8/9/2019 1c - Useful Terminology

1/2

Useful Terminology

Adjective A word or a phrase naming an attribute, added to

or grammatically related to a noun to modify it or

describe it.

Alliteration The repetition of a speech sound in a sequence of

words; the term is applied only to consonants and

when the recurrent sound occurs in a conspicuous

position at the beginning either of a word or of a

stressed syllable within a word.

Assonance The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds

especially in stressed syllables in a sequence of

nearby words.

Couplet A couplet is a pair of rhymed lines.

Enjambement / run-on lines

Epithet / transferred epithet

Hyperbole A bold overstatement, or the extravagant

exaggeration of fact or possibility; it may be used

for serious or ironic or comic effect.

Iambic metre

Metaphor In a metaphor, a word or expression which in

literal usage denotes one kind of thing or action is

applied to a distinctly different kind of thing or

action, without asserting a comparison.

Onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia designates a word, or a combination

of words, whose sound seems to resemble closely

the sound it denotes: hiss, buzz, rattle, bang.

Oxymoron Oxymoron designates two terms that are inordinary usage contraries.

Pathetic Fallacy A phrase used to signify any description of

inanimate natural objects that ascribes to them

human capabilities, sensations and emotions.

Personification Personification is used when either an inanimate

object or an abstract concept is written about as

though it were endowed with life or human

attributes.

8/9/2019 1c - Useful Terminology

2/2

Rhetorical question A sentence in the grammatical form of a question

which is not asked to request information or to

invite a reply, but to achieve an expressive force

different from, and usually more effective than a

direct assertion.

Sibilance A letter or set of letters sounded with a hiss,

e.g.s, sh.

Simile A comparison between two distinctly different things, indicated by the word

like or as.