| A | B |
|---|
| plot | the events that occur in a story |
| exposition | gives background information, tells where the story takes place, and usually introduces the characters |
| rising action | reveals the problem or conflict |
| climax | the turning point in the story |
| falling action | explains the result of the climax |
| resolution | the problem or conflict is resolved |
| theme | the central idea or lesson about life that an author conveys in a piece of literature |
| hero | protagonist |
| antagonist | person who works against the hero |
| static | character that stays the same throughout a story |
| dynamic | character who changes because of what happens to him or her |
| setting | where and when the action takes place |
| mood | the feeling a reader gets from a story |
| first person point of view | author uses the pronoun I often |
| third person point of view | an outside person tells the story; uses the pronouns he, she, and they |
| symbol | something that suggests a deeper meaning than its literal meaning |
| foreshadowing | the use of clues to suggest something that is going to happen |
| flashback | interruptions in the story’s sequence of events which take the reader back to an earlier time |
| personification | giving human characteristics to something that is not human |
| hyperbole | using exaggeration for effect |
| verbal irony | a contradiction between what is said and what is meant |
| situational irony | a twist of fate in which the results of certain actions are not consistent with the expected results |
| simile | a comparison of two unlike tings using the words like or as |
| metaphor | a comparison of two unlike things stated as if it were fact |
| satire | special form of humor that is intended to expose and make fun of behavior which the writer thinks is wrong, outdated, or silly |
| dialogue | the words characters say to one another in a story |
| suspense | the quality that keeps a reader turning pages |
| meter | refers to a poem’s rhythm |
| rhyme | refers to the similarities of sounds in words |
| onomatopoeia | refers to words which sound like the sound or action they describe |
| alliteration | repetition of the beginning sound in poetry |
