Abstract diction creates tone through ideas, not images.

When the subject of the sentence performs the action.

A paid message designed to persuade an audience to buy a product, adopt a behaviour, or support an idea, using a deliberate combination of visual, verbal, and structural techniques.

Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in a series of words.

Analysis means breaking something down to explain how it works.

Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences.

When two opposing ideas in parallel structure are used to highlight a contrast or conflict.

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within words.

The overall emotional feeling of a scene.

The way that emphasis interacts with surrounding content to create a sense of harmony or cohesion.

A digital text written in a personal, often conversational voice, published on a website and typically structured around a single topic or opinion with informal register and direct address.

A short printed or digital document that uses structured sections, persuasive language, and visual design to inform and attract an audience toward a service, product, or destination.

A pause within a line, often marked by punctuation like a comma, dash, or ellipsis.

A visual text, usually a single panel or short strip, that uses exaggeration, symbolism, and satire to comment on a social, political, or cultural issue.

Characterization is the way a writer reveals a character’s personality, thoughts, and relationships.

Chiasmus is a rhetorical device where the structure of one clause is reversed in the next.

The use of color to influence emotion or signal meaning

A narrative told through a series of panels combining images and words.

The IB English Paper 2 task in which students write an essay comparing two literary works studied in class, responding to a general question and demonstrating knowledge of both texts.

Concrete diction makes writing feel vivid and emotionally charged.

Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds at the end or middle of words.

A written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people in a literary or theatrical form.

The specific words an author chooses to use.

The kind of words the writer chooses.

The narrator or another character directly tells the reader what someone is like, describing their looks, personality, background, or motivations.

When the audience knows something the characters do not.

When a line ends with punctuation (., ;, !, etc.)

A line that continues onto the next without punctuation.

When writers use comparisons, exaggerations, or contradictions to suggest meaning indirectly.

Gaze is the narrative vantage point: who sees the action, and how much they know. It determines what the reader experiences and whose lens we’re looking through.

A topic of significance that transcends national boundaries, is relevant across cultures, and can be explored through the texts studied, functioning as the thematic lens for the Individual Oral.

The IB English Paper 1 task in which students write an analytical essay on an unseen text, identifying how the author uses language, structure, and style to create meaning and effect.

A 1,200-1,500 word essay written by HL students on one of the literary works studied in class, exploring a specific line of inquiry chosen by the student and assessed externally.

A figure of speech that uses deliberate and obvious exaggeration to create a strong impression or emphasize a point.

Imagery is a literary device that uses descriptive language to create vivid mental pictures or sensory experiences for the reader.

A 15-minute internally assessed component in which a student delivers a 10-minute presentation analysing two works through a global issue, followed by 5 minutes of teacher questions.

A visual text that combines data, graphics, and minimal written language to present complex information in a concise, accessible format.

A text structured as a conversation between an interviewer and subject, using questions and answers to reveal opinions, experiences, or information, with deliberate framing and selection of content.

The gap between what is said or expected and what actually happens.

When two contrasting elements are placed side by side to highlight their differences or create tension.

The spatial arrangement of elements on a page or screen. It guides the reader's eye and controls the flow of information.

A single-sheet printed or digital document, often folded, that provides concise information and persuasive content about a service, event, campaign, or organisation.

A written text addressed to a specific recipient, following conventions of salutation and closing, with register and purpose shaped by the relationship between writer and reader.

The focused question or analytical angle that drives a Higher Level Essay, connecting a specific aspect of a text to broader literary or thematic concerns.

When you analyze two or more techniques in the same quote or moment, and explain how they interact to shape mood, tone, character, or theme.

A longer-form text published in a periodical, combining factual content with stylistic features such as subheadings, pull quotes, and images to inform, entertain, or persuade a targeted readership.

A metaphor directly equates one thing to another, implying they share qualities.

The rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line. Common meters include iambic pentameter (five iambs: da-DUM) and trochaic tetrameter (four trochees: DA-dum).

The emotional effect on the reader.

A motif is a recurring image, idea, or phrase that reinforces a theme throughout the text.

A factual text structured around the inverted pyramid model, presenting the most important information first and using an objective, formal register to report on current events.

Onomatopoeia is the use of words that imitate the sounds they describe.

A text in which a named writer presents a personal argument on a current issue, using first person, rhetorical devices, and a distinctive voice to persuade or provoke the reader.

A figure of speech where two opposite words are combined to create a striking or thought-provoking effect.

The organization of panels in graphic novels or comics. Panel arrangement controls pacing and emphasizes key moments.

A statement that seems self-contradictory or impossible, but reveals a deeper truth or insight.

Parallelism is the repetition of similar grammatical structures in a sentence or series of sentences.

A paragraph structure used in analytical writing: Point (state the argument), Evidence (quote the text), Explanation (analyse the technique and its effect), Link (connect back to the thesis).

Personification is a literary device where non-human things are given human characteristics such as actions, emotions, or intentions. This includes objects, animals, ideas, or forces of nature behaving or feeling like people.

A section of a dramatic text written primarily in dialogue and stage directions, designed for performance, in which meaning emerges through speech, action, and the interaction between characters.

A literary form that uses compressed language, deliberate line breaks, sound patterns, and imagery to create meaning beyond the literal, often prioritising rhythm and form over narrative.

A literary form that tells an invented story through continuous sentences and paragraphs, using narrative voice, characterisation, and structure to explore themes and human experience.

A literary form that presents factual or reflective content through continuous prose, using techniques such as voice, structure, and rhetorical strategies to inform, argue, or explore real events and ideas.

What the writer wants you to think, feel, or do.

A repeated line or phrase, usually at regular intervals (often at the end of stanzas).

A text that evaluates a cultural product such as a book, film, or restaurant, combining description, analysis, and personal judgement to guide an audience toward or away from the subject.

Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds, often at the end of lines. Types include perfect rhyme (day/play), slant rhyme(room/storm), and internal rhyme (rhyme within a single line).

Rhyme is the repetition of similar or identical sounds at the end of words, often used in poetry.

The deliberate emphasis of certain elements within a text, making them stand out to the reader.

A comparison using like or as.

When events turn out the opposite of what’s expected.

Literary techniques that create auditory patterns in language.

A text composed for oral delivery to a live audience, structured around a central message and using rhetorical devices, repetition, and direct address to inform, persuade, or inspire.

Instructions in a play's script about actors' movements and positioning.

A stanza is a group of lines, like a paragraph in prose.

Subordination involves using dependent clauses to add detail or context to a main clause.

A symbol is a tangible object or image that stands in for an abstract idea.

How the writer builds sentences.

One sentence, usually at the end of your introduction, that captures the main argument of your essay.

The writer’s attitude toward the subject or audience.

Words or phrases that guide the reader from one idea to the next.

The style, size, and arrangement of text. Typography can convey tone and emphasize key ideas.

When a speaker says the opposite of what they truly mean.

Visual techniques are the deliberate design choices that shape how we experience a visual text.

Voice is the distinct personality, style, or perspective that comes through in a text.

A rhetorical or thematic shift, especially in sonnets, where tone or argument changes.

A digital text designed for online reading, combining hyperlinks, multimedia elements, and scannable layout to deliver information or prompt user interaction.