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 examine something in detail means to
analyze it
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?
a rhyme involving a word in the middle of a line and another at the end of a line
Internal rhyme
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 credibility
what is ethos?
Reaching a conclusion based on facts and evidence.
to infer
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 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
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?
when the characters, setting, and situation are introduced
when the conflict ends
What is resolution?
using the five senses to describe something
imagery
the repeating of a word or phrase for emphasis
What is repetition or refrain?
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