101 Key Terms
Glossary
of Important Grammatical, Literary, and Rhetorical Terms
- Ad
Hominem
An argument based on the failings of an adversary rather than on the merits of the case; a logical fallacy that involves a personal attack.
- Adjective
The part of speech (or word class) that modifies a noun or a pronoun.
- Adverb
The part of speech (or word class) that modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb.
- Allegory
Extending a metaphor so that objects, persons, and actions in a text are equated with meanings that lie outside the text.
- Alliteration
The repetition of an initial consonant sound.
- Allusion
A brief, usually indirect reference to a person, place, or event--real or fictional.
- Ambiguity
The presence of two or more possible meanings in any passage.
- Analogy
Reasoning or arguing from parallel cases.
- Anaphora
The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses.
- Antecedent
The noun or noun phrase referred to by a pronoun.
- Antithesis
The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases.
- Aphorism
(1) A tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion.
(2) A brief statement of a principle.
- Apostrophe
A rhetorical term for breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing.
- Appeal
to Authority
A fallacy in which a speaker or writer seeks to persuade not by giving evidence but by appealing to the respect people have for a famous person or institution.
- Appeal
to Ignorance
A fallacy that uses an opponent's inability to disprove a conclusion as proof of the conclusion's correctness.
- Argument
A course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating truth or falsehood.
- Asyndeton
The omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses (opposite of polysyndeton).
- Character
An individual (usually a person) in a narrative (usually a work of fiction or creative nonfiction).
- Chiasmus
A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed.
- Circular
Argument
An argument that commits the logical fallacy of assuming what it is attempting to prove.
- Claim
An arguable statement, which may be a claim of fact, value, or policy.
- Climax
Mounting by degrees through words or sentences of increasing weight and in parallel construction with an emphasis on the high point or culmination of a series of events.
- Colloquial
Characteristic of writing that seeks the effect of informal spoken language as distinct from formal or literary English.
- Comparison
A rhetorical strategy in which a writer examines similarities and/or differences between two people, places, ideas, or objects.
- Complement
A word or word group that completes the predicate in a sentence.
- Concession
An argumentative strategy by which a speaker or writer acknowledges the validity of an opponent's point.
- Confirmation
The main part of a text in which logical arguments in support of a position are elaborated.
- Conjunction
The part of speech (or word class) that serves to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences.
- Connotation
The emotional implications and associations that a word may carry.
- Coordination
The grammatical connection of two or more ideas to give them equal emphasis and importance. Contrast with subordination.
- Denotation
The direct or dictionary meaning of a word, in contrast to its figurative or associated meanings.
- Dialect
A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, and/or vocabulary.
- Diction
(1) The choice and use of words in speech or writing.
(2) A way of speaking, usually assessed in terms of prevailing standards of pronunciation and elocution.
- Didactic
Intended or inclined to teach or instruct, often excessively.
- Epiphora
The repetition of a word or phrase at the end of several clauses. (Also known as epistrophe.)
- Epitaph
(1) A short inscription in prose or verse on a tombstone or monument.
(2) A statement or speech commemorating someone who has died: a funeral oration.
- Ethos
A persuasive appeal based on the projected character of the speaker or narrator.
- Eulogy
A formal expression of praise for someone who has recently died.
- Euphemism
The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit.
- Exposition
A statement or type of composition intended to give information about (or an explanation of) an issue, subject, method, or idea.
- Extended
Metaphor
A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem.
- Fallacy
An error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid.
- False
Dilemma
A fallacy of oversimplification that offers a limited number of options (usually two) when in fact more options are available.
- Figurative
Language
Language in which figures of speech (such as metaphors, similes, and hyperbole) freely occur.
- Figures
of Speech
The various uses of language that depart from customary construction, order, or significance.
- Flashback
A shift in a narrative to an earlier event that interrupts the normal chronological development of a story.
- Genre
A category of artistic composition, as in film or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content.
- Hasty
Generalization
A fallacy in which a conclusion is not logically justified by sufficient or unbiased evidence.
- Hyperbole
A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect; an extravagant statement.
- Imagery
Vivid descriptive language that appeals to one or more of the senses.
- Induction
A method of reasoning by which a rhetor collects a number of instances and forms a generalization that is meant to apply to all instances.
- Invective
Denunciatory or abusive language; discourse that casts blame on somebody or something.
- Irony
The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. A statement or situation where the meaning is directly contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea.
- Isocolon
A succession of phrases of approximately equal length and corresponding structure.
- Jargon
The specialized language of a professional, occupational, or other group, often meaningless to outsiders.
- Litotes
A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.
- Loose
Sentence
A sentence structure in which a main clause is followed by subordinate phrases and clauses. Contrast with periodic sentence.
- Metaphor
A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common.
- Metonymy
A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as "crown" for "royalty").
- Mode
of Discourse
The way in which information is presented in a text. The four traditional modes are narration, description, exposition, and argument.
- Mood
(1) The quality of a verb that conveys the writer's attitude toward a subject.
(2) The emotion evoked by a text.
- Narrative
A rhetorical strategy that recounts a sequence of events, usually in chronological order.
- Noun
The part of speech (or word class) that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action.
- Onomatopoeia
The formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.
- Oxymoron
A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side.
- Paradox
A statement that appears to contradict itself.
- Parallelism
The similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
- Parody
A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.
- Pathos
The means of persuasion that appeals to the audience's emotions.
- Periodic
Sentence
A long and frequently involved sentence, marked by suspended syntax, in which the sense is not completed until the final word--usually with an emphatic climax.
- Personification
A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities.
- Point
of View
The perspective from which a speaker or writer tells a story or presents information.
- Predicate
One of the two main parts of a sentence or clause, modifying the subject and including the verb, objects, or phrases governed by the verb.
- Pronoun
A word (a part of speech or word class) that takes the place of a noun.
- Prose
Ordinary writing (both fiction and nonfiction) as distinguished from verse.
- Refutation
The part of an argument wherein a speaker or writer anticipates and counters opposing points of view.
- Repetition
An instance of using a word, phrase, or clause more than once in a short passage--dwelling on a point.
- Rhetoric
The study and practice of effective communication.
- Rhetorical
Question
A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.
- Running
Style
Sentence style that appears to follow the mind as it worries a problem through, mimicking the "rambling, associative syntax of conversation"--the opposite of periodic sentence style.
- Sarcasm
A mocking, often ironic or satirical remark.
- Satire
A text or performance that uses irony, derision, or wit to expose or attack human vice, foolishness, or stupidity.
- Simile
A figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually in a phrase introduced by "like" or "as."
- Style
Narrowly interpreted as those figures that ornament speech or writing; broadly, as representing a manifestation of the person speaking or writing.
- Subject
The part of a sentence or clause that indicates what it is about.
- Syllogism
A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.
- Subordination
Words, phrases, and clauses that make one element of a sentence dependent on (or subordinate to) another. Contrast with coordination.
- Symbol
A person, place, action, or thing that (by association, resemblance, or convention) represents something other than itself.
- Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole or the whole for a part.
- Syntax
(1) The study of the rules that govern the way words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences.
(2) The arrangement of words in a sentence.
- Thesis
The main idea of an essay or report, often written as a single declarative sentence.
- Tone
A writer's attitude toward the subject and audience. Tone is primarily conveyed through diction, point of view, syntax, and level of formality.
- Transition
The connection between two parts of a piece of writing, contributing to coherence.
- Understatement
A figure of speech in which a writer deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.
- Verb
The part of speech (or word class) that describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being.
- Voice
(1) The quality of a verb that indicates whether its subject acts (active voice) or is acted upon (passive voice).
(2) The distinctive style or manner of expression of an author or narrator.
- Zeugma
The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be grammatically or logically correct with only one.
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