Literary Terms (Dialogue)

Question 1

Aside

Answer 1

A brief speech in which a character turns from the person being addressed to speak directly to the audience; a dramatic device for letting the audience know what a character is really thinking or feeling as opposed to what the character pretends to think or feel

Question 2

Colloquial

Answer 2

Informal, conversational language

Question 3

Dialogue

Answer 3

1. Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

2. A literary work written in the form of a conversation

Question 4

Dialect

Answer 4

A regional variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary

Question 5

Diction

Answer 5

Word choice

Question 6

Euphemism

Answer 6

Substituting mild, indirect, or vague term for a harsh, blunt, or offensive one

Question 7

Figure of speech

Answer 7

Broadly, any way of saying something other than that the ordinary way; more narrowly a way of saying something and meaning another

Question 8

Hyperbole

Answer 8

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used in the service of truth

Question 9

Invective

Answer 9

Denunciatory or abusive language

Question 10

Inversion

Answer 10

A reversal in order, nature, or effect

Question 11

Motivation

Answer 11

An emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as an incitement to action

Question 12

Mystery

Answer 12

An unusual set of circumstances for which the reader craves an explanation; used to create suspense

Question 13

Paradox

Answer 13

A statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements

Question 14

Plot

Answer 14

The sequence of incidents or events of which a story is composed

Question 15

Plot manipulation

Answer 15

A situation in which an author gives the plot a twist or turn unjustified by preceding action or by the characters involved

Question 16

Plot device

Answer 16

An object, character, or event whose only reason for existing is to advance the story. Often breaks suspension of disbelief

Question 17

Prologue

Answer 17

An introduction or a preface, especially a poem recited to introduce a play

Question 18

Red herring

Answer 18

A literary tactic of diverting attention away from an item or person of significance

Question 19

Scene

Answer 19

A subdivision of an act in a dramatic presentation in which the setting is fixed and the time continuous

Question 20

Suspense

Answer 20

The quality in a story that makes the reader eager to discover what happens next and how it will end

Question 21

Suspension of Disbelief

Answer 21

An unspoken agreement between writer and reader: “I agree to believe your make-believe if it entertains me.”

Question 22

Subplot

Answer 22

A plot subordinate to the main plot of a literary work

Question 23

Surprise

Answer 23

An unexpected turn in the development of a plot