mr-anderson.com: Mr. A's Glossary

This glossary contains definitions for words used throughout the website. If you have a suggestion of a word that should be included here, please e-mail me at tim@mr-anderson.com.

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I

inferential question

A question that asks a responder to draw a conclusion.

infinitive

A verb that is usually introduced by to. The infinitive may be used as a noun or a modifier.

inflection

The process or result of changing the form of a word to express a syntactic function without changing the word's grammatical class, as run to ran or runs.

informational documents

Works of nonfiction such as transcripts, reports or journals.

internal rhyme

rhymes inside the lines, or a word inside a line that rhymes with a word at the end of a line

interrogative sentence

A sentence that asks a question or makes an inquiry.

intonation

The rise and fall of a voice pitch.

irony

The recognition of the difference between reality and appearance; includes situational irony in which there is a contrast between what is intended or expected and what actually occurs; verbal irony in which there is a contrast between what is said and what is actually meant; and dramatic irony in which words or actions are understood by the audience but not by characters.

irregular

An exception to a linguistic pattern or rule, as good, better, best are exceptions to the usual -er, -est pattern of comparatives and superlatives in English.

Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet

a fourteen-line poem of an octave and a sestet. Abba abba cde cde

L

language

The systematic use of sounds, signs and symbols as a method of communication; in writing, the choice of words used to convey meaning.

limerick

a five-line nonsense poem, mostly in anapest, rhyme scheme aabba. Lines one, two, and five have three feet, but lines three and four have only two feet.

limited point of view

The vantage point in which a narrator tells the story in the third person but often confines himself or herself to what is experienced, thought and felt by a single or limited number of characters.

literal meaning

The actual meaning of a word or a phrase.

literary element

A component of a piece of literature such as plot or setting in a story.

M

main idea

The gist of a passage; the central thought; the chief topic of a passage expressed or implied in a word or phrase; the topic sentence of a paragraph; a statement in sentence form which gives the stated or implied major topic of a passage and the specific way in which the passage is limited in content or reference.

masculine rhyme

Array

media

A means of communication, especially of mass communication, such as books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, motion pictures and recordings.

meronym

1. A word that refers to a part of what another word refers to

in the relationship between leg and ankle, ankle is a meronym
in the relationship between brim and hat, brim is a meronym.

2. A term midway between two opposites
Examples:

flat between convex and concave
present between past and future.

• From Greek meros (=part).

metaphor

A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things (e.g., he's a tiger).

meter

the pattern of rhythm of syllables.

metonym

A word designates something by the name of something associated with it

Examples:

the Crown referring to the monarchy
the bottle referring to alcohol
the White House for the US executive branch.

• From Greek meta (=change).

metronym

A name derived from the name of one's mother, or another female ancestor.

From Greek metros (=mother).

monologue

An extended speech in a drama or a narrative that is presented by one character.

mood

The feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for a reader; a reflection of an author's attitude toward a subject or theme.

motivation

an inducement or incentive to action; in a story, the psychological or social factors that drive character action

N

narrative

One of the four traditional forms of composition in speech and writing that tells a story or gives an account of something, dealing with sequences of events and experiences, though not necessarily in strict order.

near rhyme