Kathryn Atkins

Do you need to know what the following terms mean to call yourself a Writer (with a capital ‘W’)?

Not really, but if you want to extend your knowledge around your craft, you might want to have at least heard or seen these words.  Besides, “Practice Makes Perfect,” and learning your trade is practicing. Here you go. Oh. And keep writing!

Litotes: \ ˈlī-tə-ˌtēz — Understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary (as in “not a bad singer” or “not unhappy”)

Ablaut:  \ ˈä-ˌblau̇t — a systematic variation of vowels in the same root or affix or in related roots or affixes especially in the Indo-European languages that is usually paralleled by differences in use or meaning (as in sing, sang, sung, song)

Allusion: \ ə-ˈlü-zhən \ —

Anacoluthon: \ ˌa-nə-kə-ˈlü-ˌthän \ — syntactical inconsistency or incoherence within a sentence; especially: a shift in an unfinished sentence from one syntactic construction to another (as in “you really ought—well, do it your own way”)

Diacritic: \ ˌdī-ə-ˈkri-tik \ — a mark near or through an orthographic or phonetic character or combination of characters indicating a phonetic value different from that given the unmarked or otherwise marked element. A good example is déjà vu.

Gerund: \ ˈjer-ənd, ˈje-rənd \

1: a verbal noun in Latin that expresses generalized or uncompleted action

 

Idiom:  \ ˈi-dē-əm \

 

Infinitive:  \ in-ˈfi-nə-tiv \

a verb form normally identical in English with the first person singular that performs some functions of a noun and at the same time displays some characteristics of a verb, and that is used with to (as in “I asked him to go“) except with auxiliary and various other verbs (as in “no one saw him leave“)

Metaphor: \ ˈme-tə-ˌfȯr also -fər \ 

 

Simile:  \ ˈsi-mə-(ˌ)lē \

1: a figure of speech comparing two unlike things.  It is often introduced by like or as (as in cheeks like roses) — compare metaphor.

 

Thank you to Merriam Webster for these definitions (with the pronunciation following each word in bold)