| A | B |
|---|
| exposition | writing that is informative, explains, or gives directions |
| narration | an account of actions and events that have befallen someone or something |
| description | writing that appeals to the senses |
| argument | to make a case or prove a point |
| alliteration | the repetition of the beginning sounds of words |
| allusion | a reference to something from art, history, literature that enlarges the scope of a statement |
| antithesis | figure of speech in which sharply contrasting ideas are juxtaposed in a balanced or parallel phrase or grammatical structure |
| apostrophe | the direct address of an absent or imaginary person or of a personified abstraction |
| epithet | a term used as a descriptive substitute for the name or title of a person |
| hyperbole | conscious exaggeration |
| metaphor | comparison that equates two objects without the use of connecting word |
| metonymy | the use of one word in place of another commonly associated with it |
| onomatopoeia | the use of words that sound like what they refer to |
| oxymoron | an apparent contradiction or bringing together of opposites for rhetorical or humorous effect |
| parallelism | use of identical syntactic structures to build toward a climax of meaning |
| personification | assignment of human qualities to nonhuman objects |
| rhetorical question | a question to which the author expects no answer or answers it himself |
| simile | comparison using like or as |
| litotes | ironical understatements in which an affirmative is expressed by a negative of its contrary |
| diction | word choice and level of language |
| syntax | pattern of formation of sentences or phrases in a language |
| tone | a writer's manner of expression through diction |
| dialogue | direct speech |
| indirect question | a question that is within a statement (He asked if I could go with him) |
| analogy | comparison that explains aspects of something unfamiliar by likening it to something that is familiar |
| understatement | conscious downplaying |
| paradox | a seemingly contractictory statement that may nonetheless true |
| anaphora | deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs |
| aphorism | a brief statement of principle |
| double entendre | an ambiguity with one interpretation that is indelicate |
| conceit | an elaborate or exaggerated metaphor |
| tautology | needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy |
| synedoche | one part is meant to represent the whole |
| anecdote | a brief story used to illustrate a point |
| parenthetical comments | a qualifying or explanatory remark |
| malapropism | is the unintentional use of a word that resembles the word intended but that has a very different meaning |
| euphemism | a word or phrase that is used to avoid being unpleasant |
| pun | a play on words |
| bombast | language that is overly rhetorical or pompous |
| symbol | a word that represents something other than itself |
| imagery | figurative language |
| diction | word choice |
| tone | the mood or the sentiments revealed by the style |
| style | the manner of a writer's expression |
| point of view | the stance revealed by the tone and style of a piece |
| syntax | the ordering of words in a sentence |
