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27 Cards in this Set

  • Front
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Syntax
The arrangement of words to form phrases, clauses and sentences; sentence construction. Syntax is also both the patterns of the aforementioned arrangements and the function of a word, phrase, or clause within a sentence.

How a sentence is constructed, patterns in sentence structure, and the function of a word, phrase, or clause within a sentence
Diction
A writer’s choice of words, particularly for clarity, effectiveness, and precision.

A writer’s diction can be formal or informal, abstract or concrete. In attempting to choose the "right word", writers must think of their subject and their audience. Words that are appropriate in informal dialogue would not always be appropriate in a formal essay.
Connotation
The emotion or association that a word or phrase may arouse.
Denotation
The literal or dictionary meaning of a word or phrase.
Figurative Language
Language that is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense.

Figurative language always makes use of a comparison between different things. By appealing to the imagination, figurative language provides new ways of looking at the world.
Direct Characterization
The writer makes direct statements about a character's personality and tells what the character is like.
Indirect Characterization
The writer reveals information about a character and his personality through that character's thoughts, words, and actions, along with how other characters respond to that character, including what they think and say about him.
Foil
a foil is a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight various features of that other character's personality, throwing these characteristics into sharper focus
Stock Characters
A Stock character is a fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. In their most general form, stock characters are related to literary archetypes, but they are often more narrowly defined. Stock characters are a key component of genre fiction, providing relationships and interactions that people familiar with the genre will recognize immediately. Stock characters make easy targets for parody, which will likely exaggerate any stereotypes associated with these characters.
Static Character
A character who remains the same throughout a narrative. Static characters do not develop or change beyond the way in which they are first presented.
Dynamic Character
A character who undergoes an important and basic change in personality or outlook.

Purpose: Dynamic characters promise to take a story's audience on a journey. The key issue to understand is that it is because characters in stories act out to resolution and fulfillment issues of human need that they engage the attention of an audience. When introducing a story's characters, then, writers need to suggest in some way that their characters are "ripe." By that I mean a character has issues that arise from a story's promise.
Rising Action
the series of events that build up and create tension and suspense. This tension is a result of the basic conflict that exists and makes the story interesting.
Climax
That point of greatest emotional intensity, interest, or suspense in a narrative.

The climax reveals the theme, or MEANING, of the narrative.
Protagonist
The protagonist is the main character in a story, novel, drama, or other literary work, the character that the reader or audience empathizes with.
Antagonist
The antagonist in a work of fiction is the character who opposes the hero, or protagonist. The antagonist, when there is one, provides the story's conflict.
Epiphany
A sudden moment of blinding insight

Used by James Joyce in his works
Commercial Fiction
- Diverts us from life for a while
- Action always makes a difference to the conflict--can be good OR bad
- Characters aren't always realistic, they often seem slightly cartoonish
- Social issues described are similar to the ones portrayed on sitcoms or in movies
Can be read quickly and easily--without too much thinking involved
Written to entertain a much wider audience
Focuses more on narrative and plot
Literary Fiction
- Confronts life as we know it
- Action makes little (or no) difference to the conflict
- Resolves the story, but not necessarily the conflict by the end
- Confronts issues pertaining to the human condition
- Is challenging and thought-provoking
- The beauty of the writing is often remarked upon--often aspires to win awards in the literary world
- Focuses more on the poise of expression, psychological acumen, and character
Omniscient POV
3rd Person and covers everything
Third Person limited (by either major/minor character)
reporting how things are seen through the eyes of 1 character
Stream of Consciousness POV
Telling you the character's thoughts
First Person (by major/minor character) POV
In the first person point of view, the narrator does participate in the action of the story. When reading stories in the first person, we need to realize that what the narrator is recounting might not be the objective truth. We should question the trustworthiness of the accounting.
Objective/Reportorial Third Person POV
With the objective point of view, the writer tells what happens without stating more than can be inferred from the story's action and dialogue. The narrator never discloses anything about what the characters think or feel, remaining a detached observer.
Verbal Irony
An attitude or expression that is the opposite of what is said

Ex: After car accident, passenger says, "You're a great driver!"
Situational Irony
When a situation or event ends the opposite way of what is expected.

Ex: Lifeguard being saved from drowning
Dramatic Irony
When we know something the characters don't

Ex: Think of horror films
Dark Humor
a form of humor that regards human suffering as absurd rather than pitiable, or that considers human existence as ironic and pointless but somehow comic.