place of the action in a story, poem, or play.
Jargon: Specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group. (ex. Computer industry - geek, interface, virus, bug)
Conceit: A comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature, in particular an extended metaphor within a poem. However, conceits can also be used in nonfiction or prose.
Personification: Treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person by endowing it with human features or qualities. (ex. "Once again the heart of America is heavy. The spirit of America weeps for a tragedy that denies the very meaning of our land."
Persona: The voice who tells and structures the story and who may or my not share the values of the actual actor.
Oxymoron: A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements. (ex. "Wise fool," "baggy tights," or "deafening silence.")
Point of View: The method of narration used in a piece of writing. It's the perspective from which the story is told. The point of view in nonfiction requires the reader to establish the historical perspective of what is being said. FIRST PERSON: The narrator is a character. Uses "I" "me" or "we." Reader doesn't known for sure what is going on in the minds of the other characters. SECOND PERSON: Writing is directed to the reader. Uses "you." This point of view is not often used. THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT: (Unlimited Focus) The narrator is not a character. Uses "he" "she" and "they." "Omniscient" means the narrator is all-knowing, so the narration can be seen from one character's point of view, then another's, or can be moved out of the mind of any character. The reader has access to the perceptions and thoughts of all the characters in the story. THIRD PERSON LIMITED: The narrator is not a character. Uses "he" "she" and "they." "Limited" means the perspective is confined to a single character. The reader cannot know for sure what is going on in the minds of the other characters.
Fable: A legend or short moral story often using animals as characters.
Dramatic Monologue: A monologue set in a specific situation and spoken to an imaginary audience. A.k.a. a soliloquy
Sarcasm: A form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually critical. Sarcasm can gently poke fun at something, or it can be harsh, caustic, and mean.
Voice: The acknowledged or unacknowledged source of the words of the story; the speaker's or narrator's particular "take" on an idea based on a particular passage and how all the elemtns of the style of the piece come together to express his or her feelings.
Elegy: A poem or prose work that laments, or meditates upon the death of a person or persons. Sometimes will end with words of consolation.
Conflict: The "problem" in the story. Most stories have a main conflict that is the story's focus. An external conflict involves a character pitted against an outside force (nature, physical obstacle, another character). An internal conflict is one that occurs within the character.
Satire: A literary work that holds up human failings to ridicule and censure.

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