 Allusion: a reference to something literary, mythological, religious, historical, or found in pop culture  Patrick Henry urged his listeners not to be “betrayed with a kiss”

 Apostrophe: speaker directly addresses a person who is dead or not physically present, an imaginary person or entity, something inhuman, or any other abstract thing  “O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

 Euphemism: an indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant  In Victorian times, ladies were said to “glisten” rather than to sweat or perspire.

 Onomatopoeia: a word formed from the imitation of natural sounds  The fire crackled in the fireplace. We could hear the buzzing of the bees in the hive.

 Personification: endowing non human objects or creatures with human qualities or characteristics  The smiling, friendly sun was about to be swallowed by the angry clouds moving in from the south.

 Symbol: something that stands for something else  Flags, ring, mascot

 Colloquialism: casual language- similar to spoken language or informal writing  Huck Finn, All the Pretty Horses

 Hyperbole: Intentional exaggeration to create an effect  There were at least a million people at the mall when I went shopping Saturday.

 Repetition: repeating a word or phrase for additional emphasis  Hope has sprung a perfect dive, a perfect day, a perfect lie

 Alliteration: repetition of sounds in a sequence of words- often the initial letters of words  Boast your bitter bragging rights

 Oxymoron: An expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined  Jumbo shrimp; sweet sorrow; little giant

 Paradox: An apparently contradictory statement which actually contains some truth  Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind

 Irony: a contradiction between appearance or expectation and reality. Truth is opposite of appearances.  In King Lear, Lear believes his daughter Cordelia to be disloyal, when in fact she is his only faithful daughter

 Simile: comparison using “like” or “as”  This room is as hot as an oven

 Metaphor: comparison, one thing representing another  School is a prison