Terms and Devices

Question 1

Alliteration

Answer 1

A literary or rhetorical stylistic device that consists in repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words in close succession.
Ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of picked peppers

Question 2

Antagonist

Answer 2

Opponent of protagonist

Question 3

Assonance

Answer 3

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in neighbouring words.
Ex: If I bleat when I speak it’s because I just got fleeced

Question 4

Climax

Answer 4

The point of greatest interest or highest tension in a story. The turning point

Question 5

Compare/Contrast

Answer 5

Comparison is the process of identifying similarities, while contrasting is the process of identifying differences.

Question 6

Conflict

Answer 6

The tension or problem in the story; a struggle between opposing forces

1. Central conflict: The dominant or most important conflict in the story
2. External conflict: The problem or struggle that exists between the main character and an outside force. (Ex: person vs. person, person vs. society, person vs. nature etc.)
3. Internal conflict: The problem or struggle that takes place in the main character’s mind (Ex: Person vs. self)

Question 7

Dilemma

Answer 7

A situation in which the protagonist faces two choices, neither of them desirable

Question 8

Dramatic Irony

Answer 8

Type of irony that occurs in a story when the reader has information or an understanding of events that a character does not have.

Question 9

Dynamic character

Answer 9

A character who evolves/changes over the course of the story.

Question 10

First person Point of View

Answer 10

The vantage point in which the narrator is a character in the story and tells the story as he or she experiences or understands it. The narrator uses the “I” vantage point to tell what happens.

Question 11

Foreshadowing

Answer 11

The use of hints or clues to suggest events that are going to happen later in the story. Foreshadowing builds suspense

Question 12

Free verse

Answer 12

Type of poetry that doesn’t rhyme, has no rhythm - no rules

Question 13

Hyperbole

Answer 13

Figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or humorous effect.
Ex: If I told you once, I told you a million times.

Question 14

Imagery

Answer 14

The use of words and phrases that appeal to the five senses. Used to help readers imagine how things look, feel, smell, sound, and taste.

Question 15

Irony

Answer 15

Opposites

Question 16

Limited Omniscient

Answer 16

All seeing limited to one person

Question 17

Lyric

Answer 17

Song-like poem usually written mainly to express the feelings or emotions of a single speaker.

Question 18

Metaphor

Answer 18

An implied comparison between unlike things without the use of the words like, as, or resembles.

Question 19

Narrative/Narrator

Answer 19

Any writing that tells a story.

Question 20

Omniscient

Answer 20

All seeing

Question 21

Onomatopoeia

Answer 21

Use of words in which in their pronunciation suggest their meaning
Ex: The baby splashed and giggled in the tub

Question 22

Oxymoron

Answer 22

A form of figurative language combining contradictory words or ideas.
Ex: She is terribly pleased, jumbo shrimp, bittersweet

Question 23

Personification

Answer 23

Figure of speech where animals, ideas or inanimate objects are given human characteristics.

Question 24

Plot

Answer 24

Sequence of related events that make up a story. Includes inciting incident, climax, falling action/denouement and resolution

Question 25

Protagonist

Answer 25

The leading character in the story who faces the story’s central dilemma, usually at the climax of the story.

Question 26

Rising Action

Answer 26

Part of the plot in which the tension of the story builds, complications increase the conflict, and the action moves toward the climax.

Question 27

Round Character

Answer 27

A major character in a work of fiction who encounters conflict and is changed by it. More developed and described than flat, or static characters.

Question 28

Setting

Answer 28

When and where a story takes place.

Question 29

Simile

Answer 29

Direct comparison between unlike things using the word like, as, or resembles to connect them.

Question 30

Speaker

Answer 30

The voice that talks to the reader in a poem, as the narrator does in a work of fiction.

Question 31

Static Character

Answer 31

Character who remains unchanged over the course of the story.

Question 32

Theme

Answer 32

Underlying message or meaning of a story. A story often has a major theme and one or more minor themes.

Question 33

Thesis/Thesis Statement

Answer 33

The point or argument the writer presents.