| A | B |
|---|
| fiction | writing about imaginary people and events. In other words, the stories aren’t true. |
| non-fiction | writing about real people and events that actually happened. |
| autobiography | the non-fiction story of one’s own life. |
| plot | the main events in a story. |
| exposition | the “once upon a time” introduction to a story (setting, characters, etc). |
| rising action | the part of the story that introduces a conflict, which gets more serious as it goes along (building suspense and interest). |
| climax | the most intense moment of the story. |
| falling action | the part of the story after the climax, where loose ends of the plot are tied up and resolved. |
| resolution | the “they lived happily ever after” end of a story. |
| foreshadowing | a warning or hint about what’s going to happen later in a story. |
| first person | when the narrator, usually the main character, is telling the story from his/her own perspective. The word “I” indicates first-person point of view. |
| second person | when the narrator tells a story using the word “you.” This places the reader in the story and is not common in writing. |
| third person limited | the narrator usually focuses his/her attention on one character. The reader sees what is going on with other characters, but only knows what one character is thinking and feeling. |
| omnicient | the narrator has access to the thoughts and feelings of every character in the story. |
| narrator | the person who narrates something, especially the events of a novel. |
| specific | particular, clearly defined, easy to see in your mind’s eye. |
| sensory | having to do with the five senses (sound, sight, smell, feel, taste). |
| Denotation | the dictionary definition of a word. The denotation of a word does not change based on a group. |
| Connotation | the social and emotional definition that a group assigns to a word. Connotation changes depending on the group. |
| Analogy | a comparison between two things that is meant to help explain one of the things. |
| Allusion | an indirect reference in a text to something the author assumes the audience knows. A shout out in one work of art to another work of art. |
| Metaphor | a figure of speech that describes a thing by referring to something that is not literally similar but which has similar characteristics. For example, “falling in love.” It’s not actually a fall, but it feels like a fall (out of your control, stomach swoops, etc). |
| Symbol | a literary device that uses something concrete to stand for something abstract. So those concrete things take on layers of meaning. |
| Theme | a message or lesson in a text that applies to more than just that text; it applies to other texts and to life as well. |
| Tone | the author’s attitude toward the topic he or she is writing about. For example: critical, enthusiastic, dismissive. |
