English Content Knowledge Praxis Vocab

Front 1

story where people (or things or actions) represent an idea or generalization about life; usually contains a strong lesson or moral

Back 1

Allegory

Front 2

repetition of initial consonant sounds in words, i.e. "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers"

Back 2

Alliteration

Front 3

reference to a familar person, place, thing, or event, i.e. Bible, Everyman

Back 3

Allusion

Front 4

comparison of objects or ideas that appear to be different but are alike in some important way

Back 4

Analogy

Front 5

meter composed of feet that are short-short-long or unaccented-unaccented-accented; usually used in light or whimsical poetry, such as limerick

Back 5

Anapestic meter

Front 6

brief story that illustrates or makes a point

Back 6

Anecdote

Front 7

person or thing working against the hero of a literary work

Back 7

Antagonist

Front 8

wise saying, usually short and written

Back 8

Aphorism

Front 9

turn from the general audience to address a specific group of persons (or a personified abstraction) who is present or absent, i.e. Hamlet's monologue

Back 9

Apostrophe

Front 10

repetition of hte same sound in words close to one another, i.e. white stripes

Back 10

Assonance

Front 11

unrhymed verse, often occurring in iambic pentameter

Back 11

Blank verse

Front 12

break in the rhythm of language, particularly a natural pause in a line of verse, marked in prosody by a double vertical line (")

Back 12

Caesura

Front 13

method an author uses to let readers know more about the characters and their personal traits

Back 13

Characterization

Front 14

expression that has been used so often that it loses its expressive power

Back 14

Cliche

Front 15

repetition of the final consonant sound in words containing different vowels, i.e. "stroke of luck"

Back 15

Consonance

Front 16

stanza made up of two rhyming lines

Back 16

Couplet

Front 17

author's choice of words based on their clearness, conciseness, effectiveness, and authenticity

Back 17

Diction

Front 18

form of diction using old-fashioned words that are no longer used in common speech, i.e. thee, thy, thou

Back 18

Archaic

Front 19

form of diction using expressions that are usually accepted in informal situations or regions, i.e. "wicked awesome"

Back 19

Colloquialism

Front 20

form of diction using a variety of language used by people from a particular geographic area

Back 20

Dialect

Front 21

form of diction using specialized language used in a particular field or content area, i.e. differentiated instruction, cooperative learning, authentic assessment (in the field of education)

Back 21

Jargon

Front 22

form of diction using language that shows disrespect for others or something sacred

Back 22

Profanity

Front 23

form of diction using informal language used by a particular group of people among themselves

Back 23

Slang

Front 24

form of diction using language widely considered crude, disgusting, and oftentimes offensive

Back 24

Vulgarity

Front 25

rhyming at the ends of lines of verse

Back 25

End rhyme

Front 26

run-on line in poetry wherein one line ends and continues onto the next line to complete meaning

Back 26

Enjambment

Front 27

philosophy valuing human freedom and personal responsibility: Sartre, Kierkegaard, Camus, Nietzsche, Kafka, Beauvoir

Back 27

Existentialism

Front 28

literary device in which the author jumps back in time in the chronology of a narrative

Back 28

Flashback

Front 29

one stressed syllable and a number of unstressed syllables (0-4)

Back 29

Foot

Front 30

unstressed, stressed

Back 30

Iambic foot

Front 31

stressed, unstressed

Back 31

Trochaic foot

Front 32

unstressed, unstressed, stressed

Back 32

Anapestic foot

Front 33

stressed, unstressed, unstressed

Back 33

Dactylic foot

Front 34

one foot

Back 34

Monometer

Front 35

two feet

Back 35

Dimeter

Front 36

three feet

Back 36

Trimeter

Front 37

four feet

Back 37

Tetrameter

Front 38

five feet

Back 38

Pentameter

Front 39

six feet

Back 39

Hexameter

Front 40

seven feet

Back 40

Septameter

Front 41

eight feet

Back 41

Octameter

Front 42

verse containing an irregular metrical pattern and line length; vers libre

Back 42

Free verse

Front 43

category of literature defined by style, form, and content

Back 43

Genre

Front 44

pair of lines of poetic verse written in iambic pentameter

Back 44

Heroic couplet

Front 45

flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero; based on Greek for "excessive pride"

Back 45

Hubris

Front 46

exaggeration for emphasis or rhetorical effect

Back 46

Hyperbole

Front 47

use of words to create pictures in the reader's mind

Back 47

Imagery

Front 48

rhyme occurring within a line of verse

Back 48

Internal rhyme

Front 49

use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or expected meaning

Back 49

Irony

Front 50

type of irony wherein the reader sees a character's errors, but the character does not

Back 50

Dramatic Irony

Front 51

type of irony wherein the write says one thing and means another

Back 51

Verbal irony

Front 52

type of irony wherein the purpose of a particular action differs greatly from the result

Back 52

Situational Irony

Front 53

type of pun that results when two words become mixed up in the speaker's mind, i.e. "don't put the horse before the cart"

Back 53

Malapropism

Front 54

figure of speech in which a comparison is implied but not stated, i.e. "this winter is a bear"

Back 54

Metaphor

Front 55

rhythmical pattern in verse made up of stressed and unstressed syllables

Back 55

Meter

Front 56

feeling a text evokes in the reader, such as sadness, tranquility, or elation

Back 56

Mood

Front 57

lesson a work of literature is teaching

Back 57

Moral

Front 58

telling of a story

Back 58

Narration

Front 59

use of sound words to suggest meaning, i.e. buzz, click

Back 59

Onomatopoeia

Front 60

phrase consisting of two contradictory terms, i.e. "deafening silence"

Back 60

Oxymoron

Front 61

contradictory statement that makes sense, i.e. "man learns from history that man learns nothing from history"

Back 61

Paradox

Front 62

literary device in which animals, ideas, and things are represented as having human traits

Back 62

Personification

Front 63

perspective from which a story is told

Back 63

Point of View (POV)

Front 64

story is told from the POV of one character

Back 64

First person POV

Front 65

story is told by someone outside the story

Back 65

Third person POV

Front 66

narrator of the story shares the thoughts and feelings of all the characters

Back 66

Omniscient POV

Front 67

narrator shares the thoughts and feelings of one character

Back 67

Limited omniscient POV

Front 68

narrator records the action from his or her POV, unaware of any of the other characters' thoughts or feelings; also known as objective view

Back 68

Camara view POV

Front 69

repetition of a line or phrase of a poem at regular intervals, particularly at the end of each stanza

Back 69

Refrain

Front 70

mutliple use of a word, phrase, or idea for emphasis or rhythmic effect

Back 70

Repetition

Front 71

persuasive writing

Back 71

Rhetoric

Front 72

regular or random occurrence of sound in poetry

Back 72

Rhythm

Front 73

time and place in which the action of a story takes place

Back 73

Setting

Front 74

comparison of two unlike things, usually including the words like or as

Back 74

Simile

Front 75

how the author uses words, phrases, and sentences to form ideas

Back 75

Style

Front 76

a person, place, thing, or event used to represent something else, such as the white flag for surrendering

Back 76

Symbol

Front 77

overall feeling created by an author's use of words

Back 77

Tone

Front 78

mid-19th c. New England writing philosophical movement protesting Puritan ethic and materialism and valuing individualism, freedom, experimentation, and spirituality; Emerson, Hawthorne, Thorequ, Longfellow, Holmes

Back 78

Transcendentalism

Front 79

metric line of poetry

Back 79

Verse

Front 80

disctinctive features of a person's speech and speech patterns

Back 80

Voice

Front 81

short poem, often written by an anonymous author, comprised of short verses intended to be sung or recited

Back 81

Ballad

Front 82

main section of a long poem

Back 82

Canto

Front 83

poem that is a mournful lament for the dead

Back 83

Elegy

Front 84

long narrative poem detailing a hero's deeds

Back 84

Epic

Front 85

type of Japanese poem written in 17 syllables with three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively and expressing a single thought

Back 85

Haiku

Front 86

humorous verse form of five anapestic lines with a rhyme scheme of aabba

Back 86

Limerick

Front 87

short poem about personal feelings and emotions

Back 87

Lyric

Front 88

fourteen-line poem, usually written in iambic pentameter, with a varied rhyme scheme

Back 88

Sonnet

Front 89

type of sonnet opening with an octave that states a proposition and ends with a sestet that states the solution

Back 89

Petrachan Sonnet

Front 90

type of sonnet including three quatrains and a couplet

Back 90

Shakespearean Sonnet

Front 91

division of poetry named for the number of lines it contains

Back 91

Stanza

Front 92

two-line stanza

Back 92

Couplet

Front 93

three-line stanza

Back 93

Triplet

Front 94

four-line stanza

Back 94

Quatrain

Front 95

five-line stanza

Back 95

Quintet

Front 96

six-line stanza

Back 96

Sestet

Front 97

seven-line stanza

Back 97

Septet

Front 98

eight-line stanza

Back 98

Octave

Front 99

short story or folktale that contains a moral, which may be expressed explicitly at the end as a maxim; Aesop

Back 99

Fable

Front 100

narrative that is made up of fantastic characters and creatures, such as witches, goblis, and fairies, and usually begins with the phrase "once upon a time"

Back 100

Fairy tale

Front 101

genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting; Tolkien, Lewis, William Morris

Back 101

Fantasy

Front 102

narrative form, such as an epic, legend, myth, song, poem, or fable, that has been retold withing a culture for generations; Virginia Hamilton, Alvin Schwartz

Back 102

Folktale

Front 103

narrative technique in which the main story is composed primarily for hte purpose of organizing a set of shorter stories, each of which is a story within a story; Chaucer, Ovid, Bronte, Boccaccio

Back 103

Frame tale

Front 104

narrative fiction set in some earlier time and often contiaining historically authentic people. places, or events

Back 104

Historical fiction

Front 105

fiction that is intended to frighten, unsettle, or scare the reader; King, Shelley, Bradbury, Poe

Back 105

Horror

Front 106

narrative about human actions that is perceived by both the teller and the listeners to have taken place within human history and that possesses certain qualities that give the tale the appearance of truth or reality; King Arthur, The Holy Grail

Back 106

Legend

Front 107

suspenseful story that deals with a puzzling crime; Poe, Dickens

Back 107

Mystery

Front 108

narrative fiction that involves gods and heroes or has a theme that expresses a culture's ideology

Back 108

Myth

Front 109

extended fictional prose narrative

Back 109

Novel

Front 110

short narrative, usually between 50 and 100 pages long; Animal Farm, Metamorphosis

Back 110

Novella

Front 111

text or performance that imitates and mocks an author or work

Back 111

Parody

Front 112

novel comprised of idealized events far removed from everyday life; Frankenstein, Troilus and Cressida, King Horn

Back 112

Romance

Front 113

literature that makes fun of social conventions of conditions, usually to evoke change

Back 113

Satire

Front 114

fiction that deals with the current or future development of technological advances; Slaughterhouse-Five, 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451

Back 114

Science fiction

Front 115

brief fictional prose narrative; "The Lottery," "Rip van Winkle," "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," "The Hound of the Baskervilles," Dorothy Parker's "Big Blond"

Back 115

Short story

Front 116

literature, often drama, ending in a catastrophic event for the protagonist(s) after he or she faces several problems or conflicts

Back 116

Tragedy

Front 117

novel set in the western U.S. featuring the experiences of cowboys and frontiersmen; Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage, Trail Drive; McMurty's Lonesome Dove; Richter's The Sea of Grass; Stiker's The Lone Ranger; Wister's The Virginian

Back 117

Western

Front 118

a person's account of his or her own life

Back 118

Autobiography

Front 119

story about a person's life written by another person

Back 119

Biography

Front 120

expository piece written with eloquence that becomes part of the recognized literature of an era; often reveal historical factssocial mores, and thoughts and personailty of the author; Bible, Koran, Constitution, Mein Kampf

Back 120

Document (letter, diary, journal)

Front 121

document organized in paragraph form that can be long or short and can be in the form of a letter, dialogue, or discussion; Orwell's Politics and the English Language, Emerson's The American Scholar; Pope' Moral Essays

Back 121

Essay