IB English A L&L Paper 1 vocabulary

The Big 5

- Audience/purpose

- Content/theme

- Tone/mood

- Stylistic devices

- Structure

TB5: Audience/purpose

Who is this text aimed at and how can you tell? Why was the text produced? Context of interpretation; how do certain factors influence your reading of the text?

TB5: Content/theme

Key features, what is the author's message? What is the text actually saying?

Tone/mood

What is the writer's …? How does the author sound? How does the text make the reader feel, what is the atmosphere?

Stylistic devices

What … does the writer use? What effects do these devices have on a reader?

TB5: Structure

What kind of text is it, what feature let you know this? What structural conventions for that text type are used? Does this text conform to, or deviate from, the standard conventions of the text type? How is the text layed out and organized?

Allegory

People, objects and events represent abstract qualities. Eg. bird might represent freedom, or child innocence.

Alliteration

Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. Poets use it to add musical quality, to create mood and emphasize meaning and particular words.

Allusion

Indirect reference to a person, place, event or literary work with which the author believes the reader will be familiar.

Analogy

Point by point comparison between two things for the purpose of clarifying the less familiar of two subjects. Eg. her hair was dark as the night.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word at the beginning of successive lines or sentences.

Author's purpose

A writes usually writes for one or more of these purposes: to inform, to entertain, to express himself or to persuade the readers to believe something.

Biography

Type of nonfiction in which a writer gives a factual account of someone else's life. Written in third person. (Autobiography telling of own life, first person)

Cliché

Overused expression that has lost its freshness, force and appeal. Eg. "love is pure"

Comedy

Work that is light and often humorous in tone, usually ending in peaceful resolution.

Connotation

Emotional response evoked by a word in contrast to its denotation.

Denotation

A literal meaning of a word.

Contrast

Technique used to clarify something by showing it against its opposite.

Dialect

Distinct form of a language as it is spoken in one geographical area or in particular social or ethnic group. Reflected in eg. pronunciation, vocabulary and grammatical constructions.

Diction

Writer's choice of words, includes vocabulary and syntax (order or arrangement of words).

Dramatic irony

The reader is aware of something that a character isn't.

Metaphor

Comparison between two essentially unlike things that nevertheless have something in common. Does not contain the word "like" or "as".

Figurative language

Language that communicates ideas beyond the literal meaning of words.

Points of view

First person (narrates in own words), second person (writer addresses reader intimately as you), third person (she did this and this... omniscient = all-knowing, limited = not all-knowing)

Foreshadowing

Writer uses hints or clues to indicate events that will occur. Creates suspense.

Form

Physical arrangement of words; length and placement of lines and sentences.

Historical context

Social conditions that influences creation of a work.

Historical narrative

Accounts of real-life historical experiences given either by a person who experiences them or by someone who has studies or observed them.

Hyperbole

Figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or for humorous effect.

Imagery

Descriptive words or phrases the writer uses to recreate sensory experiences.

Inversion

Inverted order of words in a sentence.

Situational rony

Contrast between what is expected to happen and what actually happens.

Literary letter

Letter that has been published and read by a wider audience, because it was written by a well-known public figure or provides information about the period in which it was written.

Memoir

Form of autobiographical writing in which a person recalls significant events in their life. Structured as narratives, first-person view, true account of events.

Mood

Feeling or atmosphere the writer creates for the reader. Use of connotation, imagery, sound and rhythm contribute.

Narrator

Character or voice that relates the story's events to the reader.

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates the sound it represents.

Paradox

Statement that seems to contradict itself, but may nevertheless suggest an important truth.

Parallelism

Writer expresses ideas of equal worth with the same grammatical form, eg. repetition.

Parody

Writing that imitates the style or subject matter of a literary work for purpose of criticism or humorous effect.

Personification

Figure of speech in which an object, animal or idea is given human characteristics.

Persuasive writing

Intended to convince a reader o adopt a particular opinion or perform a certain action.

Realism

Refers to any effort to offer an accurate and detailed portrayal of actual life.

Rhyme

Similarity of sound between two words.

Sarcasm

Type of verbal irony refers to a critical remark expressed in a statement in which literal meaning is the opposite of actual meaning.

Satire

Technique in which foolish ideas or customs are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society.

Setting

Time and place in which the action occurs.

Simile

Figure of speech that compares two things that have something in common, using the words "like" or "as".

Stereotype

Oversimplified image or a person, group or institution.

Symbol

Person, place or object that stands for something beyond itself, such as feeling.

Theme

Central ideas the writer intends to share with the reader. May be a lesson about something.

Tone

Writer's attitude toward his subject. Can communicate through diction, choice of details and direct statements of his position.

Open letter

A letter addressed to a specific person but published for a wider readership.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. (wise fool)

Suspense

The excitement or tension that the readers feel as they become involved in a story and eagerly await the outcome.

Transcript

A written, printed, or typed copy of words that have been spoken.

Voice

Writer's unique use of language that allows a reader to hear a human personality in the writer's work.