Literary devices, figures of speech, stylistic techniques...
A literary technique or literary device is an identifiable rule of thumb, convention or structure that is employed in literature and storytelling. source
- Hyperbole is a figure of speech which is an exaggeration. Persons often use expressions such as "I nearly died laughing," "I was hopping mad," and "I tried a thousand times." Such statements are not literally true, but people make them to sound impressive or use them to emphasize something, such as a feeling, effort, or reaction. source
-
Metaphors are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way. Metaphors are a way to describe something. Authors use them to make their writing more interesting or entertaining.
Unlike similes that use the words "as" or "like" to make a comparison, metaphors state that something is something else. source
Example
"Bob ran like the wind." This is a simile because the sentence compares Bob to the wind using the word "like"
"Bob ran as fast as the wind." This is a simile because the sentence compares Bob to the wind using eh work "as""Bob was the purebred racehorse" This is a metaphor because the sentence compares Bob directly to a racehorse by saying he is one.
A Metaphor is a figure of speech is which a word or phrase is used to describe or qualify another word with which it is not normally associated, so as to imply a comparison.
Example
Life is a journey.
Time is a thief.
Choices are crossroads. - Symbolism - the use of a word, a phrase, or a description, which represents a deeper meaning than the words themselves examples
- Rhetorical Definitions - Example: SUV's are homes on wheels. source
-
Personification - a figure of speech that gives inanimate objects human qualities or represents them as having human form. Assigning human characteristics to non-human objects, animals, or concepts. source
Example
The trees of the field clapped their hands.
The rocks cried out.
Hunger sat shivering on the edge of the road. - allegory
- alliteration, assonance, consonance - use of the same sounds or consonants at the beginning of words or repetition of similar sounding vowels or consonants.
- allusion and innuendo
- analogy - a spoken or textual comparison between two words (or sets of words) to highlight some form of semantic similarity between them. Example: cat is to mouse as dog is to ____ . Written as cat:mouse as dog:____ . Just as a cat will chase a mouse, so will a dog chase a cat. Just as a car salesman convinces a client, so too did Mr. Didam convince Sophia. If we know anything about the stereotypical car salesmen, we can deduce that the convincing done by Mr. Didam wasn't necessarily the most honest form of convincing. We might also deduce that Sophia was gullible.
- homographs, homonyms, heteronyms, and homophones definitions list teaching tips 40 free worksheets This page contains free worksheets, online activities and other educational resources to help with homonyms, homophones and homographs.
- idioms and slang samples and quizzes samples 2
- imagery
- irony and fallacy
- onomatopoeia
- palindromes
- paradox
- synonyms and antonyms
- word play, puns, and oxymorons