NARRATIVE TEXT- a Written Account of Events That Tells a Story

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Narrative Terms

NARRATIVE TEXT- a written account of events that tells a story

MEMOIR- a type of autobiography that may not cover the writer’s entire life, but highlights a part of his/her life

THEME- the main point of the story; the message or lesson the writer wants to get across to the reader. A theme may be stated or implied. (e.g., Honesty is always the best policy.)

RECURRING THEME- the theme of a story that is repeated from one story to another

CHARACTER TRAIT-adjective/s that tell about the character’s personality

PROTAGONIST- the main character in the story; the hero/good guy

ANTAGONIST- the character or force that opposes the protagonist; the bad guy

INTERNAL CONFLICT- a struggle/problem within the protagonist

EXTERNAL CONFLICT- a struggle/problem that is outside the protagonist with another character or outside force

IMAGERY- the use of words and phrases that appeal to the reader’s senses

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE- words or expressions that are not literally true that are used by writers to create original descriptions. The most common figures of speech are simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, and idioms.

SIMILE- a direct comparison between two unlike things using the words like and as

METAPHOR- a comparison of two things that have some quality in common, but the words like and as are not used

PERSONIFICATION- giving human qualities to an animal or a non-living thing

IDIOM- an expression that has a meaning different from the meaning of the individual words (e.g., ‘it’s raining cats and dogs.”) An expression that has a meaning particular to a language or a region

ANALOGY- a point-by-point comparison between two dissimilar things – similarity of relationships

HYPERBOLE- the author’s use of exaggeration or overstatement for emphasis

FORESHADOWING- a hint about an event that will occur later in the story

IRONY- the contrast between what is expected and what actually happens

ALLITERATION- repeated consonant sounds occurring at the beginning of words or within words.

ANTONYM- a word that means the opposite of another word

SYNONYM- a word having the same meaning or almost the same meaning of another word

DIALOGUE- words that characters speak aloud

DIRECT QUOTE- the speaker’s or writer's exact words as set off by "quotation marks”