Terms to know:

Affix: Letters attached to the beginning or end of a word to change its meaning.

Allusion: A reference to a statement, a person, a place, or an event from literature, the arts, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports or the sciences.
Allusions enrich the reading experience.

Analogy: A comparison of similar objects to help clarify one of the objects.

Anecdote: A brief story use to illustrate or make a point.

Antagonist: Opposing force or character in a story.

Antonym: A word that is the opposite of another.

Author's Purpose: Reason for writing: to inform, to influence, to entertain, to express, to persuade.

Bias: A preference or inclination. A biased program may present only one side of an issue or downplay information in favor of the other side.

Biography: An account of a person's life or of part of it, written or told by another person.

Characterization:

*Direct characterization : The author simply tells the reader what to think about a character.

*Indirect characterization: The writer reveals the character's personality through dialogue, what other's think of the character, through the character's appearance or clothing, through description of the character's thoughts and feelings, or through the character's behavior or actions.

Character types:

• Round: A character that is well developed. This character is often, but not always the protagonist of the work. This character is"round" because we know everything about them such as their fears, goals, background, hopes, dreams, etc.

• Flat: A character that is not well developed. This character is often present only to interact with the protagonist. We know very little about this character; we do not know their background or their dreams, fears, goals, etc.

• Static: A static character is one who does not experience any growth throughout the course of the piece of literature. They do not grow, mature, make any important decisions, or change.

• Dynamic: A dynamic character changes during the course of the work of literature. They may learn a life lesson, mature, or make an important decision.

Conflict: A struggle between two opposing forces.

• Internal: a character struggles with their own feeling or thoughts.
  • Person vs. Self
• External: A character struggles with something on the outside, such as another character, nature, society, etc.
  • Person vs. Person
  • Person vs. Nature
  • Person vs. Society
  • Person vs. Supernatural
  • Person vs. Technology

Connotation: The emotion or feeling associated with the word.
Example: Joan was determined to be able to choose her own project. OR Joan was pigheaded about being able to choose her own project.
(Though "determined" and "pigheaded" have the same denotation, "determined" is a more positive word, while "pigheaded" has a negative connotation.

Dialect: A way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular place, group of people, or time period.

Denotation: The literal, dictionary definition of the word.

Etymology: The history of a word, including the country or culture where it originated.

Dialect: A way of speaking that's characteristic of a particular place, group of people, or time period.

Figure of Speech: Expressions that are not literally true but suggest similarities between usually unrelated things.

Flashback: Interruption in the present action of a plot to show events that happen at an earlier time.

Foreshadowing: Hints or clues that a writer uses to suggest what will happen next in a story.

Genre: Category in reading and/or writing.

Hyperbole: Obvious and intentional exaggeration used as a figure of speech not intended to be taken literally

Idiom: A phrase that is not meant to be taken literally but has an accepted meaning.

Examples:

I asked my dad for a raise in my allowance but he said, "No dice!"

Lynn thinks that programs on the Documentary Channel are dull as dishwater.

Imagery: Language that appeals to one or more of the five senses.

Irony: When reality contradicts what we expect. There are several specific types:

• Verbal Irony: When we say one thing but mean another.
• Situational Irony: A situation that turns out to be just the opposite of what we expect.
• Dramatic Irony: When we know something that a character from the work does not know.

Metaphor: A comparison between two unlike things directly, without using a specific word of comparison. Often the word is, is used.

Mood: The overall feeling the reader is left with when they finish the piece of literature.

Motif: certain characteristics that are common in stories across cultures such as characters, images or story lines

Onomatopoeia: The use of words whose sounds imitate or suggest their meaning. (Ex. Buzz, rustle, boom, ticktock, tweet)

Parallel episode: When an episode in the plot repeats.

Personification: Speaks of nonhuman or inanimate things as if they had human, life-like qualities.

Plot: ( See review Slideshow)

• Exposition
• Rising Action
• Climax
• Falling Action
• Resolution

  Types of Plot:

  • Chronological: see review slideshow
  • Flashback: see review slideshow
  • In Media Res: see review slideshow

Point of View: The vantage point from which the story is told.

(Check this out for more on Point of View)

• First person: one of the characters, using the personal pronoun I, tells the story.
• Second person: Uses the pronoun you.
• Third-person limited: the narrator focuses on the thougths and feelings of only one character.
• Omniscient (all-knowing): the narrator knows everything about the characters and their problems. This all-knowing narrator can tell us about the past, present and future of all the characters.

Propaganda: Material meant to make a reader think or act in a certain way.

Prefix: Letters attached at the beginning of a word that change or effect its meaning.

Root word: A word or word base from which other words are made by adding affixes.

Simile: A comparison between two unlike things using words such as like, than, as or resembles.

Style: The way an author uses language.

Suffix: Letters added to the end of a word to change or effect its meaning.

Suspense: The uncertainty or anxiety that a reader feels about what will happen next in a story, novel, or drama.

Symbol: In literature, symbols are people, place, events, or things that have meaning in themselves but also stand for something beyond themselves.

Synonym: A word that means the same as another and are interchangeable.

Theme: The author's message to the reader which is often a life lesson. It is what we are meant to learn or realize after reading a piece of literature. Be sure you have a complete sentence.

Tone: The attitude a writer takes toward his or her subject, characters, and audience.

Voice: Voice has two meanings as it concerns creative writers:

• Voice is the author's style, the quality that makes his or her writing unique, and which conveys the author's attitude, personality, and character; or
• Voice is the characteristic speech and thought patterns of a first-person narrator; a persona. Because voice has so much to do with the reader's experience of a work of literature, it is one of the most important elements of a piece of writing.