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English 1 22/23
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| allegory | A symbolic fictional figure or event in a story with complex metaphorical meaning. Examples: Justice with blindfold, sword and scales, The Beauty and the Beast as an allegory of love and jealousy. |
| alliteration | The repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words: "What would the world be, once bereft / Of wet and wildness?" (Gerard Manley Hopkins, Inversnaid). |
| anapaest | A metrical foot of three syllables, two short (or unstressed) followed by one long (or stressed). Examples: seventeen, to the moon. The anapaest is the reverse of the dactyl. |
| antagonist | In fictional texts, the person who opposes the protagonist. Example: Macduff is Macbeth's antagonist in Shakespeare's Macbeth. |
| antithesis | A figure of speech in which words and phrases with opposite meanings are balanced against each other. Example: "To err is human, to forgive, divine." (Alexander Pope). |
| assonance | The repetition or a pattern of similar sounds, especially vowel sounds: "Thou still unravished bride of quietness, / Thou foster child of silence and slow time" (John Keats, Ode to a Grecian Urn). |
| blank verse | Unrhymed verse consisting of five iambic feet, also called iambic pentameter. |
| catastrophe | The tragic denouement of a play or story, in which the outcome (usually the death of the hero) is presented. |
| catharsis | The release of some of the audience's emotions while watching a tragedy. Aristotle wrote that "tragedy through pity or fear causes a catharsis (i.e. purgation/cleansing) of emotions." In other words, when watching a tragedy, the audience has emotions whic |
| character | In a fictional text, a person developed through action, description, language and a way of speaking; there are flat and round characters. |
| characterisation | The way of presenting a character in a fictional text. The narrator can describe a person and his/her character traits directly and explain his/her actions (direct characterisation) or the reader has to find out what a character is like from what s/he doe |
| climax | A structural element of a text, usually the moment when the conflict is most intense. In fictional texts, it follows the rising action and precedes the turning point. |
| conflict | A struggle of opposition between different forces which produces tension. The conflict of a fictional text becomes obvious during the rising action. |
| dactyl | A metrical foot of three syllables, one long (or stressed) followed by two short (or unstressed). Example: happily. The dactyl is the reverse of the anapaest. |
| denouement | The final outcome of a fictional text, especially in a drama, when the conflict is resolved. Therefore, denouement is also known as "solution." There are also texts with an open ending. |
| drama | Any work meant to be performed on a stage or as a film. Unlike most other forms of literature, a drama involves a visual element and relies upon the spoken words of the individual characters. Therefore, inner thoughts are usually revealed through dialogue |
| dystopia | Vision of a state in which the conditions of life are extremely bad. |
| ellipsis | The shortening of sentences by omitting a word or words which can be understood from the context. Ellipsis is often used by poets to make their poems more compact and direct. Example: "Coming?" instead of "Are you coming?" |
| enjambment | The continuation of a complete idea (a sentence or clause) from one verse or couplet of a poem to the next verse or couplet without a pause. Example: "I think that I shall never see / A poem as lovely as a tree." (Joyce Kilmer, Trees). |
| exposition | A structural element of a fictional text, usually at the very beginning, which includes at least some of the following: the introduction of the main characters, the theme, the setting, the atmosphere or the tone. Its purpose is to lead the reader/audience |
| fable | A fictional narrative text, normally short in length, in which animals represent human types or act like human beings. |
| fairy tale | A narrative prose text about the adventures, fortunes and misfortunes of a hero or heroine. They are often young archetypal characters, good-looking, strong and rich men or beautiful and warm-hearted women. Fairy tales usually begin "once upon a time" and |
| falling action | A structural element of a fictional text, marked by a reduction in suspense. Normally it follows the turning point or climax. In a tragedy, the protagonist's fortunes are in decline, while in a comedy they are improving. The falling action precedes the de |
| figure of speech/trope, figurative | An expression in which words or sounds are arranged in a particular way to achieve a particular effect. The meaning of a word is extended beyond its usual dictionary definition to indicate sth. else. Allegory, alliteration, assonance, metaphor, metonymy, |
| first-person narrator | A character inside the story, very often one of the protagonists who tells the story from his own, personal point of view (using the pronouns "I" or "we"). This means that the reader only gets to know what the narrator himself knows, feels, sees or hears. |
| flashback | An episode which interrupts the chronological order of a text in order to go back in time and show what happened earlier; they are used to reveal new information. |
| flat character | A minor character in a literary work who does not develop in the course of the action; the reader does not learn a lot about those characters. |
| foot | Two or more syllables that together make up the smallest unit of rhythm in a poem. Example: an iamb is a foot that has two syllables, one unstressed followed by one stressed. An anapaest has three syllables, two unstressed followed by one stressed. |
| foreshadowing | The technique of hinting at later events in a fictional text in such a way that the reader or spectator is prepared for them or can even anticipate them. In the exposition of a novel there is usually some idea of the theme and outcome of the story. |
| happy ending | A conclusion of a fictional text in which the conflict is resolved in a positive, usually humorous way. |
| hero, heroine | The principal male or female character in a work of literature. The hero is usually in conflict with an opponent (antagonist), fate and/or society. The term protagonist is often used instead of hero, because hero has now come to signify a morally perfect |
| hyperbole | A figure of speech in which deliberate exaggeration is used for emphasis. Many everyday expressions are examples of hyperbole: tons of money, waiting for ages, a flood of tears. Hyperbole is the opposite of litotes. |
| iamb | A metrical foot of two syllables, one short (or unstressed) and one long (or stressed). There are four iambs in the verse "Come LIVE / with ME / and BE / my LOVE," (Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love; stressed syllables in capitals). |
| image | A picture in the reader's mind which is created by the author's words; it brings forth special reactions and evokes associations in the reader. |
| imagery | Any poetic reference to the five senses (sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste). Essentially, imagery is a group of words that appeal to the reader's imagination and gives them a new perspective on sth. Such images can be created by using figures of spee |
| legend | A story which lies between myth and historical fact; it originally referred to the story of a saint's life. |
| limited third-person narrator | This type of narrator can only describe what s/he sees or hears, i.e., the outward appearance of things and people. S/he knows nothing about the characters' feelings or thoughts. |
| litotes | A figure of speech in which a positive is stated by negating its opposite. Examples: no small victory, not a bad idea, not unhappy. Litotes is the opposite of hyperbole. |
| metaphor | A figure of speech in which two things are compared without using words like "like" or "as", but by saying one thing is another or by substituting a more descriptive word for the more common or usual word that would be expected. Examples: the world's a st |
| metonymy | A figure of speech in which one word is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. Example: in the expression "The pen is mightier than the sword", the word pen is used for "the written word" and sword is used for "military power". |
| metre | The arrangement of a verse of poetry by the number of syllables and the rhythm of accented (or stressed) syllables. |
| myth, mythical | An ancient story dealing with supernatural beings and heroes and heroines. Myths relate the formation or creation of geographical phenomena or of certain human feelings and concepts. Myths can be considered archetypal, since they are usually expressions o |
| narrator | The person who tells the story in a narrative text. There are first-person and third-person narrators; the latter can be omniscient. In poetry, the narrator is called speaker. |
| novel | A long complex fictional narrative text written in prose. It contains characters, action and, usually, plot. Novels are extremely varied in style, form and content. |
| novella | The term for any fictional text written in prose which is shorter than a novel but longer than a short story. Example: Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea. |
| omniscient third-person narrator | A narrator in a text who appears to know everything about the characters, including their thoughts and feelings and events in the story being told. |
| onomatopoeia, onomatopoetic | A figure of speech characterized by the use of words which imitate the sound the refer to, e.g. "buzz", "cuckoo". |
| oxymoron | A form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression. This combination usually serves the purpose of shocking the reader into awareness. Examples: wise fool, sad joy. |
| parable | A short fictional narrative text which makes a general statement about existence or teaches a moral or religious lesson. The moral of a parable is rarely explicitly stated; rather, the reader or listener is expected to draw a parallel between the story an |
| paradox | A situation, action or feeling that appears to be contradictory but on inspection turns out to be true or at least to make sense. Example: "Take me to you, imprison me, for I / Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, / Nor ever chaste, except you rav |
| personification | Non-human objects, animals, forces of nature or abstract ideas are represented with human qualities as if they were human beings, usually used to emphasise the central meaning. Examples: dead leaves dance in the wind, blind justice. |
| plot | In a fictional text, the action structured as a set of events connected by cause and effect and centred around one or more conflicts. Plot is traditionally composed of the following elements, usually in this order: exposition, rising action, climax, turni |
| poem | A unified and independent composition, which contains a structured verse sequence and is characterised by a special arrangement of words which produces a stylized rhythm. Poems vary greatly in theme, atmosphere and structure. Traditional poems use metres |
| poetry | A type of literature that is written in metre. |
| point of view | The perspective from which the characters, topics and events are presented. The POV establishes the relationship between the reader and the text; it depends on the narrator, i.e. s/he can present the action from a single or various angles. |
| protagonist | The main character in a fictional text, especially a drama. A protagonist can be either good or bad and is usually in conflict with an antagonist. |
| pun | A figure of speech which involves a play on words, in which one word has two different meanings, so that a sentence can be understood in two different ways. Puns are usually used for humorous effect. |
| refrain | A verse or group of verses that is repeated throughout a poem, usually after every stanza. |
| review | An article in which sb. gives their opinion of a play, book, art exhibition etc. |
| rhyme | The occurrence of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words. When the rhyme occurs in a final stressed syllable, it is said to be masculine: cat / hat, desire / fire, observe / deserve. When the rhyme occurs in a final unstressed syllable |
| rhythm, rhythmic | The arrangement of stressed or unstressed syllables in writing to produce a certain flow of sound. In verse, there is a regular rhythm, usually based around a metrical pattern; in prose, the rhythm changes according to the sentence and mood. |
| rising action | A structural element of a fictional text, marked by an increase in the suspense and the intensification of the conflict. Rising action usually follows the exposition and precedes the climax. |
| round character | A term to describe a character in a fictional text who develops in the course of the text and therefore changes his/her attitudes and values. |
| science fiction | A fictional text in which scientific developments or discoveries play an important role. Science fiction stories are often set in the future. |
| selective third-person narrator | This type of narrator tells the story from the personal point of view of one of the characters. This means that the reader gets to know this character from the inside (his/her thoughts and feelings) and the other characters from the outside, as seen by th |
| setting | The place and/or time in which the action in a text takes place. |
| short story | A short fictional narrative text. It usually consists of a tight plot and is limited in theme, setting and number of characters and events by its length. |
| simile | A figure of speech in which two things are compared using the word "like" or "as." An example of a simile using like occurs in Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem": "What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?" |
| soliloquy | In drama, a speech delivered by a character alone on stage; it is used to reveal a character's thoughts, feelings or motives to the audience. Example: William Shakespeare, Hamlet, To be or not to be. |
| sonnet | A lyric poem that is 14 verses long. Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnets are divided into two quatrains and a six-verse "sestet," with the rhyme scheme abba abba cdecde (or cdcdcd). English (or Shakespearean) sonnets are composed of three quatrains and a fina |
| speaker | The narrative voice of the poem (i.e., the person the reader is supposed to imagine is talking). It's important to note that this voice is not the poet's. Even if the poem is biographical, you should treat this voice as a fictional creation. |
| stanza | Two or more verses of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme. |
| style | A writer's way of expressing him or herself. Style involves the method of conveying what the writer wants to say in an effective way. Style comprises of the choice of words, the tone, the atmosphere and sentence structure. |
| suspense | A feeling of tension or expectation aroused in the reader or audience about the further development of the plot in a fictional text. |
| symbol | Sth. that is simultaneously itself and a sign of sth. else; often a concrete object that stands for an abstract idea. Examples: a white dove for peace, an anchor for hope, a heart / rose for love. Winter, darkness, and cold are real things, but in literat |
| synaesthesia | In poetry, synaesthesia refers specifically to figurative language that includes a mixing of senses. Example: "He wore a loud yellow shirt" mixes a visual imagery (yellow) with auditory imagery (loud). |
| synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part is used to designate the whole or the whole is used to designate a part. Example: "all hands on deck" means "all men on deck," not just their hands. The reverse situation, in which the whole is used for a part, occurs in |
| theme | The central topic or idea in a text which binds all elements together. |
| third-person narrator | A narrator who stands outside the story and uses the third person voice ("he", "she" or "they") to refer to the characters. S/he may tell the story as an omniscient narrator with an unlimited point of view or from the point of view of one of the character |
| tone | The narrator's/speaker's attitude towards his or her theme, characters or readers/listeners. In a text, it can be, for example, serious or playful, humorous or solemn, ironical or romantic. |
| trochee | A metrical foot of two syllables, one long (or stressed) and one short (or unstressed). An easy way to remember the trochee is to memorize the first verse of a light-hearted poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which demonstrates the use of various kinds of m |
| turning point | A structural element of a fictional text, marking a change in the conflict or suspense. It usually follows the climax and precedes the falling action. |
| utopia, utopian | A fictional text dealing with an ideal society or world, especially in its social, political and moral aspects. In modern literature, the anti-utopian novel, often called dystopia(n), has become more popular than the utopian. |
| verse | A single metrical line of poetry or poetry in general (as opposed to prose). In songs, stanzas are also called verses. |
| villain | The bad character in any fictional text who intends to destroy the hero or heroine. Example: Iago in William Shakespeare's Othello. |
| economic (adj) | relating to the economy, business and trade |
| economical (adj) | not spending or costing much money |
| receipt (n) | a document that you get from sb. showing that you have given them money or goods |
| bill (n) | a piece of paper that shows how much money you owe after you have eaten in a restaurant |
| make (n) | a product that is made by a particular company |
| brand (n) | a product or group of products that has its own name and is made by one particular company |
| bargain (n) | sth. you buy that costs much less than normal |
| sale (n) | an event or period of time during which a shop reduces the prices of some of its goods |
| discount (n) | a reduction in the price of sth. |
| offer (n) | a special price that is lower than the usual price for sth. |
| price (n) | the amount of money that you have to pay in order to buy sth. |
| cost (n) | the amount of money that you need in order to buy sth. or to do sth. |
| change (n) | coins rather than notes |
| cash (n) | money in the form of notes and coins |
| wealth (n) | a large amount of money and other valuable things |
| fortune (n) | a large amount of money |
| till (n) | a piece of equipment that is used in shops for adding up the amount of money that sb. has to pay and for keeping the money in |
| checkout (n) | the place where you pay in a supermarket or other large shop |
| products (n) | things that are made, grown or obtained in large quantities so that they can be sold |
| goods (n) | objects that are produced for sale |
| refund (v/n) | to give money back to sb. because they have paid too much for sth. or have decided that they do not want it / the money that you get back |
| exchange (v) | to give sb. sth. in return for sth. that they give you |
| fake (adj) | made to look like sth. real in order to trick people |
| plastic (adj) | made of a very common light, strong substance that is produced by a chemical process |
| bank on (phr v) | depend on sth. happening |
| come across (phr v) | find sth. or meet sb. by chance |
| come by (phr v) | get sth., especially sth. that is hard to get |
| come into (phr v) | inherit |
| do without (phr v) | live without (sth. you can't afford) |
| get by (phr v) | manage to survive (financially) |
| get through (phr v) | use all of, finish |
| give away (phr v) | give free of charge; reveal sth. you are trying to hide |
| live on (phr v) | use as a source of money |
| look round (phr v) | examine (a place) |
| make out (phr v) | write all the necessary information on a cheque, etc. |
| make up for (phr v) | provide sth. good, so that sth. bad seems less important |
| put by (phr v) | save an amount of money for the future |
| save up (for) (phr v) | save money little by little (for a specific purpose) |
| urban (adj) | relating to towns and cities |
| suburban (adj) | in a suburb, relating to a suburb, or typical of a suburb |
| rural (adj) | relating to the countryside, or in the countryside |
| smog (n) | polluted air that forms a cloud close to the ground |
| fog (n) | thick clouds that form close to the ground and are difficult to see through |
| smoke (n) | a grey, black or white cloud that is produced by sth. that is burning |
| mist (n) | a mass of small drops of water in the air close to the ground |
| weather (n) | the conditions that exist in the atmosphere, for example whether it is hot, cold, sunny or wet |
| climate (n) | the climate of a country or region is the type of weather it has |
| forecast (n) | a statement about what is likely to happen, usually relating to the weather, business or the economy |
| prediction (n) | a statement about what you think will happen in the future |
| waste (n) | the useless materials, substances or parts that are left after you have used sth. |
| litter (n) | things that people have dropped on the ground in a public place, making it untidy |
| rubbish (n) | things that you throw away because they are no longer useful |
| clean (adj) | not dirty or polluted |
| clear (adj) | if the sky is clear, there are no clouds |
| pour (v) | to rain very hard |
| drizzle (v) | to rain very lightly |
| flood (v) | to cover a place with water, or to become covered with water |
| environment (n) | the natural world, including the land, water, air, plants and animals |
| surroundings (n) | a place and all the things in it |
| wind (n) | a natural current of air that moves fast enough for you to feel it |
| air (n) | the mixture of gases that we breathe |
| reservoir (n) | a lake, often an artificial one, where water is stored so that it can be supplied to houses, factories, etc. |
| lake (n) | a large area of water surrounded by land |
| puddle (n) | a small pool of water that is left on the ground after it has rained |
| pond (n) | an area of water that is smaller than a lake |
| thunder (n) | the loud noise that you sometimes hear in the sky during a storm |
| lightning (n) | the bright flashes of light that you see in the sky during a storm |
| global (adj) | including or affecting the whole world |
| worldwide (adj) | happening or existing all over the world |
| plain (n) | a large flat area of land |
| land (n) | an area of ground, especially one used for a particular purpose such as farming or building |
| field (n) | an area of land that is used for keeping animals or growing food |
| desert (n) | a large area of land with few plants and dry weather |
| extinct (adj) | if sth. such as a type of animal or plant is extinct, it no longer exists |
| endangered (adj) | if sth. such as a type of animal or plant is endangered, it may soon become extinct |
| recycle (v) | to treat waste materials so that they can be used again |
| reuse (v) | to use sth. again |
| call for (phr v) | require, need; demand |
| call off (phr v) | cancel |
| clear up (phr v) | become brighter and better (for weather) |
| cut off (phr v) | make a place difficult or impossible to enter, leave or communicate with; disconnect |
| die down (phr v) | become less noisy, powerful or active |
| do up (phr v) | repair, paint or improve |
| face up to (phr v) | accept sth. and try to deal with it |
| get (sb.) down (phr v) | make sb. feel sad or lose hope |
| put down to (phr v) | suggest that sth. is the result of |
| put out (phr v) | make sth. stop burning |
| set in (phr v) | start and be likely to continue for a while (for rain, winter, an economic depression, etc.) |
| stand for (phr v) | represent (for abbreviations and symbols); put up with spoke that rudely to me. |
| tear down (phr v) | destroy or remove (for buildings, statues, etc.) |
| throw away (phr v) | get rid of, discard |
| artificial (adj) | not natural or real, but made by people |
| false (adj) | made to look like sth. real |
| natural (adj) | existing in nature, and not produced by people |
| physical (adj) | real and able to be seen, touched or felt |
| true (adj) | based on facts or on things that really happened |
| accurate (adj) | correct in every detail and without any mistakes |
| method (n) | a way of doing sth., especially a planned or established way |
| way (n) | a method for doing sth. |
| engine (n) | the part of a vehicle that makes it move |
| machine (n) | a piece of equipment with moving parts that does a particular job |
| motor (n) | the part of a machine or vehicle that makes it work |
| aim (n) | the thing that you hope to achieve by doing sth. |
| cause (n) | an event, thing or person that makes sth. happen |
| reason (n) | a fact, situation or intention that explains why sth. happened, why sb. did sth. or why sth. is true |
| estimate (v) | to guess or calculate an amount or value by using available information |
| calculate (v) | to discover a number or amount by using mathematics |
| electric (adj) | using or relating to electricity |
| electronic (adj) | using electricity and extremely small electrical parts, such as microchips |
| invent (v) | to design or create sth. that did not exist before |
| discover (v) | to find sth. that was hidden or that no one knew about before |
| research (n) | the detailed study of sth. in order to discover new facts |
| experiment (n) | a scientific test to find out what happens to sb. or sth. in particular conditions |
| progress (n) | the process of developing or improving |
| development (n) | change, growth or improvement over a period of time |
| modern (adj) | relating to or belonging to the present time |
| new (adj) | recently made, invented or developed |
| industry (n) | all the businesses involved in producing a particular type of goods or services |
| factory (n) | a building where large quantities of goods are produced using machines |
| award (n) | a prize that is given to sb. who has achieved sth. |
| reward (n) | sth. good that happens or that you receive because of sth. that you have done |
| take place (coll) | to happen |
| occur (v) | to happen |
| break down (phr v) | stop working (for a machine, etc.) |
| carry out (phr v) | perform an experiment, etc. |
| come off (phr v) | succeed |
| come on (phr v) | develop or make progress |
| come up with (phr v) | think of (an idea, a plan, etc.) |
| cut off (phr v) | stop the supply of sth. |
| find out (phr v) | discover information, etc. |
| give off (phr v) | produce sth. such as heat or a smell |
| narrow down (phr v) | reduce the number of possibilities |
| plug in (phr v) | connect to the electricity supply |
| put through (phr v) | connect by phone |
| turn into (phr v) | change into sth. different |
| turn off (phr v) | stop a machine working |
| work out (phr v) | find the solution to a problem, etc. |
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