Literary Elements
The person or narrator telling the story.
What is the point of view?
A word that modifies a noun or pronoun.
What is an adjective?
The state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled.
What is serene?
A direct comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as."
What is a simile?
The sentence that clearly states the main point or argument of an essay.
What is a thesis statement?
The turning point or highest moment of tension in a story.
What is the climax?
A sentence that contains two independent clauses joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction.
What is a compound sentence?
To deviate from the straight path; to wander or roam.
What is meander?
"The wind whispered through the dark trees" is an example of this literary device.
What is personification?
To use someone else's words or ideas without giving them proper credit.
What is plagiarism?
This type of character undergoes a significant internal change from the beginning to the end of the story.
What is a dynamic character?
The correct form of the pronoun to fill in the blank: "Between you and ____, I think the movie was boring."
What is me?
A word that means the exact opposite of "benevolent."
What is malevolent?
An extreme exaggeration used for emphasis or effect.
What is hyperbole?
These are used in an essay to move smoothly from one idea to the next.
What are transitions?
The underlying message or central idea about life conveyed by a literary work.
What is the theme?
A sentence error that occurs when two independent clauses are joined without proper punctuation or a conjunction.
What is a run-on sentence?
he prefix that means "against" or "opposing."
What is anti-?
A phrase where two contradictory terms appear side-by-side, such as "deafening silence."
What is an oxymoron?
The three components that must be present in every body paragraph of an analytical essay.
What are a topic sentence, evidence (quotes/facts), and analysis/commentary?
A technique where the author provides hints or clues about what will happen later in the plot.
What is foreshadowing?
An action verb that requires a direct object to complete its meaning.
What is a transitive verb?
A word meaning an intensely strong feeling of dislike or hatred.
What is animosity?
The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words in a sentence.
What is alliteration?
The tone that should be avoided in formal academic writing.
What is informal/slang/first-person (in some contexts)?