Firstly, I thought I would start with some terms that most of us have likely come across and understood. These are things that we were taught in our school years, usually. Yet many of them are still terms that many people do not understand. They sound ‘familiar’ and they technically do know what they are—at least something that they can identify when they read.

Epilogue:

Many books have an epilogue, and many even call it by this name. The term means ‘concluding comment’ and, as we would expect, it comes at the end. Typically, it is used as a method of including details that the book has left open, leaving the reader with a more complete picture of the book. A lot of contemporary writers use the epilogue to leave it open for a sequel, and, sometimes, they even begin to set up the parameters of the next segment, if the book is in a series. The direct opposite is known as a prologue, another well-used tool.

Prologue:

A prologue is at the very start of a novel. It is typically used as an introductory stage that transfers the reader from a topic and introduces the rest of the content. Sometimes, the prologue depicts scenes that aid the reader by giving them a sense of scenery and context. It is a tool for delivering information that prepares them for the main body of a novel. It can be related to the main story or something completely separate, other than some point to take away as you enter the main story.

Assonance:

This is a technique that emphasises the sound made by vowels and the effect of placing worlds with such vowels close to each other. At school age, I remember being taught that assonance was ‘a rhyme that doesn’t quite work’. The true definition of the technique has more clarity than the one I was taught.

An example: “He flees between the trees.” Notice the sound of the words that emphasise the ‘e’.

Consonance:

A little less known than the former technique.

This is similar to assonance, but rather than with the vowel, it is concerned with the consonant. Firstly, I thought I would start with some terms that most of us have likely come across and understood. These are things that we were taught in our school years, usually. Yet many of them are still terms that many people do not understand. They sound ‘familiar’ and they technically do know what they are—at least something that they can identify when they read.

An example:  “He felt like he had been shot, cut and eternally hurt.”   - Notice the sound of the ’t’ as the words are read. Towards the end of the phrase, in particular, the ’shot’, ‘cut’ and ‘hurt’.

A Little More Obscure:

When you get into writing, you learn about many other terms. A good writer is always looking to improve and refine their knowledge and skill set. I suppose it’s the same as anything in life—if you want to succeed. I’ve selected some terms that many people don’t know or get confused with. When asked, most of my writing friends did not know the following:

Predicate:

This is a term for a part of a sentence. It is everything in the sentence, other than the subject. In a typical sentence, you have the subject and then, for anything else that is present, the predicate.

An easy way to remember what this is can be found in the definition. The term means ‘assert something’. So we can think of a sentence as containing:

1: The Subject.

2: The Predicate: the part that is there to assert something onto 1.

Determiner:

A determiner is a word, typically an adjective, that describes a noun. It identifies the quantity, the possession, or the relative position of a noun, and it is a vital part of any sentence. It is usually the part of the sentence that cannot be removed or changed. An example:

“Joe drove his yellow car home.”

Some different types of determiners have some differing technical terminology and names. It is something you can look into if this is of interest to you, as they all fall into this basic definition.