446 / Glossary
personal pronoun any one of a group of pronouns divided into three sets: first
person (I, my), second person (you, your), and third person (he, her, their, it). [See
Pronoun Usage in Chapter 43, Usage.]
personification a figure of speech in which a thing or idea is represented as a
person. Example: The sunshine brushed my face with a warm hand.
persuasion a method of development in which the writer attempts to convince
the reader to agree with a certain position or to take a certain action. [See Chap-
ter 13, Persuasion, for process, sample, and analysis.]
phrase a group of words conveying a single thought or forming a distinct part of
a sentence but not containing a subject and predicate, including prepositional,
gerund, infinitive, participial, absolute, appositive, and verb phrases. [See Glossary
entries and Chapter 44, Phrases and Clauses.]
plagiarism the act of stealing ideas or words from another and passing them
off as one’s own. To avoid plagiarism, a writer uses careful documentation. [See
Chapter 34, Research Paper, for an explanation of the documentation process.]
plot the plan of action of a play, novel, short story, and so on.
plural of or including more than one. Because plural forms vary, consult Webster’s
New World Dictionary for irregular plural forms.
poem an arrangement of words having rhythm and, often, rhyme; usually set in
imaginative or emotional language. Some poems are in meter, some in free verse.
Common poetic forms include ballad, blank verse, epic, dramatic monologue,
elegy, epigram, free verse, haiku, light verse, limerick, ode, sonnet, and villanelle.
point of view the place from which, or way in which, something is viewed;
standpoint.
possessive a case, form, or construction expressing ownership. Example:
Duane’s book is different from mine. [See Other Punctuation in Chapter 45,
Punctuation.]
précis a concise summary. [See Chapter 33, Précis, to learn how to develop an accu-
rate précis.]
predicate the verb or verbal phrase that says something about the subject of a
sentence or clause. A predicate may be a verb (The wind blows.), a verb and an
adverb (The wind blows hard.), a verb and its object (The wind blows the leaves
down.), or a linking verb and its complement (He is the happiest man I know.).
[See Parts of the Sentence, Chapter 42, Classification of Words.]
predicate adjective an adjective that follows a linking verb and describes the
subject. Example: He is handsome. [See Parts of the Sentence, Chapter 42, Clas-
sification of Words.]