Terms to Know for Pre-AP English I

You must be familiar with the definitions of the following by the first day of Pre-AP English I.

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 : sudden realization; the light bulb moment

Flat/round character: (no depth/depth and complexity)

Foil: 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: informal spoken language or conversation

Slang: non-standard use of words

Vernacular: characteristic language of a particular group

Euphemism: 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

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: addressing something as if they were present

Metaphor: figurative language comparing two unlike things

Metonymy : type of metaphor in which a word or phrase is substituted for something closely associated with it.

Oxymoron: a paradox in two side by side words.

Paradox: a contradictory statement that turns out to be true

Personification: applying human attributes to something not human

Pun: play on words

Simile: figurative language comparing two unlike things using like or as

Symbol: something representing something else

Synaesthesia: describing one sense in terms of another.

Synecdoche: figurative language using the part to represent the whole.

Alliteration: repetition of the initial consonant sound

Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds Consonance: 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: out of place in time

Anecdote : short account of an incident

Antithesis: direct opposites

Direct characterization: something about the character is stated directly Indirect characterization: personality traits about the character are implied through dialogue or actions.

Dialogue: when 2 people are speaking to each other

Hyperbole: exaggeration

Dramatic irony: when the reader knows things the characters don’t Situational irony: when the opposite happens from what you expect Verbal irony: saying one thing and meaning another

Motif: recurring idea

Satire: 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: 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: 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: 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: rename noun phrases and are usually placed beside what they rename .

Gerund phrase: 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: 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: just another way of saying parallel but opposing.

Balanced sentence: 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 sentence: A sentence consisting of at least two coordinate independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.

Loose/cumulative sentence: a complex sentence in which the main clause comes first and the subordinate clause follows

Periodic sentence: 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: placement of direct opposites

Juxtaposition: placing things side-by-side for effect Asyndeton: absence of any conjunctions

Ellipsis: leaving words out

Polysyndeton: using unnecessary conjunctions

Repetition: repeating for effect

Anadiplosis: repeating the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or very near the beginning of the next

Anaphora: repeating words at the beginning of a sentence

Epanalepsis: word or phrase is repeated after intervening matter

Epistrophe: the counterpart of anaphora, because the repetition of the same word or words comes at the end of successive phrases, clauses or sentences

Antimetabole: Reversal of the order of repeated words or phrases (a loosely chiastic structure, AB-BA)

Inversion: changing the normal order of syntax

Chiasmus: 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: fragment for a specific purpose

Rhetorical Question: question with no answer intended