Keystone

What is the purpose of the Keystone Exam

To make sure you have the necessary knowledge and thinking skills to go out into the real world.

Author’s Purpose

-Hidden meaning in a text

-PIE Method (Persuasion, inform, entertain)

-Saterize material

-Express and inflict emotion

-Inspire

-To refuse or prove something

Satire

The purpose of using satire in literature is to criticize the flaws, expose, or correct. It serves as a tool for viewing societal issues through humor, irony, and exaggeration. Authors use satire to highlight absurdities of human behavior and ridicule social norms.

Similie

Similes are used in literature to enhance writing by creating vivid imagery and establishing tone. Authors use similes in their story to evoke specific emotions and enhance reader engagement by making abstract concepts tangible.

Flashback

The purpose of flashbacks is to bridge between the characters past and present. An author may choose to use a flashback to give any context or emphasize on the characters development between two moments.

Dialect

To help depict characters realistically, ground the story in a cultural/regional setting, and adds depth with the distinct voices. Authors use dialect to enhance realism, determine a sense of place, deepen characterization, through a revealed background, social class, and education.

Imagery

To add sensory details to make the reader feel, like they are actually there. An author may choose to integrate imagery in their writing to show what is happening through the imagination of the reader instead of explicitly telling them.

Symbolism

The purpose of symbolism is to present an idea without using a long explanation. An author may use this to reference their theme with repetition of a concept.

Personification

Personification makes writing more interesting and easier to imagine. Authors use it to help writers connect with ideas, objects, or nature in a stronger way.

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing prepares the reader for suspense for upcoming events. It builds tension and makes the reader feel smart.

Stanza

A grouped set of lines in a poem, like a paragraph in prose.

Line break

Where a line of poetry ends; often used to emphasize words or create rhythm.

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme.

Quatrain

A stanza or poem of four lines, often with a rhyme scheme.

Refrain

A repeated line or group of lines in a poem, often at the end of a stanza.

Verse

A single line of poetry or a piece composed in metrical rhythm.

Rhyme

Words that have the same end sounds (e.g., cat/hat).

Rhyme scheme

The pattern of end rhymes (e.g., ABAB, AABB).

Rhythm

The beat or musical quality created by meter and sound devices.

Narrative poem

Tells a story (has characters, setting, plot).

Lyric poem

Expresses personal thoughts or emotions.

Free verse

Poetry without a regular rhyme or meter.

Sonnet

A 14-line poem, usually written in iambic pentameter.

Haiku

A 3-line Japanese poem with a 5-7-5 syllable pattern.

Speaker

The voice or persona talking in the poem (not necessarily the poet).

Diction

Word choice; can affect tone and meaning.

Syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases.

Enjambment

When a sentence or phrase runs over from one line to the next without a pause.

Main idea

The key information that the author wants you to know after reading.

How to find the main idea

Summarize your passage then condense it into one sentence.

Denotation

Dictionary definition; exact meaning to a word

Conotation

How a word feels and its strength. I.e. the culture of a word