Exam Key Vocab

Question 1

Etymology

Answer 1

The study of the history of a word or phrase, its development and its origin.

Question 2

Germanic languages

Answer 2

Languages such as Anglo-Saxon or Old Norse; words inherited from these languages are often associated with simplicity or strength.

Question 3

Romance languages

Answer 3

Languages that derive from Latin; words inherited from these languages are often associated with beauty or sophistication.

Question 4

Morphology

Answer 4

The study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words.

Question 5

Derived word

Answer 5

A word formed from a root word combined with a prefix or a suffix.

Question 6

Dialect

Answer 6

A particular form of a language specific to a region or social group.

Question 7

Colloquial language

Answer 7

Words or turns of a phrase specific to a region or country.

Question 8

Revitalization (of language)

Answer 8

An attempt to halt or reverse the decline of a language or to revive an extinct one.

Question 9

Tragic hero

Answer 9

A character who is neither wholly good nor wholly evil, but on the good side of middling, who falls from a position of good fortune to a position of misery, suffering or death as a result of his/her hamartia.

Question 10

Hamartia

Answer 10

A word of Greek origin originally meaning ‘to miss the mark’ or ‘to err,’ it comes to mean a great or fatal flaw in the character of a tragic hero.

Question 11

Soliloquy

Answer 11

An extended speech made while a character is alone or unheard on stage, representing the inner thoughts of a character voiced aloud for the benefit of the audience.

Question 12

Verse

Answer 12

Written or spoken language arranged to fit a metre.

Question 13

Rhyming couplet

Answer 13

A pair of successive lines that rhyme, often used in Shakespeare’s plays to signal the end of a scene or act, to indicate high emotion, or in speeches of magic.

Question 14

Dramatic irony

Answer 14

A literary or theatrical situation where an audience knows something that the characters do not, used to increase a sense of tension or for comedic effect.

Question 15

Imagery

Answer 15

Figurative and/or metaphorical language used to stimulate the reader’s senses and to create a strong, symbolic or memorable sensory impression.

Question 16

The great chain of being

Answer 16

The belief in a set hierarchical structure of all matter and life, beginning with God and angels, to monarchs, nobles, and other humans, then to animals, plants, and finally rocks and minerals at the bottom.

Question 17

Character Type

Answer 17

A method of categorising characters based on the perception of conventions and/or commonalities.

Question 18

The Outsider

Answer 18

A character who does not belong to a particular circle, community, or group because s/he is in some way different. Often this character gains insights from standing on the edge of belonging.

Question 19

Antagonist

Answer 19

A character in a narrative who actively opposes the protagonist, often as a rival or enemy.

Question 20

Narrative arc

Answer 20

A framework that gives chronological structure to a story by guiding the plot. From inciting incidents, through rising tensions, a climactic moment, falling tensions and some form of clear resolution.

Question 21

Idealism

Answer 21

Having an unrealistic belief in perfection that is opposite to realism; often characterized by understanding and representing ideas or events in over-simplified terms.

Question 22

Realism

Answer 22

Attempting to understand or represent things and events they believe actually is true. Seen as the opposite to idealism.

Question 23

Satire

Answer 23

The use of humour, irony, exaggeration or ridicule to expose and criticise a person’s ignorance or vices.

(particularly in the context of politics or social issues)

Question 24

Writing back

Answer 24

A process where an author in a colonized space opposes the literary canon in their writing by challenging its traditional conceptions, conventions and/or ideas.