Literary Terms and Techniques

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Alliteration

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Repeating identical beginning consonant sounds

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Flashback

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The author interrupts the scene of a narrative to tell about earlier events

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Foreshadowing

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An author gives hints or clues as to what will happen in a story

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Hyperbole

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Exaggeration for emphasis or humorous effect

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Situational Irony

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When things happen that are in direct contrast to what we expect (or would like to happen)

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Verbal Irony

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When people say one thing but mean the opposite

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Dramatic Irony

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When the reader knows something the character doesn't

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Metaphor

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Compares two things directly, without using the words 'like' or 'as'

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Onomatopoeia

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Words that imitate specific sounds

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Paradox

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A statement that at first seems self-contradictory but that upon reflection makes sense