LITERARY TERMS
On the End-of-Grade Test
EXAMPLE:
Alliteration – Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words. Writers use alliteration to emphasize certain words and to give their writing a musical quality. Note the repetition of the “C” sound in this line from “The Highwayman.”
“Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed. . . “
1. alliteration 27. legend
2. author’s purpose 28. metaphor
3. biography/autobiography 29. mood
4. cause and effect 30. moral
5. characterization 31. myth
6. climax 32. narrative
7. comparison 33. onomatopoeia
8. conflict 34. personification
9. connotation 35. plot
10. context clues 36. point of view (first-
11. contrast person, third-person
12. denotation omniscient, third-
13. dialect person limited)
14. dialogue 37. predicting
15. drawing conclusions 38. prose
16. essay 39. repetition
17. exaggeration/hyperbole 40. rhyme
18. fable 41. rhythm
19. figurative language 42. satire
20. flashback 43. simile
21. folk tale 44. stereotype
22. foreshadowing 45. style
23. genre 46. suspense
24. imagery 47. symbol
25. inference 48. theme
26. irony 49. tone
1. alliteration – the repetition of initial sounds in a series of words –
. . . the clickety, clackety of colliding keys on the old-style typewriters
. . . Mrs. Savage’s gnarled knees knocked together as she stood atop the
ski slope
. . . the sight of the skyscrapers swaying slightly
. . . the fine-finned flippers of the fish
2. author’s purpose – the author’s purpose for writing may be:
· to entertain (FICTION –poetry & prose)
· to explain and/or inform (NONFICTION)
· to express an opinion (EDITORIAL/ESSAY)
· to persuade readers to do something
(EDITORIAL/ESSAY)
3. biography/autobiography – a nonfiction story of someone’s life – the only difference is that an autobiography is a story of someone’s OWN life; and a biography is a story of someone’s life told by someone else.
4. cause and effect - Events are often related by cause and effect. Something occurs first (the cause) and a second event (the effect) takes place as a result of the first event.
e.g., I broke my leg, so I can’t play soccer today.
(cause) (effect)
THE EVENTS ARE NOT ALWAYS LISTED IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY OCCUR!!!!!!!!!
e.g., I couldn’t see the words in the book because I had broken my glasses.
(effect) (cause)
5. characterization – The four basic techniques that a writer uses to create a “life-like” character:
- the physical description (she was old, her skin wrinkled like crushed tissue paper discarded after gifts are exchanged. . .)
- a character’s thoughts, speech, actions (“I don’t really like snotty-nosed little brats,” the teacher snarled.)
- the thoughts, speech, and actions of other characters (Demetric said, “She is a fat, old, wind-bag of a teacher. . .)
- direct comments on a character’s nature (She had once been a kind person, until she experienced the sudden death of her pet parakeet, Peeps. . .)
6. climax – the turning point or high point of interest in the plot of a story – usually, after the climax, the conflict (problem) is resolved (worked out) and the outcome (ending) of the story becomes clear to the reader.
e.g., Adam struggled with Zach (aka Professor Zabinsky), kicking and punching at him as he attempted to push Adam out of the car. Suddenly, Adam heard the crunch of glass as he kicked out. Professor Zabinsky (Zach) grasped his eyes and screamed. Adam took the opportunity to open the car door and roll out onto the ground. He watched, in horror, as Professor Zabinsky (Zach) lunged for him, and accidentally shoved the gear shift into drive. The car began to roll, gathering momentum, as it plunged into the darkness of the cavernous ravine. A moment later, an explosion and fire ball spewed up into the dark night sky, causing Adam to fling his face onto the damp ground.
7. comparison – the process of identifying similarities
(Ponyboy in The Outsiders is like ______in Tex because they are both kind of wild teenagers who live on the “edge” of society.)
(from Maniac Magee, Maniac Magee has “real” friends in both the black community, like Amanda Beale and in the white community, like Russell & Piper McNab. He also had enemies, like Mars Bar and John McNab.)
(In Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush, Dab had the same condition that Brother Rush had suffered so much from during his life.)
8. conflict – a struggle between two opposing forces
- internal conflict – a character is working through problems in his/her life
- external conflict – a character is struggling against some “outside” force (like nature, in Hatchet or Brian’s Winter ) or against “other”
characters in the story (like Zach in Wolf Rider, or the Nazis in The Devil’s Arithmetic)
9. connotation – all of the associations and suggestions that go along with a given word – BEYOND ITS DICTIONARY DEFINITION
e.g., compare the “connotations” of these words as opposed to their
dictionary definitions: fat, overweight, obese ,chubby, plump, heavy
dumb, stupid, slow, challenged, “special”
beautiful, pretty, gorgeous, cute, fine
handsome, cute, fine, “hunk”
10. context clues – the words or phrases before or after an unfamiliar word that help explain its meaning. These “clues” around the unfamiliar word may:
- define the word;
- give a synonym for it (synonym = a word that means the same thing);
- give an example of its meaning;
- provide comparisons or contrasts to it;
- enable the reader to “infer/guess at” the meaning
e.g., She raced across the lea, on which the spring wildflowers and grasses now grew in such abundance. (lea = meadow)
e.g., The protuberance situated just above his upper lip honked, snorted, and drizzled constantly because of the spring pollen. (protuberance = something sticking out = his “nose” which stuck out above his upper lip)
11. contrast – pointing out differences between two things is called “contrasting” them
e.g., Sarah was quite different from her younger sister, Sisley, because she talked much louder, flirted more outrageously with the boys, and got into trouble in classes.
e.g., In The Outsiders, Ponyboy was luckier than his friend, Johnny, because at least he once had parents who loved him, and he now had an older brother who cared for him. No one even cared if Johnny went home or not, and he often carried bruises from beatings his parents doled out.
12. denotation – the literal, dictionary definition of a word
13. dialect – a form of language as it spoken in a certain place and among a certain group of people. Each dialect of a language has its own pronunciations, spellings, and expressions:
- “Youze guyz bring some sodas. . .”
- “Ya’ll brang some Pepsi, willya?”
- “Please bring your own drinks, okay?”
- “Brang the pop, bro’. . .”
14. dialogue – a conversation between two or more characters in a story. Most of the time, dialogue is marked by quotation marks, with new paragraphs/indentations showing changes in speakers. (exception – plays/dramas, where characters parts always follow their name, e.g. KING RICHARD: My kingdom for a horse!)
e.g. “You really need to turn in all of your homework the rest of this quarter,” said the math teacher.
“Do you hear that, son? I expect the best from you,” Dudley’s mother said.
“But I did!!!!” exclaimed Dudley.
“Yes, you did turn in ONE homework assignment, Dudley,” said the math teacher. “You failed to turn in twelve other assignments that quarter,” she continued.
15. drawing conclusions – combining several pieces of information to make a decision is called “drawing a conclusion.” The best example of this skill is when you’re watching a “murder mystery” and, finally, you are able to “figure out” who committed the crime. You have “drawn a conclusion = guessed the murderer” based on the facts you have seen during the movie.
e.g., She had red hair. Her mother, her grandmother, and all of her mother’s sisters also had red hair. When her son was born, he, too ______(obviously, had red hair.)
16. essay – a short, nonfiction work that deals with one subject is called an “essay.” Usually, someone presents his/her point of view about a subject in the essay.
e.g., My essay is entitled, “What I believe every student should learn before they enter high school.”
17. exaggeration/hyperbole – overstating an idea in an extreme way is exaggeration.
e.g., (simple) – I’ve told you a million times to pick up your room. . .
(more complex) – The athletes size 44 shoes pounded down the court. . .
(extended) – She moved her gigantic legs, swaying with the effort to lift each of the tree-trunk sized limbs off the floor. At the base of each trunk she had squashed on thimble-sized pink ballet slippers. The floor of the schoolroom shook as she lumbered toward the board.)
18. fable – a brief story that teaches a lesson about human nature. Many fables feature animals given human characteristics (personification). At the end of the fable, there is usually a “moral” that sums up the lesson:
e.g., the story of the three little pigs, with the moral: BE PREPARED.
19. figurative language – going beyond the dictionary meanings of words by combining them to create fresh and original descriptions. In a figurative expression, the words are literally (factually) true, and usually something is described in terms of another. The three common forms of figurative expressions are:
o Simile = “the new leaves covered the tree’s limbs like a beautiful, new Easter outfit” or “he was as mean as a snake because of the abuse he had suffered in his childhood.”
o Personification = “the tree knelt toward the earth, holding its long branches down to provide steps for the curious children. . . the boughs sighed with pleasure as the children crawled higher. . .”
o Metaphor = “Since the branches of the trees had interwoven over the years, they formed an unassailable fortress against the shining axes of the woodcutters.”
20. flashback - in a literary work, a flashback is a scene that interrupts the present action to describe an event that took place at an earlier time.
e.g., She hurried toward the door, scared that she would be late for her doctor’s appointment. She would never forget the last time she was late for an appointment – it had been six months before when she was hurrying out of her home. . .
21. folk tale – a simple story that has been handed down by word of mouth from one generation to another. The characters in the tales could be animals, humans, or magical superhumans. They usually occur in the distant past and may involve supernatural events. E.g., the story of the “headless” railroad man searching for his head along the railroad tracks. .
22. foreshadowing – this refers to a writer’s use of hints that suggest events that will occur later in a story. Sometimes the hints are obvious:
e.g., She would always remember the last time she saw her mother. That afternoon would change her life forever.
Sometimes, you have to “piece” together context clues:
His father was a busy college professor. He had recently separated from his wife and taken his teenage son to live with him. Adam had done well in school, without too many challenges. His mother had provided a lot of encouragement and support. . . “Dad,” Adam began, “you won’t believe what happened to me today. The phone rang and when I picked it up someone named Zach said that he had killed a girl and he described the girl lying there on the floor, a pool of blood spreading out beneath her.” “Adam, I don’t really have time for you and your friends’ ideas of pranks!” (from Wolf Rider by Avi – foreshadowing the tension and disbelief/incredulity that his father would feel toward a son who suddenly was a “problem” in his life)
23. genre – the major categories of literature, which include:
o fiction – make-believe
o nonfiction – factually true information
o poetry – a special kind of literature that expresses ideas in compact, imaginative, musical language
o drama – a play; a form of literature meant to be performed by actors on a stage before an audience, or (in the case of a radio play), on radio, with sound-effects
24. imagery – (sometimes known as “sensory” words)
o imagery/sensory words appeal to the reader’s SENSES, helping the reader to imagine how things LOOK, FEEL, SMELL, SOUND, and TASTE.
e.g., The mud squished up through my toes. . .FEEL
The coarse, woolen coat rubbed against my neck. . .FEEL
The warm, blueberry cobbler was tangy sweet. . .TASTE
The clatter of dishes and the scraping sound of plates being cleared filled the mess hall. . SOUND
The dandelion’s white, fluffy spores wafted towards the robin’s egg blue sky. . .LOOK
25. inference - a logical guess or conclusion based on evidence. Based on details you read in a story and your prior knowledge of a subject, you, the reader, can “figure out” more than just what the words say.
e.g., If you read in Maniac Magee that Maniac was color-blind, but that not everyone else in the neighborhood was color-blind; and then you read on to find out that someone wrote something “ugly” on the front of Amanda’s house, you can “infer” that someone in the neighborhood was prejudiced. You “figured out” that color-blind did not mean that Maniac couldn’t tell blue from green, but that he didn’t see that people were black or white. He described it as “all different shades, from light coffee to dark, burnished ebony. . .”
26. irony – a contrast between what is expected and what actually exists or happens;
e.g., If you read The Trouble with Lemons, the Principal was always down on the main character because he believed that he was suffering from neglect, since the main character’s mother was away making a movie. The Principal points out that his own son has a mother who stays home with him so that he can receive a “proper” upbringing. Later in the book, the Principal discovers that his own “proper” son was guilty of covering up the accidental drowning of the school custodian. In a final scene, the main character and his “movie-star” mom sit across from the jail and watch as the Principal arrives with his son, who has been arrested. THE SITUATION IS IRONIC.