English Fiction Terms

Question 0

Setting

Answer 0

The time and place in which a story takes place

Question 1

Fiction

Answer 1

Works of imagination or invention; contrast with non-fiction, which is based on facts. Novels, short stories, plays, and poems are fictional

Question 2

Character

Answer 2

A person (animal, robot, etc) who carries out the action in a piece of literature

Question 3

Static character

Answer 3

Neither the character nor the readers’ knowledge of that character changes throughout the work

Question 4

Dynamic character

Answer 4

The character changes because of the actions in the story’s plot

Question 5

Secondary character

Answer 5

A character who is not essential to the main plot line, but who contains as a foil or supporting person, or who adds to a subsidiary plotline

Question 6

Protagonist

Answer 6

The main character

Question 7

Antagonist

Answer 7

The character or force that is in conflict with the main character/protagonist

Question 8

Conflict

Answer 8

The struggle between two opposing forces

Question 9

External conflicts

Answer 9

Character vs character
Character vs society
Character vs nature
Character vs higher power
Character vs technology

Question 10

Internal conflict

Answer 10

Character vs him/herself

Question 11

Plot

Answer 11

Actions and events that occur as a character confronts a conflict in pursuit of his/her goal. (What happens)

Question 12

Exposition

Answer 12

Introduces the characters, the setting, and the conflict

Question 13

Rising action

Answer 13

Builds complications of conflict

Question 14

Climax

Answer 14

The highest point of rising action at which the conflict reaches the highest point of interest and suspense. The turning point for the main character

Question 15

Falling action

Answer 15

Shows the after effects of the climax

Question 16

Resolution

Answer 16

Conflict is ended and loose ends of plot are resolved

Question 17

Foreshadowing

Answer 17

To show something beforehand or to foretell with hints or clues embedded in the text

Question 18

Flashback

Answer 18

Occurs when the narrative sequence of events is interrupted to relate a conversion, a scene, or an event that happened before

Question 19

Narrative point of view

Answer 19

The perspective from which a story is told determines what/whose view of events will be presented

Question 20

First person point of view

Answer 20

Story is told by one of its characters, using first person pronouns

Question 21

Third person point of view

Answer 21

Story is told by a voice outside the story

Question 22

Third person objective point of view

Answer 22

Storyteller only reports what characters say and do; the author does not interpret their behavior or tell readers their private thoughts or feelings

Question 23

Third person limited point of view

Answer 23

Storytellers knowledge is limited to a complete knowledge of one character in the story and tell readers only what the character thinks, feels, sees, or hears

Question 24

Third person omniscient point of view

Answer 24

Storyteller can tell thoughts, feelings, and perspective of all character

Question 25

Characterization

Answer 25

The techniques a writes uses to develop the readers understanding if the characterization

Question 26

How to characterize

Answer 26

Direct physical description, comments, and details provided by the narrator

Characters speech, thoughts, or actions

Speech, thoughts, or actions of other characters

Question 27

Dialogue

Answer 27

What characters say to one another

Question 28

Dialect

Answer 28

Informal diction that is reflective of how people of a particular geographic region, economics groups, or social classes speak

Question 29

Diction

Answer 29

A writers choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to create meaning

Question 30

Imagery

Answer 30

Using language to represent sensory experiences

How things look, feel, taste, sound, or smell

Question 31

Irony

Answer 31

A literary device that uses contradictory statements or situations to reveal differences between appearance and reality

Question 32

Situational irony

Answer 32

A surprising, interesting, or amusing contrast between what’s expected and what actually happens

Question 33

Verbal irony

Answer 33

Occurs when a person says one thing but means the opposite

Question 34

Dramatic irony

Answer 34

Occurs when there is a discrepancy between what a character believes if says and what the reader or audience knows to be true

Question 35

Mood

Answer 35

The feeling or atmosphere that the writer creates for the reader via descriptions, connotative words, sensory images, figurative language, etc

Question 36

Tone

Answer 36

The attitude that a writer takes towards a subject and their audience

Question 37

Figurative language

Answer 37

Language that employs figures of speech, which aren’t meant to be taken literally, to suggest additional meaning

Question 38

Personification

Answer 38

Giving human qualities to an object, animal, or idea

Question 39

Simile

Answer 39

A comparison using like or as, between 2 things that are unlike, but have something in common

Question 40

Metaphor

Answer 40

A direct comparison between 2 unlike things in which one thing is said to be another

Question 41

Symbol

Answer 41

A person, place, object, or idea that stands for something beyond itself, the use of symbols is called symbolism

Question 42

Motif

Answer 42

A recurring image or repeated idea that connects to the theme

Question 43

Theme

Answer 43

The central idea, concern, or purpose if the story, it’s seldom stated directly, usually speaks to the human condition (message)

Question 44

Connotation

Answer 44

Emotional meanings

Question 45

Denotation

Answer 45

Dictionary definition