ELA Exam Terms

ELA 30S

Exposition

The introductory material which gives the setting, creates the tone, presents the characters, and supplies other facts necessary for the story

Setting

Time and place of the story

Rising Action

A series of events leading to the climax.

Climax

The turning point of the story

Falling Action

The events in a story that occur after the climax

Resolution

The concluding part of a story

Theme

A statement of opinion the author is making about life or society

Sarcasm

The use of remarks that clearly mean the opposite of what they say, made in order to hurt someone's feelings or to criticize something in a humorous way

Alliteration

The repetition of a sound or letter at the beginning of multiple words in a series

Assonance

The repetition of vowel or diphthong sounds in one or more words found close togethe

Consonance

The repetition of specific consonant sounds in close proximity

Imagery

Elements of a poem that invoke any of the five senses to create a set of mental images

Metaphor

When a writer compares one thing to another

Simile

A figure of speech comparing two unlike things using like or as

Personification

The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form

Symbolism

Symbolism is a technique used in writing when one thing stands for something else

Allergory

Story, poem or other work that can be interpreted to have a secondary, meaning

Hyperbole

as an intentionally exaggerated description, comparison, or exclamation, meant to make a specific impact on the reader

Allusion

is an indirect reference to something

tone

The poet's attitude toward the poem's speaker, reader, and subject matter, as interpreted by the reader

Internal Rhyme

rhyme that occurs within a single line of verse, or between internal phrases across multiple lines

End Rhyme

when a poem has lines ending with words that sound the same