Literary Terms DefinedBurton’s 4th period Scholars

Define Terms Provide

Examples

Present

Results

My scholars serve as teachers

The following literary terms were defined and presented to the class

• alliteration • paradox

• apostrophe • parallel structure

• comparison-contrast • parallel syntax

• descriptive • persuasive

• ellipsis • repetition

• euphemism • rhetorical fragment

• expository • rhetorical question

• inverted word order • rhyme

• logical appeal • simile

• metaphor • simple sentence

• mood • synecdoche

• narrative • tone

Repetition

The recurrence of an action or event

By Mia H.

Repetition Example 1:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;

All the King's horses and all the King's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again

By Mia H.

Repetition Example 2:

WHEN I heard the learn’d astronomer;

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;

When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure

them; When I, sitting, heard the astronomer...

By Mia H.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which a word or

phrase is applied to an object or action to

which it is not literally applicable.

Ahlam Ayyad

Example: Her bathroom is a sewer.

Ahlam Ayyad

Example: The weather was a monster.

Ahlam Ayyad

apostrophe

A figure of speech in which some absent or nonexistent person or thing is addressed as if present and capable of 

understanding.

Mariah Theodore

apostropheExample #1

"God help me!"

Mariah Theodore

apostropheExample #2

"O stranger of the future!O inconceivable being!

whatever the shape of your house,however you scoot from place to place,

no matter how strange and colorless the clothes you may wear,

I bet nobody likes a wet dog either.I bet everyone in your pub,

even the children, pushes her away." from "To a Stranger Born in Some Distant Country Hundreds of Years from Now' by Billy Collins.

Mariah Theodore

By Abraham Tsegaye

A paradox is and argument that produces an inconsistency, typically within logic or common sense.

Themes in paradoxes include self-reference, infinite regress, circular definitions, and confusion between different levels of abstraction.

Charles Dickens “A Tale of Two Cities”

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way”

ByAbraham Tsegaye

The time-traveling grandma-killer. 

Suppose you build a time machine, go back in time to find your grandmother when she was three years old, and then drown her in the bathtub. So she never grows up, and never has any kids. Therefore, one of your parents was never born. Therefore, YOU were never born. Therefore, you never traveled back in time and killed your infant grandma. So she DID grow up and have kids. Therefore, your parent WAS born. Therefore, YOU were born! Therefore, you traveled back in time and killed your infant grandma. Ad infinitum. 

Abraham Tsegaye

Ellipsis Definition: NounThe omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or be understood from contextual clues.A set of dots indicating such an omission.

Ahmad OrduPer. 41/14/13

Example of Ellipsis

• The man looked above . . . all he could see were three black silhouettes against the bright blue sky. When the man looked above he couldn't quite believe what he saw . . . . 

Ahmad OrduPer. 4

1/14/13

Another Example of Ellipsis

• An ellipsis is also a rhetorical device in literature (in plain English, another way to write a unique sentence). Its definition is "The deliberate ommission of a word or words readily implied by context." 

Examples: My dreams had no end that night; my delight no limit. In the anime world, Naruto is a hero; Goku, a legend. I love coffee; my spouse, soda.

Ahmad OrduPer. 4

1/14/13

EUPHEMISM

A euphemism is a generally innocuous word, name, or phrase that replaces an offensive or suggestive one

EXAMPLES

Passed away instead of diedCorrectional facility instead of jailDeparted instead of diedDifferently-abled instead of handicapped

or disabledFell off the back of a truck instead of

stolenEthnic cleansing instead of genocide

EXAMPLES….2

Turn a trick instead of engage in prostitutionNegative patient outcome instead of deadRelocation Center instead of prison campCollateral damage instead of accidental

deathsLetting someone go instead of firing someonePut to sleep instead of euthanizePregnancy termination instead of abortionOn the streets instead of homeless

ExpositoryExpository writing is a type of writing where

the purpose is to inform, describe, explain, or define the author's subject to the reader.

-Kristiana C.

Example #1Example of expository is if a writer explains

the purpose of something , the meaning of it , and / or to explain something.

- Kristiana C.

Example #2I feel as though Martin Luther Kings speech

was a expository passage. He was explaining how he wanted the future to be. He explained how his thoughts , feelings, and emotions. Mr. King was a role model to all , and he was very inspiring to all generations following him.

-Kristiana C.

Alliteration

An alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

By: Lindsey Aguilar

Tongue twisters

Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers peter piper picked. If peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did peter piper pick?

By: Lindsey Aguilar

Dr. Seuss

Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew. While these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew. Freezy breeze made these three trees freeze. Freezy trees made these trees’ cheese freeze. That’s what made these three free fleas sneeze.

By: Lindsey Aguilar

Rhetorical FragmentRhetorical fragments are incomplete sentencesthat author’s use while writing to persuade thereader, or to evoke some emotional responsefrom the reader's perspective.

By: Mallorie Fadaol

Rhetorical Fragment - • LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!

are three examples of rhetorical fragment

By Mallorie Fadaol

Rhetorical Fragment – Stephenie Meyer

• “As we walked, I felt myself settling into another version of myself, the self I had been with Jacob. A little younger, a little less responsible. Someone who might, on occasion, do something really stupid for no good reason.”  Eclipse

By Mallorie Fadaol

Parallel syntax

 repetition of. words, phrases, and clauses, used in a concise manner, to emphasize a point.

andrew dove

Example 1

• I came, I saw, I conquered

andrew dove

Example 2

• Down, down, down. Would the fall never end?

andrewdove

Rhetorical Question

A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question that is

asked in order to make a point and without the expectation of a reply. The question is used as a rhetorical device, posed for the

sake of encouraging its listener to consider a message or viewpoint. Though these are technically questions, they do not always

require a question mark

Example 1

For example, the question "Can't you do anything right?" is asked not to gain information about the ability of the

person being spoken to, but rather to insinuate that the person always fails.

Example 2

"If your friend jumped off the bridge would you do it too?“ is an example of a rhetorical question because you are not meant to answer the questions it is just asked for you to come to a realization that you are not thinking for yourself..

RHYME

Rhyme is the correspondence of words between or the endings of words.  Rhyme is most often used at the end of lines.

Malik Robinson

Rhyme Example #1

Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost. 

Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. 

Malik Robinson

Rhyme Example #2

The Rose Family by Robert Frost. 

The rose is a rose, And was always a rose. But now the theory goes That the apple's a rose, And the pear is, and so's The plum, I suppose. The dear only knows What will next prove a rose. You, of course, are a rose But were always a rose.

Malik Robinson

DESCRIPTIVE

having the quality of describing; 

characterized by description:

Ri’chan Mulder

"If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said, I am, in height, six feet, four inches, nearly; lean in flesh, weighing, on an average, one hundred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, with coarse black hair, and gray eyes--no other marks or brands recollected."(Abraham Lincoln, Letter to Jesse W. Fell, 1859)

Ri’chan Mulder

The sleeping water reflected the evening sky. The angels must have spilled their jam, because the sunset was a mixture of grape with strawberry, apricot and raspberry, clumps of blueberry, and a little melted butter.

(By Brenda B. Covert)

Ri’chan Mulder

PERSUASIVE (WRITING PURPOSE)

A piece of writing in which the writer uses words to convince the

reader of his/her view regarding an issue.

By Stephanie

Victoria wrote an essay to convince her class to sign a petition against smoking.

By Stephanie

The president made many promises in his speech to persuade people to vote for him.

By Stephanie

MoodThe atmosphere that pervades a literary

work with the intention of evoking a certain emotion or feeling from an

audience.

By: Tan Nguyen

Example of MoodThe mood that was portrayed in A Haunted House was funny, suspenseful, scary and exciting.

  Example of MoodThe mood that was portrayed in Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix is serious, dramatic, and scary.

Narrative (writing purpose):

any account that presents connected events and

may be categorized into many categories. A narrative is usually

something that the actual writer experienced and is

telling the story.

Victoria TuGroup 3 4th periodJanuary 14, 2013

Examples of Narratives• Rosa writes an essay telling her

teacher about her summer vacation.• This is an example of a narrative

because Rosa is telling her audience the experience of her summer vacation.

By: Victoria Tu 

Example of Narratives• Bobby went into the room and the

frigid cold wind pushed against his face and suddenly his skin color turned pale.

• This is an example of a narrative because the sentence is very descriptive.

By: Victoria Tu

Logical Appeal

:Your arguments convince people because they are logical.

They make sense to people.Halie Matthews

Example #1

Please take me shopping Mom, I need some new clothes.

Halie Matthews

Example #2

   My belief that I could be president, from my fathers experience with presidency.

Halie Matthews