Cumulative VGL Test

Chagrin

a feeling of being disappointed or annoyed

Egregious

extremely bad

Innuendo

an indirect remark about something, hinting at something bad or rude

Misanthrope

A person who hates or avoids people.

In lieu of

instead of, in the place of

Credulous

having or showing too great a readiness to believe things

Purport

appear or claim to be or do something, especially falsely; profess

Hierarchical

arranged in order of rank

Tantamount

equivalent in seriousness to; virtually the same as
USAGE NOTES: tantamount + to

Vacillate

alternate or waver between different opinions or actions

Equivocate

To use ambiguous language to conceal the truth

Recapitulate

to retell or restate briefly; to summarize;

Crux

an essential point requiring resolution

Subordinate

placed in or occupying a lower class, rank, or position

Pragmatic

practical as opposed to idealistic

Albeit

although

Irresolute

not able to decide what to do

Paradigm

a model or pattern that can be copied

Antithesis

the opposite of something

Conjecture

an opinion or idea that is not based on definite knowledge and is formed by guessing.

Verbal Irony

Say one thing to mean something else

Situational Irony

The outcome or reality of a situation is the reverse of what is anticipated or intended.

Dramatic Irony

The audience/reader knows something that the characters do not.

Anachronism

a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other; a person or a thing that is chronologically out of place

Farce

A lighthearted comedy that centers around a ridiculous plot

Black Humor

style of comedy that makes light of subject matters generally considered taboo, morbid, or serious

Comic Relief

a relief from the emotional tension, especially of a drama, that is provided by the inclusion of a comic episode or element.

Tragicomedy

a play, movie, situation, etc., that is both sad and funny, blending elements of comedy and tragedy together

Unreliable Narrators

Naive, Impaired, or Concealling the truth

1st and 2nd person Narrator

First

a character tells their own direct personal experience

Second
The narrator uses “you” and speaks directly to the reader

3rd person limited vs omnipotent

• a narrator gives insight into one specific character’s thoughts

• an all-knowing narrator gives insight into multiple characters

Hubris

xcessive pride, arrogance, or overconfidence that leads to a downfall

Catharsis

the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions

Motif

an element that recurs significantly throughout a narrative

Trope

a storytelling device or convention that refers to a character, scene, image, or plot element that occurs in multiple works

Novel/Novella

A long(er) work of (usually) prose fiction

Novel titles are italicized.

A short(er) work of (usually) prose fiction

Novella titles are italicized.

What’s the line? There are many opinions. Typically, about 100 pages

Short Story

An even shorter work of (usually) prose fiction

Title should be in quotes, not italics. “ ”

Collection

If a short story is part of a collection, that is the first publication of that story in book form, as part of a set of stories by one author.

Anthology

f a short story is part of an anthology, it has been previously published and selected by an editor or publisher for inclusion in a new group of works

Alliteration

the repetition in two or more nearby words of initial sounds.  

Assonance

the repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds within nearby words.

Consonance

the repetition of the same consonant sounds. The focus, in the use of consonance, is on the sound made by consonants and not necessarily the letters themselves.