abstract language
language describing ideas or qualities rather than observables of specific things, people, or places.
allegory
a story in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts to reveal an abstraction or a truth.
alliteration
the repetition of initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables.
allusion
an implied or indirect reference to a person, event, thing, or a part of another text.
anecdote
a usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident as a way of developing a point of injecting humor.
antithesis
opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction.
circumlocution
the use of an unnecessarily large number of words or an indirect means of expression to express an idea to effect an evasion in speech.
concrete language
language that describes specific, observable things, people, or places, rather than ideas or qualities.
controlling metaphor
a metaphor that runs through an entire work and determines the form or nature of that work.
figurative language
a word or words that are inaccurate literally, but describe by calling to mind sensation or responses that the thing described evokes.
diction
the selection of words in oral or written discourse.
exemplification
a type of exposition using examples–specific facts, opinions, samples, and anecdotes–to support a generalization, to make it more vivid, understandable, and persuasive.
ellipsis
the omission of one or more words that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete.
hyperbole
conscious exaggeration used to heighten effect.
idiom
a word or phrase that is used habitually with a particular meaning in language.
imagery
instances of writing that enable a reader to create a visual image of what the writer is describing.
dramatic irony
when a reader is aware of a reality that differs from a character’s perception of reality.
situational irony
when an event turns out to be the opposite of what is expected.
verbal irony
the use of words to express something opposite of their literal meaning.
juxtaposition
the act or instance of placing work or more things side by side.
metaphor
a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things and so changes our apprehension of either or both.
metonymy
the rhetorical or metaphorical substitution of one thing for another based on their association or proximity.
onomatopoeia
the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it.
