Text Structure and Language
Refers to the set of rules that determines the arrangement of words in a sentence. Along with diction, it is one of the key ways writers convey meaning in a text.
What is Syntax?
A comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification.
What is Analogy?
Characters, settings, images, or other motifs that stand in for bigger ideas. For example, in Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl’s wife represents his life before imprisonment.
What is Symbols?
A figure of speech that is often used to make something sound much bigger and better than it actually is or to make something sound much more dramatic.
What is Hyperbole?
A humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing.
What is a Parody?
Refers to the linguistic choices a writer makes to effectively convey an idea, a point of view, or tell a story.
What is Diction?
Literary device that assigns human qualities and attributes to objects or other non-human things. One example of this can be found in Othello when Othello says that Desdemona listened with 'greedy ears'.
What is Personification?
A figure of speech that directly compares one thing to another for rhetorical effect. For example, in Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl compares life to a container that is empty at birth and must be filled with meaning and purpose as the individual progresses through life.
What is a Metaphor?
A figure of speech that represents something as less than what it is.
What is an Understatement?
A work of literature that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other authors(not in a mocking way).
What is a Pastiche?
A very powerful and common way of characterization, which elaborates the geographic and social background of any character. For example, in Things Fall Apart, Achebe uses Igbo language and proverbs to create an authentic African story.
What is Dialect?
A figure of speech and type of metaphor that compares two different things using the words “like” or “as.”
What is a Simile?
Literary technique that consists of a repeated element that has symbolic significance to a literary work. For example, in Othello, the extensive use of Iago’s comparison of Othello to animals represents racism at the time.
What is a Motif?
Shakespeare used this figurative language in Othello to engage the human senses. An example of this can be seen in this line: “Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow.”
What is Imagery?
Occurs when the audience (of a movie, play, etc.) understands something about a character's actions or an event but the characters do not.
What is Dramatic Irony?
The use of informal words or phrases in writing or speech. Examples of this literary technique are words such as “ain't” and “gonna”.
What is Colloquialism?
Occurs when two things are placed side by side for comparison, often to highlight the contrast between the elements. For example, in Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo and his father are represented as drastically different from one another, with Okonkwo becoming more and more aggressive, and masculine, balancing out the lazy nature of his father.
What is Juxtaposition?
The use of a word to suggest a different association than its literal meaning.
What is Connotation?
A literary device that contradicts itself but contains a plausible kernel of truth: “This is the beginning of the end.”
What is Paradox?
A figure of speech in which the speaker intends to be understood as meaning something that contrasts with the literal or usual meaning of what he says.
What is Verbal Irony?
The narrator reports the character's thoughts or words using verbs like “said” or “thought.”
What is Indirect Narration?
This figure of speech was used in “Things Fall Apart” when Chinua Achebe compares a locust swarm and the arrival of the white missionaries in Umuofia.
What is Allegory?
The act of using a word or symbol to signify an explicit meaning or set of meanings.
What is Denotation?
A pair of statements or images in which the one reverses the other:"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." - Neil Armstrong
What is Antithesis?
A literary technique in which an expected outcome does not happen, or its opposite happens instead.
What is Situational Irony?