GCSE English Keywords.
Alliteration – the repetition of the same consonant sound, especially at the beginning of several consecutive words in the same line e.g. ‘Five miles meandering in a mazy motion’.
Aside – words spoken by a character on stage that are not intended to be heard by the other characters present
Assonance – the repetition of similar vowel sounds e.g. ‘There must be Gods thrown down and trumpets blown’, showing the paired assonance of ‘must’ and ‘trum…’ and ‘thrown’ and ‘blown’
Atmosphere – the pervading feeling created by a description of the setting, or the action e.g foreboding, happiness
Audience – the people being communicated to
Aural imagery – images created through sound, by the use of techniques such as alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia
Autobiography – an account of a person’s life written by him or herself
Biography – a written account or history of the life of an individual
Blank verse – unrhymed poetry that adheres to a strict pattern in that each line is an iambic pentameter (a ten-syllable line with five stresses). It is close to the rhythm of speech or prose
Characterisation – the variety of techniques that writers use to create and present their characters, including description of their appearance, their actions, their speech and how other characters react to them
Climax – The most important event in the story or play
Connotation – an association attached to a word or phrase in addition to its dictionary definition.
Denouement – near the ending of a play, novel, or drama, where the plot is resolved
Direct speech – the words that are actually spoken
Drama – a composition intended for performance before an audience
Dramatic incitement – the incident which provides the starting point for the main action of the play
Dramatic Irony – a situation in a play, the irony of which is clear to the audience but not to the characters e.g in Twelfth Night, where Olivia and Orsino do not know that ‘Cesario’ (Viola) is really a girl disguised as a boy
Episode – a scene within a narrative that develops or is connected to the main story
Exposition – the opening of the play which introduces characters and sets the scene
Fact – something which has been established as true and correct
Fiction – a story that is invented, not factual, though it may be based on events that actually happened
Form – the way a poem is structured or laid out
Free Verse – a form of poetry not using obvious rhyme patterns or a consistent metre
Iambic Pentameter – a line of verse containing five feet, each foot having an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
Imagery – the use of words to create a picture or image in the reader’s mind
Imperatives – commands
Interior monologue – similar to a soliloquy, a character talking to him or herself
Interview – a meeting between two people – e.g a journalist and a celebrity using questioning and discussion to ascertain information or for entertainment value
Irony – the conveyance of a meaning that is opposite to the literal meaning of the words, e.g ‘This is a fine time to tell me’, (when it is actually an inappropriate time); a situation or outcome which has a significance unforeseen at the time
Language of Advertising – features and techniques commonly found in advertising, e.g appealing adjectives, exaggeration
Metaphor – figure of speech in which a person or thing is describes as being the thing it resembles, e.g ‘she’s a tiger’ to describe a ferocious person
Mood – the atmosphere created by a piece of writing
Narration, first person – the telling of a story through the voice of a character, in their own words, e.g “I went to the fair, even though I hated it”
Narration, third person – the telling of a story through the voice of the author, describing the actions of the characters, e.g ‘He went to the fair, even though he hated it’
Narrative Structure – the way that a piece of story writing has been put together, for example, in a novel, the development of the plot through the arrangement of chapters and who is telling the story
Narrative techniques – the ways in which an author tells a story
Narrator – the person telling the story
Objective information – factual ideas
Onomatopoeia – when a word sounds like the noise it describes e.g ‘pop’ or ‘the murmuring of innumerable bees’
Opinion – a view held by some but not necessarily by others
Personification – the attribution of human qualities or feelings to inanimate objects; a kind of metaphor where human qualities are given to things or abstract ideas
Plot – the main story or scheme of connected events running through a play or novel
Poetic Voice – the ‘speaker’ of the poem – the ‘voice’ of the poem might be that of the poet but could be that of a character or persona from the poet’s imagination
Preview – a kind of report on a film, programme or book etc, soon to be released
Prose – any kind of writing which is not verse, usually divided into fiction and non-fiction
Purpose – the reason for the communication
Regular metre – a regular succession of groups of long and short, stressed and unstressed syllables in which poetry is often written
Review – usually a kind of report on a film, programme or book etc, already released
Rhetorical Question – question raised in speech that does not require an answer (used for effect)
Rhyme – corresponding sounds in words, often at the end of each line or within lines
Rhyming Couplet – two rhyming lines of verse
Rhythm – the ‘movement’ of a poem, as created by the metre and the way that language is stressed within the poem
Setting – the period of time and the place in which the story is set
Simile – figure of speech in which a person or thing is describes as being like another, usually preceded by ‘as’ or ‘like’, e.g ‘she’s like a tiger’ to describe a ferocious person
Snapshots – separate descriptions of the stages in a sequence
Soliloquy – a speech in which a character in a play, expresses their thoughts and feelings aloud for the benefit of the audience, but not for the other characters, often in a revealing way
Stanza – the blocks of lines into which a poem is divided, forming a definite pattern
Stream of Consciousness – a narrative form where random thoughts give the impression that the words have spilled straight from the narrator’s mind
Structure – the way that a piece of story writing has been put together, for example, in a novel, the development of the plot through the arrangement of chapters
Style – (literary) the particular way in which writers use language to express their ideas
Subjective information – personal opinions and feelings
Sub-Plot – a less important part of a story, that is connected to and develops the main plot
Symbolism – similar to imagery: symbols are things that represent something else e.g red roses are given to loved ones because they symbolise love
Theme – a central idea that the writer explores through a text, e.g love, loss, revenge
Tone – created through the combined effects of the author’s rhythm and diction
Voice – the speaker of the poem or prose, either the poet or author’s own voice or that of an invented character.
