12 Literary Devices You Should Know - English with Jennifer

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with  Jennifer. I have the ambitious goal of presenting  

12 literary devices. I can't do this in the  blink of an eye, but I promise I won't be as  

slow as molasses. Hopefully, by the time we're  through, you'll love these wonderful, witty,  

yet wacky literary devices, and you'll understand  which ones I just used. Let's get started.

Have you ever faced rejection?  If you ask someone out on a date,  

and they give a polite excuse each time, '"Oh,  I'm going out of town." "I have family visiting."  

I think you're failing to read between the  lines. The person isn't interested in having  

dinner with you. They're not saying this directly;  you just have to understand what isn't being said.  

To read between the lines is an idiom. It's a  figurative expression, a colorful way of speaking.

Idioms are used in spoken and written  English. They're common in movies,  

in novels, in the news, and in conversation.  It's important to understand them,  

but that doesn't mean you have to  learn every idiom under the sun.

You also shouldn't try to use  idioms in every single sentence.  

That won't make your English sound more natural.

Remember that some idioms are used only  in a particular variety of English.  

Americans don't understand every  British idiom and vice versa. Also,  

there could be idioms that sound outdated to a  younger generation. "What do you say, Dorothy? Do  

you want to hit the hay, as they say on the farm?"

Similes and metaphors are creative ways to  make comparisons. They're common in poetry,  

but that doesn't mean that poets have a monopoly  on them. You can use them too. Similes are  

comparisons that use "like" or "as." Metaphors are  direct comparisons. I'll give you some examples,  

and then you can tell me whether  there are similes or metaphors.

Certain things are like  riding a bike. Time is money.

The child ate all the cookies and  then sat there as innocent as a lamb.

My neighbor has become a thorn in my  side with her constant complaints.

Wow! You look like a million dollars!

Similes and metaphors allow us to be creative and  colorful, but also concise. They should be easy to  

understand. We shouldn't have to explain them. The  similes and metaphors I just shared are common. If  

you use them, you'll be understood. "I'm clear. I'm  clear as a bell." An analogy is similar to a simile  

or a metaphor because we're making a comparison,  but an analogy has a purpose. We use analogies  

to explain things. "Douglas, you are stem.  Katya, you are petal. Together we make flower."  

How should a man and a woman skate in figure  skating? Like petals on a stem. Together  

they form a flower that blooms in beauty. A  colorful way of putting it, right? "Douglas,  

you are stem. Katya, you are petal. Together  we make flower. Hyperbole appears in spoken  

and written English. Some people like to make a  mountain out of a molehill. It's just their style  

to exaggerate. They use hyperbole. Telling you  that there are a million reasons why you should  

study with me is an exaggeration. I can probably  come up with a couple dozen, but not a million. If  

you'd like more examples, watch my lesson on  hyperbole. You'll see how similes and idioms  

kind of mix in with hyperbole. "Don't tell Marilla  that I said anything. She'll say I'm interfering."  

"Wild horses couldn't drag it from me." Irony is  something you have to be mature enough to detect.  

It can be hard for a young child to  understand this subtle form of humor.  

Irony often has to do with a surprising situation,  an unexpected outcome. Sometimes we comment on the  

irony of a situation. Like, when Steve Jobs got  fired from Apple and then went back to help the  

company and make it great. We can say: Do you see  the irony? Isn't that ironic? How ironic, right?

Other times irony isn't a surprising  situation, but rather a contrast between  

our words and our true thoughts. Hearing your  neighbors scream at each other as they argue  

may lead you to say, "Well, I guess they feel  the need to open up and share their feelings."  

That kind of understatement is a form of irony.

Sarcasm, in my understanding, is an extension  of irony. Sarcasm is negative. It's meant to be  

insulting or confrontational. Let's say you  know a guy who was stood up at his wedding,  

meaning the bride decided not to go through with  it. She didn't come. You heartlessly comment,  

"I bet that felt bad." The  guy responds with sarcasm.

"No, it felt really good. Thanks for bringing  it up, man. You know, my parents died when I  

was 10. Would you like to talk about that?" Puns  are humorous wordplay. Advertisers especially  

like to play with what words mean and how words  sound. I was searching online, and I came across  

a Vietnamese restaurant out in California called  Good Pho You. It made me smile and chuckle.  

Good Pho You. That's a play on words. "Pho" is  the name of the soup, and it sounds a lot like  

"for." Good for you. Good Pho You. That's a  clever and memorable pun. That's good marketing.  

If I were in the area, I'd try their Pho soup.  Puns can make use of homophones. I have a lesson  

on that, by the way. I'll put the link in the  video description. Journalists and reporters  

sometimes use puns, like Bill Murray's character  in Groundhog Day. He gives a report on February  

2nd, and he's waiting for the groundhog  named Phil to make its prediction. "So,  

I guess the question we have to ask  ourselves today is, 'Does Phil feel lucky?'"

"So, I guess the question we have to  ask ourselves today is, 'Does Phil  

feel lucky?'" Parallelism is something I  usually talk about in the context of grammar  

and writing. Parallel structure is  about having grammatically equal terms  

in pairs or a series of items, for example,  "neither too hard, nor too difficult."

As a literary device, parallelism is about  using repetition -- repetition of structures  

for emphasis. We have parallelism  in many of our sayings and proverbs.  

No pain, no gain. Nothing ventured, nothing  gained. You'll also hear it in movies.  

"We came. We saw. We kicked its ---." You don't  want to have too much repetition, especially  

in your writing, but a small amount can be  effective. Parallelism can convey an idea clearly.  

The delivery can be strong and memorable.  "We will not go quietly into the night.  

We will not vanish without a fight. We're  going to live on. We're going to survive."  

Personification is giving human  qualities to inanimate objects,  

non-human things. I read an example  at my New Year's Eve livestream.  

In Tennyson's poem "Ring Out, Wild Bells," he  writes, "The year is dying in the night;/ Ring  

out, wild bells, and let him die." The poet  thinks of the passing year as a person dying.

There are some conversational expressions  that use personification, like "opportunity  

knocks." When opportunity knocks, open  the door. "Fortune smiles on someone."  

Fortune was smiling on me the day I met you.

"Opportunity is knocking at the door.  If you don't want to answer it, fine."  

An oxymoron is formed when we put two words  together, and it seems like they contradict  

each other, but instead the meaning is clear and  strong. In my grammar lesson on intensifiers and  

downtoners, I taught the phrase "awfully good."  It means "really good.' That's an oxymoron.  

"She's an awfully good reporter." In one of  my bonus videos for Patreon members, I taught  

ways to organize information. For example, names  can appear in alphabetical order, from A to Z.  

Other times names might be listed in  random order -- there's no logic to it,  

so "random order" is an oxymoron. Listen  for more oxymorons. "It was the only choice  

possible." "Choice" implies two or more options,  right? So how can we talk about our only choice?  

But we do. It means the only thing we can do.  "Everybody, act natural. Act naturally." If  

you're acting, how is it natural or normal?  But "act naturally" is a common phrase.  

Onomatopoeia is a lot of fun, although it's  a difficult word to spell. I bet you know  

some examples already. Here are just a few.  Boom. Hiss. Zip. Meow. These words imitate the  

sounds they describe. The "pitter-patter"  of raindrops is another good example.  

The pitter patter of raindrops is the  sound of rain as it hits a surface.  

Check out my lesson on onomatopoeia to learn more,  especially animal sounds. Do you know what a dog,  

a frog, and a cow say in English? I'll  put all links in the video description.

Alliteration is our last literary device.  Americans love to use it especially in names:  

Janet Jackson, Ronald Reagan, Marilyn Monroe.  Alliteration is the use of repetitive sounds.  

We usually repeat the first consonant sound, but  repetition can also be in the middle of a word.  

We also like to repeat vowel sounds.  Alliteration makes a name sound more musical.  

When I created some of my levels  on Patreon, I used alliteration.  

After Super Member comes Truly Marvelous  Member and then Absolutely Amazing Member.  

Can you think of any businesses or  celebrities with alliteration in their names?

"Ned. Ryerson. Needle Nose Ned.  Ned the Head. Come on, buddy."  

We did it! 12 literary devices worth knowing. Look  out for them. Try using them a bit, and I'll just  

be jumping for joy if you decide to like and share  this video. Remember I have tons of other topics,  

so be sure to check out my other playlists. As  always, thanks for watching and happy studies!

Everyone, visit me on Patreon. You  can join to support my online work,  

get live lessons and bonus videos, and some of  you may even want a monthly one-on-one video call.

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  

And don't forget to subscribe.  Turn on those notifications.