ELA GACE Practice

Elements of a Story

Exposition, rising action, the climax, falling action, and the resolution

Frame Narrator

When a narrator report others’ narrative

First person omniscient

narrators can see events occurring elsewhere or know the thoughts of other characters.

Alliteration

describes a series of words beginning with the same sounds

(e.g., Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers)

Onomatopoeia

uses words imitating the sound of things they name or describe

Metonymy

a way of naming something without using the name constantly

(e.g., calling the news “the press”)

Synecdoche

Similar to metonymy. It uses a part of something to represent the whole, or vice versa

(e.g., using "wheels" to refer to a car).

Understatement

The opposite of a hyperbole. This device discounts or downplays something.

(e.g., someone describing climbing Mount Everest as taking a stroll)

Irony

demonstrates the opposite of what is said or done

Verbal Irony

a figure of speech in which the speaker intends to express the opposite of the literal meaning of their words, often used for humor or emphasis.

(e.g., sarcasm or the phrase “that is clear as mud”)

Situational Irony

occurs when there is a discrepancy between expected results and actual outcomes, often with an element of surprise.

Dramatic Irony

narrative informs audiences of more than its characters know

Idiom

a commonly used expression whose meaning is not deducible from the literal definitions of its words.

(e.g., break a leg)

Allusion

an indirect reference to a person, place, event, or literary work that enriches a text by adding deeper meaning.

Satire

a genre of literature or art that uses humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize or mock societal issues, individuals, or institutions.

Fables

short stories that typically feature animals and convey a moral lesson.

Fairy tales

stories that involve fictional creatures or realistic characters with fantastical traits and abilities

Legends

a traditional story sometimes regarded as historical but unauthenticated, often featuring heroic characters and significant events.

Picaresque Novels

a genre of prose fiction that recounts the adventures of a roguish hero, often in a humorous or satirical manner, and presents a critique of society

(in short: novels recount episodic adventures of a rogue protagonist)

Gothic Novels

a genre characterized by its use of dark, mysterious settings and supernatural elements, often exploring themes of horror, morality, and the human psyche.

• originated as a reaction against the 18th-century Enlightenment rationalism

Novels of Manners

fictional stories that observe explore, and analyze the social behaviors of a specific time and place

Epistolary Novels

a genre in which the story is told through letters, diary entries, or other personal documents, often providing intimate insights into characters' thoughts and feelings.

Pastoral Novels

lyrically idealize country life as idyllic and utopian, akin to the Garden of Edin

Bildungsroman Novel

German for “educational novel.” This term also used described “apprenticeship.”

Roman A Clef

French for “novel with a key",” refers to books that require a real-life frame of reference, or key, for full comprehension

Meter described in Poetry

number of beats or stress syllables per verse

Iambic symbol

u/

Unstressed symbol for poetry

u

Stressed symbol for poetry

/

Trochaic symbol

/u

Spondaic symbol

//

Dactylic symbol

/uu

Anapestic symbol

uu/

Major forms of poetry

epic poetry, epistolary poems, ballad, elegies, odes, pastoral poems, epigrams, and limericks

Epic Poetry

recount heroic deeds and adventures, using stylized language and combining dramatic and lyrical conventions

Epistolary poems

poems that are written and read as letters

Ballads

often follow a rhyme scheme and meter and focus on subjects such as love, death, and religion

Elegies

mourning poems written in three parts: lament, praise of the deceased, and solace for loss

Odes

Evolved from songs to the typical poem idealize nature and country living

Pastoral Poems

poems that idealize nature and country living

Epigrams

memorable rhymes with one or two lines

Limericks

two lines of iambic dimeter followed by two lines of iambic dimeter and another of iambic trimeter. known for humor and wit

Haiku

17 syllables distributed across three lines 5/7/5

Sonnet

14 lines of iambic pentameter

Shakespearean Sonnet

Three quatrains, one couplet. Follows rhyme scheme ABAB/CDCD/EFEF/GG

Concrete Poetry

arrange so the full poem takes a shape that is relevant to the poem’s message

Purpose of End-stopped lines in poetry

• they are lines with a punctuation mark at the end

• they create a pause that can contribute to the poem’s flow or create emphasis

Purpose of Enjambed lines

• lines that do not end with a punctuation mark

• carry a sentence to the next line and create an effect similar to long lines

A “caesura” in poetry

a pause mid-verse

A couplet

a stanza of two lines, rhymed or unrhymed