ELA Finals Review

Reading Literature

These texts may ask for a MAIN idea, but they are really looking for THEME.

Short Story

A short work of fiction or creative nonfiction that tells a narrative story.

Novel

A long work of fiction or creative nonfiction that tells a narrative story.

Poem

A work that uses structure and form in some consistent manner as well as elevated language and thought to convey a message to the reader, often uses rhyme, meter, rhythm and figurative language to convey complex emotions and ideas.

Autobiography

A work about a person's life written by the person themself.

Biography

A work about a person's life written by someone else.

Memoir

A short excerpt of someone's life that focuses on a specific memory.

Drama

A play written with stage directions and dialogue to be performed.

Tragedy

A play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character.

Reading Informational

These texts require you to analyze the MAIN claim, MAIN idea, or CENTRAL Idea.

Character

The development of the character's arc through character traits and motive.

Direct Characterization

The character is explicitly described.

Setting

Place and time (builds context / develops structure / builds tone and mood through use of imagery).

Plot

Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution.

Structure

How the work is built.

Organization

Order of the events in a story.

Time Manipulation

The pacing (speed and flow) of the story.

Suspense

Tension, mystery, and surprise.

Diction

Word choice, intentional word choice, manipulates tone and mood and controls the story.

Imagery

Descriptive and detailed descriptions that evoke the five senses.

Tone

Author's perception impacts the mood.

Mood

Reader's feeling, atmosphere of the story.

Narrator

The person telling the story.

Genre

Category of a story, created by patterns.

Irony

The opposite of what is intended can be dramatic, verbal, or situational.

Purpose

The author's intention, goal, or motive in writing (the message they are trying to convey).

Perspective

The viewpoint of a character from which the story is told.

Point of View

A method of writing a story in either first, second, or third person.

Theme

A universal truth and message conveyed in a work/text.

Central/Main Idea

The message or main claim an author is making.

Inference

Analyzing evidence and using reasoning to draw logical conclusions.

Conflict

A struggle or obstacle.

External Conflict

Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Society.

Internal Conflict

Man vs. Self.

Metaphor

Can be direct or implied, the compare one thing to another without using like or as.

Simile

A comparison that uses like or as.

Hyperbole

An extreme exaggeration.

Analogy

Comparisons that try to convey deeper meaning to a reader.

Personification

Giving human qualities to inanimate objects.

Idiom

A phrase that cannot be translated into another language: 'it's raining cats and dogs.'

Symbol

Using concrete items to represent abstract ideas.

Paradox

Something that seems to contradict itself or not be true, but upon deeper thought it's discovered to be true.

Alliteration

The repetition of letter sounds at the beginning of a word; it is not the repetition of letters.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds, not letters.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds anywhere in the word, not letters.

Rhyme

A repeated sound.

Rhythm

The intentional arrangement of stressed and unstressed beats to create a pattern.

Ethos

An appeal to ethics used to convince an audience via the authority or credibility of the persuader.

Logos

An appeal to logic that persuades an audience with reason, using facts and figures.

Pathos

An appeal to emotion that convinces an audience by creating an emotional response.

Appeal to Authority

A logical fallacy that argues a product or idea is correct because someone in authority believes it.

Repetition

The reuse or repeating of words, phrases, structures, or ideas to drive home a point.

Alliterative Language

The use of alliteration to draw in a reader and make them focus on a point.

Parallelism/Parallel Structure

Repetition of structure, specifically grammatical structure.

Headings

A title at the head of a page or section of a book.

Myths

A traditional story explaining some natural or social phenomenon, typically involving supernatural beings or events.

Epic Heroes

Characters that reflect the values of their culture.

Epic Similes

An extended simile that uses elevated language to compare a mythological element to a natural element.

Expository

Writing that explains or describes.

Summary

A brief recounting of the main ideas of a work.

Stage Directions

Instructions in the text of a play indicating movement, position, or tone of an actor.

Cause-and-Effect

The relationship between how one thing affects another.

Evidence

Integrate short and on topic, cite, supports the claim.

Explanation

Using reasoning to substantiate claims, the bulk of the paper.

Reasoning

The logical thought process that links ideas together.

Claim

The author's opinion on an issue.

Counterclaim

The author's attempt to refute the opposing claim.

Colon

Defines and extends.

Semicolon

Connects and joins.

Participial Phrase

Verbal phrase, verb + -ed, or -ing with no helping verb attached, modifies nouns, acts as an adjective.

Noun

A person, place, thing, or idea.

Verb

Actions, state of being, or linking.

Adjective

Modifies nouns.

Adverb

Modifies verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

Infinitive Phrase

To + a verb, can act as a noun, adjective, or adverb.

Passive Voice

The doer of the sentence is hidden or excluded from the sentence.

Active Voice

The doer of the sentence is the subject.

Thesis Statement

Claim + Reasons = Thesis.

Topic Sentence

Topic = Claim + 1 Reason.

Focus

Staying on topic in a paragraph and returning to the main idea for cohesion.

Organization

The order in which the information is structured.

Citations

(author last name page #). [remember the period goes at the end not in the quotation marks].

Quoting Text Evidence

The author wrote that "blah blah blah" (author 1). [remember the period goes at the end not in the quotation marks].