Language devices

• what is a simile


  when you compare on thing to another using ‘like’ or ‘as’
• what is a metaphor


  when you compare two things WITHOUT using ‘like’ or ‘as’
• what is personification


  when you give human qualities to something that isn’t human
• what is hyperbole


  exaggeration
• what is alliteration


  when two or more words in a sentence start with the same letter or sound
• what is plosive alliteration 


  alliteration of a hard sound of letters like P B D or T. sounds like EXPLOSIVE
• what is billable plosive alliteration

  alliteration of a hard sound where your two lips touch. so the letters B or P
• what is dental plosive alliteration

  alliteration of a hard sound where the teeth meet. D or T
• what is guttural alliteration


  alliteration of any sound from the back of your through. G C and K
• what is fricative alliteration

  alliteration of F PH or V
• what is sibilance


  the sound S SH or Z. can imply soothing and peaceful atmosphere, sinister and snaky or secretive and quiet
• what is the rule of three (triplet)


  when you say something in three different ways for emphasis
• what is a list

  when you give more than three examples of something in a sentence
• what is an asyndetic list

  a list that only uses commas without any conjunctions
• what is repetition 


  when you say the same thing more than once
• what is onomatopoeia


  when a word imitates a sound like CRASH or BANG
• what is a rhetorical question 


  a question that doesn’t require an answer
• what is an oxymoron

  when you have two words with opposite meaning next to eachother or very close to eachother
• what is juxtaposition


  when two things contrast with eachother , like two characters or settings that are the opposite of eachother
• what is a semantic field


  a group of words that all link to the same topic or theme
• what is colour imagery

  when a writer mentions a colour to represent a deeper meaning
• what is animal imagery


  when something is compared to or describes as being like an animal
• religious imagery


  when you use any word linking to religion
• what is polysyndeton


  the repetition of conjunctions, when the words ‘and’ ‘so’ ‘or‘ ‘but’ are repeated
• what is zoomorphism


  when a human is given animal characteristics
• what is anthropomorphism


  when an animal is given human characteristics
• what is microcosm


  when a character or object symbolises something bigger
• what is chremanorphism


  when a human is given object qualities