Key Terms - Images, Symbols & Mood

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Key Terms for English Language - Images and Symbols

You need to know the following key terms for your English Language exam:

Symbolism

When one idea, feeling, emotion, or other concept is represented by something else. They reflect the figurative meaning of a picture, object, colour, etc.
- E.g. The colour black is often used to represent death or evil.

Simile

A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, using ‘like’ or ‘as.’
You are comparing the qualities of the two things you are comparing.
- E.g. in the phrase 'He was as fierce as a lion', you are comparing the anger and aggression of the lion with the anger and aggression of the man you are describing.

Personification

Giving human characteristics to something that isn't human to create imagery.
- E.g. The waves danced on the shore.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which you say something is another thing. You compare the qualities or behaviour of two things using metaphors.
- E.g. in 'the curtain of fog', you create the image of the fog falling down on the area as if it is a curtain being dropped over the place - this could also suggest that the fog is thick and difficult to see through.

Imagery

Language and description that appeals to the five senses (smell, sight, taste, touch and hearing). Often, imagery includes similes, metaphors, etc.
- E.g. The waves battered the defenceless rocks, crashing and bashing against them and spraying frigid, salty water into the night.

Anthropomorphism

This is when we make something that is not human do or say things that make them seem human.
- E.g. The Sorting Hat talks in Harry Potter.
The difference between anthropomorphism and personification: anthropomorphism is when something inhuman actually does human-like things; personification creates imagery where something inhuman seems human.

Key Terms for English Language - Phrases

You need to know the following key terms for your English Language exam:

Adverbial phrase

An adverb phrase is simply two or more words that act as an adverb. It can modify a verb, adverb, or adjective and can tell “how”, “where”, “why”, or “when".
- E.g. We strolled through the garden.

Cliché

A phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.
- E.g. Frightened to death.

Idiom

A metaphorical phrase which has a specific, well-known meaning, but the meaning does not explicitly link to the meanings of the individual words.
- E.g. A penny for your thoughts.

Noun phrase

A small group of words which contains a noun and other words to describe it (such as adjectives) but does not contain a verb.
- E.g. Delicious, cold ice cream.

Parenthetical remark

A parenthetical remark is one that explains or qualifies something.
- E.g. “I’m hungry, but I only want to eat chips.”

Illustrative background for Pun ?? "content

Pun

A joke which exploits the different possible meanings of a word - it makes fun of the fact that there are other words which sound the same but have different meanings.
- E.g. In the joke, 'The best way to communicate with a fish is to drop them a line', the pun comes from the double meaning of 'a line' - it can be either a fishing rod or a telephone.

1Key Terms

1.1Key Terms

1.1.1Key Terms - Nouns, Verbs & Sentences

1.1.2Key Terms - Sentence and Clause Types

1.1.3Key Terms - Words, Sounds & Language

1.1.4Key Terms - Types of Language

1.1.5Key Terms - Images, Symbols & Mood

1.1.6Key Terms - Mood & Feelings

1.1.7Key Terms - Other Techniques

1.1.8End of Topic Test - Key Terms

2Language Devices

2.1Language Devices

2.1.1Metaphors

2.1.2Similes

2.1.3Metaphors & Similes HyperLearning

2.1.4Personification

2.1.5Pathetic Fallacy

2.1.6Puns & Oxymorons

2.1.7Hyperbole & Emotive Language

2.1.8Alliteration

2.1.9Sibilance

2.1.10Onomatopoeia

2.1.11Recap: Language Devices

2.1.12End of Topic Test - Language Devices

3Writing Structure

3.1Writing Structure

3.1.1Narrators

3.1.2Paragraphs

3.1.3Tense

3.1.4Present vs Past vs Future Tense

3.1.5Foreshadowing

3.1.6Structure

3.1.7End of Topic Test - Writing Structure

4Section B: Reading & Writing

5Section C: Writing

5.1Writing Task

5.1.1Discursive Writing

5.1.2Narrative Writing

5.1.3Descriptive Writing

5.1.4End of Topic Test - Writing Task

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