Unit 1 - Domain-Specific Vocab

Multimodal

Using several different methods, modes, or types of data at the same time to share a message or solve a problem, such as text, images, sound, or movement.

SOAPSTone

A way to analyze texts by identifying the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, and tone of the text.

Speaker

The voice behind a poem or story, functioning much like a narrator, which is different from the author.

Occasion

The specific event, time, place, and environmental context that prompts a writer or speaker to create a text.

Audience

The specific group of readers, listeners, or spectators an author writes for, which shapes the writer's choices in tone, language, and background information.

Purpose

The author's main reason or intent for writing a text.

Subject

The central topic, idea, or focus that a work explores, such as love, war, or betrayal.

Tone

The attitude or feeling an author or narrator has toward a subject, character, or central theme, shaped by word choice, sentence structure, and style.

Symbolism

A creative device where a writer uses physical objects, colors, characters, or events to represent larger, abstract ideas. It allows an author to show a deeper meaning without stating it directly

Concrete nouns

Words that name a physical, tangible person, place, or thing that can be experienced with the five senses, such as tree, bell, smoke, apple, and dog.

Abstract nouns

Words that name an intangible idea, feeling, quality, or concept, such as love, justice, or freedom.

Central idea

The primary point or foundational concept of a text.

Context

The surrounding text, the author's background, and the historical or social setting that help a reader understand the true meaning of a story, poem, or passage.

Perspective

The lens through which a reader experiences a story, shaped by the narrator's unique background, personal beliefs, and emotional attitude toward the world.

Imagery

The use of descriptive language that appeals to the five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch) to create vivid mental pictures. It helps readers feel like they are part of the story by showing details instead of just telling facts

Mood

The overall atmosphere and emotional feeling that a work evokes in the reader, shaped by elements like setting, word choice, and imagery.

Syntax

The arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses to form well-structured sentences, governing word order, pacing, and style to shape meaning, rhythm, and mood.

Social relevance

The real-world cultural, political, historical, and societal issues a text focuses on or highlights.

Figurative language

The use of words or phrases that go beyond their literal dictionary definitions to create new meanings, vivid imagery, and deep emotional connections.

Simile

A figure of speech that directly compares two different things using the words 'like' or 'as' (and sometimes 'than'). It helps make descriptions clear, vivid, and easy to picture

Metaphor

A figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things by stating that one thing is another, without using 'like' or 'as'. It creates a symbolic link to show shared qualities

Personification

A figure of speech where writers give human traits, emotions, or actions to non-human things like animals, objects, or ideas. It helps create strong mental pictures, build feelings, and make simple descriptions more alive

Juxtaposition

A technique where an author places two contrasting elements—such as characters, settings, ideas, or words—side by side to highlight their differences, deepen meaning, or create surprise (for example: a peaceful garden next to a haunted house)

Repetition

The intentional repeating of a word, phrase, line, or sound to create emphasis, rhythm, and unity.

Hyperbole

A literary device using extreme, deliberate exaggeration to create strong emphasis, evoke intense emotions, or add humor; it is never meant to be taken literally.

Alliteration

A literary device where writers repeat the same consonant sound at the start of neighboring or nearby words to create rhythm or draw focus.

Rhyme

A repetition of similar sounds in two or more words, commonly found at the ends of lines in poetry.

Rhyme scheme

A poet's deliberate pattern of lines that rhyme with other lines in a poem or stanza, identified by letters like abab or aabb.

Free verse

A style of poetry with no fixed rules, regular meter, set rhythm, or consistent rhyme scheme, following the natural flow of human speech.

Stanza

A group of lines in a poem forming a single unit, similar to a paragraph in a story, usually set apart by a space on the page.

Diction

An author's intentional choice and arrangement of words to shape tone, reveal character traits, and establish mood.

Connotation

The emotional, cultural, or implied meaning attached to a word beyond its strict dictionary definition. Writers use it to shape tone, build symbolism, and evoke specific feelings in the reader