English Vocabulary Review

This is a story with two or more levels of meaning–a literal level and a symbolic level–in which events, settings, and characters are symbols for ideas or qualities.

This is the repetition of initial consonant sounds at the beginnings of words.

This is a comparison based on a similarity between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

This is to separate a whole into its parts.

This is a word or phrase that means the opposite of another word or phrase.

This is a character in a work that represents a certain type of person.

This involves one or more reasons presented by a speaker or a writer to lead the audience or reader to a conclusion on an issue.

This is a brief comment delivered by an actor, which expresses the actor’s thoughts. It is usually directed to the audience and not heard by other actors.

This is the repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in two or more stressed syllables.

This is whoever will be reading, listening or watching a story, text, or drama.

This is the reason for creating written work.

This is a rhymed, songlike poem that tells a story, often dealing with adventure or romance.

The key point made in a passage

This is the theme of a passage, story, novel, poem, or drama that readers can apply to life.

This is an individual’s mental or moral quality.

This is the combination of ways that an author shows readers what a person in a literary selection is like.

These are the people or animals who take part in a literary work.

This is a work of literature, especially a play, that has a happy ending.

This is a funny or humorous episode inserted in the midst of a serious literary work. It is intended to relieve dramatic tension.

This is a method of relating how two or more elements or texts are SIMILAR.

This is a method of relating two or more objects in a piece of work.

This describes something that is complicated, difficult, or consists of interrelated parts.

This is when you use pieces of information on a subject to base your opinion or make a decision.

Often, an antagonistic relationship called a ________ drives the plot of a story or novel.

This refers to the feelings and associations that go beyond the dictionary definition of a word.

These are in the text surrounding a word and give hints for the meaning of the word.

This is a method of relating how two or more elements or texts are DIFFERENT.

This includes language, ideologies, beliefs, values, and norms. These elements help to shape the life of a society.

This is the phrase for the set of values, beliefs, and opinions shared by a group and surrounding the author at the time of their writing.

The literal definition of a word is also called its __________.

This is a piece of information that is used to support a main idea.

This is a form of language that is characteristic of a particular place or is used by a particular group of people.

These are the words spoken by characters in a literary work.

This is the writer’s choice of words, including the vocabulary used, the appropriateness of the words, and the vividness of the language.

When a character is revealed by clear descriptions by the author, this is called _____ .

This is a play, written to be performed by actors.

This is a poem that makes use of the techniques of drama. The speaker is clearly someone other than the poet. More than one character may speak.

A character who changes during the course of a story is called a ______ character.

This is the repetition of similar sounds that comes at the ends of lines of poetry.

This type of poem is very long and usually relates the adventures of a legendary character or a national history. It is often passed down orally before being written.

This is the substitution of an agreeable or non-offensive phrase for one that might be unpleasant or offensive.

This is the information that supports a thought or belief.

This is writing that tells about imaginary characters and events.

This goes beyond the literal meanings of words to create special effects or feelings.

A word or phrase that is not meant to be taken literally but figuratively is called a ______ of speech.

This is a point of view in which the story is told by one of the characters.

This is a scene, a conversation, or an event that interrupts the present action to show something that happened in the past.

This is a person in a fictional work that is never fully developed by the author.

This character serves by contrast to highlight opposing traits of the main character to further define that main character.

This is the use of hints in written works about what will happen later.

This is the structure into which a piece of literature, such as a poem, is organized.

This is poetry written without a regular rhyme scheme, meter, or form.

This is forming a broad idea based on specific instances; inductive reasoning.

This is the category or type of literature.

This is a highly compressed form of Japanese poetry that creates a brief, clear picture in order to produce an emotional reaction in the reader. It relies upon images taken from nature and on the power of suggestion. It has three lines of five, seven, and five syllables each.

The setting and circumstances in which a literary work is written or an event occurs.

This is a subgenre of fiction. It is written to portray a time period or share information about a specific event. It is set in the past and based on real people and/or events.

This is the political, social, cultural, and economic ‘time and place’ surrounding the creation of a literary text.

This is a word that has multiple meanings and is spelled in the same way for both meanings.

This is extreme exaggeration used in a literary work.

This is a phrase in common use that can not be understood by literal or ordinary meanings.

(1) This is the use of language that appeals to the five senses–touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight.
(2) This uses sensory images to help readers to picture a person, a place, or an event.

This is a suggested, but not stated, definition.

This is when an author reveals a person in the story characterization through his/her words, thoughts, appearance, action, or what others think or say about him/her.

This is reading between the lines. It is taking something that you read and putting it together with something that you already know to make sense of what you read. You make an _____.

This is a type of real-world writing that presents material that is necessary or valuable to the reader.

When words within a line of poetry have the same sounds, it is called ______.

This is when a character has a problem within him or herself.

This is the explanation of the significance or meaning of a work.

This is the contrast between appearance and reality or what is expected and what actually happens.

This is a five-line poem with a rhyme scheme of A, A, B, B, A.

This is a third person point of view where that narrator relates the inner thoughts and feelings of only one person.

This is the ordinary, usual, or exact meaning of words, phrases, or passages. No figurative language or interpretation is involved.

The components used together to create a fictional work are called _____.

A type of tool or strategy to enhance an author’s style.

Literary works are often grouped into these because they share a time span. This allows analysis for traits common to an identified time. These can include conventions, styles, themes, and philosophies.

A _____ summary is a synopsis of the events, characters, and ideas in a work of literature.

This is a part of an argument that is flawed and makes the argument invalid, an error in reasoning.

This is a highly musical verse that expresses the observation and feelings of a single speaker.

This is the central and most important idea of a reading passage or presentation.

The main problem in a literary work is called the major ____.

This is a direct comparison of two things, in which they are said to be (in some sense) the same thing.

(1) This is the rhythm or regular sound pattern in a piece of poetry.
(2) This describes the length and internal structure of lines in a poem or play.

This is a small problem in a literary work.

This is a long, uninterrupted speech by a character in a play, story, or poem.

This is the feeling that an author wants readers to have while reading.

These are words that have more than one definition. They are called _____.

A poem that tells a story is called a ____ poem.

This is the teller of the story.

This is when the meaning is NOT exact or word for word. It is figurative and it requires interpretation.

(1) The point of view where the narrator relates the inner thoughts and feelings of every character is called _________.
(2) This is a point of view; the narrator KNOWS EVERYTHING about the characters and events, and describes the characters and action from outside the story.

This is the use of words that sound like the noises they describe.

This is an expression of an author’s personal belief. It is not something that can be proved to be true or false.

This is something which seemingly cannot be, yet it is; a contradiction.

This is a statement that leads to a contradictory situation in which something seems both true and false.

This is the restatement of a written work in one’s own words that keeps the basic meaning of the original work.

This is an end punctuation mark that indicates the end of a sentence.

This describes the type of conflict that places a character against forces of nature.

This describes the type of conflict when the leading character struggles with his/her physical strength against other characters, animals, or forces of nature.

This describes the type of conflict when the leading character struggles with himself/herself; with his conscience, feelings, or ideas.

This describes the type of conflict that places a character against scientific advances, machines, robots,etc.

This is a type of figurative language in which human qualities are given to nonhuman things.

This is a writer’s or speaker’s point of view about a particular subject, and is often influenced by their beliefs or by events in their lives.

This is someone who writes theatrical plays. This person is also known as a dramatist.

This is the series of events that happen in a literary work.

This is an arrangement of words in verse. It sometimes rhymes, and expresses facts, emotions, or ideas in a style more concentrated, imaginative and powerful than that of ordinary speech.

This is the third major type of literature in addition to drama and prose.

This is the perspective from which a story is told. It is the way the author lets the readers see and hear the story; who tells the story

This is a humorous word play that usually is based on several meanings of one word.

(1) This is a stylistic device where the writer repeats the same word, or phrase for the purpose of emphasis.
(2) This is a persuasive technique in which a word, phrase, or entire sentence is repeated to reinforce the speaker’s message.

This is the part of the plot where the conflict is ended.

This is the repetition of similar sounds at the ends of words.

This is writing that uses humor to ridicule or criticize individuals, ideas, or institutions in hopes of improving them.

The regular pattern of rhyme found at the ends of lines in poems is called the rhyme _____.

These are images to help the reader see or hear or feel things. These are details that appeal to the senses.

This is the time and place in which a literary work happens.

This is a comparison of two unlike things using the terms “like” or “as”.

This is the use of words with similar or inexact end sounds to create rhyme.

This is a long speech expressing the thoughts of a character who is alone on the stage.

This is a fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter.

In a book or poem, this is the voice which narrates the story or discussion. It may or may not be a character in the story or poem itself.

This is information written in the script of a play to tell actors where to go or how to speak their lines.

This is a group of related lines in a poem, similar to a paragraph in a story.

A _________ character does not change during the course of the action.

This term describes a narrator or writer who puts his or her own opinions and feelings into the description of the action in a piece of writing. It is the opposite of ‘objective’.

This is to state briefly

(1)To strengthen or prove an argument or idea by providing facts, details, examples and other information.
(2) To strengthen your ideas and opinions with examples, facts, or details is to add _____ details.

These are the facts or details that back up a main idea, theme, or thesis.

This is a person, place, thing, or event that represents something more than itself in a literary work.

This is the use of objects or ideas that represent something other than themselves.

This is a word or phrase that has the same or almost the same meaning as another word or phrase.

This is the message, usually about life or society, that an author wishes to convey through a literary work.

This is a point of view where the author uses pronouns like he and she in telling a story.

This is the attitude that an author takes toward the audience, the subject, or a character.

This is a work of literature, especially a play, that results in a catastrophe for the main character.

This is the central message of a story, poem, novel, or play that many readers can apply to their own experiences, or to those of all people.

This is a writer’s opinion or standpoint on an issue.

A stage ____ is a dramatic device in which a line is delivered so that it cannot be heard by some of the characters in the play, but it can be heard by the audience.

(1) This is another way of saying “diction.” This can help reveal a) the tone of the work, b) connotations of meaning, and/or c) his style of writing.
(2) This is the author’s or speaker’s craft or style. It might be formal, informal, or even slang. Diction is a synonym.