IB English A: Stylistic features

This is an extensive list, but not exhaustive. Please don’t use these features in
analysis unless you understand the feature in isolation, as well as in the
context of the text.
Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects,
persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the
meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The
underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or
political significance, and characters are often
personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or
envy

Allusion reference to a statement, person, place, event, or thing

that is known from literature, history, religion, myth,
politics, sports, science, the arts.

Ambiguity statement which has two or more possible

meanings; a statement whose meaning is unclear

Anachronism something or someone that is not in its correct historical

or chronological time, esp. a thing or person that
belongs to an earlier time

Analogy a comparison of two or more like objects that suggests

if they are alike in certain respects

Anecdote a brief account of an interesting incident or event

that usually is intended to entertain or to make a
point

Anthropomorphism Where animals or inanimate objects are

portrayed in a story as people, such as by
walking, talking, or being given arms, legs
and/or facial features. (This technique is often
incorrectly called
personification.)

Antagonist Counterpart to the main character and source of a

story’s main conflict. The person may not be
“bad” or “evil” by any conventional moral
standard, but he/she opposes the protagonist in a
 significant way.

Apostrophe A figure of speech in which someone absent or dead

or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were
alive and present and could reply

Archetype the original model or pattern from which copies are

made. It is also a symbol, theme, setting, or character
that is thought to have some universal meaning and
recurs in different times and places in myth, literature,
folklore, dreams, and rituals

Characterization the process of revealing the personality of a character

in a story, through:
1. the character’s speech
2. the character’s physical appearance and dress
3. the character’s inner thoughts and feelings 4.
other characters’ opinions character
5. the character’s actions
6. direct description

Colloquialism colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or

written communication that seeks to imitate informal
speech

Connotation the associated or secondary meaning of a word or

expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning:
A possible connotation of “home” is “a place of warmth,
comfort, and affection.”

Cynicism An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity,

especially a general distrust of the integrity or
professed motives of others – the tone word is
cynical

Denotation the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a

word or expression, basically the dictionary definition
Diction a writer’s choice of words. Diction reflects the
author’s attitude towards his subject (tone). It is an
essential element of the writer’s style

Epiphany a sudden moment of understanding that causes the

audience or a character to change or to act in a certain
way

Ethos/pathos/logos a manner of persuasion which appeals to the ethics of

the audience
a manner of persuasion which appeals to the emotion
of the audience
a manner of persuasion which appeals to the logic of
the audience

Euphemism the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression

for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt

Exaggeration To enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond

normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its
faults can be seen.

Figurative language expressions that are not literally true

Flashback A reference to an event which took place prior to the

beginning of a story, poem or play. It provides
important information about the character or the
present situation.

Foil A character in a play who sets off the main character

or other characters by comparison. Much can be
learned about each by comparing and contrasting the
characteristics of the two, often illuminating
important themes.

Foreshadowing when the writer provides clues or hints that suggest

or predict future event in a story
Hyperbole figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated
for emphasis or humorous effect

Imagery Language that appeals to the senses. Most images are

visual – that is, they appeal to the sense of sight.
Images can also appeal to the senses of taste, touch,
sound, or smell.

Incongruity To present things that are out of place or are absurd

in relation to its surroundings

Irony the discrepancy between what is said and what is meant,

what is said and what is done, what is expected or
intended and what happens, what is meant or said and
what others understand

Jargon the language, esp. the vocabulary, peculiar to a

particular trade, profession, or group

Juxtaposition to place directly opposite ideas side by side or

within proximity in a work of literature

Metaphor figure of speech that makes a comparison between

two unlike things, in which one thing becomes
another thing.

Metonymy the metaphorical substitution of one word or phrase for

another related word or phrase. Example: “The pen is
mightier than the sword.” The word “pen” is used in
place of “words” and the word “sword” is used to
represent the idea of fighting or war.

Mood a mood or atmosphere is the feeling that a literary

work conveys to readers. Mood is created through the
use of plot, character, the author’s descriptions
Motif One of the dominant ideas in a work of literature; a part
of the main theme. It may consist of a character, a
recurrent image, or a verbal pattern

Narrator one who tells a story, the speaker or the “voice” of an

oral or written work. Although it can be, the narrator is
not usually the same person as the author

Oxymoron a form of figurative language combining

contradictory words or ideas (ex. jumbo shrimp,
bittersweet)

Parable A simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson

Paradox A seemingly contradictory statement that may

nonetheless be true

Parody To imitate the techniques and/or style of some

person, place, thing

Personification a type of metaphor in which a non-human thing or

quality is talked about as if it were human.

Point of view (1st person, the way the events of a story are conveyed to the reader,
3rd person) it is the “vantage point” from which the narrative is
passed from author to the reader. The point of view can
vary from work to work.

First-person: In this case, the narrator is a character in the story who

relates events in the first-person (in other words, “I remember the first
time I saw her.”)

Third-person: In this case the events are related by someone who is

outside of the story. There are three types of third-person narration.

Protagonist The main character in a story, the one with

whom the reader is meant to identify. The
person is not necessarily “good” by any
 conventional moral standard, but he/she is the
person in whose plight the reader is most
invested.

Repetition repetition of sounds, or words, or of phrases is often

used in poetry to create rhythm

Reversal To present the opposite of the normal accepted

order, accepted truths

Rhetoric the art of influencing the thought and conduct of

an audience.

Sarcasm the act of saying one thing but meaning another. It can
be related to a character’s speech, and narrator’s or
writer’s tone.

Satire A literary work that ridicules its subject through the use
of techniques such as exaggeration, reversal,
incongruity, and/or parody in order to make a comment
or criticism about it

Setting the time, place, physical details, and circumstances in

which a situation occurs. Settings include the
background, atmosphere or environment in which
characters live and move, and usually include physical
characteristics of the surroundings.

Simile figure of speech that makes a comparison between

two unlike things, in which one thing becomes another
thing, using the words like, or as.

Soliloquy a dramatic form of discourse in which a character talks

to himself or reveals his thoughts without addressing a
listener.

Static / Dynamic character is a character built around a single idea or quality

and unchanging over the course of the narrative

is complex in temperament and motivation; drawn

 with subtlety; capable of growth and change during the
course of the narrative

Stream of consciousness Writing in which a character's perceptions, thoughts, and

memories are presented in an apparently random form,
without regard for logical sequence, chronology, or
syntax. Often such writing makes no distinction between
various levels of reality--such as dreams, memories,
imaginative thoughts or real sensory perception.

Syllogism a form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major

premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion; for
example, All humans are mortal, the major premise, I
am a human, the minor premise, therefore, I am
mortal, the conclusion

Symbolism is the use of an object, a person, or a event that functions

as itself but also stands for something more than itself.

Synecdoche a literary technique in which the whole is represented

by naming one of its parts or vice versa . Example:
“You've

got to come take a look at my new set of wheels.”

The vehicle here is represented by its parts, or
wheels.

Synesthesia a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus

is applied to another modality, as when the hearing of
a certain sound induces the visualization of a certain
color.

Theme The theme expresses the writer’s perspective on

some aspect of life (the human experience).

Thesis A proposition that is maintained by argument,

through various forms of support
Tone the writer, speaker, or narrator’s attitude towards his
subject. Tone is determined through the diction,
imagery, and the connotation within the text.

Tragic Hero/Tragic Figure A protagonist who comes to a bad end as a result of his own
behavior, usually cased by a specific personality disorder or
character flaw.

Sound/Poetry Terms
Alliteration is the repetition of first consonant sound

Anaphora repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two

or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds. This repetition can

occur anywhere in the words.

Cacophony A harsh, discordant, unpleasant sounding choice

and arrangement of sounds

Caesura A pause introduced into the reading of a line

by a punctuation

Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds. Although its

similar to alliteration, consonance is not limited to the
first letters of the words

End-stopped Line A line that ends with a natural speech pause,

usually marked by punctuation
Enjambment the running on of the thought from one line, couplet,
or stanza to the next without a syntactical break.

Euphony A smooth, pleasant sounding choice and arrangement

of sound

Feminine Rhyme Is a rhyme that matches two or more syllables,

usually found at the end of the verse

But since she prick’d thee out for women’s

pleasure, Mine be thy love and thy love’s use their
treasure.

Free/Blank verse poetry that is free of regular meter, meaning free of a

strict pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. .

Internal rhyme rhyme that occurs within the line of poetry

Masculine Rhyme is a rhyme on a single stressed syllable at the end of a

line of poetry. This is much more common than
feminine rhyme

Meter poetic measure; arrangement of words with a regular

beat (metrical foot), patterned, or rhythmic verses:
● monometer: one foot/beat per line
● dimeter: two feet/beats per line
● trimeter: three feet/beats per line
● tetrameter: four feet/beats per line
● pentameter: five feet/beats per line
● hexameter: six feet/beats per line
● heptameter: seven feet/beats per line
Mimetic A word which seems to imitate or mimic a sound
specific to its definition through a combination of
consonant and vowel sound.

Onomatopoeia is the use of words that sound like what they mean

Rhyme scheme the pattern of rhyme found in a poem

Run-on Line A line which has no natural speech pause at its end,
allowing the sense to flow into the succeeding line –
similar to enjambent

Sonnet A 14-line verse form usually having one of

several conventional rhyme schemes.

Stanza an arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four

or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or
rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem
● two line stanza: couplet
● three line stanza: tercet
● four line stanza: quatrain
● five line stanza: quintet
● six line stanza: sestet or sextet
● seven line stanza: septet
● eight line stanza: octave
● fourteen line stanza: sonnet

Syntax and Sentence Types

Simple Sentence A sentence which contains one independent clause

Compound Sentence A sentence which contains two independent clauses combined

with a coordinating conjunction or semi-colon
Complex Sentence A sentence which contains an independent clause and one or
more subordinate clauses

Compound-Complex Sentence A sentence which contains two or more independent clauses

and one or more subordinate clauses.

Declarative Sentence A sentence which makes a statement

Interrogative Sentence A sentence which asks a question

Rhetorical Sentence A sentence in which a question which you do not actually

expect the reader to answer

Exclamatory Sentence A sentence which is simply a more forceful version of a

declarative sentence, marked at the end with an exclamation
mark.

Imperative Sentence A sentence which gives a direct command to someone -- this

type of sentence can end either with a period or with an
exclamation mark

Loose Sentence makes complete sense if brought to a close before the actual
ending, e.g., We reached Edmonton / that morning / after a
turbulent flight / and some exciting experiences

Periodic Sentence makes sense only when the end of the sentence is reached,
e.g., That morning, after a turbulent flight and some exciting
experiences, we reached Edmonton.

Juxtaposition (syntax) is a poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated

ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to each other; for
example; “Her old withered face had a youthful glow.”

Parallel Structure (parallelism) refers to a grammatical or structural similarity

between sentence or parts of sentences. It involves an
arrangement of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs so
that elements of equal importance are equally developed and
equally phrased: e.g., “The sun rises; the sun sets.
Rhetorical Fragment is a sentence fragment used deliberately for a persuasive purpose
or to create a desired effect.

Asyndeton Is the deliberate omission of conjunctions in a series of

related clauses: example: I came, I saw, I conquered.

Polysyndeton Is the deliberate use of many conjunctions for special emphasis –

to highlight quantity or mass of detail. Example: During the
summer the students had to write World Literature I, and World
Literature II, and the Extended Essay, and all the other
assignments.