Holt Literature And Language Arts Chapter Two Vocabulary

Front 1

incomprehensible

Back 1

difficult or impossible to understand

Front 2

fugitive

Back 2

a person who is running away from the law, one who is fleeing

Front 3

incentive

Back 3

something that prompts action or effort

Front 4

dispel

Back 4

to cause to disappear by scattering, disperse, to drive away

Front 5

eloquence

Back 5

the skill or power to write or speak gracefully and convincingly

Front 6

staff (noun)

Back 6

a pole on which to fly a flag

Front 7

tread (verb)

Back 7

to walk on, over, or along; to stamp or trample

Front 8

rent (verb)

Back 8

past tense of rend which means to tear

Front 9

stir

Back 9

to excite strong feelings;

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host

Back 10

an army;
a great number

Front 11

skimpy

Back 11

not enough, inadequate

Front 12

grudging

Back 12

reluctant, unwilling

Front 13

gaunt

Back 13

thin and bony

Front 14

rummage

Back 14

to search through the contents of a container

Front 15

benign

Back 15

mild, gentle, causing no real harm

Front 16

infuse

Back 16

to fill; to put into or introduce

Front 17

intolerant

Back 17

unwilling to endure, tolerate, or allow

Front 18

illiterate

Back 18

unable to read and write

Front 19

cavort

Back 19

to leap about playfully, frolic

Front 20

paranoid

Back 20

excessive distrust or suspicion

Front 21

tremulous

Back 21

quivering or shaking

Front 22

savor

Back 22

to taste or smell especially with pleasure

Front 23

taut

Back 23

pulled tight; tense

Front 24

direct characterization

Back 24

when the writer simply tells the reader what the character is like

Front 25

indirect characterization

Back 25

when the writer reveals the personality of the character through a variety of ways other than just saying it

Front 26

motive or motivation

Back 26

the reasons a character behaves in a certain way

Front 27

infer or inference

Back 27

in reading, an inference is a guess based on clues the writer provides

Front 28

enumeration

Back 28

a kind of text structure that organizes information into a list

Front 29

chronology

Back 29

a kind of text structure that is organized by time

Front 30

compare and contrast

Back 30

a text structure that focuses on how two or more things are similar and different

Front 31

allusion

Back 31

a reference to a familiar statement, place, event, or story

Front 32

paraphrase

Back 32

restating every line of a particular text- especially useful with poetry

Front 33

summarize

Back 33

explaining only the most important points of a written work

Front 34

biased treatment

Back 34

when a writer presents only one side of an issue or idea

Front 35

objective treatment

Back 35

when the writer presents several aspects, both good and bad, of an issue or idea

Front 36

broad scope

Back 36

when a written work covers a lot of information about a topic, more like the big picture

Front 37

narrow or limited scope

Back 37

when a written work covers just a small portion of the information, more like a small snapshot

Front 38

mood

Back 38

the overall feeling or atmosphere of a work of literature

Front 39

tone

Back 39

the author’s attitude toward his or her subject, characters, and audience

Front 40

setting

Back 40

the time a place of a story, play, or narrative poem