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GLOSSARY Contents Composition Terms 2 Literary Terms 9 1 AUDIENCE the reader or readers for whom a composition is written In this business letter the audience is Dr. Patel. CLARITY the preciseness with which the ideas and the intent of a composition are expressed See how precise the words in these directions are. COHERENCE the orderly arrangement of ideas in a composition Notice how the changes in these sentences make the passage more logical. DRAFTING the actual writing of a composition, beginning with a first draft This girl is drafting a descriptive paragraph about the painting. 2 EDITOR’S MARK standard symbols for making changes when revising or proofreading Notice that each mark in these examples indicates a specific type of change. Use these marks when you revise. Use these marks when you proofread. FINAL DRAFT the finished version of a composition that is ready to be published This is the final draft of the first draft example below. FIRST DRAFT the rough version of a composition, in which a writer's thoughts are first put on paper Notice the unfinished quality of this writing. PREWRITING the first stage of the writing process, in which the writer gathers ideas and information and begins to organize them This example shows a cluster as one way of organizing ideas on a topic. 3 PREWRITING STRATIGIES the activities that help a writer choose and organize ideas and information The following are examples of prewriting strategies. Brainstorming an activity that encourages the contribution of ideas from an individual or a group Making a list is one way of brainstorming. This list shows possible topics for a descriptive paragraph. Charting a way of classifying and organizing ideas and information Clustering a brainstorming technique that helps a writer generate and organize facts or ideas around a main idea or topic diagramming a way of showing how ideas are related in time or space ~ 4 • using an inverted triangle a way of organizing ideas to narrow a topic • listing writing, on paper or on the chalkboard, ideas brainstormed by a group or an individual • mapping a way of organizing ideas to show relationships between them . slotting a brainstorming technique used by an individual or a group to find words or word groups to complete a sentence PROOFREADING reviewing a draft to correct errors in capitalization, punctuation, usage, grammar, and spelling Editor's marks in this example indicate corrections made by the writer while proofreading. 5 PUBLISHING making public a final draft of a composition for example, by reading it aloud, putting it in a class journal, or displaying it on the bulletin board This picture shows a bulletin board that displays several students' published work. PURPOSE the reason a composition is written-for example, to describe, to inform, or to persuade The purpose of this editorial is to persuade. RESPONDING a revising activity in which the writer, a partner, or a group asks and answers questions about a composition Here, a writer questions herself as she reviews her work. Have I left out any necessary information? Do the detail sentences support the topic sentence? RESPONSE GROUP a group of writers who help each other revise their work by asking and answering questions about it These students are responding to a question about unity. Boy: This detail doesn't Girl: Maybe you could make : 6 REVISING the process of rethinking ideas and correcting errors in organization and language Notice these changes in a revised draft. STYLE a writer's use of language and sentence structure to create a particular tone Notice the poetic quality of these lines. TASK a writing assignment or job It was Gloria's task to write a thank-you note to her aunt. TONE the feeling or attitude a writer expresses toward the subject of c composition through his or her particular style of writing for example, a writer's tone may be formal, informal, humorous, or critical The tone of this example is formal and solemn. 7 UNITY the presentation of details that support the main idea of a paragraph or a composition, producing an effect of completeness Here the writer has deleted a sentence that detracts from the unity of a paragraph. WRITING PROCESS the ongoing process of prewriting, drafting, responding and revising proofreading, and publishing a composition Before writing the final draft, a writer can go back and forth from one stage to another. 8 Literary Terms ALLITERATION the repetition o f a beginning consonant sound in two or more nearby words Alliteration is used in this line from the poem "How We Dance" by Lillian Morrison. Bonnie like a beach ball floating on the sea CHARACTERIZATION a writer's creation and development of realistic characters by describing them physically; by recording their actions, speech, and thoughts; or by commenting on them directly or through other characters In these lines from a story, the author uses four of these techniques to develop a character. A short, fat man wearing a black suit hopped out, waddled over, and got in line behind us. "I hear you're nearly done with your new book;" he boomed. "What's this one going to be about?" "I have reason to believe that he is dishonest." CHARACTERS the people (or animals) in a story, novel, play, or poem For some authors, creating believable characters by describing their feelings, thoughts, and behavior is more important than writing a complex story; for others, plot comes first and character development second. FICTION a story invented by a writer Works of fiction range in length from one-page fables, tales, and short stories to long novels that have more complex plots and characters. Historical fiction is based on true events but includes made-up characters and incidents. Fantasy may be set in the real or a make-believe world, but its characters do impossible things and the plots are highly imaginative. In science fiction, the action is usually set in a future world, which characters often reach through time travel or space travel. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Words used in unusual, rather than in exact or expected, ways Similes and metaphors are the most common forms of figurative language. In a simile, the word like or as is used to compare two very different things-for example, Charles dances like an itchy sea serpent. A metaphor suggests a comparison by saying that one thing is another-for example, Charles is an itchy sea serpent. FORESHOWDING a technique used by an author to drop hints about future developments in a story in The Mystery of the Missing Coin, author Ashley Simons uses foreshadowing in the opening paragraph. As Jenny pulled into the driveway, she wondered why the wealthy widower Mr. Van der Home had called her. When he greeted her at the door and escorted her into the elegant living room, Jenny knew at once that something was wrong. IMAGERY the use of images in writing Authors often create word pictures by using descriptive language to convey experiences of the senses or the emotions. In the passage at the top of page 10, William Least Heat Moon uses imagery to recount a journey. 9 Indiana 66, a road so crooked it could run for the legislature, took me into the hilly fields of CHEW MAIL POUCH barns, past Christ-of-the-Ohio Catholic Church, through the Swiss town of Tell City with its statue of William and his crossbow and nervous son. NONFICTION any writing that accurately describes something that actually happened, that presents information, or that gives an opinion Among the forms of nonfiction are biography, the story of someone's life, and autobiography, the story of the author's own life. Exposition is writing that presents or explains information. In a synopsis, a writer gives a summary of a longer work. ONOMATOPOEIA the formation of words in imitation of actual sounds Onomatopoeia is used in these lines from a poem. The percussionist taps On the cymbals of brass, And clashes them together With a big resounding crash! Ting Ting Ting-Ting CLANG! PERSONIFICATION giving human qualities to nonhuman things or using a character to symbolize a particular quality The devil, for example, is the personification of evil. PLOT the action in a story Conflict, or a character's struggle against opposing forces, is the most important part of a plot. A writer plans a sequence of events around the conflict to hold the reader's attention. In the introduction, the setting, characters, and conflict are presented. In the next stage, the complication, or rising action, the conflict intensifies and the story progresses to a climax, in which the conflict must be faced and worked out. The ending of the story is told in the falling action and the resolution. POINT OF VIEW the choice of narrator through whom an author tells a story If the story is narrated by a character using the pronoun I and seeing events only from his or her perspective, the author has chosen the first-person point of view. If the third-person objective point of view is used, the narrator is not part of the story, and all characters are referred to as he, she, it, or they. This narrator only records events and does not offer opinions or reveal the private thoughts of characters. When the narrator is an outsider but is able to tell the reader what the characters are thinking or feeling, the writer is using the third person omniscient, or all-knowing, point of view. REPETITION the use o f the same sound, word, phrase, or line of poetry two or more times Repetition can help a writer emphasize an idea or achieve a particular rhythm. Notice how the poet Langston Hughes uses repetition in these lines. And the tom-toms beat, And the tom-toms beat, And the low beating of the tom-toms Stirs your blood. RHYME the repetition of syllable sounds, especially a t the ends o f lines o f poetry The rhyming sounds at the ends of lines of poetry may be labeled with 10 letters to describe a poem's rhyme scheme. Notice that Lillian Morrison used an abab rhyme scheme in these lines from her poem "Two to Nothing." Catcher, the ball caller a knees bent, squatting; b Pitcher, a slider guider a peering, plotting b RHYTHEM the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, especially in poetry A poem may have a regular rhythm, or meter, from beginning to end, or the rhythm may change within the poem. In this verse, the regular meter of the first four lines is changed to emphasize the last line. The percussionist plays On the copper timpani. Being extra careful When he tunes the key. Boom-Bim Boom-Bim SETTING when and where a story takes place A writer can choose any time or place in which to set a story. Sometimes the setting is necessary to the plot, as in most science fiction tales, but in stories having plots and characters that could develop anywhere the setting is less important. STANZA a group of lines in a poem that are read as a unit and are comparable to a paragraph in a work of prose in poems of more than one stanza, the rhyme scheme and meter are usually, but not always, the same in each stanza. Stanzas within a poem may have the same number of lines, or they may be of different lengths. In "African Dance" by Langston Hughes, notice how they differ. The low beating of the tom-toms, The slow beating of the tom-toms, Low ... slow Slow ... low Stirs your blood. Dance! A night-veiled girl Whirls softly into a Circle of light. Whirls softly ... slowly, Like a wisp of smoke around the fire And the tom-toms beat, And the tom-toms beat, And the low beating of the tom-toms Stirs your blood. THEME the main idea or meaning of a story While plot tells what happens in a story, the theme should answer the question "What does it all mean?" The narrator or a character in a work of fiction may actually state the theme at some point, or the author may leave it up to the reader to guess the theme's meaning. Not all authors write with a theme in mind; some stories are written just to entertain. TONE the language and sentence structure chosen by a writer to express a particular attitude toward the subject The tone of a story or poem may be formal or informal, humorous or solemn, critical or enthusiastic. The author must employ a tone that is appropriate to what he or she is writing. In his poem "The Latest Latin Dance Craze;" Victor Hernandez Cruz has achieved a joyous, comic tone, as demonstrated in these lines. Walking in a double cha cha cha Open the door and glide down The stairs like a swan Hit the street Run at least ten blocks Come back in through the same Door. 11