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Reading Toolbox
English Reading Toolbox Test
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| category of literature | genre |
| the order, sequence of events, or actions in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem; what happens in a story | plot |
| time (time of day or year, time in history) and place (physical location, geographical location, or imaginary location) in which a story occurs | setting |
| central message, lesson, or insight into life or people that is revealed through the literary work; indirectly expressed through insights | theme |
| people, animals or things with positive and or negative personality traits; can be flat or round, static, or dynamic | character |
| voice telling the story; keps a story moving, filing in details and description between dialogue; speaks in several point of view | narrator |
| narrator's position wiht respect to the characters and the reader; helps determine what a reader is told and when, and how a reader feels about characters and events in a story | point of view |
| one of the story's characters narrates using the pronoun "I" | first person POV |
| places the reader in a story using the pronoun "you" | second person POV |
| narrator is outside of the story and sees events through the eyes of only one character; uses the pronoun "she" and "he" | limited third person POV |
| narrator is not one of the characters in the story, but rather narrates as though looking in on the story and seeing the emotions, motives, and actions of all the characters; uses prounouns "she" and "he" | all-knowing third person POV |
| writer's attitude toward his or her subject, character, or audience; usually conveyed through the author's choice of words and details | tone |
| feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage; setting, descriptions, events, and tone all contribute to this | mood |
| facts revealed by the author r speaker that support the attitude, tone, or events in a story or poem | details |
| lesson expressed in a simple story | moral |
| structure of shape of a written work | form |
| division in poetry equivalent to a paragraph in prose; follow a prescribed pattern of rhyme and rhythm | stanza |
| type of drama in which the protagonist is highly renowned adn prosperous, and whose reversal of fortune and fall from greatnessa rebrought about by some error or frailty | tragedy |
| events in a tragedy drama that inspire pity and terror in its viewers, allowing them, thorugh vicarious partici[ation in the dramatic even, to attain an emotional purgation, moral purification, or clarity of intellectual viewpoint | catharis |
| play or movie of light and humorous character with a cheerful ending | comedy |
| reference to a literary, mythological, or historical person, place, or thing; can refer to historical events, geographic locations, Bible verses, mythology, poems, stories, characters, music, movies, plays or art | allusion |
| a type of character, action, or situation that occurs over and over in literature and myths throughout the world; pattern or example that commonly occurs in literature and life | archetype |
| conversation between two or more characters; can move the action of a story, build suspense, arouse reader interst, develop characters, add variety, establish conflict, and make a story's charaters and setting seem real | dialogue |
| an event in which the essential nature of something is suddenly understood in a new way; when a character has a sudden realization or an "ah-ha" moment | epiphany |
| interruption in a story to tell about events that happened earlier; can appear as character memories or dreams, in dialogue or in narration; provide background information that clarifies current actions in the story | flashback |
| use of clues or hints in a literary work that suggest events that have not yet occurred; may appear in dialogue or in narration; used to develop plot, set a mood of intrigue ad suspense, and prepare the reader for what is to come | foreshadowing |
| reading "in between the lines" of literary piece to make logical assumption based upon details within the story and your own understanding of them; examine details from story in light of what you already know from your experiences or past events in story | inference |
| contradictory statement or situation; when one thing is expected to happen or be and the exact opposite occurs; contrast between appearance and reality | irony |
| occurs when a character says one thing but means the opposite | verbal irony |
| occurs wehn what happens in a story is the opposite of what is expected to happen | situational irony |
| occurs when the reader has information that one or more of the characters does not have | dramatic irony |
| a poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, often creating an effect or surprise and wit | juxtaposition |
| use of three or more sequential descriptors that draw attention to a character, setting or theme of the story | magic three |
| recurrent element in a literary work; pattern or strand of imagery or symbolism in a piece of literature | motif |
| writing that makes fun of a piece of literature, art, or music | parody |
| a device in which words, sounds, and/or ideas are used more than once to enhance rhythm and to create emphasis | repetition |
| a question that does not require an answer in which the answer is quite obvious; often used in persuasive writing to emphasize or bolster an argument | rhetorical question |
| use of verbal irony in which a person appears to be praising something but is actually insulting it | sarcasm |
| writing that makes fun of habits, ideas, or weaknesses in a person, an institution, and entire society, or humanity in general; witty and tolerant or biting and vicious; often written with the intent of exposing or correcting a problem | satire |
| a plot technique in which an inner story is set inside the framework of another story | story within a story |
| conclusion to a narrative that is not expected by the reader; often abrupt, emotional, adn ironic; frequently used to add poignancy to a point the author is trying to make; often foreshadowed throughout the story | surprise ending |
| growing sense of tension or anxiety about what will happen next in a story; usually most intense at the close of chapters in novels and the end of acts in dramas; "tools" - mysterious circumstances, mysterious characters, dark settings, bad weather, etc. | suspense |
| something concrete that stands for something abstract; may be an object, person, place, thing, or action that has a meaning in itself, ad also stands for something larger than itself, such as a quality, attitude, belief, idea, or value | symbol |
| methods used by an author to create a character including: physical appearance, own speech, thoughts, actions, and/or feelings, direct comments made by the author or narrator about the character | characterization |
| method wherein the author tells his reader about a character | direct characterization |
| methods require the reader to infer facts about a character's traits; methods include: character's actions, words, physical description, or thoguhts; can also be achieved through the thoughts, actions, and words of other characters | indirect characterization |
| central character and focus of interest who is trying to accomplish or overcome and adversity, and who has the ability to adapt to new circumstances or situations; can be a person, idea, or force | protagonist |
| reason that explains a character's thoughts, feelings, actions, or behavior | character motivation |
| character opposing the protagonist | antagonist |
| character that undergoes a change in actions or beliefs during the course of a story | dynamic character |
| character that does not grow or change throughout the course of a story | static character |
| when an author chooses to concentrate on a single dominant personality trait of a character creating a "two-dimensional" character | flat character |
| when an author presents a complex, "three-dimensional" personality of a character | round character |
| characters that embody a certain kind of universal human experience | archetypal character |
| deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration that may be used to emphasize a point or add excitement and humor to a story | hyperbole |
| an accepted phrase or expression having a meaning different from the literal meaning of the words | idiom |
| the words or phrases that a writer uses to descriptively represent persons, objects, actions, feelings, and the ideas by appealing to the five senses that conjure up mental images | imagery |
| a comparison of two unlike things not using the words "like" or "as" | simile |
| form of paradox that contains opposite words or phrases into a single unusual expression | oxymoron |
| when elements of a statement contradict each other; pits contradictory ideas against one another so that a statement appears to be untrue; holds or reveals a profound and hidden truth in the story | paradox |
| writing that gives human qualities or actions to something that is not human | personification |
| a play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply different meanings; can have serious or humorous uses in literature | pun |
| comparison of two different things or ideas through the use of the words "like", "as", or "seems" | simile |
| the opposite of a hyperbole; a kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is | understatement |
| practice of beginning several consecutive or neighboring words with the same sound; common in slogans, cliches, and advertising; emphsizes a group of words amd makes them easy to remember; adds musical quality to poetry | alliteration |
| direct juxtaposition of structurally parallel words, phrases, or clauses for the purpose of contrast | antithesis |
| repetition of accented vowel sounds in a series of words | assonance |
| emotions of associations of a word normally arouses in people using, hearing, or reading the word | connotation |
| repetition of a consonant sound within a series of words to prouduce a harmonious effect | consonance |
| the specific and appropriate dictionary definition of a word as used within the context of the story | denotation |
| an author's use of speech patterns that fit a character's background or the setting of a story; gives hints about the character's regional, educational, social, economic, and historical background | dialect |
| words an author chooses to create a specific effect; apporpriateness of the words with regard to the emotions and/or ideas with which they are associated | diction |
| words whose sounds suggest its meaning; provides sound effects and appears most frequently in poetry, advertising and children's stories | onomatopoeia |
| repetition of words, phrases or sentence structure; adds rhythm and emotional impact to writing | parallelism |
| author's right to break the rules of proper writing in order to achieve an effect or get a point across | poetic license |
| wordes or phrases repeated in writing to produce emphasis, rhythm, and/or a sense of urgency | repetition |
| repetition fo a work, phrase, line, or lines in a poem, song, or speech at regular intervals | refrain |
| repetition of end sounds in vowels | repetition |
| repeat stressed vowel sounds and the last consonant sound | perfect rhymes |
| two words that almost sound alike; repeat either the vowel or consonant sound | near rhymes |
| appear at the end of two or more lines of poetry | end rhyme |
| appear within a single line of poetry | internal rhymes |
| refers to the pattern of end rhymes ina a poem | rhyme scheme |
| arrangement of words an the order of grammatical elements in a sentence | syntax |
| pattern of beats or stress in language; can be regular or random; helps create mood, imitate action, or emphasize a meaning or emotion, often combine with rhyme, alliteration, and other literary devices to add amusical quality to the writing | rhythm |
| regular pattern of stresses found in many poems and songs | meter |
Created by:
Tiffanyy
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