This arts and humanities glossary is designed to help you learn as many terms as possible to help you with your GCSEs, A-levels, university degree and beyond. It includes terms from subjects such as:
- English literature
- English language (including linguistics and grammar)
- Creative writing and storytelling (including narratology)
- Media studies
- Film and TV
- Theatre
- History
- Sociology
- Rhetoric
- Logic
- Philosophy
- Mythology
We have recently made the decision to provide all aspects of the glossary for all our users for free, so please feel free to look through all our terms as much as you would like to! Currently, our list of planned terms is over 3000! That will take us some time to do, though.
These glossary terms take time and dedication to write. I also have to purchase plenty of journal articles and books to ensure that my information is as accurate as possible. Plus, I dedicate a good portion of my day to consuming all forms of media so that I can provide you with examples that are easy to understand.
So, if you’re interested in supporting me on my journey to make the most definitive Arts and Humanities glossary ever, there are plenty of ways you can help out!
a
- Abbreviation
- Acronym
- Addressee
- AO
- Assessment Objective
- Audience
- Author
- Author Interference
b
- Blank Verse
c
- Contraction
- Creator
d
- Direct Speech
- DS
e
- External Deviation
f
- FDS
- Feature Spotting
- Filmmaker
- Flouting a Maxim
- Foregrounding
- Free Direct Speech
g
- Gary-Stu
- Gricean Maxims
- Grice's Maxims
h
- Hedging
i
- Implicature
- Implied Reader
- Initialism
- Interlocutor
j
- Jargon
l
- Larry-Stu
- Legalese
- Listener
- Litotes
m
- Marty-Stu
- Mary-Sue
- Maxim of Manner
- Maxim of Quality
- Maxim of Quantity
- Maxim of Relation
- Maxim of Relevance
n
- Narrator Interference
o
- Odysseus
- Orator
p
- Participant
- Playwright
- Poet
- Pragmatics
r
- Reader
s
- Screenwriter
- Speaker
- Spectator
- Syntax
t
- Text
- Text Producer
- Text Receiver
- Text World Theory
- The Cooperative Principle
- The Odyssey
- TWT
v
- Verbal Irony
- Viewer
- Violating a Maxim
w
- Writer
Glossary FAQs
It covers all subjects that relate to analysis and criticism. That includes both English language and literature, as well as media studies, film studies and theatre studies (drama). I am considering adding useful words related to religion, philosophy, history and sociology, too. They’re all linked!
I am aiming to have all the words that a degree student of English might come across. However, you can use it no matter what level of English you’re at! The language is easy to understand and there are plenty of examples. Plus, you can use the GCSE and A-level categories to help you figure out what terms you should know.
I have a spreadsheet of terms I want to add that includes over 3000 words! I’m adding new words every week, starting with the most important ones for GCSE and A-level students. So, you should see it grow and become more useful to you every week.
In this glossary, I use British English. This whole website is for students who are following the National Curriculum or one of the major UK exam boards for their exams, as well as people studying at a UK university.
If you’re a member of Shani’s Tutoring, you have access to the dedicated learner forum. There, you can make a suggestion for a word you’d like added to the glossary. It’s likely that I’ve already got it on my list, but please do mention it anyway! I like to check your feedback so I can see which terms I should prioritise.
My expertise is mostly in English Language, English Literature, Literary Linguistics and History, so the glossary is mostly dedicated to those terms. However, Arts and Humanities subjects are so closely intertwined! The more you know about one subject, the more it will help you with the others. So, I’ve decided to make my glossary interdisciplinary, so that you can learn about all the subjects in tandem and see how they relate to one other. That will give you a huge push towards those top marks.