| A | B |
|---|
| alliteration | The repetition of the initial sounds or stressed syllables in neighboring words (for example, she sells seashells). |
| bandwagon | an appeal to others to join the crowd in order to be on the winning side |
| bias | A personal and largely unreasoned judgment either for or against a particular person, position, or thing; a prejudice |
| biography | An account of a person’s life written by another person. |
| central idea | The central thought or meaning. |
| character | A figure in a literary work that either is a human being or possesses human qualities and is portrayed in human terms. |
| dynamic | one who changes in a significant way during the course of the story |
| static | one who remains the same throughout the story |
| round | one who is presented in a complex, three-dimensional portrait |
| flat | one who is presented as having a single trait |
| conflict | A struggle or clash between opposing characters or forces or the character’s emotions |
| connotation | The implicit, rather than explicit, meaning of a word, consisting of the suggestions, associations, and emotional overtones attached to a word such as cheap and inexpensive. |
| euphemism | The substitution of a mild and pleasant expression for a harsh and blunt one |
| extended metaphor | A device of figurative language that compares two unlike objects throughout the text |
| irony | The discrepancy between what one says and what one means, what a character believes and what a reader knows, or what occurs and what one expects to occur in a text. |
| idiom | Words used in a special way that may be different from their literal meaning (for example, it’s raining cats and dogs does not mean that cats and dogs are falling from the sky, but that it is raining heavily.) |
| foreshadowing | The use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest future action. |
| oxymoron | A figure of speech that places two contradictory words together for a special effect (for example, jumbo shrimp or old news). |
| point of view | The perspective or vantage point from which a literary work is told. |
| glittering generality | emotionally appealing words that are applied to a product or idea, but that present no concrete argument or analysis (for example, a person who is asked to do something “in defense of democracy” is more likely to agree to do that something) |
| name calling | the use of derogatory language or words that carry a negative connotation (for example, calling a policeman a pig) |
| secondary source | Any source other than a primary source that is used in researching a particular subject. |
| simile | A device of figurative language that is a stated comparison between two unlike things using the words “like” or “as.” |
| symbolism | The author’s use of an object, person, place, or event that has both a meaning in itself and stands for something larger than itself. |
| theme | The major idea of an entire work of literature. A theme may be stated or implied. |
| tone | The writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject, character, or audience conveyed through the choice of words and details. |
| primary source | An original source—such as a work of literature, a historical manuscript, material in archival collections, or an interview—that is used as part of research. |
| personification | The figurative device in which animals, objects, or abstractions are represented as being human or as having human attributes. |
| myth | A traditional story of anonymous origin that deals with gods, heroes, or supernatural events. Myths explain a belief, custom, or force of nature. |
| imagery | Language that creates a sensory impression within the reader’s mind. |
| flashback | The technique of disrupting the chronological flow of a narrative by interjecting events that have occurred at an earlier time. |
| fable | A brief story told in poetry or prose that contains a moral or a practical lesson about life. |
| folktale | A story that has no known author and was originally passed on from one generation to another by word of mouth. |
| inference | The act or process of drawing a conclusion or making a prediction based on what one already knows either from prior knowledge, observations, or evidence found in the text. |
| nonfiction | Writing that is based on actual persons, places, things, or events. |
