Vocabulary
This verb means to look at something steadily and intently, like the poster of Big Brother in 1984.
gaze
The literary term for a word that sounds like the noise or action it describes.
onomatopoeia
This is the default tense for storytelling, used to narrate events that happened and concluded in the past.
past simple
This secret US military base in Nevada is the subject of countless theories claiming the government hides evidence of alien life there.
Area 51
This book and film franchise features Katniss Everdeen fighting for survival in a televised battle to the death.
The Hunger Games
To make a light less bright — Winston could do this to the telescreen, but not turn it off.
dim
In the sentence 'the leaves whirled around him as he walked home,' which word is onomatopoeic?
whirled
This tense describes actions that were ongoing at a specific point in the past — commonly used to set the scene.
past continuous
Some conspiracy theorists claim this 1969 American event screened live on television — was actually filmed in a studio.
The Moon Landing
This Netflix anthology series tells standalone dark, tech-driven dystopian stories in almost every episode
Black Mirror
To secretly watch or investigate someone's private affairs, often to uncover information.
snoop
The type of irony is when the opposite of what we expect happens.
situational irony
This tense is used to look back from a point in the past to an even earlier event.
past perfect
This term for a shadowy, all-watching authority comes straight from Orwell's 1984 and is now also the name of a worldwide reality TV show.
Big Brother
In this hit Korean survival drama, contestants play deadly versions of children's games for a massive cash prize.
Squid Game
This verb describes birds moving their wings quickly, or something moving loosely in the wind.
flap
The type of irony where someone says one thing but means another — often called sarcasm.
verbal irony
This tense emphasizes the duration of an ongoing action that continued up to a certain point in the past.
past perfect continuous
This secret society is the subject of theories claiming it secretly controls world governments, banks, and events from the shadows.
The Illuminati
This 1999 sci-fi film is built around the idea that the reality we live in is actually a simulation controlled by machines.
The Matrix
This verb means to stay in the air in one place, like a helicopter or an insect.
hover
The type of irony where the reader or audience knows something the characters in the story don't.
dramatic irony
In the sentence 'he had been making ready for this moment for weeks,' identify the tense and explain why it's used.
past perfect continuous
This country is often cited as having one of the highest numbers of CCTV surveillance cameras per person of anywhere in the world.
UK or China
Published in 1932 — before 1984 — this dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley imagined a society controlled through pleasure and conditioning rather than fear.
Brave New World