English 8 Master Terms (definition first)

Question 1

A conclusion or opinion that draws on known facts, evidence, or intuition to fill in missing information.

Answer 1

Inference

Question 2

A figure of speech that gives life or human characteristics to non-human objects or ideas.

Answer 2

Personification

Question 3

A person represented in a story.

Answer 3

Character

Question 4

A figure of speech or other indirect comparison of two things that are dissimilar, using the words like or as (or other words of comparison).

Answer 4

Simile

Question 5

A figure of speech in which two things that are basically unlike but have some qualities in common are compared using a direct comparison.

Answer 5

Metaphor

Question 6

A literary technique that involves surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions.

Answer 6

Irony

Question 7

A group of words that has its own subject and verb but may or may not express a complete thought or be a complete sentence.

Answer 7

Clause

Question 8

A piece of writing which takes a stance on an issue, supports a claim with evidence and logic, and stands against the opposing side with logical reasons.

Answer 8

Argumentative

Question 9

An explicit or implicit reference, in a work of literature, to a person, place, or event, or to another literary work or passage.

Answer 9

Allusion

Question 10

An inference that if two or more things are alike in some respects, they will probably agree in others.

Answer 10

Analogy

Question 11

An intentional exaggeration for emphasis or comic effect.

Answer 11

Hyperbole

Question 12

Describe or portray (something) precisely.

Answer 12

Delineate

Question 13

Events forming the outcome of the climax of a play or story.

Answer 13

Resolution

Question 14

Expresses the writer’s attitude toward his or her subject

Answer 14

Tone

Question 15

Language that deviates from a standard significance or sequence of words in order to achieve a special meaning or effect (e.g. similes and metaphors).

Answer 15

Figurative Language

Question 16

Relating to, or inserted as a parenthesis.

Answer 16

Parenthetical

Question 17

The action or fact of forming a united whole. When the elements of a piece of writing “go together.”

Answer 17

Cohesion

Question 18

The eight classes into which words are grouped according to their uses in a sentence: adjective, adverb, conjunction, interjection, noun, preposition, pronoun, and verb.

Answer 18

Parts of Speech

Question 19

The emotional association(s) suggested by the primary meaning of a word, which affects its interpretations; things suggested by a word apart from the thing it explicitly names or describes.

Answer 19

Connotation

Question 20

The general idea or insight about life that a work of literature reveals. This may be stated or implied.

Answer 20

Theme

Question 21

The objective meaning of a word independent of other associations the word calls to mind.

Answer 21

Denotation

Question 22

The person or group for whom a selection is written or performed.

Answer 22

Audience

Question 23

The perspective or perspectives established by an author through which the reader is presented with the characters, actions, setting, and events that constitute the narrative in a work of fiction.

Answer 23

Point of View

Question 24

The practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.

Answer 24

Plagiarism

Question 25

The repetition in words of identical or similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds.

Answer 25

Assonance

Question 26

The repetition of speech sounds, usually applied only to consonants, at the beginning of a word or of a stressed syllable within a word.

Answer 26

Alliteration

Question 27

The structure of the actions in a dramatic narrative or work, ordered and rendered toward achieving particular emotional and artistic effects.

Answer 27

Plot

Question 28

The term used to describe words whose pronunciations suggest their meaning (e.g. meow, buzz).

Answer 28

Onomatopoeia

Question 29

The time and place in which a narrative takes place; the physical and psychological background against which the action of a story takes place; the scenery and stage effects for a dramatic production.

Answer 29

Setting

Question 30

The voice of a verb whose subject performs the action.

Answer 30

Active Voice

Question 31

The voice of a verb whose subject receives an action.

Answer 31

Passive Voice

Question 32

To be believed, trusted, or found to be reliable.

Answer 32

Credible

Question 33

To examine and appraise characteristics or qualities in order to discover differences.

Answer 33

Contrast

Question 34

To examine and appraise characteristics or qualities in order to discover similarities

Answer 34

Compare

Question 35

To quote (a passage, book, or author) as evidence for or justification of an argument or statement, especially in a scholarly work.

Answer 35

Cite

Question 36

To state or assert that something is the case.

Answer 36

Claim

Question 37

Vocabulary relating to a particular subject, art, or craft, or its techniques.

Answer 37

Technical Vocabulary

Question 38

A category used to classify literary works, usually by form, technique, or content.

Answer 38

Genre