English State Test Review

Ambiguity

Uncertainty.

Bildungsroman

A story about someone growing up.

Close Reading

A careful and detailed analysis of a text that focuses on language, structure, and meaning.

Comic Relief

A scene or scenes meant to provide a break from a serious piece.

Connotation

The implied or suggested meanings and emotional associations of a word, beyond its literal definition.

Denotation

The literal or primary meaning of a word, as opposed to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.

Diction

The kinds of words and sentences that the writer chooses to use.

Flashback

When a character shows events that happened earlier.

Foreshadowing

Giving hints of something that might happen later in the story.

Graphic Novel

A book made of comics, can be funny or serious, novels are typically nonfiction but graphic novels can be fiction and nonfiction.

Imagery

Words or phrases that appeal to your five senses.

Dramatic Irony

Occurs when the audience knows something that the characters do not, creating tension or humor.

Situational Irony

A situation where the outcome is incongruent with what was expected, often leading to a surprising or humorous effect.

Verbal Irony

A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant, often used for humor or emphasis.

Memoir

A memory of a past event that took place in a subject's life.Typically a personal narrative focusing on specific experiences or themes.

Metaphor

When the author compares two unlike things.

Mood

The overall feeling you get from the story.

Innocent eye(first)

A perspective that assumes the narrator or character has a naive or limited understanding of the events occurring around them.

Stream of Consciousness

A literary style in which a character's thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow  uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue.

Third person (limited)

A narrative perspective where the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of only one character, providing a limited view of the story.

Omniscient

A narrative perspective in which the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all characters, providing a comprehensive view of the story.

Simile

A comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as”

Symbolism

The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities, often giving deeper meaning to a story.

Tone

The author’s attitude or emotion towards his/her subject.

Voice

Our sense of the writer who has created the work. The author's style; what makes the writing unique.

Theme

The central idea, message, or underlying meaning in a literary work that reflects the author's perspective on a subject.

Rite of passage

A ritual, event, or ceremony that shows movement from one stage of life to another, and somehow this event has changed your beliefs, thoughts, or your actions(mature).

Direct Characterization

The writer directly describes the characters traits; the reader is told how the character thinks and acts.

Indirect Characterization

The characters traits are revealed to the reader through events.

5 traits of Indirect Characterization:

Speech, Thoughts, Responses of other characters, Actions, Appearance.

Character Terms:

Flat, Round, Static, Dynamic, Stock, Character motivations, Protagonist, Antagonist

Flat Character

A simple character with one or two personality traits.

Round Character

A complex character with many different traits.

Static Character

A character that doesn’t change in the course of a story.

Dynamic Character

A character who changes in an important way as a result of the story’s action(s).

Stock Character

A character who fits out stereotypes.

Character motivations

Reasons why a character acts a certain way.

What are the 3 steps you need to include in an introduction?

Hook(attention-getter), Bridge(discuss background on topic), and thesis

Good strategies for a hook

Fact/statistic, quotation, anecdote, setting the scene, or a universal statement.

What should you include in your bridge of your introductory paragraph?

1. Provide commentary that explains that hook.

2. Provide background info on your topic(you can explain why it’s important for the audience to understand or its relevance).

3. Transitions to your claim/thesis.

What should your intro paragraph end with?

Claim/Thesis

What are the 4 steps you need to include in a body paragraph?

1. Topic sentence

2. Supportive idea/evidence

3. commentary *Evidence from source 2 + commentary if you are comparing two passages or writing a counterclaim*

4. Closing sentence

Each of your body paragraphs will be organized around supportive reasons, which are…

The main ideas that you will use to support your claim(reasons = focus of each body paragraph).

When writing your evidence…

Provide development BEFORE the evidence that establishes credibility of the source and context for the evidence(what was the source about and what point was it making?)

In an argumentative essay, your last body paragraph has these 2 steps:

1. Counterclaim(what does the opposing side say?)

2. Rebuttal(prove the other side wrong)

What are the 3 steps that you need to include in a conclusion?

1. Reword your thesis

2. Close on each paragraph

3. Related insight(something that keeps the reader thinking)

In your conclusion, after rewording your thesis, what does it mean to close on each paragraph?

It means to provide closing thoughts on each of your body paragraphs. These should not summarize or repeat, but rather leave the reader with a lasting impression of each body paragraph.

In your conclusion, what are some strategies to use in your related insight?

You can talk about the lasting impact described in your paper; connect experiences in the paper to other experiences today; reflect on the attention getter you created and provide closing thoughts about it.

What is commentary?

It is where you provide your analysis by discussing how the textual evidence proves your point.

Commentary should NOT:

Repeat the example or provide more details from the text to develop the example.

There are 2 goals we are going to follow for commentary, the first one is…

Commentaries need to be more insightful and elaborative. Think of a paragraph as 1/3rd, 2/3rds; for every instance of textual evidence that you have, you should have at least 2 sentences of commentary.

a) First, follow a quote with discussion of its meaning. Don’t just leave it hanging there. Explain what it is saying and connect to your topic.

b) After you write your initial insight over the quote, build off of it. Create another insight, a follow-up thought.

What is the 2nd goal of writing commentary?

Commentaries need good, strong wording. This means that you should use idea-driven language.

a) For example, do NOT use “this shows that,” “this reveals that,” “this connects because,” “this proves that,” or anything similar.

b) Instead, restate the idea you are about to discuss. What is “this?” State it instead.