Final Exam 2026 Vocabuarly Study Guide

Setting

Where and when a story takes place AND what it feels like to be there

Mood

The overall feeling, atmosphere, and environment of a story

Freytag Pryamid

A narrative structure that breaks the story arc of a drama into five distinct sections

Plot

The structure and relationships of actions and events in a work of fiction

Exposition

Opening of a narrative that includes initial setting domes characters situation

Exposition

Opening a narrative that includes in total setting and some characters situation

Inciting Incident

Events that set off the events of the plot and often includes the primary conflict

Rising Action

A series of complications related to the main story

Increase tensions and uncertainty

Climax

The turning point in the narrative with the greatest tension or uncertainty

Falling Action

The events that leads to the resolution

Resolution

The outcomes or results of complications created by the conflicts in a narrative

Denouement

The final part that follows the climax and falling actions, revealing the remaining secrets

Diction

Author’s word choice

Connotation

The implicit meaning of a word

Denotation

The literal meaning of a word

Protagonist

The primary character who experiences the central conflict of the story

Antagonist

The character that tries to block the protagonist goals

Static character

No character development

Dynamic character

Has character development

Direct Characterization

Info about a character traits explicitly conveyed by the narrator

Indirect characterization

Info about a character’s traits implied by the narrator “showing”

STEAL

STEAL

Speech, Thinks, Effects on others, Actions, Looks

First person

A character in the story narrates using “I” or we”

Second Person

The narrator addresses the reader directly using “you”

Third person

An “off page” narrator tells the story, focusing on characters from a. Distance using “he,” “she,” or they”

Third Person Limited

The narrator sticks closely to one character’s perspective, knowing only what that character knows and feels

Third person omniscient

The narrator is “all-knowing,” able to move between characters, access any scene, and reveal thoughts that characters themselves might not know

Third person objective

A narrative point of view that reports actions, dialogue, and scenes without accessing ay character’s internal thoughts or feelings

Internal Conflict

Person V.S. Self: A struggle to resolve a crisis belief and determine some aspect of identity

External Conflict

A struggle between a character and outside force

Interpersonal

Person V.S Person: Struggling another individual physically, emotionally, and psychologically

Natural Conflict

Person V.S Natural : Struggling with the force of nature

Societal Conflict

Person V.S Society: Struggling against ideas, practices, or customs of society on a systematic scale

Imagery

Langage that appeals to the sense any description of sensory experience

Visual imagery

Sight

Auditory Imagery

Sound

Tactile imagery

Touch

Gustatory imagery

Taste

Kinesthetic imagery

Movement

The importance of descriptor

Describing words or phrases to give specific qualities to a person, place, or object

Simile

A comparaison between two words (unlike each other), stated in a way that the object is LIKE another one

Metaphor

A comparison between two words (unlike each other) without using like or as to indicate one object IS another one

Tenor

The subject being discussed

Vehicle

The figurative image or comparaison used to describe the tenor

Personification

A non human entity assigned human traits, abilities, reactions or human characteristics

Allusion

A reference to a person place, event, another work, of literature or art

Juxtaposition

Placing elements “side-by-side” for the sake of contrast

Theme

The universal idea about the people or world that the author is trying to communicate in a work of literature

Subject/topic

An incomplete sentence with a vague and broad idea answering to the question “What is the work about?”

Act

The primary divisions in the play

Scene

A subdivison of an act within a play

Comic Relief

Provides emotional relief from the play’s weighty issues

Prologue

An opening section of a play that is not part of the first scene or act

Dialogue

An exchange of speeches by two or more characters in a play

Monologue

A lengthy speech spoken by a single character, usually to other characters

Soliloquy

A character speaks his or her thoughts aloud to the audience with no other characters on stage or no other characters able to hear

Aside

A character speaks directly to the audience (for a target group of other characters) while other characters do not him or her

Subtext

The underlying meaning of a speech in a play

Stage directions

AUTHOR GENERATED parts in the text that gives actions to the performers

Foil

A character that serves by contrasts to highlight opposing traits in another character