Key English Subject Words

• Imagery/ Symbolism 


  Using objects to represent key ideas
• Irony 


  When the opposite of what you say or intend happens
• Equivocation


  Saying statements that are true but do not reveal the full truth
• contrast 


  using opposing ideas or images
• Soliloquies 


  when a character speaks alone on stage revealing their innermost thoughts and feelings.
• Simile 


  comparing something using ‘like’ or ‘as’
• Metaphor


  saying something is something else; a direct comparison, not meant literally.
• Extended Metaphor

  exactly the same as a normal metaphor, but you’ll see the same idea repeating over multiple sentences, lines, paragraphs (or stanzas)
• Personification 


  Applying human characteristics to objects or things.
• Zoomorphism 


  when you gives humans (or other things) animal features.
• Pathetic Fallacy


  When human characteristics are applied things often found in nature; the weather.
• Alliteration


  when the first letter of a word is repeated more than once
• Assonance


  Repeating vowel sounds (not necessarily rhyming though)
• Anecdote 


  a short story from a personal experience
• Onomatopoeia 


  words that sound like what they are
• Sibilance 


  a repeated ‘s’ sound-either at the start, or in the middle of words.
• Colloquial Language 


  informal or slang words and phrases
• Connotation


  like word associations
• Semantic Field


  when a group of words all link to one overall theme
• Euphemism


  A polite way of saying something often taboo or controversial
• Double entendre 


  when a word or phrase has two meanings, one of which is often rude
• Idiom


  Commonly used phrases or metaphors
• Emotive language 


  powerful describing words or adjectives
• Figurative Language 


  the creative use of words or phrases to create a special meaning, that isn’t literally what they say
• Evocative Verbs 


  A doing word which sounds particularly active
• Allusion 


  making reference to people, places, events, literary work, myths or works of art
• Allegory 


  a type of writing in which the settings, characters, and events stand for other, often ,larger ideas
• Didactic 


  intended to teach, instruct, or have a moral lesson for the reader.
• Motifs 


  A recurring subject, image, theme or idea within a text
• Ambiguity 


  when something has an unclear meaning
• Oxymoron


  two opposites together
• Juxtaposition 


  when two or more ideas are contrasted near (not necessarily next to) each other.
• Antithesis 


  something (or someone) that’s the direct opposite of something (or someone) else
• Paradox


  a contradiction