Alliteration
The repetition of a consonant.
Anticlimax
A build-up towards a dramatic event that suddenly changes and ends in a different way from what you had expected.
Antithesis
The use of opposing concepts together, for example life and death.
Figurative language
The pictures that an author paints in the reader’s imagination, for example “Pick the sun for me.” (Also see: simile, metaphor, personification.)
Prejudice
You are prejudiced when you believe certain things about a person, group, idea or matters that make it impossible to treat them fairly.
Cliché
Expressions used so often that the words lose their real meaning and power, for example the word “shame” no longer shows real sympathy.
Ambiguity
Using words or sentences in a way that can have different meanings, for example “to give someone a ring” can mean that you are calling the person on the telephone or that you are giving the person a ring to wear on their finger.
Ellipsis
A sentence that is not finished, indicated with three dots (…).
Euphemism
Expressing something that is seen as negative more gently or hiding it, for example calling death “the eternal sleep”.
Genre
A form of literature, such as poetry, novels, essays, film scripts.
Hyperbole
Intentionally exaggerating something to achieve a certain effect.
Humour
A fast, original and witty saying or remark.
Idiomatic expressions
Proverbs and idioms that have a different meaning from the individual words, for example “She lost her marbles” and “He’s off his rocker.”
Plot
A series of events that take the story in a certain direction and lead to a climax that is eventually solved.
Irony
When the opposite is said of what is meant, for example when you say to an unfriendly person “You really are so friendly.”
Character
Any being (usually a person or animal) in a story who speaks and has thoughts. A character we know well is called a rounded character, and the ones we know little about are flat characters.
Caricature
To exaggerate certain characteristics of a character, making the person look ridiculous.
Onomatopoeia
Words that sound like the object they name, for example “zip”, “boom” and “bang”.
Conflict
The battle, clash or problems that characters end up having with something or each other. Conflict can be internal (in thoughts) or external (in deeds).
Contrast
Things that differ but usually share one characteristic.
Metaphor
When two things are compared as in a simile, but without the words “as … as” or “like”, for example “When he kissed her, she was a tomato.” (She blushed and turned as red as a tomato.)
Milieu
This includes setting, time and background and is also a collective name that includes customs, clothing, places, objects, times in history, etcetera to create atmosphere in a story.
Motif
A motif is repeated during the course of a story, maybe in a different form every time. The motif emphasises the theme and helps to link the different parts of the story.
Trigger moment
An event that steers the story in a specific direction, for example when a character decides to do something unusual.
Paradox
When it seems as if two words don’t fit together, for example “She listens but doesn’t hear.”
Personification
When lifeless things, animals or plants are given human traits, for example “The haunted house glared at us.”
Register
The words, style and grammar that speakers and authors use. Official documents are written in a formal register, while a humorous register is usually used in a skit.
Rhetoric question
A question to which you don’t expect an answer, or that everyone knows the answer to, for example when there is a power failure and everyone asks, “What’s going on?”
Sarcasm
A nasty comment a speaker makes to hurt someone.
Symbol
An object or sign that represents something else (usually abstract), for example a heart for love and the colour red for romance.
Stereotype
A fixed and often prejudiced view of specific people, for example “dumb blondes”.
Structure
The way a text is constructed or put together.
Theme
The central idea or message in a novel. We discover this by asking, “What can I learn from this story?”
Time
This indicates when, during which era or at what time the story is set.
Simile
Comparing the similarity or differences between things and/or people by using the words “as … as” and “like”.
Narrator
The “voice” that tells the story.
Narrative point of view
The perspective from which the story is told. Is it an invisible narrator (third-person narrator) or is a first-person narrator telling the story?
Pun
A word used in a clever (and usually humorous way) to give it more than one meaning.