Mid-Term Terms

Question 1

protagonist

Answer 1

the main character in a story

Question 2

antagonist

Answer 2

a character or force in conflict with the main character

Question 3

flat character

Answer 3

character that has only one or two personality traits

Question 4

static character

Answer 4

a character who only changes a little or not at all

Question 5

round character

Answer 5

a fully developed, multi-dimensional character

Question 6

exposition

Answer 6

a portion of a story that gives background information, setting, or introduction to characters

Question 7

rising action

Answer 7

events in a story leading up to the climax

Question 8

climax

Answer 8

the point of highest tension in a story

Question 9

falling action

Answer 9

events in a story following the climax

Question 10

resolution

Answer 10

the final outcomes of the conflicts in a story that make up the plot

Question 11

person vs person

Answer 11

a type of external conflict in a story with outside forces or other characters (external conflict)

Question 12

person vs self

Answer 12

a type of struggle or type of conflict between a character and their own mind (internal conflict) (e.g., when a protagonist’s own doubts or fears are the conflict)

Question 13

person vs society

Answer 13

a type of struggle or conflict between a character and outside social forces (e.g., rebelling to social norms, when two people from feuding castes or religions or backgrounds or cultures love each other, such as Romeo & Juliet) (external conflict)

Question 14

person vs nature

Answer 14

a struggle or conflict between a protagonist and an outside natural force (e.g., floods in Noah’s Arc, surviving in nature)

Question 15

first-person point of view

Answer 15

the narrator of a story is also a character in the story (in writing, it refers to the use of “I,” “we,” and “our”)

Question 16

third-person point of view

Answer 16

the narrator of a story is an outside observer and is not a character in a story (in writing, third-person refers to the use of “she,” “her,” “he,” “him,” “they,” “them”).

Question 17

second-person point of view

Answer 17

the narrator refers to the reader as “you” which makes the reader a character in the story (in writing, second-person refers to the use of “you,” “your,” “yourself”

Question 18

theme

Answer 18

the central message a story (e.g., “Family is more important than anything else.” or “All families are happy in the same way and unhappy in unique ways.” “Love requires work” or “Love is embarrassing.”)

Question 19

mood

Answer 19

the feeling the writers creates for the reader

Question 20

tone

Answer 20

the writer’s attitude toward the story, specific characters, a topic, or a situation

Question 21

prose

Answer 21

written or spoken language in an ordinary form; the language people use

Question 22

alliteration

Answer 22

the repetition of consonant sounds (e.g., Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.)

Question 23

onomatopoeia

Answer 23

the use or creation of a word that phonetically imitates (i.e., sounds like), resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. (e.g., oink, moo, bang, plop, fizz

Question 24

metaphor

Answer 24

a figure of speech in which the comparison between two unlike things that some quality in common (“Life is a highway.”)

Question 25

simile

Answer 25

a figure of speech in which a direct comparison between two unlike things is made using “like” or “as” that some quality in common (e.g., cool as a cucumber)

Question 26

personification

Answer 26

a figure of speech that gives non-human things human characteristics (“The sun smiled down on me.” “love is blind.” “The leaves danced in the wind.”)

Question 27

foreshadowing

Answer 27

hints or clues leading up to something later in the story (e.g., a character mentions that bad things always happen to them in autumn. Several scenes later, leaves start falling. You the alert reader sense something bad is going to happen.) (very popular in mysteries)

Question 28

hyperbole

Answer 28

extreme exaggeration that is not meant to be taken literally (e.g., my backpack weighs a ton, I died of laughter, These shoes are killing me)

Question 29

symbol

Answer 29

Sasso: an object or living thing that has its own meaning. Actual definition: an object or thing that stands for or represents something else (a storm brewing on the horizon = emotional turmoil in a story; a red rose = love)

Question 30

imagery

Answer 30

language that appeals to one or more senses

Question 31

irony

Answer 31

Sasso: when a person says something or does something that departs from what they expect to do or say

Clarifying: verbal irony is when someone says something that do not mean, intend, or is unexpected for the situation

Clarifying: situational irony is when something happens that is the opposite of what is expected