Preview of Literary Terms 36-40

36. imperative

expressing a command or plea

"Take me out to the ball game,Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,I don't care if I never get back.”

(Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game")

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!"(Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy)

"Think Small"(slogan of Volkswagen)

"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” (Mark Twain)

"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."(President John Kennedy, 1961)

"We're going in the attic now, folks. Keep your accessories with you at all times."(Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story 3, 2010)

37. inverted word order(anastrophe)

the use of words out of their normal order

“Brief I shall endeavor to be.” John Milton

I walked up the door,shut the stairs,said my shoes,

took off my prayers,turned off my bed,got into the light,

all becauseyou kissed me goodnight.

Natalie Dorsch's poem, "Just Because," makes use of extended anastrophe in a clever way to show how delightfully confused the speaker is after a romantic interlude:

"Told you, I did. Reckless is he.Now matters are worse."

38. jargon

language that is used or understood only by a select

group of people

Sports Jargon

Basketball Jargon• Airball

• To miss the entire goal

Basketball Jargon

• Boards• Rebounds

Basketball Jargon

• Drop a dime• Give an assist

Football Jargon

• sack dance

Football Jargon

• sack dance n. (originally) in American football, a showy celebratory dance performed after the take-down of a ball-carrying quarterback

Football Jargon

• flea-flicker

Football Jargon

• flea-flicker: the quarterback takes the ball, hands the ball off to the running back, the running back appears to be running with the ball, thereby drawing in all the defenders, and then he flips the ball back to the quarterback and the quarterback throws it to a wide open receiver down the field.

Baseball Jargon

• Ducks on a pond• Runners on base

Baseball Jargon• Bring the heat

• A pitcher throwing fastballs.

Baseball Jargon• Go yard• Hit a home run.

39. Literal Language

• words that do not deviate from their defined meaning (antonym of “figurative language”)

For example, 'It is time to feed the cats and dogs.' This phrase 'cats and dogs' is used in a literal sense, for the animals are hungry and it is time to eat. . . .

Figurative language paints word pictures and allows us to 'see' a point. For example: 'It is raining cats and dogs!' Cats and dogs do not really fall from the sky like rain. This expression is an idiom (which is a type of figurative language).

40. Litotes

A litote is a figure of speech in which a positive is stated by negating its opposite.

University of Louisville: 70Murray State: 10

For example, what does “no small victory” mean?

Or “not a bad idea”?

Or “not unhappy”?

Consider this statement: “Running a marathon in under two hours is no small accomplishment.”

Identify the litote.

Consider this statement:Andrea Bocelli is not a bad singer.”

Identify the litote.

Litote, which is a form of understatement, is the opposite of hyperbole.