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Terms to Know for Pre-AP English II
You must know the definitions of the following by the first day of Pre-AP English II.
Close Reading Terms:
Inference: opinion with evidence to support
Archetype: an original pattern or model from which all other things of the same kind are made
Dynamic character: (changing character)
Static character: character stays the same
Epiphany (8): sudden realization; the light bulb moment
Flat/round character: (no depth/depth and complexity)
Foil (9): character’s opposite
Motivation: what drives a character on
Detail: details included for a purpose
Diction: Word choice
Connotation: feeling word gives you
Denotation: dictionary definition
Dialect: vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people
Colloquial (10): informal spoken language or conversation
Slang (10): non-standard use of words
Vernacular (10): characteristic language of a particular group
Euphemism (8): A mild word of phrase which substitutes for another which would be undesirable because it is
too direct, unpleasant, or offensive
Idiom: a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language
Invective (12): abusive or venomous language used to express blame or censure or bitter deep-seated ill will
Vocabulary
Imagery: words that appeal to the 5 senses
Mood: the feeling invoked in the reader
Foreshadowing: hints to what is to come
Rhetorical Shift: shift in attitude
Theme: what an author believes to be true on a subject presented in the work.
Tone: speaker’s attitude towards his subject
Apostrophe (8): addressing something as if they were present
Metaphor: figurative language comparing two unlike things
Metonymy (10): type of metaphor in which a word or phrase is substituted for something closely associated with it.
Oxymoron (7): a paradox in two side by side words.
Paradox (8): a contradictory statement that turns out to be true
Personification: applying human attributes to something not human
Pun (9): play on words
Simile: figurative language comparing two unlike things using like or as
Symbol: something representing something else
Synaesthesia (10): describing one sense in terms of another.
Synecdoche (10): figurative language using the part to represent the whole.
Alliteration: repetition of the initial consonant sound
Assonance (7): repetition of vowel sounds
Consonance (7): repetition of consonant sounds within words
Onomatopoeia: the sound of a word echoes the sound it represents
Allusion: reference to another lit. work or historic event
Anachronism (10): out of place in time
Anecdote (10): short account of an incident
Antithesis (9) direct opposites
Direct characterization (8): something about the character is stated directly
Indirect characterization (8): personality traits about the character are implied through dialogue or actions.
Dialogue: when 2 people are speaking to each other
Hyperbole (7): exaggeration
Dramatic irony (9): when the reader knows things the characters don’t
Situational irony (7): when the opposite happens from what you expect
Verbal irony: saying one thing and meaning another
Motif (10): recurring idea
Satire (10): Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject (individuals,
organizations, states) often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change
Litotes (10): A figure of speech in which a positive is stated by negating its opposite. Some examples of litotes:
no small victory, not a bad idea, not unhappy. Litotes is the opposite of hyperbole.
Aphorism (10): a short, witty saying, expressing a truth about life
Diary: journal or log
Exposition: Writing intended to explain the nature of an idea, thing, or theme. Expository writing is often
combined with description, narration, or argument
Catharsis: purging of emotions
Hamartia: In tragedy, the event or act that leads to the hero's or heroine's downfall
Hubris: Excessive pride
Comedy: it’s funny; duh
Comic relief: comic scene amid a tragedy to ease tensions
Dues ex machine: god from a machine
In medias res: beginning in the middle of the action (in the middle of things)
Monologue: an excessive speech by one speaker
Soliloquy: character speaking his thoughts while on stage alone
Tragedy: something horrible happens at the end; duh
Tragic Flaw: the flaw that leads to the hero’s downfall
Essay: Essay, a short work that treats of a topic from an author's personal point of view, often taking into account
subjective experiences and personal reflections upon them
Fable: a short moral story (often with animal characters)
Genre: A category of literary work
Prologue: An introductory section of a literary work
Epilogue: A concluding statement or section of a literary work
Subplot: minor plot
Novella: A prose fiction longer than a short story but shorter than a novel
Parable: A brief story, told or written in order to teach a moral lesson
Prose: not poetry
Verse: poetry
Epitaph: an inscription on a gravestone or a commemorative poem written as if it were for that purpose.
Grammar Terms:
Absolute phrase (10): are made of nouns or pronouns followed by a participle and any modifiers of the noun or
pronoun (ie: his hair blowing). They phrases contain a subject (unlike participial phrases), and no predicate. They serve
to modify an entire sentence.
Appositive phrase (7): rename noun phrases and are usually placed beside what they rename .
Gerund phrase (8): verbal in which a verb is used as a noun and any of its modifiers. It can be used as a subject,
direct object, object of the preposition,, etc.
Infinitive phrase: will begin with an infinitive [to + simple form of the verb] and include objects and/or modifiers
Participial phrase (8): includes the participle (verb used as an adjective) and the object
of the participle or any words modified by or related to the participle
Prepositional: includes a preposition and the object of the preposition. It shows relationship, direction, or location.
Dependent/Subordinate clause: clause contains a subject and a verb, AND it can stand alone
Independent clause: clause contains a subject and a verb, but it is characterized as beginning with a dependent marker
word (ie: although, despite, while, because, etc.) and therefore cannot stand by itself as a complete sentence.
Declarative sentence : the kind of sentence that makes a statement or “declares” something
Exclamatory sentence: a more forceful version of a declarative sentence, marked at the end with an
exclamation mark
Imperative sentence: gives a direct command to someone
Interrogative sentence: asks a direct question
Antithetical sentence:(10): just another way of saying parallel but opposing.
Balanced sentence (10): parallel structure on either side of the conjunction, semi-colon, etc.
Complex sentence: A sentence with an independent clause and at least one dependent clause
Compound sentence: A sentence consisting of two or more coordinate independent clauses
Compound-complex sentene: A sentence consisting of at least two coordinate independent clauses and one
or more dependent clauses.
Loose/cumulative sentence (7): a complex sentence in which the main clause comes first and the subordinate
clause follows
Periodic sentence (7): a complex sentence in which the main clause comes last and is preceded by the
subordinate clause
Simple: having no coordinate or subordinate clauses
Antithesis (9): placement of direct opposites
Juxtaposition (9) placing things side-by-side for effect
Asyndeton (8): absence of any conjunctions
Ellipsis (9): leaving words out
Polysyndeton (8): using unnecessary conjunctions
Repetition: repeating for effect
Anadiplosis (10): repeating the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or very near the beginning of the
next
Anaphora (9): repeating words at the beginning of a sentence
Epanalepsis (10): word or phrase is repeated after intervening matter
Epistrophe (9): the counterpart of anaphora, because the repetition of the same word or words comes at the end
of successive phrases, clauses or sentences
Antimetabole (10): Reversal of the order of repeated words or phrases (a loosely chiastic structure, AB-BA)
Inversion (7): changing the normal order of syntax
Chiasmus (10): A crossing parallelism, where the second part of a grammatical construction is balanced or
paralleled by the first part, only in reverse order. Instead of an A,B structure (eg, "learned unwillingly") paralleled
by another A,B structure ("forgotten gladly"), the A,B will be followed by B,A ("gladly forgotten"). So instead of
writing "What is learned unwillingly is forgotten gladly," you could write, "What is learned unwillingly is gladly
forgotten." Similarly, the parallel sentence, "What is now great was at first little," could be written chiastically as,
"What is now great was little at first."
Rhetorical Fragment (10): fragment for a specific purpose
Rhetorical Question (10): question with no answer intended