Download Literature Terms: You should be able to apply the term and/or give

Literature Terms:
You should be able to apply the term and/or give an example.
1. Author: A person who writes or composes a literary or informational text.
2. Narrator: A person, animal, or thing telling the story or giving an account of something
3. Unreliable narrator: When you can’t trust the narrator to tell you an accurate account of the
story.
4. theme: A major idea in a piece of work that suggests a lesson or moral that can be applied to
life and people outside of the story. (Usually the main character learns this lesson.)
5. point of view: The narrator’s perspective of a story.
1st person point of view: a single character gives the personal viewpoint of events as
perceived by that character. Opinions offered may be different than those of another
character or the author.
3rd person point of view: a perspective presented outside of the story (character is not in
the story.)
6. Plot: The structure of a story and the sequence of events
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a. Introduction: includes the setting and main situation
b. rising action: development of ideas that complicates the situation
c. climax: highest point of action in the story that makes it exciting and often makes
a change of events for the plot. Involves the main character.
d. falling action: occurs after the climax and after the main problem is solved.
e. Resolution: How the story ends. Usually the problem has been resolved, or it is
as close to being resolved as it will be.
7. Subplot: story with in the story. (Novels and longer stories have many subplots.)
8. dialogue: conversation between or among characters in a literary work
9. mood: overall atomosphere or feeling of the text.
10. foreshadowing: The use of clues to suggest events that will occur later in the plot.
Usee to build suspense
11. character traits: An adjective that describes a character in a literary text and expresses a
specific quality about the character (e.g., selfish, industrious, humorous). 12. protagonist The
main character in a work of literature.
13. Antagonist: The character opposing the main character.
14. motive: The reason a character acts a particular way.
15. situational irony: The opposite of what you expect to happen.
16. verbal irony: A contrast between what is said or written to what is really meant. 17. 17.
dramatic irony: When the audience/ reader knows something that a charcter does not.
18. main idea: The author’s central thought; the chief topic of a text expressed or
implied in aword or phrase; the topic sentence of a paragraph.
19. Summary: All of the most important parts of the original text (paragraphs, story,
poem) but a much shorter space and in the reader’s own words
20. somebody wanted/but so: An graphic organizer used to help summarize a text that
involves conflict
21. inference: A judgment based on reasoning rather than on a direct or explicit statement. A
conclusion based on facts or circumstances; understanding gained by “reading between the
lines.”prediction
22. denotation: The direct or dictionary meaning of a word.
23. connotation: The range of associations that a word or phrase suggests in addition to its
dictionary meaning (e.g., slender/thin/scrawny).
24. bias - The subtle presence of a positive or negative approach toward a topic.
25. simile - A comparison of two unlike things in which a word of comparison (like or as) is used
(e.g., The ant scurried as fast as a cheetah).
26. metaphor - The comparison of two unlike things in which no words of comparison (like or
as)are used (e.g., The speech gave me food for thought).
27. allusion - An implied or indirect reference in literature to a familiar person, place, or event.
28. personification - An object or abstract idea given human qualities or human form (e.g.,
Flowers danced about the lawn).
Grammar / Writing Terms: All of these definition come from your DGP book. For a more
concise definition and example for each, refer to your daily notes in that book.
1. noun: person, place, thing or idea.
o Common noun – names a general noun (book)
o Proper Noun – names a specific noun and begins with a capital letter (The
Christmas Carol)
o Possessive noun – shows ownership and acts as a modifier (Roger’s book)
2. pronoun. Takes the place of a noun
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Personal pronouns – I, you, me, his
Reflective pronouns – “self” - myself, himself, herself
Relative pronouns – starts adj dep clauses – which, whose, whom
Demonstrative pronouns – demonstrates which one - this, that, these
Indefinite pronouns – doesn’t refer to a definite person or thing: neither, few,
both, everyone, none
3. adjective: modifies a noun. Tells which one, how many what kind.
4. adverb: modifies adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs. Tells how, when, why, where,
and to what extent.
5. preposition: Shows relationship between a noun or pronoun to some other word in the
sentence. (across, by, under, below)
6. Conjunction: joins phrases, words, clauses
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Coordinating conjunctions: FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, yet, so )
Subordination (starts adv dep clauses) after, because, although, when
Correlative not only/ but also, neither nor
Noun clause identifiers – start depend n clauses (who, what, how, when)
Conjunctive adverb: adverb that connects two clauses (however, then, therefore,
furthermore)
7. interjection: express emotion
8. action verb – shows action
9. linking verb – links two words together; shows state of being
10. helping verb – comes before an action or linking verb. Creates verb phrase and “helps” show
tense.
11. gerund – “verbal” that ends in ING and functions as a noun.
12. Participle – “verbal” that can have any verb ending and functions as an adjective.
13. Infinitive – “verbal” that is “to + verb”. Can act like a noun, adjective, or adverb.
14. Subject – Who or what the clause is talking about. Must be noun or pronoun.
(Complete
subject is the noun and all of its modifiers)
15. predicate – The verb of the sentence.
16. transitive verb – action verb that takes a direct object
14. intransitive verb – linking or action verb that does not take a direct object.
15. direct object – completes the meaning of a sentence that follows the action verb.
16. indirect object – completes the meaning of a sentence; answers “to whom or what” after you
find the direct object.
17. Predicate nominative – completes the meaning of the sentence that uses a linking verb. It is
always a noun or pronoun.
18. predicate adjective – completes the meaning of the sentence that uses a linking verb. Is an
adjective that describes he subject.
19. appositive – noun or pronoun that follows and renames another noun or pronoun.
20. appositive phrase – appositive plus its modifiers
21. prepositional phrase – starts with the preposition and ends with the noun or pronoun. Acts as
an adjective or adverb.
21. object of preposition – Follows the preposition and tells what or whom
22. noun of direct address – person being spoken to in a sentence