| A | B |
|---|
| Allusion | A reference to some event, person, place, or artistic work, which is not explained by the writer but relies on the reader’s familiarity with what is mentioned |
| Analogy | A partial similarity, as the computer is like the brain |
| Antagonist | The character that opposes the heroine; villain |
| APA | American Psychological Association; a particular type of format for writing |
| Autobiography | A biography of a person narrated by himself/herself |
| Bias | A personal and sometimes unreasoned judgment |
| Bibliography | The works or a list of the works referred to in a text or consulted by the author in its production |
| Cause/Effect | Something or someone that brings about a particular result, and the result of that action or event; a text structure |
| Character | A person or animal represented in or acting in a story, drama, etc. |
| Cliché | A trite or overused expression |
| Climax | The point of highest dramatic tension or a major turning point in the action (as of a novel) |
| Compare/Contrast | A literary technique of placing together like people, places, or ideas to show common or different features; a text structure |
| Comprehension | Accurately understanding what is written or said |
| Conclusion | The last part of something; a result or outcome |
| Conflict | The opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction |
| Connotation | The emotional association suggested by the primary meaning of a word or phrase that affects its interpretation and meaning |
| Context Clue Words | Information from the immediate textual setting that assists in identifying a word or word group |
| Context Clues | Information from the text that helps the reader identify a word or word group |
| Crisis/Turning Moment | A point at which significant change occurs |
| Denotation | A direct specific meaning as distinct from an implied or associated idea |
| Description | A composition in writing or speech that gives a picture of a character or event |
| Dynamic Character | A character marked by usually continuous and productive activity or change |
| Example | One that serves as a pattern to be followed |
| Expository Text | A piece of writing that explains or informs |
| Falling Action | The events of a dramatic or narrative plot following the climax |
| Flashback | A technique of disrupting the chronology of a narrative by shifting to an earlier time in order to introduce information |
| Flat Character | One that represents a single trait (or a very few traits) such as a loyal sidekick |
| Fluency | Able to express oneself readily and effortlessly |
| Foreshadowing | The technique of giving clues to coming events in a body of writing |
| Hyperbole | An intentionally exaggerated figure of speech, such as I have told you a million times |
| Idiom | An expression that does not mean what it literally says, such as, “He put his foot in his mouth,” meaning that he said something embarrassing |
| Imagery | A set of mental pictures or images; that use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas |
| Inference | The act or process of deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true |
| Irony | The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning; incongruence, e.g. A doctor who smokes |
| Irrelevancy | The quality or state of being unrelated to a matter being considered |
| Jargon | Speech or writing having unusual or pretentious vocabulary, convoluted phrasing, and vague meaning |
| Main Idea | The chief topic of a passage expressed or implied in a word or phrase |
| Metaphor | A figure of speech in which a word or phrase meaning one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a similarity between them (as in the ship plows the sea) |
| MLA | The Modern Language Association, a particular type of format for writing |
| Mood | The emotional state of mind expressed by an author or artist in his or her work |
| Narrative | A story that is told or written |
| Onomatopoeia | Using words that sound like their meaning, such as purr, buzz, or hiss |
| Overstatement | To state in too strong terms; exaggerate |
| Paradox | An apparently contradictory statement that suggests a truth, as life is but a dream; a self-contradictory, illogical statement, as include me out |
| Parallel Episode | A single happening or group of happenings in a story that occur simultaneously with the main action of the story |
| Paraphrase | A restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form |
| Personification | The representation of ideas, animals, or objects as human beings by endowing them with human qualities |
| Persuasive Text | Writing that seeks to convince the reader to adopt a particular opinion or perform a certain action |
| Plagiarism | The act of stealing and passing off the ideas or words of another as one’s own; the use of another’s production without crediting the source |
| Point of View | The standpoint from which the actions of a poem or story are related |
| Prefix | An affix attached in front of a word that changes its meaning, such as “re” in reprint |
| Primary Source | Firsthand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic, an event, a person’s life, original works or literature, and historical facts |
| Problem Solution | A format for writing in which the author states a problem and a solution or solutions to solving the problem are offered; a text structure |
| Propaganda | Writing that directly advocates a certain doctrine as the solution to come social or political problem |
| Protagonist | The leading character in a work of fiction |
| Relevancy | Relation to the matter at hand; staying within a task or topic |
| Resolution | The outcome or solution of the plot |
| Restatement | To state again in another way |
| Retell | The process in which a reader, having read a story, describes what happened in it |
| Rising Action | The part of literary work that begins with the exposition and sets the stage for the climax |
| Root | The basic part of a word that usually carries the main component of meaning |
| Round Character | A complex character displaying inconsistencies and internal conflicts |
| Satire | A kind of literature that ridicules human folly or vice with the purpose of bringing about reform or of keeping others from falling into similar folly or vice |
| Secondary Source | Published books or articles by an author who makes a personal interpretation about a topic based on primary sources |
| Sequence | The order of events or particular occurrences |
| Simile | A figure of speech which things different in kind or quality are compared by the use of the word like or as (as in eyes like stars) |
| Static Character | One that does not undergo important change in the course of the story |
| Stereotype | An author’s method of treating a character so that the character is immediately identified with a group. A character may be associated with a group through accent, food, choices, style of dress, or any readily identifiable group characteristic |
| Structural Analysis | An analysis of structure is an important aspect of explicating and understanding a work of fiction |
| Subplots | A subordinate plot in a play |
| Suffix | An affix attached to a base or root word as –en added to ox to make oxen |
| Summarize | To cover the main points succinctly |
| Supporting Details | Small pieces of information that one by one assist the reader in seeing the whole concept or picture. To use even the smallest or unimportant parts to tell the full story |
| Symbolism | To use, in literature, of objects, characters, and situations that represent something beyond themselves |
| Text Features | Graphic features of written material designed to assist the reader’s understanding of the |
| Technical Text | Nonfiction writing that describes how to do a task |
| Thesis/Hypothesis | The statement that must be proved, supported and/or defended in the body of a work |
| Theme | A central idea developed in a work of fiction; the unstated idea or topic in a discussion or writing; a main idea or proposition broad enough to cover the entire scope of literary or other works of art; underlying meaning of literary work |
| Topic | A subject that people think, talk, and write about |
| Tone | The author’s implicit attitude toward the reader or the people/places/events in a work |
