Allegory: a piece of media that can be interpreted in different ways, typically revealing a hidden political

or moral meaning

Allusion: the act of using an expression mention a specific subject or object, while not saying what it is
directly or saying it in passing

Alliteration: when most words in a sentence start with the same letter or sound, or have words that ar
closely connected

Anecdote: short stories about a real situation or person that are told in an entertaining fashion

Analogy: the act of comparing two things and using that comparison for an explanation

Assonance: the re repetition of a vowel’s sound is used in stressed syllables close to each other for the
sound to be noticeable, often used in poetry

Bias: judgment that favours a specific characteristic compared to another, usually in an unfair manner

Cliché: a saying or opinion that is overused and lacks originality

Colloquial Language: the style of speech that is used for casual talk or informal speech.

Compare: to note the similarities or lack thereof between two or more subjects

Connotation: the feeling that is invoked by a specific word, adding to the literal meaning of the word

Contrast: the act of a subject being drastically different from another

Diction: the act of choosing words in speech to convey a specific feeling or to get a point across

Denotation: the literal meaning of a words that contrasts the feeling that the words brings

Emotive Language: vague language used to create or stir an emotional response in the audience by using
words with strong connotations

Ethos: the spirit of an era, culture, or community that was brought to life by its belief systems

Euphemism: the act of using an indirect word or phrase to say something that may be too harsh or blunt
to say outright, typically something embarrassing

Example: a way to illustrate an idea or general rule

Explicit Thesis: a direct statement of the main idea for an essay

Facts: something that has been proven to be true

Foreshadowing: an indication of a future event

Formal Writing: text that is written for an audience that is not known on a personal level and uses less
personal tones.

Humour: the act of being funny or comical, typically in writing or speech

Hybrid: the combination of two elements to create one element

Hyperbole: statements that are said in an exaggerated manner and are not meant to be take seriously

Idiom: a collection of words that mean something together, but mean something different when
separate.

Imagery (and Description): using visually descriptive language to create a picture in the reader’s mind

Implicit Thesis: when the point of the essay is stated indirectly, so the reader has to read the entire essay
to know what it’s about

Informal Writing: the use of shorter sentences in personal situations

Irony: using language that signifies one thing to express the opposite feeling

Juxtaposition: two things that are seen together that have a contrasting effect on each other

Logos: the basis that divine reason and creative order are created on

Logical Reasoning: the aim to make a conclusion based off evidence in a rigorous fashion

Metaphor: when a word or phrase is applied to an object or action that can’t be taken literally

Opinion: a view on something that can be based off personal values or facts

Onomatopoeia: a word that sounds like the object it is associated with

Oxymoron: when contradictory terms appear within the same sentence

Paradox: a statement that contradicts itself, but can be proven to be true

Parallelism: the state of corresponding or being parallel with another object in some way

Parallel Structure: when one or more sentences have the same grammatical structure

Pathos: the quality of something that creates a sense of sadness or pity

Personification: the act of giving a non-human item a human characteristic

Quotation(s): a word or phrase repeated by someone that is not the original author

Repetition: repeating something that has been said or written previously

Rhetorical Question(s): a question asked to make a point, without the intention of getting an answer

Rhetoric: the act of using figures of speech to speak or write persuasively

Rule of Three: a rule that suggests a trio of subjects is more effective in terms of characters or events

Satire: the use of devices like humour and irony to criticize the stupidity of others

Simile: the act of comparing two or more things that are similar in nature

Sound Patterns: the frequency of phonemic sounds and its distributional patterns

Statistics: facts that are drawn from analyzing information that is expressed in numbers to draw a
conclusion
Syntax: rules that determine how words are formatted in a sentence

Thesis: a major and typically direct claim made by an author at the beginning of an essay or paper

Tone: the way the writer decides to express their attitude or feelings towards the topic they are writing
about.

Understatement: when an aspect situation is being downplayed as less than what it truly is