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Action Ad Hominem
Adage Adventure
When & How to Avoid Ambiguity
Allegory Alliteration
Allusion Alter Ego Definition & Examples When & How to Avoid Ambiguity Quiz
Ambiguity Amplification
How to Avoid Ambiguity
Anachronism Anagram
1. Be careful with prepositions. The thing about prepositional phrases (such as “he
murderer killed the student with a book”) is that it’s not always clear what they’re
Analogy Anaphora
modifying. Look at the “book” example from section 2; the ambiguity in that sentence
is entirely based on the preposition “with.” Does it modify “killed” or “student”? Could
Anecdote Antagonist
go either way. It’s always important to be careful with your prepositions.
Anthimeria Anthropomorphism 2. Use commas correctly! Commas exist primarily to resolve syntactic ambiguity. If
you’re worried that your sentences are too ambiguous, try working on your grammar
Antithesis Antonomasia and punctuation, especially when it comes to commas.
3. Don’t assume that your reader will interpret things correctly. What you say
APA Citation Aphorism
might be clear enough to you, but the reader might interpret it differently. If you leave
room for ambiguity, there’s every chance that the reader will interpret that ambiguity
Aphorismus Apologia
in ways you didn’t intend. To write clearly you need to develop the skill of seeing your
own writing from a reader’s perspective.
Apologue Aporia
Aposiopesis Appositive
When to Avoid Ambiguity
Archaism Archetype
Avoid ambiguity as much as possible in formal essays. Of course, sometimes things will
Argument Assonance accidentally be left unclear, and that’s OK. But as much as you can, try to make sure that
your sentences have only one possible meaning, and aren’t open to the wrong
Asyndeton Atmosphere interpretation. This is one of the reasons that you should use specific words and a lot of
concrete detail. If you say that a party was “great,” that could mean anything depending
Autobiography Ballad on who you are, but if you describe the party in concrete detail, we will know more!
Bathos Bildungsroman
Burlesque Buzzword
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Catharsis Character
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Characterization Chiasmus
Chronicle Chronology
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Hamartia Harangue
Homage Homograph
Homophone Horror
Hubris Hyperbaton
Hyperbole Idiom
Imagery Inference
Innuendo Intertextuality
Invective Irony
Jargon Juxtaposition
Kairos Legend
Limerick Lingo
Literary Device Litotes
Malapropism Maxim
Melodrama Memoir
Metanoia Metaphor
Metonymy Mnemonic
Monologue Montage
Motif Motto
Mystery Myth
Narrative Narrator
Nemesis Neologism
Nostalgia Ode
Onomatopoeia Oxymoron
Palindrome Parable
Paradox Parallelism
Paraphrase Parody
Pastiche Pathetic Fallacy
Pejorative Peripeteia
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Persona Personification
Plagiarism Platitude
Pleonasm Plot
Plot Twist Poetry
Point of View Polemic
Polyptoton Polysyndeton
Premise Prologue
Propaganda Prose
Protagonist Proverb
Pseudonym Pun
Quest Rebus
Red Herring Repetition
Resolution Rhetoric
Rhetorical Device Rhetorical Question
Rhyme Riddle
Romance Sarcasm
Sardonic Satire
Science Fiction Self-Fulfilling Prophec
Setting Simile
Soliloquy Sonnet
Stanza Stereotype
Story Style
Subtext Surrealism
Symbol Synecdoche
Synesthesia Synonym
Synopsis Tautology
Theme Thesis
Thriller Tone
Tragedy Trope
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Circumlocution Cliché This is very important when it comes to your thesis statement! If the thesis statement is
ambiguous, then readers won’t know exactly what the main idea is, and won’t be able to
Cliffhanger Climax follow the argument. Make sure that your thesis is fully explained within the first couple of
paragraphs of your essay.
Coherence Comedy
In creative writing, ambiguity is less of a problem, and indeed it can even be a benefit.
But you want to be deliberate about your ambiguities even here. You can leave things
Comic Relief Connotation
open-ended as much as you want, but don’t accidentally leave your reader hanging or
wondering what you mean.
Consonance Contrast
Conundrum Cynicism
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Denotation Denouement
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Deus ex machina Deuteragonist
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Dialogue Diction
Dilemma Doppelganger This is true for narrative ambiguity (and somewhat for semantic ambiguity), but it’s really
not true for syntactic ambiguity. An ambiguous sentence structure is just difficult to read,
Double Entendre Drama and that’s never a good thing; your stories and words can be ambiguous in creative
writing, but your sentence structures really shouldn’t be.
Dramatic irony Dystopia
Elegy Ellipsis
Encomium Enjambment
Enthymeme Epigram
Epilogue Epiphany
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Epithet Eponym
Equivocation Essay
Etymology Euphemism
1500+ PowerPoint Clichés: Definition Setting: Definition Oxymoron:
Excursus Exemplum
Infographics and Examples and Examples Definition a
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Exposition Extended Metaphor
Fable Fairy Tale
Fantasy Farce
Figures of Speech Flash-forward
Flashback Folklore
Foreshadowing Foreword
Genre Haiku
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Truism Turning Point
Understatement Urban Legend
Utopia Verisimilitude
Vernacular Vignette
Villain Voice
Wit Wordplay
Zeugma
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