Literary Terms

Question 1

Characterization

Answer 1

techniques that writers use to create and develop characters. They describe the character’s actions, thoughts, appearance, what other characters think of them, etc.

Question 2

Setting

Answer 2

the time, place, and mood of the story

Question 3

Plot

Answer 3

the main events of the story

Question 4

Protagonist

Answer 4

the main character in the story

Question 5

Antagonist

Answer 5

the character that is against the main character, the villain

Question 6

Exposition

Answer 6

the information at the beginning of the story that tells you a little about the characters, the setting and sometimes the problem

Question 7

Inciting Incident

Answer 7

the first problem in the story that gets the story going

Question 8

Rising Action

Answer 8

the events that lead to the most exciting, suspenseful part of the plot

Question 9

Climax

Answer 9

the most exciting, suspenseful part in the story, or it could be the point in the story where the main character changes

Question 10

Falling Action

Answer 10

the events that lead to the Resolution of the story

Question 11

Resolution

Answer 11

the end, solution of the story

Question 12

Theme

Answer 12

the main lesson(s) that are learned from the story

Question 13

Conflict

Answer 13

the main problem in the story (Person vs. Person, Person vs. Society, Person vs. Nature, Person vs. Self)

Question 14

Simile

Answer 14

a comparison with like/as (Her eyes were as blue as Lake Superior.)

Question 15

Metaphor

Answer 15

a direct comparison without like or as (There was no wind that evening so the lake was glass.)

Question 16

Onomatopoeia

Answer 16

a sound word (Quack, Moo, Snap, Crackle, Whoosh, etc.)

Question 17

Idiom

Answer 17

a strange saying that can’t be taken literally (It’s raining cats and dogs; I’m as cool as a cucumber; That’s a piece of cake; It cost an arm and a leg, etc.

Question 18

Hyperbole

Answer 18

an extreme exaggeration (I ran so fast across the finish line that smoke poured out of my shoes.)

Question 19

Alliteration

Answer 19

the repetition of a consonant sound in a phrase (Sally sat by the sea shore in silence.)

Question 20

Imagery/Sensory Details

Answer 20

the 5 senses (see, hear, taste, smell, touch)

Question 21

Allusion

Answer 21

when an author makes a reference in their writing to another piece of literature (In the novel, The Outsiders, the author S.E. Hinton makes a reference to the poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” by Robert Frost.

Question 22

Irony

Answer 22

the opposite of what you would expect (If you have ever heard the song, “Ironic,” sung by Alanis Morissette, you would know what irony is. Here are some lines from the song:
It’s like rain on your wedding day
It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid

Question 23

Symbol

Answer 23

something that represents something else (lion=wealth, eagle=freedom, dove=peace, rainbow=hope)

Question 24

Flashback

Answer 24

when there is an interruption of the action in a story, and we are taken back to a time in the past

Question 25

Foreshadowing

Answer 25

when a writer provides hints of what is to come later in the story

Question 26

First Person Point of View

Answer 26

the story is told by the main character or the narrator (uses I)

Question 27

Third Person Point of View

Answer 27

the story is told by an observer of the story (uses He/She)

Question 28

Dialogue

Answer 28

the words that the characters speak (Quotation marks are used around what is spoken by the characters. Emma screamed, “I want ice cream!”)