A statement that seems absurd or even contradictory but that often expresses a deeper truth.
What is Paradox?
100
A formal argument involving deductive reasoning, in which a specific conclusion is inferred from a general statement. In this type of argument, the speaker offers a general and a specific premise, as well as a conclusion.
What is a Syllogism?
100
The contrasting of ideas by the use of parallel structure in phrases or clauses.
What is antithesis?
100
Any composition not written in verse. The basic unit of prose is the sentence, whereas the basic unit of poetry is a line of verse. This writing can be rhythmic but is generally less musical than verse.
What is prose?
100
A direct address to an absent or dead person, or to an object, quality, or idea.
What is Apostrophe?
200
A device in which corresponding clauses are of exactly equal length.
What is Isocolon?
200
In writing and literature, an author's exaggeration or distortion of certain traits or characteristics of an individual.
What is a Caricature?
200
A narrative in which literal meaning corresponds directly with symbolic meaning; in an ___, each element symbolizes something else.
What is allegory?
200
A syllable, word, or group of words added to fill a void (perhaps to make a metrical scheme work), but which do not add to the meaning of a piece of writing; also an exclamatory word or group of words, especially an obscenity.
What is expletive?
200
To turn or move away from the main subject of discussion or the main argument in a piece of writing.
What is Digression?
300
In grammar, a substantive word, phrase, or clause whose denotation is referred to by a pronoun. In logic, the conditional element in a proposition.
What is Antecedent?
300
A character who illuminates the qualities of another character by means of contrast.
What is Foil?
300
The technique of placing unexpected combinations of words or ideas side by side.
What is juxtaposition?
300
A form of reasoning that proceeds by juxtaposing contradictory ideas and synthesizing or finding areas of agreement between them.
What is dialectic?
300
A group of literary works commonly regarded as authoritative or central to the literary tradition.
What is Canon?
400
A new or invented word, expression, or usage.
What is Neologism?
400
Disturbing or absurd material presented in a humorous manner, usually with the intention of confronting uncomfortable truths.
What is Black Comedy?
400
A breaking off of speech, usually due to rising emotion or excitement.
What is aposiopesis?
400
A scheme of unusual or inverted word order.
What is hyperbaton?
400
A sudden, powerful, and often spiritual or life-changing realization that a character reaches in an otherwise ordinary or everyday moment.
What is Epiphany?
500
A type of pun in which one word is repeated in two different senses.
What is Atanaclasis?
500
A concrete object that represents something abstract; unlike a symbol, it has a fixed meaning and does not change over time.
What is an Emblem?
500
The brief narration of a single event or incident.
What is anecdote?
500
A short narrative that illustrates a moral by means of allegory (in which literal meaning and symbolic meaning correspond clearly and directly).
What is parable?
500
A brief statement to memorialize a deceased person or a thing, time, or event that has ended.