Short Story Vocab

Question 1

A character in conflict with the main character

Answer 1

Antagonist

Question 2

Direct: the reader is told exactly what the character is like

Indirect: the reader must infer from the text what the character is like

Answer 2

Characterization

Question 3

The moment of great emotional intensity or suspense in a plot. It’s also the moment when the reader finds out whether the protagonist will reach hot her goal or not

Answer 3

Climax

Question 4

The moments where the conflict causes the main character to take action and the further problems that come about

Answer 4

Rising action

Question 5

The moment when all struggles are over for the main character

Answer 5

Resolution

Question 6

External: the character struggles against an outside force
Internal: the struggle is between two opposing needs, desires, or emotions in a characters mind.

Answer 6

Conflict

Question 7

The emotion or feelings associated with a word and the images it produces

Answer 7

Connotation

Question 8

The literal meaning of a word

Answer 8

Denotation

Question 9

The speech patterns of a region or social group

Answer 9

Dialect

Question 10

A writers choice of words, used for clarity, effect, or precision.

Answer 10

Diction

Question 11

A sudden, life changing, realization made by a character

Answer 11

Epiphany

Question 12

The moment, just after the climax, when the conflicts are beginning to be resolved.

Answer 12

Falling action

Question 13

Words and expressions not intended to be interpreted in the literal sense

Answer 13

Figurative language

Question 14

The use of hints or clues in a story to suggest what action is to come

Answer 14

Foreshadow

Question 15

Language that appeals to the senses

Answer 15

Imagery

Question 16

When language or situations are inappropriate or opposite from normal expectations

Answer 16

Irony

Question 17

A comparison between two unlike things- sometimes saying one is actually another

Answer 17

Metaphor

Question 18

The atmosphere or feeling that a writer creates in a piece of literature through language

Answer 18

Mood

Question 19

A word whose sound imitates or suggests it’s meaning

Answer 19

Onomatopoeia

Question 20

Giving human like qualities to an inanimate or non-human thing

Answer 20

Personification

Question 21

The perspective from which s story is told

Answer 21

Point of view

Question 22

The main character of a literary work

Answer 22

Protagonist

Question 23

When and where a story takes place

Answer 23

Setting

Question 24

A short, concentrated, fictional narrative

Answer 24

Short story

Question 25

A comparison of two things using “like” or “as”

Answer 25

Simile

Question 26

The voice in the poem or story

Answer 26

Speaker

Question 27

Something that stands for something beyond itself

Answer 27

Symbol

Question 28

The central idea in a piece of literature; what a writer wishes to reveal it teach about a subject

Answer 28

Theme

Question 29

2 consecutive statements that are seemingly contradictory, but upon closer examination, make sense

Answer 29

Paradox

Question 30

A reference to a statement, person, place, or event from literature, history, mythology, sports, politics, science, pop culture, or the bible

Answer 30

Allusion