1. SOL Literary Terms
Group 2

2. diction Author’s word choice Diction often reveals tone (attitude).
Example: Ice cream on a hot summer day is a blissful dream of comfort.

3. Connotation
All the emotions, images, or impressions a word might suggest.
POSITIVE CONNOTATION: He always acts in a mature, responsible manner.
NEGATIVE CONNOTATION: He is a buzzkill with his grouchy, “old-man” attitude.

4. Positive or Negative?
That pig invaded my privacy by asking why I was the only one in the parking lot.
The police officer, concerned for my safety, asked me why I was alone in an empty parking lot.

5. denotation The literal, “dictionary” definition of a word.
For example, the word perverted literally just means twisted or misused.
However, in today’s society, the word has a very negative sexual connotation.

6. imagery
Words and phrases authors use to create pictures or to appeal to any of the five senses.
This includes sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch.

7. Match each example to the sense it creates an image of:
Coarse sandpaper

8. Sour and bitter

9. Ringing and buzzing

10. Oranges and fresh-baked bread

11. Strikingly beautiful flower

12. Figurative language
Any use of language that is not meant to be taken literally.
This is a “catch-all” term that includes metaphor, simile, personification, etc.

13. simile A comparison of two unlike things using like or as.
Example: Your love is like a river running through my soul.

14. metaphor A comparison of two unlike things WITHOUT using like or as.
Example: Your love is a fire that will light my way.

15. personification Giving human qualities to nonhuman things.
Example: The alarm clock nagged me until I finally did what it wanted: I woke up.

16. hyperbole Exaggeration (or overexaggeration) made for effect.
Example: My parents will ground me for fifty years if I bring home a “C” on my report card!!!!

17. alliteration
Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words that are close together.
Example: The car crash was a speaking sermon to those who saw it.