Figurative Language
Key Terms
Story Elements
Key Terms II
Literary Elements
100

When a writer describes an object as if it were a person.

What is personification?

100

To come to a reasonable conclusion based on evidence found in the text

What is an inference?

100

The specific order of a series of events that form a story

What is the plot?

100

A meaning beyond the explicit meaning of a word/the feelings and emotions connected to a word

What is connotative meaning?

100

This is the author's attitude about a subject or an audience; the author's word choices help create this

What is tone?

200

A comparison using like or as

What is a simile?

200

Things such as a topic sentence, an introduction, body paragraphs, headings, footnotes, or graphics to further organize the text

What are text features?

200

Refers to where and when a story takes place, including the time of day, the season, or the location

What is the setting?

200

The perspective from which a story is told

What is point of view?

200

The dictionary definition of a word; the explicit meaning of a word

What is denotation?

300

A direct comparison that states one thing is another.  It isn't meant to be literal, but descriptive.

What is a metaphor?

300

The lesson or message in a literary text

What is theme?

300

The problem in the story

What is the conflict?

300

The category of a text, such as fiction or nonfiction

What is genre?

300

A word or phrase that has a meaning beyond the literal meaning of the word

What is figurative language?

400

An exaggeration beyond belief

What is hyperbole?

400

The most important point or idea that the author is making in a passage

What is central idea or main idea?

400

The solution to the problem or the end of the main dramatic conflict

What is the resolution?

400

The main argument made by the author

What is a claim?

400

The words, facts, or ideas in a text that explain a difficult or unusual word

What are context clues?

500

A quirky expression or saying that is specific to a language.

What is an idiom?

500

An overview of the passage that captures the main points but does not give every detail and does not include opinions.

What is an objective summary?

500

Persons, things, or beings in stories.  They may be real or imaginary.

What are characters?

500

The process of pulling together background knowledge, newly learned ideas, connections, inferences and summaries into a complete and original understanding of the text

What is synthesizing?

500

Refers to the way an author develops a character over the course of a passage

What is characterization?

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