| A | B |
|---|
| accuracy | correctness or precision |
| affix | one or more letters occurring as a bound form attached to the beginning or end of a word or base |
| alliteration | the repetition of initial consonant sounds in neighboring works |
| allusion | an implied or indirect reference in literature to a familiar person, place or event |
| analysis | the process or result of identifying the parts of a whole and their relationships to one another |
| antonym | a word that is the opposite of another word |
| appositive | a grammatical construction in which two usually adjacent nouns having the same referent stand next to do or not do something |
| assertion | a declaration, statement, allegation or claim |
| author's purpose | the author's intent either to inform or teach someone about something, to entertain people, to persuade or convince their audience to do or not to do something |
| author's thesis | the topic and a specific feeling or idea associated with it. It can be directly stated or implied in the examples and illustrations used by the author |
| autobiography | the story of a person's life written by himself or herself |
| bias | a judgment based on a personal point of view |
| biography | the story of a person's life written by someone other than the subject of the work |
| cause and effect | cause statements stem from action and events, and effects are what happenas a result of the action or event |
| characterization | the method an author uses to reveal characters and their various personalities |
| climax | the turning point in a narrative, the moment when the conflict is at its most intense. |
| compare | placing together characters, situations or ideas to show common or differing features in literary selections |
| compound word | a word composed of two or more smaller words |
| conclusion | the ending of the story or the summarization of ideas or closing argument in nonfictional texts |
| conflict/problem | a struggle or clash between opposing characters, forces. or emotions |
| content specific words | core vocabulary that is peculiar to an academic discipline or subject |
| context clues | information from the reading that identifies a word or group of words |
| contrast | to compare or appraise differences |
| conventions of language | mechanics, usage and sentence completeness |
| descriptive text | descriptive writing is intended to allow a reader to picture the scene or setting in which the action of a story |
| dialogue | in its widest sense, dialogue is simply conversation between people in a literary work, it refers specifically to the speech of characters in a drama |
| differentiate | distinguish, tell apart and recognize differences between two or more items |
| editorials | a newapaper or magizine article that gives the opinions of the editors or publishers, and expression or opinion |
| epic | a long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero of great historic or legendary importance |
| evaluate | to examine and to judge carefully |
| exaggeration | to make an overstatement or to stretch the truth |
| explanatory sentence | a sentence that explains something |
| explicit | referring to specific text that is included on the reading passage or in the direction |
| expository text | text written to explain and convey information about a specific topic. Contrasts with narrative text |
| fable | narrative intended to convey a moral. Animals or inanimate objects with human characteristics often serve as characters in fables |
| fairy tale | short narratives featuring mythical beings such as fairies, elves and spirits |
| fallacies of logic | see propaganda techniques |
| fiction | any story that is the product of imagination rather that a documentation of fact. |
| figurative language | language that cannot be taken literally since it was written to create a special effect or feeling |
| first person | the "first person" or "personal" point of view relates events occurred before the beginning of the story |
| flashback | a device used in literature to present action that occurred before the beginning of the story. Flashbacks are often introduced a the dreams or recollections of one or more characters |
| fluency | the clear, easy, written or spoken expression of ideas |
| focus | the center of interest or attention |
| folktales | a story origination in oral tradition. Folktales are legends, ghost stories, fairy tales, fables and anecdotes. |
| foreshadowing | a device used in literature to create expectation or to set up and explanation of later developments |
| free verse | Peotry that lacks regular metrical and rhyme patterns but that tries to capture the cadences of everyday speech |
| generalization | a conclusion, drawn from specific information, that is used to make a broad statement about a topic or person |
| genre | a catagory used to classify literary works, usually by form, technique or content |
| graphic organizer | a diagram or pictorial device that shows relationships |
| headings, graphics and charts | any visual cues on a page of text that offer additional information to guide the reader's comprehension |
| homophone | one of two words pronounced alike, but different in spelling or meaning (hair/hare) |
| hyperbole | an exaggeration or overstatement |
| idiomatic language | an expression peculiar to itself grammatically or that cannot be understood by the reader, implied |
| imagery | a work or group of words in a literary work which appeal to one or more of the senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing and smell |
| implicit | meanings which, though unexpressed in the literal text, may be understood by the reader, implied |
| inference | a judgment based on reasoning rather than on direct or explicit statement. A conclusion based on facts or circumstances |
| inflectional ending | a form, suffix or element added to the end of a word that changes the form of the word to mark such distinctions as those of case, gender, number, tense, person, mood or voice |
| informational text | it is nonfiction, written primarily to convey factual information |
| irony | the use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or usual meaning; incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the expected result |
| legends | a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events, or a story coming down from the past |
| limerick | a light or humorous verse formed of five lines, of which lines 1,2 and 5 rhymes and lines 3 and 4 rhyme |
| limited view | in literature, a speaker is speaking either in the first person, telling things from his or her own perspective, without knowing what is in the characters mind |
| literary conflict | the struggle that grows out of the interplay of the two opposing forces in a plot |
| literary devices | tools used by the author to enliven and provide voice to the writing |
| literary elements | the essential techniques used in literature |
| literary nonfiction | text that includes literary elments and divices usually associated with fiction to report on actual persons, places or events |
| main idea | the main idea is the author's central thought; the chief topic of a text expressed or implied in a word phrase; the topic sentence of a paragraph |
| metaphore | a figure of speech that expresses an idea through the image of another object |
| mood | the prevailing emotions of a work or of the author in his or her creation of the work |
| multiple-meaning words | words that have several meaning depending upon how they are used in a sentence |
| narrative | text which conveys a story or which relates events or dialogue; contrast with expository text |
| nonfiction | prose writing that is not fictional; designed primarily to explain, argue, instruct, or describe rather than entertain |
| omniscient | the narrative perspecive from which a literary work is presented to the reader from a "godlike" perspective, unrestricted by time or place, from which to see actions and look into the minds of characters |
| onomatopoeia | the use of words whose sounds express or suggest their meaning, they may mimic the sounds they denote such as "hiss" or "meow" |
| paraphrase | restate text or passage in other words, often to clarify meaning or show understanding |
| pattern book | a book with a predictable language structure and often written with predictable text |
| personification | an object or abstract idea given human qualities or human form |
| phonics | the relationship between letters and sounds fundamental in beginning reading |
| plot | the structure of a story. The sequence in which the author arranges events in a story |
| poetic purpose | text with literary devices and language peculiar to poetry |
| poetry | writing that aims to present ideas and evoke an emotional experence in the reader through the use of meter, imagery, connotative and concrete words |
| point of view | the way in which an author reveals characters, events and ideas in telling a story; vantage point from which the story is told |
| possessive | a form of a noun or pronoun that indicates possession. |
| prefix | prefixes are groups of letters that can be placed before a word to alter its meaning |
| print media | print media includes such forms as newspapers, periodicals, magazines, books, newsletters,advertising, memos,business forms, etc. |
| problem/solution | an organizational structure in nonfiction texts, where the author typically presents a problem and possible solutions to it |
| propaganda techniques and persuasive tactics | they are used to influence people to believe, buy, or do something by name-calling, emotional appeal, testimonial, repetitionand appeal to numbers, facts or statistics |
| public document | a document that focuses on civic issues or matters of public policy |
| reading critically | reading in which a questioning attitude, logical analysis and inference are used to judge the worth of text |
| reading rate | the speed at which a person reads, usually silent |
| research | a systematic inquiry into a subject or problem in order to discover, verify or revise relevant facts |
| resolution | the portion of a story following the climax, in which the conflict is resolved |
| retell | a exercise to help recall details of character, plot, setting, conflict and resolution or main idea |
| rhyme | Identical or very similar recurring final sounds in words usually at the end of lines of a poem |
| rhythm | the pattern or beat of a poem |
| rising action | the part of a story where the plot becomes increasingly complicated |
| root word | a root word is one to which prefixes and suffexes can be added to form different words |
| self-monitor | a comprehension strategy; knowing or recognizing when what one is reading or writing is not making sense |
| semantics | the study of meaning in language |
| setting | the time and place in which a story unfolds |
| simile | a comparison of two unlike things in which a story unfolds |
| sonnet | a lyric poem of fourteen lines whose rhyme is fixed |
| source (primary) | text and artifacts that tell or show a first-hand account of na event |
| source (secondary) | text and artifacts used when researching that are derived from something original |
| story maps | a visual representation of a story that provides an overview including characters, setting,the problem, resolution or ending |
| subject area | an organized body of knowledge; a discipline; a content area |
| suffix | groups of letters placed after a word to modify its meaning or change it into a different word group |
| summarize | to capture all the most important parts of the origiinal text and express them in a much shorter space |
| style | how an author writes, an author's use of language; its effects and appropriateness to the author's intent and theme |
| symbolism | a device in literature where an object represents an idea |
| synonym | one or two or more words in a language that have highly similar meanings |
| syntax | the pattern or structure of word order in sentences, clauses and phrases |
| target words | words students are expected to know |
| text structure | the author's method of organizing a text |
| text literary structure | an organizational structure found in fiction or literary nonfiction |
| text nonfiction structure | an organizational structure found in nonfiction |
| theme | a topic of discussion or writing; a major idea broad enough to cover the entire scope of a literary work |
| thesis | the basic argument advanced by a speaker or writer who then attempts to prove it |
| third person | a perspective in literature, the "third person" point of view presents the events of the story from the outside of any single character's perception |
| tone | the attitude of the author toward the audience and characters |
| validity | refers to statements that have the appearance of truth or reality |
| venn diagrams | is made up of two or more overlapping circles |
| voice | the fluency, rhythm and liveliness in writing that make it unique to the writer |
