Keystone Prep

Rhyming pattern

A rhyming pattern is a sequence of words that end with the same sound. It is often used in poetry and song lyrics to create a sense of rhythm and musicality. Common rhyming patterns include AABB, ABAB, and ABCB.

Meter

Basic rhythmic structure of verse or lines

Prose

Prose is a form of written or spoken language that does not have a metrical structure, which means it does not follow a specific rhythm or rhyme scheme. It is the most common form of writing and includes novels, short stories, essays, and articles. Prose is often used to convey information, tell a story, or express an opinion. It is different from poetry, which uses a specific structure and often includes rhyme and meter.

Stanza

Stanza is a group of lines in a poem, usually separated by a blank line from other stanzas. It is similar to a paragraph in prose writing. Stanzas can vary in length and structure, and are often used to organize and convey the themes and ideas of a poem.

Syntax

Syntax poetry is a type of poetry that focuses on the arrangement of words and phrases to create a specific effect. It often plays with the rules of grammar and syntax to create unexpected and unique structures. The goal of syntax poetry is to create a new way of experiencing language and to challenge traditional notions of what poetry can be.

Free verse

Free verse is a type of poetry that does not follow a specific rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. It is characterized by its lack of traditional structure and form, allowing the poet to freely express their thoughts and emotions without the constraints of traditional poetry. Free verse often relies on the use of imagery, metaphor, and other literary devices to convey its message. It is a popular form of poetry in modern times and has been used by many famous poets such as Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes.

Sonnet

A sonnet is a type of poem that consists of 14 lines and follows a specific rhyme scheme. The most common type of sonnet is the Shakespearean sonnet, which has three quatrains (four-line stanzas) and a final couplet (two-line stanza). The rhyme scheme for a Shakespearean sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Sonnets are often used to express love or other intense emotions, and they require careful attention to meter and structure.

Ballad

A ballad is a type of narrative poem that tells a story through song. It typically has a simple and repetitive structure, with a refrain or chorus that is repeated throughout the poem. Ballads often focus on themes of love, tragedy, and adventure, and were traditionally passed down through oral tradition. They are still popular today and can be found in various forms of music, such as folk and country.

Heroic Couplet

A heroic couplet is a pair of rhyming lines in iambic pentameter, often used in epic and narrative poetry. It consists of two lines that rhyme and have ten syllables per line, with the stress falling on every other syllable. The heroic couplet was popularized by poets such as John Dryden and Alexander Pope in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Affix

One or more letters occurring as a bound form attached to the beginning, end, or base of a word and serving to produce a derivative word or an inflectional form (e.g., a prefix or suffix).

Allegory

A form of extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative are equated with meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning may have moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas such as charity, greed, or envy.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words.

Allusion

An implied or indirect reference in literature to a familiar person, place, or event.

Analysis

The process or result of identifying the parts of a whole and their relationships to one another.

Antonym

A word that is the opposite in meaning to another word.

Argument/Position

The position or claim the author establishes. Arguments should be supported with valid evidence and reasoning and balanced by the inclusion of counterarguments that illustrate opposing viewpoints.

Author’s Purpose

The author’s intent either to inform or teach someone about something, to entertain people or to persuade or convince his/her audience to do or not do something.

Bias

The subtle presence of a positive or negative approach toward a topic.

Biography

A written account of another person's life.

Character

A person, animal or inanimate object portrayed in a literary work.

Characterization

The method an author uses to reveal characters and their various traits and personalities (e.g., direct, indirect).

Climax

The turning point in a narrative; the moment when the conflict is at its most intense. Typically, the structure of stories, novels, and plays is one of rising action, in which tension builds to the climax.

Compare/Contrast

Place together characters, situations, or ideas to show common and/or differing features in literary selections.

Conflict/Problem

A struggle or clash between opposing characters, forces, or emotions.

Connotation

The range of associations that a word or phrase suggests in addition to its dictionary meaning.

Context Clues

Words and phrases in a sentence, paragraph, and/or whole text, which help reason out the meaning of an unfamiliar word.

Cultural Significance

The generally accepted importance of a work representing a given culture.

Defense of a Claim

Support provided to mark an assertion as reasonable

Dialect

A variety of a language distinct from the standard variety in pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary.

Dialogue

In its widest sense, dialogue is simply conversation between characters or speakers in a literary work; in its most restricted sense, it refers specifically to the speech of characters in a drama.

Diction

An author’s choice of words, phrases, sentence structures and figurative language, which combine to help create meaning and tone.

Differentiate

Distinguish, tell apart, and recognize differences between two or more items.

Drama

The genre of literature represented by works intended for the stage; a work to be performed by actors on stage, radio, or television; play.

Dramatic Script

The written text of a play, which includes the dialogue between characters, stage directions and often other expository information.

Draw Conclusion

To make a judgment or decision based on reasoning rather than direct or implicit statement.

Elements of Fiction

Traits that mark a work as imaginative or narrative discourse (e.g., plot, theme, symbol).

Elements of Nonfiction

Traits that mark a work as reportorial, analytical, informative or argumentative (e.g., facts, data, charts, graphics, headings).

Evaluate

Examine and judge carefully. To judge or determine the significance, worth or quality of something; to assess.

Explain

To make understandable, plain or clear.

Explicit

Clearly expressed or fully stated in the actual text.

Exposition

A narrative device, often used at the beginning of a work that provides necessary background information about the characters and their circumstances.

Fact

A piece of information provided objectively, presented as true.

Falling Action

The part of a literary plot that is characterized by diminishing tensions and the resolution of the plot’s conflicts and complications.

Fiction

Any story that is the product of imagination rather than a documentation of fact. Characters and events in such narratives may be based in real life but their ultimate form and configuration is a creation of the author.

Figurative Language

Language that cannot be taken literally since it was written to create a special effect or feeling.

First Person

The “first person” or “personal” point of view relates events as they are perceived by a single character. The narrating character may offer opinions about the action and characters that differ from those of the author.

Flashback

An organizational device used in literature to present action that occurred before current (present) time of the story. Flashbacks are often introduced as the dreams or recollections of one or more characters.

Focus

The center of interest or attention

Foreshadowing

An organizational device used in literature to create expectation or to set up an explanation of later developments.

Generalization

A conclusion drawn from specific information that is used to make a broad statement about a topic or person.

Genre

A category used to classify literary works, usually by form, technique or content (e.g., prose, poetry).

Headings, Graphics and Charts

Any visual cues on a page of text that offer additional information to guide the reader’s comprehension. Headings typically are words or phrases in bold print that indicate a topic or the theme of a portion of text; graphics may be photographs, drawings, maps or any other pictorial representation; charts (and tables or graphs) condense data into a series of rows, lines or other shortened lists.

Hyperbole

An exaggeration or overstatement (e.g., I had to wait forever.)

Imagery

Descriptive or figurative language in a literary work; the use of language to create sensory impressions.

Implicit

Though unexpressed in the actual text, meaning that may be understood by the reader; implied

Inference

A judgment based on reasoning rather than on a direct or explicit statement. A conclusion based on facts or circumstances; understanding gained by “reading between the lines.”

Informational Text

Nonfiction written primarily to convey factual information. Informational texts comprise the majority of printed material adults read (e.g., textbooks, newspapers, reports, directions, brochures, technical manuals).

Interpret

To give reasons through an explanation to convey and represent the meaning or understanding of a text.

Irony

The use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or usual meaning; incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the expected result.

Key/Supporting Details

Points of information in a text that strongly support the meaning or tell the story. Statements that define, describe, or otherwise provide information about the topic, theme, or main idea.

Key Words

Specific word choices in a text that strongly support the tone, mood, or meaning of the text.

Literary Device

Tool used by the author to enliven and provide voice to the text (e.g., dialogue, alliteration)

Literary Form

The overall structure or shape of a work that frequently follows an established design. Forms may refer to a literary type (narrative, short story) or to patterns of meter, lines, and rhymes (stanza, verse).

Literary Movement

A trend or pattern of shared beliefs or practices that mark an approach to literature (e.g., Realism, Naturalism, Romanticism).

Literary Nonfiction

Text that includes literary elements and devices usually associated with fiction to report on actual persons, places, or events. Examples include nature and travel text, biography, memoir and the essay

Main Idea

The author’s central thought; the chief topic of a text expressed or implied in a word or phrase; the topic sentence of a paragraph.

Metaphor

The comparison of two unlike things in which no words of comparison (like or as) are used (e.g., The speech gave me food for thought.)

Monologue

An extended speech spoken by one speaker, either to others or as if alone.

Mood

The prevailing emotions or atmosphere of a work derived from literary devices such as dialogue and literary elements such as setting. The mood of a work is not always what might be expected based on its subject matter.

Motif

A recurring subject, theme, or idea in a literary work.

Multiple‐meaning Words

Words that have several meanings depending upon how they are used in a sentence.

Narrative

A story, actual or fictional, expressed orally or in text

Narrator

A person, animal, or thing telling the story or giving an account of something.

Nonfiction

Text that is not fictional; designed primarily to explain, argue, instruct or describe rather than entertain. For the most part, its emphasis is factual.

Opinion

A personal view, attitude, or appraisal.

Personification

An object or abstract idea given human qualities or human form (e.g., Flowers danced about the lawn.)

Plot

The structure of a story. The sequence in which the author arranges events in a story. The structure often includes the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. The plot may have a protagonist who is opposed by an antagonist, creating what is called conflict.

Poetry

In its broadest sense, text that aims to present ideas and evoke an emotional experience in the reader through the use of meter, imagery and connotative and concrete words. Some poetry has a carefully constructed structure based on rhythmic patterns. Poetry typically relies on words and expressions that have several layers of meaning (figurative language). It may also make use of the effects of regular rhythm on the ear and may make a strong appeal to the senses through the use of imagery.

Point of View

The position of the narrator in relation to the story, as indicated by the narrator’s outlook from which the events are depicted (e.g., first person, third person limited, third person omniscient, etc). The perspective from which a speaker or author recounts a narrative or presents information. The author’s manner in revealing characters, events, and ideas; the vantage point from which a story is told.

Prefix

Groups of letters placed before a word to alter its meaning.

Propaganda

Information aimed at positively or negatively influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people.

Propaganda Techniques:

Propaganda techniques and persuasive tactics are used to influence people to believe, buy or do something. Students should be able to identify and comprehend the propaganda techniques and persuasive tactics listed below.

1\. Name‐calling

is an attack on a person instead of an issue

2\. Bandwagon

tries to persuade the reader to do, think or buy something because it is popular or because “everyone” is doing it.

3\. Red herring

is an attempt to distract the reader with details not relevant to the argument.

4\. Emotional appeal

tries to persuade the reader by using words that appeal to the reader’s emotions instead of appealing to logic or reason.

5\. Testimonial

attempts to persuade the reader by using a famous person to endorse a product or idea (for instance, the celebrity endorsement).

6\. Repetition

attempts to persuade the reader by repeating a message over and over again.

7\. Sweeping generalization: (stereotyping)

makes an oversimplified statement about a group based on limited information.

8\. Circular argument

states a conclusion as part of the proof of the argument.

9\. Appeal to numbers, facts, or statistics

attempts to persuade the reader by showing how many people think something is true.

Resolution

The portion of a story following the climax in which the conflict is resolved. The resolution of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is neatly summed up in the following sentence: “Henry and Catherine were married, the bells rang and everybody smiled.”

Rising Action

The part of a story where the plot becomes increasingly complicated. Rising action leads up to the climax, or turning point.

Satire

A literary approach that ridicules or examines human vice or weakness.

Sentence Variety

Various sentence structures, styles, and lengths that can enhance the rhythm of or add emphasis to a piece of text. The presence of multiple sentence structures in a text (simple, complex, compound, compound‐complex) and/or various sentence beginnings (e.g., dependent and independent clauses, phrases, single words).

Sequence of Steps

A literary organizational form that presents the order in which tasks are to be performed.

Setting

The time and place in which a story unfolds.

Simile

A comparison of two unlike things in which a word of comparison (like or as) is used (e.g., The ant scurried as fast as a cheetah.)

Soliloquy

A dramatic speech, revealing inner thoughts and feelings, spoken aloud by one character while alone on the stage.

Sound Devices

Elements of literature that emphasize sound (e.g., assonance, consonance, alliteration, rhyme, onomatopoeia).