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Descriptive writing is one of the four major forms of dicourse, in which language is used to create a mood or emotion. |
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Expository writing is one of the four major forms of discourse in which something is explained or set forth. Usually nonfictional information or background information. |
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Narrative writing is the form of discourse that tells about a series of events usually in chronological order. |
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Persuasive writing is one of the four forms of discourse, which uses reason and emotional appeals to convince a reader to think or act in a certain way. |
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The body of an essay is made up of paragraphs that develop and elaborate on the major points of an essay. |
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The conclusion is the the final part that provides the readers with a sense of completion, reinforces the main ideas, summarizes the major points, offers a solution, or makes a recommendation. |
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Details are made up of information that supports the main ideas of a paragraph. |
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An introduction is the beginning that catches the reader's attention, sets the tone, and presents the thesis. |
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The main ideas are the major points of the paragraphs. |
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A paragraph is a group of sentences that presents and supports a main idea often stated in a topic sentence. It contains a topic sentence, body and a clincher sentence. |
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The thesis statement is the controlling idea of the essay. |
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A topic sentence is a sentence that states the main idea of a paragraph. |
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Drama is an art form that tells a story through the speech and actions of the characters in the story. |
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An essay is a short literary composition on a single subject usually presenting the author's viewpoint. |
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The narrative is a form of discourse that tells about a series of events. |
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An author's style is composed of the unique elements of an author's writing. |
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An archetype is an original or fundamental imaginative pattern that is repeated through the ages. |
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Characters are individuals in a story or play. |
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The point in a plot that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest. |
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The struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story. (Man vs. Himself, Man vs. Man, Man vs. Society, Man vs. Nature) |
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The influences of a literary work. |
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The mood of a literary work is the overall emotion created by a work of literature. |
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The series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the story line. |
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The point of view is the vantage point from which the writer tells a story. |
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The resolution is the conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have been settled. |
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The setting is the time and location in which a story takes place. |
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The speaker is the voice that addresses the reader in a poem. |
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The theme is the insight about human life that is revealed in literary work. It is the author's message to the reader. |
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The tone is the attitude a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience. |
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Alliteration is the repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together. |
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Assonance is the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds, especially in words close together. |
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Consonance is the repetition of the same or similar final consonant sounds on accented syllables or in important words. |
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Diction is a speaker's or writer's choice of words. |
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Iambic pentameter is a line of poetry that contains five iambic feet. |
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A meter is a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry. |
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Onomatopoeia is the use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning. |
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The repetition of vowel sounds in accented syllables and all succeeding syllables. When words within the same line of poetry have repeated sounds, we have an example of internal rhyme. End rhyme refers to rhyming words at the end of the lines. |
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Rhythm is the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in language. |
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An allusion a reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture. |
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An Analogy is a comparison made between two things to show how they are alike. Analogies show the relationships of words. |
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Imagery is the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience. |
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A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles. |
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An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. |
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A paradox is a statement that appears self-contradictory but reveals a kind of truth. |
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Personification is a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes. |
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A simile is a figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two unlike things, using a word such as like, as than, or resembles. |
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Symbolism is a literary movement that originated in the late-nineteenth-century France, in which writers rearranged the world of appearances in order to reveal a more truthful version of reality. |
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p Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. |
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A couplet is two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry. |
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End rhyme is when the rhyming words are located at the end of each line of verse. |
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Free verse is poetry that does not conform to regular meter or rhyme scheme. |
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Internal rhyme is rhyme that occurs within a line of poetry or within consecutive lines. |
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A refrain is a word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated, for effect, several times in a poem. |
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Repetition may be used as a unifying property of repeated words, sounds, syllables, and other elements that appears in a work. |
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The pattern of rhymes in a poem. (Sonnet: abab, cdcd, efef, gg) |
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A slant rhyme is a rhyming sound that is not exact. |
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A ballad is a song or poem that tells a story. |
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A lyric poem is a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of a speaker. |
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A narrative poem is a poem that tells a story--a series of related events with a beginning, a middle and an end. |
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A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem, usually written in iambic pentameter. |
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A cliche is a word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse. ("quiet as a mouse") |
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Connotations are the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition. |
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The denotation is the explicit meaning of a word. |
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A dialect is a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area. |
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A hyperbole is a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration, or overstatement, for effect. |
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A play on words based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound alike but mean different things. |
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A rhetorical question is a question that is asked for effect and that does not actually require an answer. |
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A understatement is a statement that says less than what is meant. |
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Verbal irony occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else. |
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An act is a major division of a play. |
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The antagonist is the opponent who struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a story. |
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An aside is used as a casual side message to the audience. |
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Dialogue is the directly quoted words of people speaking to one another. |
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The dramatic structure contains the elements of a drama including exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and a resolution. |
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A foot is a metrical unit of poetry containing at least one stressed syllable and usually one or more unstressed syllables. |
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A flashback is a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time. |
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A foil is a character who acts as a contrast to another character. |
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t foreshadowing is the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot. |
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A monologue is when one person speaks to the audience. |
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A narrator in fiction is the one who tells the story. |
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To paraphrase is to state a text in your own words. |
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The protagonist is the central character in a story; the one who initiates or drives the action. |
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A scene is a division of an act. |
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A long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are onstage. |
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The voice that addresses the reader in a poem. |
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Directions for the characters on the stage. |
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A group of consecutive lines that forms a structural unit in a poem. |
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An exaggerated picture that places an emphasis on a person's character traits. |
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What a character does in a play. |
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What a character thinks in a play. |
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Background information that is relevant to the story. |
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A character who changes in some important way as a result of the story's action. |
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This is a character who has few personality traits and can be summed up in a single phrase: the loyal sidekick, the buffoon, the nosy neighbor, etc. |
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These characters have dimensions to their personalities. They are as complex as real people. |
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He is one who does not change much in the course of a story. |
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A fixed idea or conception of a character or a group of people that does not allow for any individuality and it often based on religious, social, or racial prejudices. |
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Events that are placed in the order in which they occurred in time. |
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It is to show how things are alike. |
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A conclusion contains the ending remarks. |
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Context clues are clues from the surrounding text. |
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To show contrast is to show how things are different. |
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This is the pattern of the structure or a literary work. |
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To use someone elses words without giving them credit. |
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Syllables added to the beginning of words to change their meaning. |
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The format of stating a problem and then offering a solution. |
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The format of asking a question and then offering a viable answer. |
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The order of logically describing where things are located or how they are situated. |
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The syllables added to the endings of words to change their meaning. |
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The text structure is the format of the text. |
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An atlas is a book of maps. |
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A biographical dictionary contains biographies of famous people. |
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A dictionary is a book of words arranged in alphabetical order and their definitions. |
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An encyclopedia is a book of general knowledge. |
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MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION |
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An associtaiton that devises a prescribed format for writing a research paper known as the MLA format. |
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READER'S GUIDE TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE |
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This is a guide to finding magazine articles on specific topics. |
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A thesaurus is a book of synomyms. |
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A fable is a very short story that is told in prose or poetry that teaches a a pratcical lesson about how to succeed in life. |
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Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and curiosity about what will happen. next in a story. |
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Using mocking or contemptuously ironic remarks intended to wound another. |
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This is speech that is not meant to be taken literally. |
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An action that is uninfluenced by emotion, surmise, or personal opinion. |
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It means using words without embelishment or exaggeration. |
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A legend is a popular story handed down from earlier times. |
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A biography is a story written about someone's life. |
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An autobiography is a story based on the author's life. |
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