English Techniques
Allegory: Story with a double meaning
Allusion: Subtle or indirect reference to another thing, text, period or belief. Different types of
allusion include historical, literary, religious or mythological
Alliteration: Repetition of sounds at the start of words in close proximity.
Ambiguity: A statement which lacks a clear meaning or contains more than one meaning and
it leads to confusion, uncertainty or tension throughout.
Analogy: Comparison of two ideas or things for the purpose of explanation or clarification.
Eg. Life is like a box of chocolates.
Anaphora: The repetition of beginning words of neighbouring successive clauses. Eg. Be
Bold. Be brief. Be gone
Anecdote: A personal story or recount to demonstrate personal trait or personality.
Anomaly: Something which deviates from what is normal or expected
Antithesis: Two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect
Anthropomorphism: The act of attributing human qualities to a non-human figure.
Apostrophe (Language Technique): A speech by a character to a person who is not present
or to a personified object. Eg. “Hamlet talking to the Ghost”
Apostrophe: Rhetorical punctuation device which can be used to show possession or
represents a missing letter.
Archetype: Recurring symbol or motif throughout literature that represents universal patterns
of human nature.
Assonance: Repetition of similar vowel sounds which can occur anywhere in the word. Eg.
Clap your hands and stamp your feet.
Axiom: A statement accepted as true as the basis for argument
Bathos - Sudden change in speech or writing from a serious subject to an ordinary one
Cacophany - Use of words with loud, hard sounds for a noisy or jarring effect
Catalyst - Someone or something which brings a big change
Cliché: An overused common phrase, expression or idea which sometimes can lose its
original meaning or become irritating. Eg. Brave as a lion
Consonance: Repetition of consonants throughout a sentence or phrase.
Contrast: Deliberate positioning of two or more objects/events/characters who have different
characteristics.
Citharsas - Process of releasing strong emotions primarily through art.
Colloquial: Non-formal language or speech
Connotation: Use of a word which implies a different meaning from the thing which it
describes explicitly. Eg. “She’s feeling blue”
Couplet: Pair of successive lines of verse
Denotation: The literal or explicit meaning of a word
Dialect: A form of English spoken by a particular group of people.
Diction: The choice or use of words in speeches or writing
Didactic: Any text that instructs the reader or is obviously delivering a moral message.
Dramatic Irony - A form of irony in which the audience is aware of a situation or what is going
but the characters are unaware of it.
Dystopian: An imagined society that is undesirable and frightening with suffering.
Elipsis: Dot, dot, dot. Series of dots which indicates intentional omission of a word, phrase or
line.
Emotive Language: Words that impact or stir the reader's emotions.
Epiphany: Moment of sudden realisation or insight which changes a character’s
understanding of themselves or the world around them.
Enjambment: The continuation of a sentence or phrase beyond the end of a line or stanza
without a pause. It usually disrupts the flow or poem or contrasts distinct images or ideas.
Euphemism: Mild expression used to replace harsh, impolite or unpleasant phrases.
Foil (Character Foil) – A character who contrasts with another character due to opposite
traits.
Foreshadowing: An allusion to something that will happen later in the narrative.
Hamartia - Fatal flaw in protagonist which leads to his/her downfall.
Hyperbole: A literary term of exaggeration.
Idiom: A phrase or figure of speech which has different meaning than the literal translation of
the words. Eg. Let's call it a day.
Imperative - Sentence which gives instructions, command, order or advice
Litote - Understatement in which a positive statement is expressed by negating its opposite.
Jargon - Specialized terms used phrases and words in a particular situation, profession or
trade
Juxtaposition: Layering images/scenes to have a dramatic impact.
Metaphor: Comparison of two or more objects where one becomes another - adds further
layers of meaning about the object being compared.
Metonymy - Figure of speech which replaces a term with another word which is closely
associated with it.
Motif: Recurring symbol with a figurative meaning.
Modality (High modality): Persuasive strong words which eliminate uncertainty using words
like ‘always’
Monologue: Long speech by a character
Onomatopoeia: A word that echoes the sound it represents.
Oxymoron: Phrase pairing words together that are opposing and contradictory. Eg.
Deafening silence
Paradox: A statement that is self-contradictory or logically unacceptable but has valid
reasoning based on a true premise.
Paradigm - Distinct set of concepts, values or thought patterns
Pathetic Fallacy: Attribution of human emotions to nonhuman objects, particularly object of
nature or weather.
Pathos: Convince the audience by creating an emotional response and impacting them
emotionally
Personification: Human characteristics given to a non-human object
Rhetoric: Persuasive or effective language used in writing or speaking to inform, persuade or
motivate
Sarcastic: Phrases which mock – saying something different than what they actually mean
Soliloquy: Speaking out loud one’s thoughts to the audience
Sonnet: One-stanza, 14-line poem
Sibilance: It is the repetition of soft consonant sounds like "s" sounds and it creates a sinister
mood or tone.
Syntax: The arrangement of words, phrases or rules forming a proper structural sentence.
Synecdoche - Figure of speech in which a part of something is used to signify the whole or
vice versa.
Tautology: An expression or phrase that says the same thing twice.
Utopian: Idealistic world with perfect qualities
