English Fall Exam Examples Flashcards
My heart leaped into my throat as I turned and saw a frightening shadow
1st person pov: The narrator is a character in the story. ( I, me, my, we, our )
You turn and see a frightening shadow
2nd Person pov : the narrator tells the story to another character using “you,” so that the story is being told through the addressee’s point of view
But Ender knew, even as he thought it, that Peter wouldn’t leave him alone. There was something in Peter’s eyes, when he was in his mad mood, and whenever Ender saw that look, that glint, he knew that the one thing Peter would not do was leave him alone
3rd person limited pov: This is where the narrator is outside the characters and talks about the characters. The narrator has a limited perspective and can only read one character’s mind, feelings, and motives (most likely the main character).
“As the campers settled into their tents, Zara hoped her eyes did not betray her fear, and Lisa silently wished for the night to quickly end”
3rd Person omniscient pov : the narrator is still an outsider (not “in” the story) describing actions AND thoughts of more than one character. Omniscient means “all knowing.”
She sat in the café waiting for her food to arrive. “What is taking so long?” she thought.
3rd person pov : when a story is told from the perspective of a narrator that is outside the action of the story
truth, fun, beauty, horrible; emotions; politics
Abstract Diction : Language that denotes ideas, emotions, conditions, or concepts that are intangible-impenetrable, incredible, inscrutable, inconceivable, unfathomable
Anna painted the house
Active Voice: The voice used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb is performing the action or causing the happening denoted by the verb
“happy”, “sad”, “pretty”
Adjectives: word used to modify or describe a noun or pronoun
quickly, smiley, happily, rarely
Adverb : modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb
The tortoise and the hare. The slow steady tortoise beat the fast impatient hare. Meaning is that slow and steady almost always wins the race
Allegory : complete narrative which involves characters and events representing abstract ideas and events
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
Alliteration : The repetition of the same consonant sound, especially at the beginning of words
If it doesn’t stop raining, I’m going to build an arc
Allusion: A reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place, or event, or to another literary work or passage
“call me a taxi”
Ambiguilty : Use of language where the meaning is unclear or has two or more possible interpretations or meanings. It could be created through a weakness in the way the writer has expressed himself or herself, but often it is used by writers quite deliberately to create layers of meaning in the mind of the reader
Voldemort, Thanos, The Joker
Antagonist: A character or force in conflict with the main character
Sally walked her dog (focus on the word her)
Antecedent: an expression (word, phrase, clause, etc) that gives its meaning to a proform (pronoun, pro-verb, pro-a
That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” - Neil Armstorng
Antithesis : balance of 2 opposite things
“Little Lamb, who made thee?”; Blow winds, blow; might and dreadful, for, thou art not soe; welcome O life!
Apostrophe : An interruption in a poem or narrative so that the speaker or writer can address a dead or absent person or particular audience or notion directly
The Damsel in Distress - The hero rescues her.
Archtype: Elemental patterns of ritual, mythology and folklore that recur in the legends, ceremonies and stories of the most diverse cultures
It was a dark and stormy night…
Atmosphere: The prevailing mood created by a piece of writing
“The patient boy and quiet girl were both well mannered and did not disobey their mother.”
Characterization: acting the part of a character on stage
Hermione Granger, Simba, Cinderella’s carriage
Characters: The people, animals, or things in a story
I want what I need and I need what I want; When the going gets tough, the tough get going
Chiasmus/ Antimetabole : Arrangement of repeated thoughts in the pattern of X Y Y X.
I run daily
Clause : A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb
The hero decides to fight the bad guy
Climax: the decisive moment in a novel or play
You’re nuts. I wasn’t born yesterday, get in touch, below the belt, nip it in the bud
Colloquial : informal language
Wherever you go, you can always find beauty
Complex Sentence: Contains an independent clause and one or more subordinate clause “Because the singer was tired, she went straight to bed after the concert”
The pirate captain lost her treasure map, but she still found the buried treasure
Compound Sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction or semicolon
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red
The mighty oaks are as abundant as the squirrels in the forest
Conceit: metaphor that compares 2 things that aren’t alike
a hand shake after you defeat an opponent on the field
Conciliatory: intended or likely to placate or pacify
magenta, smooth, penny-sized; I ate an apple
Concrete Diction : Specific words that describe physical qualities or conditions
If we hadn’t stopped for dinner, we wouldn’t be late
Conditional Statements: They are used to express that the action in the main clause (without if) can only take place if a certain condition (in the clause with if) is fulfilled
The dragon is holding the kingdom hostage
Conflict: opposition in a work of drama or diction between characters or forces (especially an opposition that motivates the development of the plot)
She’s feeling blue
Connotation: An implication or association attached to a word or phrase, is suggested or felt rather than being explicit
The sky is blue.
Declarative Sentence: Makes a statement
“Fish is Fish” moral lesson is to be satisfied with who you are and where you are from; “The biggest house in the world’ lesson is one should be satisfied with what they have and not waste time chasing the bigger and better things
Didactic: Fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking (emphasizes that the literature intends to offer something more to the readers other than pleasure and entertainment)
Scout Finch, Scrooge, Neville Longbottom
Dynamic Character: A character who grows, learns, or changes as a result of the story’s action
Hope’ is the thing with feathers, compares hope to feathers for the whole poem
Extended Metaphor: A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work
The maple tree soared tall as a skyscraper and was covered with leaves as bright red as lipstick kisses
Figurative Language: Language that is symbolic or metaphorical and not meant to be taken literally
A woman is about to get married. As she puts on her veil, she remembers her fiancé three years before, swearing he would make her his wife someday. A tear comes to her eye and she prepares to walk down the aisle.
Flashback: a transition (in literary or theatrical works or films) to a n earlier event or scene that interrupts the normal chronological development of the story
Crabbe and Goyle
Flat Character: This character seems to possess only one or two personality traits - little or no background is revealed
The grass was green, and the flowers were red
Imagery : Use of images, especially in a pattern of related images, often figurative, to create a strong unified sensory impression
Shall we go out;, do not make that sound, do not walk fastly
Imperative Sentence : Gives a command
When will you visit your mom?
Interrogative Sentence: Asks a questions
I did not attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved
Invective : An emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language
On the branch were two birds
Inversion/ inverted Order of a Sentence : Variation of the normal word order (subject, verb, complement) which puts the verb or complement at the head of the sentence
“What a beautiful day!” (it’s raining and cold)
Irony: Originated in Greek comedy with the character eiron, who was a “dissembler.” Appeared less intelligent than he was, spoke in understatement, and triumphed over the alazon—the self-deceiving and stupid braggart.
Romeo and Juliette, when Juliette drinks the solution that fakes her death so Romeo stabs himself
Dramatic irony: Involves a situation in a play or narrative in which the audience shares with the author knowledge of which the character is ignorant
Beggars and choosers, light and dark, adult and child (opposites basically)
Juxtaposition: A poetic rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, often creating an effect of surprise and wit
She’s a real firecracker
Metaphor: A figure of speech that compares two things which are basically dissimilar
the pen is mightier than the sword
Metonymy: A figure of speech where the term for one thing is applied for another with which it is applied for another with which it has become closely associated in experience, or where a part represents the whole
“My grandfather was a heavy smoker most of his life, but he lived to be 90years old. Therefore, smoking is not harmful to people’’
Anecdote : brief recounting of relevant infor/story
Bang! Zap! Pow!
Onomatopoeia: The use of words whose sound copies the sound of the thing or process that they describe
big baby, original copy, passive aggressive, alone together, deafening silence
Oxymoron: A figure of speech in which two contradictory words are placed side-by-side for effect
I must be cruel to be kind, all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others, my nose will grow, war is peace, freedom is slavery, my weakness is my strength
Paradox: A statement that reveals a kind of truth, although it seems at first to be self-contradictory and unture
Reading is the mind what exercise is to the body
parallelism/parallel structure: Sentence construction which places in close proximity two or more equal grammatical constructions
The house was painted by Anna
Passive Voice: the voice used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb is the recipient (not the source) of the action denoted by the verb
The deer was, as you know, sanguis, in blood; ripe
as the pomewater, who now hangeth like a jewel in
the ear of caelo, the sky, the welkin, the heaven;
and anon falleth like a crab on the face of terra,
the soil, the land, the earth.
Pedantic: an adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish
In spite of heavy snow and cold temperatures, the game continued
periodic sentence: Sentence that places the main idea or central complete thought at the end of the sentence, after all introductory elements
he, she, it
Pronoun: A word that is used in place of a noun or another pronoun
Harry Potter, Batman, Percy Jackson
Protagonist: The main character or speaker in a poem, monologue, play, or story
The duck said to the bartender, put it on my bill
Pun: A play on words that are either identical in sound (homonyms) or similar in sound, but are sharply diverse in meaning
Nick Carraway, the first-person narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Reliable narrator: A narrator that appears to be trustworthy and would have no outside interests to protect. Usually a 3rd person narrator, but not always
Expository writing
Rhetorical Modes: The variety, conventions, and purposes of the major kinds of writing (exposition explains and analyzes information; argumentation proves validity of an idea, description re-creates, invents, or presents a person, place, event or action; narration tells a story recount at event)
“they’re really on top of things” to describe a group of people who are very disorganized
Sarcasm: From the Greek for “to tear flesh”, involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something
Her smile is as bright as the sun
Simile: A figure of speech, comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word of comparison (like as, or than, for example)
a fire station burns down; “Harry, the results are in. You are a horcrux”
Situational Irony: When the writer shows a discrepancy between the expected results of some action or situation and it actual results
Atticus Finch, Sherlock Holmes
Static character: A literary character who remains basically unchanged throughout a work
you buy an umbrella in preparation for rain only to find out it’s not going to rain all day long.
Structural Irony when: Some works show sustained irony throughout the text
People let doves out during their wedding ceremony, because Aphrodite is the goddess of love, and her animal is a dove. Something along the lines of getting her blessing
Symbolism: An object, place, setting, prop, event or person that represents or stands for some idea or event
The boy ran hurriedly vs. Hurriedly, the boy ran
Syntax: The way in which sentences are structured
Good vs. evil, coming of age, society vs. man
Theme: Central idea of a work of fiction or nonfiction
Lighthearted, cheerful, somber
Tone: Author’s attitude toward subject matter as revealed through style, syntax, diction, figurative language, and organization
“It isn’t too serious, I have a tiny tumour on my brain.”
Understatement: The ironic minimizing of fact, presents something as less significant that it is
Individual’s conflict between passion and responsibility
Universality: Literature that has meaning to people from different time periods
Huck Fin, Narrator of Tell Tale Heart
Unreliable Narrator: when the narrator seems like the isn’t telling the reader everything –often because he or she is an evil character himself (in the story)
be. Seem, belong, ride roast, run
Verb: a word that expresses action or otherwise helpts ot make a statement
You tell someone to break a leg, but you mean for them to have good luck
Verbal Irony : Demands the most audience sophistication. This requires “reading between the lines”
