Literary Lingo
In The Odyssey, Homer chooses specific, formal words like "supplicant" and "plunder" to establish an epic tone.
What is the term for an author's specific choice of words and style of expression?
What is diction?
Which vocabulary word describes a character like Tybalt, who is eager to argue, quarrel, or start a fight at the slightest provocation?
What is pugnacious?
Identify the error in the following sentence:
Odysseus is known for his strength, his intelligence, and being brave.
What is parallel structure?
Odysseus is known for his strength, his intelligence, and his bravery.
How many paragraphs should your Text-Analysis Essay be?
Correctly format an in-text citation for a book by John Smith on page 12.
(Smith 12).
A descriptive phrase for a person (e.g., 'Grey-eyed Athena').
What is an epithet?
This word describes something that exists but is hidden, dormant, or not yet developed—like a talent that hasn't been discovered yet.
What is latent?
Combine these two sentences into one using an appositive phrase:
Romeo falls in love with Juliet. Romeo is a passionate young Montague.
Romeo, a passionate young Montague, falls in love with Juliet.
(The phrase 'a passionate young Montague' renames Romeo and is set off by commas.)
With what color pen must you write the essay?
What is blue or black?
In formal academic writing, students are encouraged to replace weak verbs like "is," "am," and "were" with stronger, active alternatives.
What is the collective name for these state-of-being verbs?
What is "to be" verbs?
In Romeo and Juliet, the fiery Tybalt serves to emphasize Benvolio's peaceful and calm nature through their stark differences.
What is the term for a character who contrasts with another character to highlight particular qualities of the other?
What is FOIL?
If a character is described as 'gloomy' or 'sullen,' and feeling ill-tempered and sad, which vocabulary word best fits this mood?
What is MOROSE?
Tybalt is a pugnacious character he is always looking for a fight.
What is this error called? How do you fix it?
What is a run on sentence?
What are the two main elements you need to identify in your thesis?
What are the central idea/theme and a literary device that develops it?
The audience watches Romeo drink poison because he believes Juliet is dead, while we know she is actually beginning to wake up from her potion.
What specific type of irony occurs when the audience understands the significance of an event that the characters do not?
What is dramatic irony?
The word "home" suggests warmth and safety, while the word "shrine" suggests something holy and untouchable.
What is the term for the emotional or cultural meaning attached to a word beyond its literal definition?
When a character launches into a long, angry speech of criticism or accusation, they are delivering a ________.
What is a TIRADE?
Odysseus could choose to sail past the six-headed Scylla or he could risk his entire ship against the whirlpool Charybdis.
What needs to be added to this sentence? Where? Why?
What is put it in quotation marks?
The name for the list of sources in alphabetical order at the end of a paper AND the proper font and size for MLA writing.
What is a Works Cited page AND Times New Roman 12.
What is the term for an all-knowing narrator who understands the thoughts and feelings of every character?
This word describes an action that is convenient and practical for a specific purpose, even if it might be improper or immoral.
What is EXPEDIENT?
Identify the rule for using a colon versus a comma when introducing a quote.
Which one belongs in the example below and why?
Rainsford expresses his cold perspective on hunting [?] "The world is made up of two classes—the hunters and the huntees."
The Answer: A Colon.
Because "Rainsford expresses his cold perspective on hunting" is a complete independent clause (a full sentence), a colon is the correct way to introduce the quote.
If the lead-in was just "Rainsford says," you would use a comma.
To maintain a formal, academic tone in your essay, which category of words should be strictly avoided?
What are personal pronouns (I, me, my, you, your)?
The danger of excessive boasting or bragging (hubris) is best demonstrated by this famous episode in The Odyssey.
What is The Cyclops?