TERM 3

Question 1

Exposition

Answer 1

The part of a play (usually at the beginning) that provides the background information needed to understand the characters and the actions.

Question 2

Conflict

Answer 2

A clash of actions, desires, ideas, or goals in the plot of a story or drama. Conflict may exist between the main character and some other person or persons; between the main character and some external force — physical nature, society, or ‘fate’; or between the main character and some destructive element in his or her own nature. A struggle that takes place in a character’s mind is called internal conflict.

Question 3

Rising action

Answer 3

That development of plot in a story that precedes and leads up to the climax.

Question 4

Climax

Answer 4

The turning point or high point of a plot.

Question 5

Falling Action

Answer 5

The falling action immediately follows the climax and shows the aftereffects of the events in the climax.

Question 6

Anticlimax

Answer 6

A sudden descent from the impressive or significant to the ludicrous or inconsequential

Question 7

Denouement

Answer 7

(Also called the resolution) the conclusion of the story. Conflicts are resolved, creating normality for the characters and a sense of catharsis for them and the reader. Sometimes a hint as to the characters’ future is given.

Question 8

Irony

Answer 8

A situation, or a use of language, involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy.

Question 9

Dramatic irony

Answer 9

An incongruity of discrepancy between what a character says or thinks and what the reader knows to be true (or between what a character perceives and what the author intends the reader to perceive).

Question 10

Irony of Situation

Answer 10

when the opposite of what is expected to happen happens

Question 11

Verbal Irony

Answer 11

A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant.

Question 12

Catastrophe

Answer 12

The concluding action of a classical tragedy containing the resolution of the plot

Question 13

Comic Relief

Answer 13

A humorous incident introduced into a serious literary work in order to relieve dramatic tension or heighten emotional impact

Question 14

Dilemma

Answer 14

A situation in which a character must choose between two courses of action, both undesirable

Question 15

Deus ex machina

Answer 15

(“god from the machine”). The resolution of a plot by use of a highly improbable chance, coincidence or artificial device that solves some difficult problem or crisis.

Question 16

Indeterminate ending

Answer 16

an ending in which the central problem or conflict is left unresolved

Question 17

Inversion

Answer 17

a reversal in order,nature, or effect

Question 18

Motivation

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Mystery

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Plot Manipulation

Answer 20

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

Question 20

Paradox

Answer 20

a statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements

Question 21

Plot

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Plot Device

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Red Herring

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Scene

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Suspense

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Suspension of Disbelief

Answer 26

an unspoken agreement between writer and reader. “i agree to believe your make believe of it entertains me.”

Question 27

Subplot

Answer 27

A plot subordinate to the main plot of a literary work

Question 28

Surprise

Answer 28

An unexpected turn in the development of a plot

Question 29

Comedy

Answer 29

A type of drama, opposed to tragedy, having usually a happy ending, and emphasizing human limitation rather than human greatness.

Question 30

Satire

Answer 30

a kind of literature that ridicules human folly or vice with the purpose of bringing about reform or of keeping others from falling into similar folly or vice

Question 30

Comedy of Manners

Answer 30

Comedy that ridicules the manners (way of life, social customs, etc.) of a certain segment of society

Question 31

Scornful Comedy

Answer 31

a type of comedy whose main purpose is to expose and include human folly,vanity, or hypocrisy

Question 32

Romantic Comedy

Answer 32

A type of comedy whose likeable and sensible main characters are placed in difficulties from which they are rescued at the end of the play

Question 33

Farce

Answer 33

a type of comedy that relies on exaggeration,horseback lay, and unrealistic or improbable situations to provoke laughter

Question 34

Escapist Literature

Answer 34

literature written purely for entertainment, with little or no attempt to provide insights into the true nature of human life or behavior

Question 35

Fable

Answer 35

A short narrative making an edifying or cautionary point and often employing animal characters that act like human beings

Question 36

Fantasy

Answer 36

A kind of fiction that pictures creatures or events beyond the boundaries of known reality

Question 37

Interpretive Literature

Answer 37

Literature that provides valid insights into the nature of human life or behavior

Question 38

Myth

Answer 38

any story that attempts to explain how the world was created or why the world is the way that it is. Myths are stories that are passed on from generation to generation and normally involve religion. Most myths were first spread by oral tradition and then were written down in some literary form. Many ancient literary works are, in fact, myths as myths appear in every ancient culture of the planet.

Question 39

Novel

Answer 39

a book of long narrative in literary prose

Question 40

Novella

Answer 40

(also called a short novel), a written, fictional, prose narrative longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel.

Question 41

Parable

Answer 41

A simple story used to illustrate a moral or religious lesson

Question 42

Tragedy

Answer 42

drama in which a noble protagonist a person of unusual moral or intellectual stature or outstanding abilities falls to ruin during a struggle caused by a tragic flaw in his character or an error in his rulings or judgment

Question 43

Prologue

Answer 43

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