Keystone Exams: Literature Vocabulary Week 1

Front 1

Analyze

Back 1

Break down into components or essential features

Front 2

Affix

Back 2

One or more letters occurring as a bound form attached to the beginning, end, or base of a word and serving to produce a derivative word or an inflectional form (e.g., a prefix or suffix)

Front 3

Allegory

Back 3

A form of extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative are equated with meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning may have moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas such as charity, greed, or envy.

Front 4

Alliteration

Back 4

The repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words.

Front 5

Allusion

Back 5

An implied or indirect reference in literature to a familiar person, place, or event.

Front 6

Analysis

Back 6

The process or result of identifying the parts of a whole and their relationships to one another.

Front 7

Antonym

Back 7

A word that is the opposite in meaning to another word.

Front 8

Antithesis

Back 8

The direct opposite of something

Front 9

Archetype

Back 9

A very typical example or model of a person or thing

Front 10

Argument/Position

Back 10

The position or claim the author establishes. Arguments should be supported with valid evidence and reasoning and balanced by the inclusion of counterarguments that illustrate opposingviewpoints.

Front 11

Author’s Purpose

Back 11

The author’s intent either to inform or teach someone about something, to entertain people or to persuade or convince his/her audience to do or not do something.

Front 12

Bias

Back 12

The subtle presence of a positive or negative approach toward a topic.

Front 13

Biography

Back 13

A written account of another person's life.

Front 14

Character

Back 14

A person, animal or inanimate object portrayed in a literary work.

Front 15

Characterization

Back 15

The method an author uses to reveal characters and their various traits andpersonalities (e.g., direct, indirect).

Front 16

Climax

Back 16

The turning point in a narrative; the moment when the conflict is at its most intense. Typically, the structure of stories, novels, and plays is one of rising action, in which tension builds to the climax.

Front 17

Compare/Contrast

Back 17

Place together characters, situations, or ideas to show common and/or differingfeatures in literary selections.

Front 18

Conflict/Problem

Back 18

A struggle or clash between opposing characters, forces, or emotions.

Front 19

Connotation

Back 19

The range of associations that a word or phrase suggests in addition to its dictionary meaning; how the word makes you feel – example: thin vs. scrawny

Front 20

Context Clues

Back 20

Words and phrases in a sentence, paragraph, and/or whole text, which help reason out the meaning of an unfamiliar word.

Front 21

Cultural Significance

Back 21

The generally accepted importance of a work representing a given culture.

Front 22

Defense of a Claim

Back 22

Support provided to mark an assertion as reasonable.

Front 23

Dialect

Back 23

A variety of a language distinct from the standard variety in pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary.

Front 24

Dialogue

Back 24

In its widest sense, dialogue is simply conversation between characters or speakers in a literary work; in its most restricted sense, it refers specifically to the speech of characters in a drama.

Front 25

Diction

Back 25

An author’s choice of words, phrases, sentence structures and figurative language, which combine to help create meaning and tone.

Front 26

Differentiate

Back 26

Distinguish, tell apart, and recognize differences between two or more items.

Front 27

Drama

Back 27

The genre of literature represented by works intended for the stage; a work to be performed by actors on stage, radio, or television; play.

Front 28

Dramatic Script

Back 28

The written text of a play, which includes the dialogue between characters, stagedirections and often other expository information.

Front 29

Draw Conclusion

Back 29

To make a judgment or decision based on reasoning rather than direct or implicitstatement. Traits that mark a work as imaginative or narrative discourse (e.g., plot, theme, symbol).

Front 30

Elements of Fiction

Back 30

Traits that mark a work as imaginative or narrative discourse (e.g., plot, theme,symbol).

Front 31

Elements of Nonfiction

Back 31

Traits that mark a work as reportorial, analytical, informative or argumentative(e.g., facts, data, charts, graphics, headings).

Front 32

Evaluate

Back 32

Examine and judge carefully. To judge or determine the significance, worth or quality of something; to assess.

Front 33

Explain

Back 33

To make understandable, plain or clear.

Front 34

Explicit

Back 34

Clearly expressed or fully stated in the actual text.

Front 35

Exposition

Back 35

A narrative device, often used at the beginning of a work that provides necessary background information about the characters and their circumstances.