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Gatekeeper
As we explore the role of the Internet, as a medium that is changing our lives, we come across in an important term: the gatekeeper. A gatekeeper is a person who has access to a particular medium and...
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Free indirect speech
When stories are told in the third person, they are usually told in the third-person omniscient or third-person limited point-of-view. In the latter variety we see that the narrator shows us the thoughts...
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Formalism
Formalism is a school of literary criticism that looks at texts at face value, without biographical, historical or contextual considerations. At the heart of formalism is this notion that a text can have...
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First-person point-of-view
When a narrator is included in his or her story, we refer to a form known as the first-person point-of-view. It is the 'I' perspective. This is not to say that the first-person narrator is always the...
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Euphemism
'Euphemism' is a word or phrase that makes something sound better than it actually is. Euphemisms can be found in political speeches, advertsing campaigns or everyday conversation. For example, instead...
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Equivocation
Equivocation is when a word is used in two different senses in an argument. Take for example the following syllogism: A hamburger is better than nothing Nothing is better than good health Therefore a...
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Direct speech
There are several ways to tell a story. Writers can choose to let the characters do all of the talking or they can summarize what their characters say for the reader. The first case is known as direct...
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Direct narration
Sometimes in works of fiction, the narrator seems to tell the reader what to think. Interpretations of the events and characters are made for the reader. Take for example this passage from Emma by Jane...
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Dialect
A dialect is a unique and distinguishable combination of vocabulary, pronunciation and syntax. Technically speaking from a linguistic perspective, the only difference between a language and a dialect...
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Crowdsourcing
In a 2006 Wired Magazine article, Jeffo Howe defined 'crowdsourcing' the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated employee and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group...