English 8 Comprehensive Study Guide Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from the English 8 Comprehensive Study Guide.

Main Idea

The central idea or concept that the author wants to portray through the narrative, characters, and settings; can be explicit or implied.

Supporting Ideas/Evidence

The more focused arguments that bolster the main idea; have a clear and direct connection with the main idea; backed up by evidence or illustrated by examples.

Significant Details

Details that help the author to make a point in relation to the main idea.

Inference

Reaching conclusions based on evidence and reasoning; reading between the lines or making an educated guess based on implied or stated evidence.

Context Clues

Hints found within a sentence, paragraph, or passage that a reader can use to understand the meanings of new or unfamiliar words.

Connotation

The feelings or ideas a word gives you, not just its dictionary meaning; the emotional or cultural resonance of a word.

Denotation

The basic, literal meaning of a word, just like you’d find in a dictionary; straightforward and unambiguous definition.

Synonym

A word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word or phrase in the same language.

Antonym

A word opposite in meaning to another.

Static Character

A character who does not change much throughout the story.

Dynamic Character

A character who changes (dramatically typically) throughout the story.

Line (in poetry)

A subdivision of a poem, specifically a group of words arranged into a row that ends for a reason other than the right-hand margin.

Meter (in poetry)

The basic rhythmic structure of a line within a poem or poetic work, consisting of the number of syllables and the pattern of emphasis on those syllables.

Stressed Syllable

The part of a word that you say with greater emphasis than the other syllables.

Unstressed Syllable

A part of a word that you say with less emphasis than the stressed syllable(s).

Iambic Pentameter

A line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable; typically each line is also ten syllables long.

Stanza

A division of a poem consisting of a series of lines arranged together in a usually recurring pattern of meter and rhyme.

Couplet

A group of two lines.

Tercet

A three-line stanza.

Quatrain

A four-line stanza.

Sestet

A six-line stanza.

Octave

An eight-line stanza.

Rhyme

Stanzas contribute to the rhythm and meter of a poem. Lines within the same block are often read together creating the author’s intended rhythm as the reader reads it.

End Rhyme

End rhyme is when the last syllables within a verse rhyme.

Slant Rhyme

A type of rhyme in which two words located at the end of a line of poetry themselves end in similar—but not identical—consonant sounds.

Internal Rhyme

Metrical lines in which its middle words and its end words rhyme with one another.

Rhyme Scheme

The ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem or verse.

Sonnet

Fourteen lines of iambic pentameter linked by an intricate rhyme scheme.

Blank Verse

Un-rhyming verse written in iambic pentameter.

Free Verse

A type of poetry that does not contain patterns of rhyme or meter; tends to follow natural speech patterns and rhythms.

Author's Purpose

An author's reason for or intent in writing, which may be to amuse, persuade, inform, or satirize.

Narrative Writing

Used to relate a story or to recount events.

Descriptive Writing

Used to tell what something looks like, sounds like, or feels like.

Persuasive Writing

Used to convince a reader to believe an idea or to take a course of action.

Expository Writing

Used to inform or teach the reader.

Logos

Focuses attention on the message, using a logical appeal or an appeal to reason; points out internal consistency and clarity; frequently uses data.

Ethos

Focuses attention on the writer's or speaker's trustworthiness; takes the form of an appeal to character or credibility.

Pathos

Focuses attention on the values and beliefs of the intended audience; appeals to the audience's capacity for empathy.

Kairos

Refers to the 'timeliness' of an argument; making exactly the right statement at exactly the right moment, depending on its context.

Inductive Reasoning

Takes a specific representative case or facts and then draws generalizations or conclusions from them; must be based on sufficient reliable evidence.

Deductive Reasoning

Begins with a generalization and then applies it to a specific case; the generalization must be based on sufficient reliable evidence.

Affirming the Consequent

Mistakenly assumes that if the outcome (consequent) of a statement is true, then the condition (antecedent) that led to it must also be true.

Slippery Slope

A conclusion based on the premise that if A happens, then eventually through a series of small steps, Z will happen too, basically equating A and Z.

Hasty Generalization

A conclusion based on insufficient or biased evidence; rushing to a conclusion before having all the relevant facts.

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

A conclusion that assumes that if 'A' occurred after 'B,' then 'B' must have caused 'A.'

Genetic Fallacy

A conclusion based on an argument that the origins of a person, idea, institute, or theory determine its character, nature, or worth.

Either/Or

A conclusion that oversimplifies the argument by reducing it to only two sides or choices.

Ad Hominem

An attack on the character of a person rather than their opinions or arguments.

Ad Populum

An emotional appeal that speaks to positive or negative concepts rather than the real issue at hand.

Red Herring

A diversionary tactic that avoids the key issues, often by avoiding opposing arguments rather than addressing them.

Parallel Structure

Using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance; can happen at the word, phrase, or clause level.

Repetition

Intentionally repeating the same word or phrase for effect; works as a pattern that our brains can easily pick up on and gives a story a level of predictability.

Anaphora

Repetition of a single word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

Epistrophe

Repetition of a single word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.

Alliteration

Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words multiple times in a short series or in a sentence.

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds of words multiple times in a short series or in a sentence.

Antithesis

The rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences; simply put, it means opposites.

Asyndeton

Omission of conjunctions between listed words or parts of sentences to speed up the rhythm of a phrase or make it more memorable.

Polysyndeton

Use of multiple conjunctions between words or phrases to slow down the rhythm of a phrase, make it more memorable, or emphasize each individual item in a list.

Chiasmus

Two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal of their structures in order to produce an artistic effect.

Rhetorical Question

A question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer.

Figurative Language

Words or phrases used by writers and speakers to express things in a non-literal way to add excitement, emotions, or more depth to a subject.

Simile

A direct comparison using 'like' or 'as.'

Metaphor

A direct comparison between two things to point out how they are similar.

Personification

Attributing human qualities to a non-human subject.

Hyperbole

An intentional over exaggeration, where the exaggeration serves to deepen the meaning of what you’re saying.

Apostrophe

Figure of speech that is used to address someone who is absent or already dead. It can also be used to address an abstract quality or idea, and even a non-living object.

Imagery

Visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.

Idiom

A term or phrase that is unique to a language, culture, or region; the literal meaning and figurative meaning are different.

Euphemism

A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

Symbol

An image, object, idea or symbol is used to represent something other than its literal meaning.

Tone

The way a writer’s attitude is conveyed through their work.

Mood

The overall feeling, or atmosphere, of a text, often created by the author's use of imagery and word choice.

Diction

The careful selection of words to communicate a message or establish a particular voice or writing style.

Paradox

Statement that sounds logical but that contradicts itself; in literature, may be possible while still being contradictory.

Pun

Exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words which sound alike but have different meanings.

Irony

When a person says something or does something that departs from what they (or we) expect them to say or do.

Syntax

A set of principles and rules that govern sentence structure and word order in a particular language.

Simple Sentence

An independent clause with no conjunction or dependent clause.

Compound Sentence

Two independent clauses joined by a conjunction (FANBOYS: and, but, or, for, nor, yet, so).

Complex Sentence

One independent clause and at least one dependent clause, combined with conjunctions and subordinators.

Compound-Complex Sentence

Multiple independent clauses and at least one dependent clause; contains both conjunctions and subordinators.

Misplaced Modifier

A word, phrase, or clause that is improperly separated from the word it modifies or describes.

Dangling Modifier

A phrase or clause that is not clearly and logically related to the word or words it's intended to modify.

Oxford Comma

The final comma in a list of things.

Semicolon

Used to separate two independent clauses that are closely related, or in a list with closely related terms.