Fiction
Literary Elements
NonFiction/Expository
Poetry/Fig.Language
STAAR Strategies
100

The first stage of a plot diagram; consists of the characters, setting, and conflict

Exposition

100

The story is told through the thoughts and feelings of the main character

First Person Point of View

100

The major point of a paragraph or a story

Main Idea

100

A comparison of two things using like or as

Simile

100

What you MUST do before reading a passage

Break down the questions

200

The turning point in the story; the character faces his/her conflict

Climax

200

The story is told through the thoughts or feelings of the narrator; is all knowing

Third Person Omniscient

200

A text structure that shows the relationship between things; where one event is the result of another or others

Cause and Effect

200

A comparison of two unlike things without using like or as

Metaphor

200

A strategy that you must do as your reading the passage.

Write notes on the side of the paragraph or stanza (Read a Little, Write a Little)

300

The stage where the conflict escalates

Rising Action

300

The feeling of the story

Mood

300

A text structure that expresses a conflict and presents possible ways of solving it.

Problem and Solution

300

An exaggeration

Hyperbole

300

The part of the passage that YOU SHOULD READ right above the title to better understand the story.

Background information

400

The problem in the story

Conflict

400

The way the author feels about his/her characters and writes about them

Tone

400

A text structure that shows the order of events as they happened

Chronological order/Sequential

400

Giving human qualities to an object or animal

Personification

400

Two summarizing strategies that can be used to summarize a passage

WWBST/BME

500

The message of the story

Theme

500

When you expect something to happen but the opposite occurs in a story; may be either verbal, situational, or dramatic

Irony

500

Added information about a topic related to the story; Is usually it's own separate box on the side of the passage.

Sidebar

500

A group of lines put together in a poem/Similar to a paragraph

Stanza

500

A strategy that should be used after reading a poem to summarize the elements found.

SIFTT (Symbolism, Imagery, Figurative Language, Tone, Theme)