Final 2023

Final Study Guide

tragic flaw

tragic flaw

personality trait of a main character that leads to his or her downfall

stubborn

determined not to change one’s attitude even when it may be best to do so

loyalty

strong feeling of support or allegiance

timid

lack of courage or confidence; easily frightened

conflicted

confused and inconsistent feelings

carriage

a four-wheeled passenger vehicle carried by two or more horses

theme

the main idea or underlying meaning in a work of literature

confident

self-assured; trusting highly in oneself

self-esteem

confidence and satisfaction in oneself

main idea

the general idea a writer tries to show in his or her work

detail

bits of factual information

assertion

a confident and forceful statement of belief or fact

logical reasoning

the act of analyzing a situation and coming up with a sensible solution

claim

a statement or assertion that something is true

rhetorical question

a question created more for dramatic effect than for answer

exposition

background information where characters and setting are explained in a story

personification

giving human attributes to something nonhuman

paraphrase

rewording something written or spoken

ambition

a strong desire to achieve or do something

parallelism

aligned grammatical structures. Ex.

founder

to fail or break down

contrast

to show differences

tone

the author’s attitude toward a subject

soliloquy

gives the audience information about the character’s private thoughts

alliteration

repetition of the same sound at the beginning of a series of words

object of the preposition

follows the preposition and bridges the object and part of speech the preposition is modifying. Ex. I went into the classroom. OP: classroom

relative clause

has a subject and verb but cannot stand alone as a sentence. Ex. Students who don’t study may not do well. “who don’t study”

compound sentence

two independent clauses joined by a comma and a conjunction. Ex. I am taking a test, and I am doing well.

compound sentence punctuation

Use a comma and a conjunction or just a semicolon ;

dramatic irony

the audience knows something the characters do not

imagery

language that stimulates the reader’s senses

connotation (negative or positive)

implied meaning or emotion attached to a word

Quotation punctuation

You may use a colon to introduce a quote if an entire sentence precedes the colon.