English

• Figurative Language


  Language that communicates ideas beyond the literal meaning of the words
• Imagery


  The use of vivid and descriptive language to create Mental Pictures or Sensory experiences for the reader
• Visual imagery


  • The stars were scattered across the sky like diamonds on velvet
• Auditory imagery


  • The silence was as thick as a blanket
• Olfactory imagery


  • The smell of that dirty black kid wafted through the air
• Gustatory imagery


  • The soup was a symphony of flavors, each spoonful a crescendo of taste
• Tactile imagery


  • The fabric was as soft as a whisper against her black skin
• Personification


  Giving animals/objects human action
• Personification


  • That monkey is walking to the hood
• Metaphor


  An implied comparison between two unlike objects that does not use the word LIKE or AS
• Metaphor


  • Her smile was a beacon in the dark
• Simile


  A comparison between two unlike persons or things, through the use of words, LIKE, AS, RESEMBLES, or SIMILAR TO
• Simile


  • Her eyes sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight
• Hyperbole


  Being creative with language through the careful use of exaggeration which can add humor to a light tone
• Hyperbole


  • That guy is so black that he can make the sun disappear!
• Irony


  Words that express a meaning that is opposite of the intended meaning
• Irony


  • The fire station burned down
• Verbal Irony


  A contradiction of expectation between what is said and what is meant
• Verbal Irony


  • Oh, fantastic! You forgot your umbrella again, just what we needed on this lovely rainy day
• Dramatic Irony


  The audience knows something about present or future circumstances that the character does not know
• Dramatic Irony


  • In a play, a character enters a room believing it to be empty, but the audience knows there's someone hiding behind the door
• Situational Irony


  A contraction of what might be expected and what actually occurs
• Situational Irony


  • A police officer gets a ticket for speeding while rushing to a traffic safety conference
• Oxymoron


  When something is described using contradictory terms
• Oxymoron


  • bittersweet, definitely maybe, friendly divorce, gentle giant, organized chaos, deafening silence
• Paradox


  A statement that appears at first to be contradictory
• Paradox


  • Less is more
• Synecdoche


  When a part of something is used to refer to its whole
• Synecdoche


  • All hands on deck!
• Metonymy


  The name of an object or concept is replaced with a word closely related to or suggested by the original
• Metonymy


  • The pen is mightier than the sword
• Allusion


  An implied or indirect reference to a person, event, or thing or to a part of another text
• Allusion


  • She had a smile that rivaled Mona Lisa's
• Antithesis


  The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas
• Antithesis


  • Love is an ideal, marriage a reality
• Meter


  The patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry
• Meter


  • In the darkness, the heart's beat kept meter with the silence
• Iambic pentameter


  Each metrical foot consists of two syllables: 1 unstressed syllable followed by 1 stressed syllable
• Iambic pentameter


  • In love's sharp agony, my heart doth bleed
• Trochaic pentameter


  Each metrical foot consists of 2 syllables: one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable