| A | B |
|---|
| short story | a brief work of fiction that usually communicates a message about life or human nature |
| plot | the sequence of events in a literary work |
| point of view | the perspective, or vantage point, from which a story is told |
| first-person point of view | the perspective of a story in which the narrator is the character in the story and refers to himself or herself with the first-person pronoun I |
| omniscient-thirdperson point of view | the perspective of a story in which the narrator knows and tells about what each character thinks and feels |
| limited-third-person point of view | the perspective of a story in which the narrator relates the inner thoughts and feelings of only one character, and everything is viewed from this character's perspective |
| setting | the time and place of a story |
| characters | the people in the |
| conflict | the struggle that grows out of the interplay of two opposing forces |
| theme | the main idea of the story, sometimes being a moral or lesson derived from the story |
| symbol | a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and also stands for something more than itself |
| motivation | the reasons for a character's behavior; the key to the story's plot |
| tone | the clues in a story that suggest the writer's (or narrator's) own attitude toward elements of his/her story |
| irony | a particular tone created when the speaker intends a meaning that is opposite to the words he/she says |
| dramatic irony | when the reader knows more than the characters |
| situational irony | a plot in which the unexpected happens |
| vernacular | the language spoken by people who live in a particular place or area |
| comic devices | various elements used in a story to create humor |
| hyperbole | outrageous exaggeration |
| comic comparisons | comparisons which might use similes or metaphors |
| comic characters | outlandish characters in a story |
| understatement | saying less than what is meant |
| foreshadowing | the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a story |
| making inferences | drawing from clues in the text as well as from our own experiences |
| protagonist | the central character of the story |
| exposition | the part of the story that provides background information, establishes the setting, and introduces the characters |
| rising action | the part of the story, including exposition, in which the tension rises and builds to the climax |
| climax | the highest point of tension in a story |
| falling action | part of the story, including the resolution, in which tension falls |
| resolution | the conclusion of a story |
| characterization | the methods a writer uses to communicate information about characters to readers |
