Reading Skills
a message or life lesson from the story.
What is theme?
the beginning, middle, and end of important events. The story itself.
What is plot?
person, place, thing, or idea.
What is a noun?
an exaggeration (My list is a mile long) (I’m so full I could explode!)
a group of lines in a poem
What is a stanza?
an appeal to emotion
what is pathos?
To analyze something is to...
Examine it in detail.
a conflict between a character and an outside force, or between two or more characters.
external conflict
where and when the story takes place.
What is setting?
tells us more about a noun. Describes the noun. Examples: green, slow, five, stinky, tall, round.
What is an adjective?
a word that sounds like the sound it describes. (Pop!, meow, oink.)
What is an onomatopoeia?
the amount of syllables in a line of poetry
What is meter?
an appeal to logic/facts
what is logos?
Why the author wrote the text (persuade, inform, entertain).
author's purpose
big point or most important idea of the story or article.
What is the central or main idea?
the main character in a literary work.
What is a protagonist?
replaces a noun. Examples: I, he, she, they, it, his.
What is a pronoun?
the repetition of the same letter or sound at the beginning (usually consonants) of two or more neighboring words or syllables.
the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of lines of a poem
What is rhyme scheme?
an appeal to expertise
what is ethos?
Making an inference or to infer something from the text means to do what?
Reaching a conclusion based on facts and evidence.
when the conflict gets the most intense
What is climax?
a character or force in conflict with the main character.
What is an antagonist?
words we use before nouns or pronouns to show their relationship with other words in the sentence. Example: behind (the tree), across (Maple Street)
What is a preposition?
a comparison between two unlike things; usually describing one thing being another (The city was an ocean of lights.
What is a metaphor?
a change in the mood, emotions, thoughts, structure, or content in a poem
What is a shift?
A conclusion or reply that does not follow the previous statement in a logical manner. (Jumping topics out of nowhere)
non sequitur
a universally recognized character type, symbol, or situation that appears repeatedly in literature, mythology, and film across different cultures. Very common in fables and fairytales.
archetypes
the category of the writing (humor, science fiction, etc).
What is genre?
when the conflict’s intensity begins and develops
What is rising action?
tells more about a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Tells how, how many, when. Example: (He ate) slowly, (she ran) quickly, (we sang) loudly.
What is an adverb?
attributing human actions, emotions, or qualities to nonhuman things (The leaves danced in the wind.)
What is personification?
the atmosphere or feeling that you (the reader) get from the text or poem
What is mood?
Appeals to the popularity of a practice or concept as a method of persuasion.
Bandwagon
an award, honor, or praise
What is an accolade?
examples an author uses to support their claim
evidence
when the conflict’s intensity lessens
What is falling action?
words that show action or a state of being. One of these is required in a sentence.
What is a verb?
a comparison using like or as (My dog is as cute as a button.)
What is a simile?
the author or speaker's attitude toward a subject
What is tone?
A conclusion based on the premise, “if this, then that” Often, the assembly of a causal chain of events that result in an unlikely or extreme outcome.
slippery slope
when the characters, setting, and situation are introduced
when the conflict ends
What is resolution?
expresses strong emotions. Followed by an exclamation point or a comma depending on the strength of emotion. Examples: Wow!, Yuck!, Yes!, Holy cow!
What is an interjection?
using the five senses to describe something
imagery
the repeating of a word or phrase for emphasis
What is repetition or refrain?
An attack on or criticism of someone’s character rather than the logic or content of the argument.
ad hominem
A type of conflict that comes from a character’s mixed emotions and opposing thoughts about what to do.
internal conflict
a type of irony where the audience knows critical information that the characters do not, creating suspense, tension, or humor.
dramatic irony
combining two words with contradictory (or opposite) meanings [jumbo shrimp; old news; pretty ugly]
oxymoron
What is internal rhyme?
An analogy that incorrectly connects two things based on other shared characteristics.
false analogy
The oversimplification of and subsequent attack on the viewpoint of another or the misrepresentation of the viewpoint of another.
strawman