Literary Elements
Testing Vocabulary
Text Structures
Literary Techniques
More Testing Vocabulary
100

This literary element can have a negative or positive impact on a character's point of view about life or people. 

What is setting?

100

To show what someone or something is like. 

What is reveal?

100

This type of text structure is used when you want to show how to or more things are alike or different.

What is comparison and contrast?

100

This type of figurative language shows how two different things are the same in some way. For example:

Her eyes are like the color of the Mediterranean Sea. 

What is a simile?

100

How does the author’s description of Aleks’s plan in paragraph 1 impact the tone of the story?

What does the word "impact" most likely mean as it is used in this question?

What is "affect"? OR What is "influence"?

An impact is what happens as a result of an event.

For example, What is the impact of poor attendance at BAMS? The impact of low attendance can lead to a promotion in doubt. 



200

They can be humans, animals, trees, thunder, lightning, etc. But you cannot have a story without them. 

What is a character?

200

To move the action forward. 

What is to propel?

200

This type of text structure is used to present an issue or situation that needs a resolution. 

What is problem and solution?

200

When an author uses a specific object to represent an idea. For example, the U.S. flag represents "freedom". 

What is symbolism?

200

To show the difference between two or more things. 

What is "contrast"?

300

This literary element tells or shows the sequence of events in a story. It is the action in a story. 

What is plot?

300

A character's or author's attitude, opinion, or feelings about a person, place, or thing, within a text. 

What is point-of-view?

300

True or False? A text's structure ALWAYS stays the same throughout a text. 

What is false?

300

Authors use this technique to help readers hear, see, taste, and feel what it is they are writing about. 

For example: I will never forget this day. The air was thick and microscopic drops of water landed on my sweaty arms. My ears were still ringing from the shrieks and screams of the roller coaster ride but all I could think about was the taste of pink cotton candy as I waited on a line that wrapped around the park for what seemed like miles. 

What is imagery?

300

Where you stand or how you feel about a topic or subject. 

What is 

stance, viewpoint, point-of-view, position?

Any of these words is acceptable. 

400

This literary element shapes how characters respond or change as a result of this. It is an obstacle a character attempts to overcome. 

What is conflict?

400

To express something or show something without coming out and explicitly stating it. 

What is to imply or What is to suggest?

400

This type of text structure is used to show a sequence of events or a list of steps. 

What is chronological or sequential?

400

Future events in a story that are suggested by the author before they happen.  

What is foreshadowing?

400

How two or more people, places, or things, are connected to each other?

What is relate?

500

Authors use this technique to show us or reveal to us aspects of a character, or who they really are and what they are really like. 

What is dialogue?

500

To show a change in something or someone. 

What is shift?

500

This type of text structure explains events and the impact of those events. 

What is cause and effect?

500

The atmosphere or the emotional condition in a text. 

For example, words in a text can create suspense, mystery, dread, fear, confusion. 

What is mood?

500

This word is often found in test questions. It means to "add to". 

What is contribute?

600

Authors write stories to help us understand universal truths about lessons we must learn in life.  

What is theme or central idea?

600

The emotional state of a speaker or narrator, as conveyed through the language used in a text. 

What is tone?

600

This type of text structure brings a person, place, or thing to life with a preponderance of adjectives and figurative language like simile, metaphor, and personification. 

What is description or descriptive?

600

When an author gives human characteristics to nonhuman things. For example:

The waves roared in anger last night. 

What is personification?

600

How a story ends after a conflict has been resolved. 

What is resolution?