Terms Used in Essay Prompts

Question 1

allusion

Answer 1

reference in a work of literature to something outside the work

Question 2

attitude

Answer 2

a speaker or character’s disposition toward a subject

Question 3

choice of details

Answer 3

items or parts that make up a larger picture or story

Question 4

devices of sound

Answer 4

technique of deploying the sound of words (ex: rhyme, alliteration)

Question 5

diction

Answer 5

word choice

Question 6

figurative language

Answer 6

uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning

Question 7

imagery

Answer 7

sensory details of a work (visual, auditory or tactile images evoked by the words of a literary work)

Question 8

irony

Answer 8

implies a discrepancy (intent and actual meaning differ)

Question 9

metaphor

Answer 9

comparison is expressed with out the use of a comparative term like “like,” “as,” or “than”

Question 10

narrative techniques

Answer 10

methods involved of telling a story

Question 11

omniscient point of view

Answer 11

vantage point of a story in which the narrator can know, see, and report whatever he or she chooses

Question 12

point of view

Answer 12

any of several possible vantage points from which a story is told

Question 13

resources of language

Answer 13

general phrase for he linguistic devices or techniques that a writer can use

Question 14

rhetorical techniques

Answer 14

devices used in effective or persuasive language

Question 15

satire

Answer 15

writing that seeks to arouse a reader’s disapproval of an object by ridicule

Question 16

setting

Answer 16

background to a story; physical location of a play, story, or novel

Question 17

simile

Answer 17

directly expressed comparison using “like,” “as,” or “than”

Question 18

strategy (rhetorical strategy)

Answer 18

management of language for a specific effect

Question 19

structure

Answer 19

arrangement of materials within a work

Question 20

style

Answer 20

mode of expression in language

Question 21

symbol

Answer 21

something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else

Question 22

syntax

Answer 22

sentence structure

Question 23

theme

Answer 23

main thought expressed by a work

Question 24

tone

Answer 24

manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude