1.
Metaphor: Compares two unrelated things to suggest similarity, often
creating vivid imagery or highlighting hidden connections.
Example: "The world is a stage."
2. Simile: Compares two things using "like" or "as," emphasising
similarities and enhancing descriptive imagery.
Example: "She is as brave as a lion."
3. Personification: Attributes human characteristics to non-human entities,
making them more relatable or adding depth to descriptions.
Example: "The wind whispered through the trees."
4. Alliteration: Repeats the same consonant sound at the beginning of
neighbouring words, creating rhythm and emphasis.
Example: "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."
5. Hyperbole: Exaggerates for emphasis or effect, often to create humor,
make a point, or evoke strong emotions.
Example: "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!"
6. Irony: Presents a situation where the outcome is different from what
was expected, often to highlight contrasts or provoke thought.
Example:"The fire station burned down."
7. Symbolism: Represents abstract ideas or concepts with concrete
objects or actions, adding layers of meaning to a narrative.
Example: white symbolises purity
8. Foreshadowing: Hints or clues about events to come, building suspense
and anticipation in the reader.
Example:"The dark clouds on the horizon foreshadowed the storm to
come."
9. Onomatopoeia: Uses words that imitate the sound they represent,
enhancing sensory experiences and creating auditory imagery.
Example: "The bees buzzed around the flowers."
10. Imagery: Evokes sensory experiences through vivid descriptions,
appealing to the reader's senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.
Example:"The sun set over the horizon, painting the sky in shades of
pink and orange”
11. Allusion: Refers to a well-known person, event, or work of art to
enhance meaning or add layers of complexity to a text, often requiring
the reader's familiarity with the reference.
Example: "He was a modern-day Romeo, constantly pursuing his Juliet."
12. Flashback: Interrupts the chronological order of a narrative to present
events that occurred earlier, providing context or insight into characters
and plot developments.
Example: "As she looked at the old photograph, memories flooded back
to her of her childhood summers spent by the lake."
13. Dialogue: Represents conversations between characters, revealing
their personalities, relationships, and advancing the plot.
Example:"‘I love you,’ he whispered softly. ‘I know,’ she replied with a
smile."
14. Conflict: The struggle between opposing forces, such as character vs.
character, character vs. self, character vs. society, or character vs. nature,
driving the plot forward and creating tension.
Example:In "hunger games," the central conflict arises from the
contestants faced by Katniss Everdeen to win the games.
15. Suspense: Creates a sense of anticipation or uncertainty about the
outcome of events, keeping readers engaged and eager to learn what
happens next.
Example:"As the door creaked open, she hesitated, unsure of what lay
beyond."
16. Satire: Uses humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize or ridicule
societal issues, often with the aim of provoking change or exposing
hypocrisy.
Example:A magazine article exaggerating the public's extreme reaction
to a celebrity.
17. Mood: Evokes emotions or atmosphere within a text, shaping the
reader's emotional response and enhancing the overall tone.
Example: "The dark, gloomy setting of the abandoned mansion set a
foreboding mood for the story."
18. Parallelism: Uses repeating sentence structures or grammatical
patterns to create rhythm, emphasize key ideas, or draw comparisons.
Example: "Like father, like son”
19. Paradox: Presents a statement that seems self-contradictory or absurd
but may reveal deeper truths or insights upon closer examination.
Example: "Less is more."
20. Oxymoron: Combines two contradictory terms to create a paradoxical
effect or emphasize a point.
Example: "Bittersweet"
21. Anaphora: Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of
successive clauses or sentences, creating emphasis and rhythm.
Example: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing
grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets..."
22. Epiphany: A sudden moment of realization or insight experienced by a
character, often leading to personal growth or change.
Example:in the prodigal daughter when Abel realised that William ,his
enemy was his benefactor.
23. Euphemism: Substitutes a mild or indirect expression for one that may
be harsh, offensive, or unpleasant, often used to soften the impact of
sensitive topics.
Example: "He passed away" instead of "He died."
24. Cliché: Overused expression or phrase that has lost its originality or
impact due to repetition.
Example: "It's raining cats and dogs."
25. Juxtaposition: Places two contrasting elements side by side to
highlight their differences, provoke thought, or create dramatic effect.
Example: In "Romeo and Juliet," the love between the two protagonists is
juxtaposed with the hatred between their families.
26. Allegory: A narrative in which characters, events, and settings
represent abstract ideas or moral principles, often conveying a deeper
meaning or moral lesson.
Example:"The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis is an
allegory for Christian theology.
27. Imagery: Evokes sensory experiences through vivid descriptions,
appealing to the reader's senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.
Example: "The warm aroma of freshly baked bread filled the kitchen."
28. Metonymy: Substitutes the name of one thing with something closely
associated with it, often to create a vivid image or convey a specific
meaning.
Example: "The pen is mightier than the sword." (Pen refers to writing,
sword refers to military force)
29. Synecdoche: A type of metonymy where a part of something is used
to represent the whole or vice versa.
Example:"All hands on deck." (Hands represent sailors)
30. Chiasmus: Inverts the grammatical structure of a sentence or phrase
to create a parallel structure, often for emphasis or rhetorical effect.
Example: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can
do for your country." - John F. Kennedy
31. Zeugma: A figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in
different senses or to two others of which it semantically suits only one.
Example:"He stole both her car and her heart."
32. Epithet: A descriptive word or phrase expressing a characteristic of
the person or thing mentioned.
Example:"Alexander the Great"
33. Antithesis: Contrasts two opposing ideas in the same sentence or
passage to create a balanced and thought-provoking effect.
Example: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." - Charles
Dickens
34. Enjambment: The continuation of a sentence or clause across a line
break without a pause, creating a sense of fluidity and momentum in
poetry.
Example:"I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils..."
35. Conceit: An extended metaphor that compares two vastly different
things in a surprising or unconventional way.
Example: In John Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," he
compares the relationship between him and his wife to a compass and a
circle.
36. Paralipsis: Drawing attention to something by claiming not to mention
it, often used for rhetorical effect or irony.
Example:"I don't want to mention the rumors about my opponent's past
mistakes, so I won't."
37. Pathetic Fallacy: Attributes human emotions or characteristics to
nature or inanimate objects, often to reflect or enhance the mood or
atmosphere of a scene.
Example: "The angry clouds refused to yield, unleashing their fury upon
the land."
38. Zoomorphism: Attributes animal characteristics to humans or
inanimate objects.
Example: "The politician was a cunning fox, always maneuvering to
outsmart his opponents."
39. Therianthropy: Represents gods or deities in the form of animals.
Example:The Egyptian god Anubis, depicted with the head of a jackal.
40. Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds within words in close
proximity, creating a harmonious effect.
Example:"The ship has sailed to the farthest shores."
41. Asyndeton: The omission of conjunctions (such as "and" or "but")
between phrases or words, creating a fast-paced or fragmented effect.
Example: "I came, I saw, I conquered."
42. Polysyndeton: The deliberate use of multiple conjunctions for
emphasis, rhythm, or stylistic effect.
Example: "He ate and drank and talked and laughed."
43. Epistrophe: The repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive
clauses or sentences, creating emphasis or reinforcing a point.
Example: "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I
reasoned like a child."
44. Anadiplosis: Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning
of the following clause, creating a connection between ideas and building
momentum.
Example: "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to
suffering." - Yoda, Star Wars
45. Aporia: Expressing doubt or uncertainty about a topic, often used
rhetorically to raise questions or invite further discussion.
Example: "I don't know whether to laugh or cry."
46. Hyperbaton: Involves the inversion of the normal word order in a
sentence for emphasis or stylistic effect.
Example: "Strong in the Force, you are." - Yoda, Star Wars
47. Epanalepsis: Repetition of the initial word or phrase at the end of a
sentence or clause, creating emphasis or framing the central idea.
Example:"The king is dead, long live the king."
48. Aposiopesis: Breaking off suddenly in the middle of a sentence,
leaving the reader or listener to complete the thought or imagine the
unsaid words.
Example: "I was going to tell you, but..."
49. Cacophony: The use of harsh or discordant sounds in language for a
jarring or unsettling effect.
Example:"I detest war because cause of war is always trivial."
50. Synesthesia: Describes one sensory experience in terms of another,
often blending multiple senses to create a vivid or evocative description.
Example:"The sound of her laughter was like the warmth of the sun on a
cold day."
