Literary Terms
The underlying message of a literary work.
What does “theme” mean?
Joins two independent clauses without a conjunction.
What is a semicolon?
A logical guess based on evidence in the text.
What is an inference?
Emotionally loaded words used to influence an audience.
What is charged language?
The literal definition of word that can be found in a dictionary.
What is the denotative meaning of a word?
Her smile is as bright as the sun.
What is a simile?
Introduces a list, explanation, or quote.
What is a colon?
The most important point or idea the author is communicating.
What is the main idea/claim or central idea/claim.
An example of this is: Join us in the fight against pollution—sign the petition today.
What is a call to action?
The author’s word choice that affects tone and meaning.
What is diction?
One is the author's attitude; the other is the reader's emotional response.
What is tone and mood?
She likes running, swimming, and biking.
What is parallel structure or parallelism.
Determine the _________ of a text be examining it's diction, setting, tone, and how it makes readers feel.
What is the mood?
It creates rhythm and emphasizes key points.
What is parallelism.
A group of words that share a common root or base word (act, reaction, action, actor).
What is a word family?
The emotional or cultural associations of a word beyond its literal definition.
What is connotative meaning?
The sentence structure of the following:
After lunch, she went home.
What is a complex sentence?
A "paragraph" in a poem
What is a stanza?
An example of this follows:
"Oh, horror, horror, horror!"
- Shakespeare
What is repetition?
A ________ supports a claim with evidence, whereas a ____________ restates key points.
What is an argument and a summary?
Time is a thief.
What is a metaphor?
The sentence structure of the following:
She is a great speaker, and she is a wonderful listener.
What is a compound sentence?
A question a speaker asks not looking for an answer, but to make a statment.
What is a rhetorical question?
What is a rhetorical question?
"Becuase it was raining," is a dependent clause and a ___________ __________?
What is a sentence fragment?