NU Bangladesh Honours Admission key terms

A narrative in which characters and events stand for abstract ideas or moral qualities, so the surface story carries a second, deeper meaning. Often used in poetry and prose to teach or criticize.

A figure of speech that describes one thing as if it were another, without using 'like' or 'as'. It highlights similarity between two unlike things to sharpen meaning.

A comparison between two unlike things using 'like' or 'as'. It makes description vivid by linking an unfamiliar idea to something the reader already knows well.

The use of objects, colours, or actions to represent larger ideas beyond their literal sense. A rose may stand for love; a flag for a nation. Common in literature and art.

A fourteen-line poem written in a fixed metre, usually iambic pentameter, with a set rhyme scheme. Shakespearean and Petrarchan forms differ in their internal structure and turn of thought.

Unrhymed poetry written in regular iambic pentameter. Widely used in English drama and epic verse because it sounds natural yet keeps a formal rhythm.

The measured pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of verse. It gives poetry its rhythm and is described in units called feet, such as iambs or trochees.

A dramatic work in which a protagonist of high standing suffers downfall through fate, flaw, or circumstance, arousing pity and fear. Aristotle's account remains a standard reference point.

The error, flaw, or misjudgement in a tragic hero that contributes to their downfall. It is not simply a moral defect but a mistake arising from character or ignorance.

The emotional purging or release said to be produced in audiences by tragic drama. Aristotle used the term for the cleansing of pity and fear through watching a tragedy.

A speech in which a character, alone on stage, reveals private thoughts to the audience. It exposes motive and feeling that other characters in the play cannot hear.

A situation in drama where the audience knows more than a character does, so the character's words or actions carry meaning they themselves miss. It builds tension and often humour.

A short remark spoken by a character that the audience is meant to hear but other characters on stage do not. It conveys secret information or private reaction.

The central character whose actions and choices drive the plot forward. The story's conflict usually centres on this figure, whether or not they are morally admirable.

The character or force that opposes the protagonist and creates the central conflict. An antagonist may be a person, a group, society, nature, or an inner tendency.

A literary and artistic movement valuing imagination, emotion, nature, and individual freedom over rigid reason and classical rules. It flourished in Europe during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

A mode of writing that aims to depict ordinary life and social conditions accurately, avoiding idealisation and fantasy. It rose to prominence in the nineteenth-century novel.

A twentieth-century movement in literature and art that broke with traditional forms, favouring experiment, fragmentation, interior monologue, and new ways of representing time and consciousness.

A formal lyric poem addressed to a person, object, or abstract idea, often elevated in tone and elaborate in stanza structure. It typically praises or reflects on its subject.

A mournful poem written to lament someone's death or a serious loss. It moves from grief toward consolation or reflection, and is a classic form in English verse.

A short poem expressing personal feeling or thought in a musical, song-like manner. Unlike narrative poetry, it focuses on the speaker's inner experience rather than telling a story.

A narrative poem, often of folk origin, telling a dramatic story in simple stanzas and regular rhythm. Many ballads deal with love, death, or supernatural events.

A long narrative poem celebrating the deeds of a heroic figure whose actions affect a whole people. It typically opens in the middle of events and invokes a muse.

A mode of writing that ridicules vice, folly, or institutions in order to provoke reform or amusement. It uses irony, exaggeration, and wit rather than direct attack alone.

A gap between what is said or expected and what is actually meant or happens. It may be verbal, situational, or dramatic, and is central to satire and much modern writing.

The skill of reading a passage and extracting its main idea, supporting details, and implied meaning. Exam questions test it through inference, vocabulary in context, and summary.

A conclusion drawn from evidence in a text rather than stated outright. Readers combine clues with background knowledge to infer meaning, attitude, or unstated facts.

A restatement of a passage's meaning in different words while keeping the original sense intact. It demonstrates understanding and is often tested in admission papers.

A word whose meaning is opposite to that of another word, such as 'hot' and 'cold'. Antonym questions test precise vocabulary knowledge and awareness of shades of meaning.

A word that means nearly the same as another word, such as 'begin' and 'start'. Exact synonyms are rare, so context decides which choice fits best.

A fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out from its individual words, such as 'to bury the hatchet'. Idioms must be learned as whole units.

A verb combined with a preposition or adverb to create a new meaning, such as 'give up' or 'look into'. The particle changes the sense and sometimes the grammar.

The grammatical rule that a verb must match its subject in number and person. Singular subjects take singular verbs; plural subjects take plural verbs, even across intervening phrases.

The grammatical category that locates an action or state in time, chiefly past, present, or future. Each tense has simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous forms.

A way of expressing a number as a fraction of one hundred. To find a percentage of a quantity, multiply the quantity by the rate and divide by one hundred.

A comparison of two or more quantities showing how many times one contains another. Ratios can be written with a colon, as a fraction, or in words.

The sum of a set of values divided by the number of values, also called the arithmetic mean. It gives a single figure representing the centre of the data.

Interest calculated only on the original principal for the whole period, using the formula principal times rate times time divided by one hundred. It ignores interest already earned.

Interest calculated on both the original principal and on interest already added, so the amount grows faster than under simple interest over successive periods.