| A | B |
|---|
| allusion | literary work that refers to the Bible, literature, history |
| argumentation | an appeal to reason in which the author tries to persuade the audience to agree with him |
| coherence | logical fusion of all the elements of an essay |
| description | evokes the feeling, sound, or look for the reader |
| diction | word choice; choosing the most apt word |
| exposition | writing that explains what happened, why things are, how it works |
| figurative language | word or expression used in a non-literal way |
| hyperbole | exaggeration |
| imagery | evoking a picture or scene; unlike description, this can be non-literal and use figurative language |
| irony | the reader does not get what he expects; the apparent meaning sharply contrasts with the real meaning; often used to create poignancy or humor |
| verbal irony | the words literally state the opposite of the meaning (it feels sarcastic to the reader) |
| situational irony | events turn out the opposite of what was expected |
| dramatic irony | the reader or viewer knows something the characters do not know |
| metaphor | figurative language; comparison not using like or as |
| simile | figurative language; comparison using like or as |
| mood | the pervading feeling of a work |
| narration | the retelling of events nearly always in chronological order |
| oxymoron | two words that seem to mean the opposite |
| pacing | speed at which the story moves; description slows the pace but heightens the realism; action and dialogue speed the pace but can be confusing |
| paradox | an apparently self-contradictory statement |
| parallelism | a valuable principle of writing that requires the elements of a sentence and/or paragraph to have the same grammatical form |
| parody | like satire, but this is a form of comedy less focused on improving the situation and more focused on making fun of it |
| personification | attributing human qualities to objects or animals |
| point of view | the perspective of a piece of writing. 1st, 2nd, 3rd "person" and omniscient or limited |
| rhetoric | the art of using persuasive language |
