literary devices

• abstract noun


  a noun denoting an idea, quality, or state rather than a concrete object
• accent


  the manner in which people speak and the way words are pronounced in different parts of the world
• active voice


  the subject of the sentence performs the action (e.g. the cat eats the fish)
• adjective


  a word that modifies a noun or pronoun
• adverb


  a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb
• alliteration


  the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words
• allusion


  an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
• alternate rhyme


  lines of poetry where the rhyme is on every other line (abab)
• anapest


  a unit of poetic meter containing two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable (- - /)
• archaisms


  a word or phrase no longer in current use
• aspirants


  sounds that denote audible breath (e.g. h)
• assonance


  repetition of same or similar vowel sounds
• asyndetic listing


  the omission of co-ordinating conjunctions as a feature of rhetorical style
• attitudes


  the opinions expressed in the text
• auxiliary/modal verbs


  a verb that precedes another verb (e.g. I can go)
• bilabials


  term used to denote sounds made with both lips (e.g. m, b)
• caesura


  a mid-line pause
• clause


  a grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb and is structurally large than a phrase
• collective noun


  a name that refers to a group of people or things
• comment clause


  a commonly occurring phrase in speech (e.g. you know)
• common/concrete noun


  a name for every day objects
• complex sentence


  a sentence that includes one independent main clause and at least one subordinate/dependent clause
• compound adjective


  an adjective made up of two words joined by a hyphen
• compound sentence


  a sentence made up of at least two main clauses joined together by a co-ordinating conjunction
• conceit


  a deliberately elaborate metaphor
• connotations


  an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning
• content


  what the text is about
• context


  things outside the test which may shape its meaning (e.g. when it was written and who wrote it)
• co-ordinating conjunction


  a word that joins elements of equal rank (and, or, but)
• couplet


  two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme
• dactyl


  a unit of poetic meter containing one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllable (/ - -)
• declarative mood


  a mood used to express a statement
• definitive article


  the word the; the article that proceeds specific items
• deictic


  terms used to denote words that rely on the context to be understood (e.g. pass me that, there)
• dependant or subordinate clause

  A group of words which add extra information to the independent main clause
• dialogue


  language interaction with two or more participations
• discourse


  written or spoken communication or debate
• double negative


  a structure in which more than one negative is used (e.g. never, no, not, neither, none, no one, nobody, nothing, barely, hardly, or scarcely)
• dynamic verbs


  a verb that expresses an action rather than a state (e.g. or run, to swim)
• elision


  the omission of sounds in connected speech (e.g. I've, couldn't)