Techniques

English Techniques
Allegory
Story with a double meaning: one primary (on the surface) and one secondary. The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures/ events in narrative, dramatic or pictorial form.
Alliteration
Repetition of consonants at the start of words or in a sentence or phrase.
Anaphora
The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
Anecdote
A short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. Illustrate a story.
Assonance
In poetry, the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in non-rhyming stressed syllables (e.g., penitence, reticence).
Caesura
A complete pause in a line of poetry or in a musical composition – A cut in the line.
Cliché
An over-used, common expression.
Consonance
Repetition of consonants throughout a sentence or phrase.
Contrast
Paradox, antithesis, oxymoron, juxtaposition, contrast in description etc.
Didactic
Any text that instructs the reader or is obviously delivering a moral message. Tend to teach, particularly in having a moral instruction as an ulterior motive.
Diegetic Sound
Actual sound
Disjunction
A conjunction (e.g. ‘but’ or ‘yet’) that dramatically interrupts rhythm of sentence.
Dissonance
A tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious or unsuitable elements.
Ellipsis
A dramatic pause (…) creates tension or suggests words can’t be spoken.
Emotive language
Words that stir the readers’ emotions.
Encrypted
Convert information/ data into a code.
Enjambment
A poetic technique, when a sentence or phrase runs over more than one line (or stanza). This assists the flow of a poem.
Epistophe
The repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences.
Euphemism
Mild expression used to replace a harsh one.
Exclamation
Exclamatory sentence ending in “!” to convey high emotion.
Form
Purpose and features of a text influence its construction and will suggest its structure.