Key Terms - Images, Symbols & Mood
English Language: Edexcel IGCSE - Specification B, topic 1.1.5
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.”
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.
Test yourself on Key Terms - Images, Symbols & Mood
What two words can we use to compare things in similes?
What technique does this sentence use?
James was as silly as a clown.What technique is being used in this sentence?
Jenny was a ghost in her paleness.What does a noun phrase NEVER contain?
What is the technical term for the phrase in bold?
She walked as quickly as she could.