Keystone Preparation

Fiction vs. Nonfiction

Fiction comes from imagination vs. nonfiction that’s solely based on facts.

Figurative Language

Tools or techniques that writers use to make their writing more interesting or easier to understand.

Purpose of Figurative Language

Authors use fig. lang. to better communicate their complex and abstract ideas that cannot be easily understood. Help to elicit emotion, help readers form mental images and draw readers into the work.

Author’s Purpose

Author’s reason for writing. P. I. E. = Persuade, Inform, or Entertain. We can ask ourselves about word choice, tone, connotations, and opinions an author includes in the writing to find the author’s purpose.

Purpose of personification

Gives human-like characteristics to non-human like things to help the reader relate to and better understand the text. Makes the text more engaging for the reader.

Purpose of imagery

Imagery is used in literature to create vivid mental images in the reader's mind. It helps to enhance the reader's understanding of the text by appealing to their senses and emotions. The purpose of imagery is to make the text more engaging and memorable, as well as to convey the author's message in a more powerful way.

Keystone Exam: Constructed Response Grading

* CCARS - Clear, consistant, accurate, relevant, specific
* ANSWER THE PROMPT
* Identify the 2 pieces/elements that need to be answered
* Include reference to TWO pieces of evidence
* Thesis statement is 1st sentence
* One paragraph

Main Idea

* The key information that the author wants you to know after reading.
* The main idea is the central point or message that the author wants to convey in a piece of writing. It is the most important thought or concept that the reader should take away from the text.

Finding the main idea

* Ask what or whom the writing is about
* Ask “What does the author want me to know about this topic?”
* Authors often explicitaly state the main idea in the intro or conclusion.
* Look for reversal transitions…words like but, otherwise, however…
* Look for ideas that are repeated in different ways.

Main idea vs. theme

The main idea is what the book is mostly about. The theme is the message, lesson, or moral of a book.

Connotation

The feeling a word evokes

Denotation

Dictionary definition of a word

Satire

* A joke
* Use to highlight comedy/humor AND social activism
* Satire is the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice or folly.
* A literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.

Purpose of Satire

* Promote change THROUGH comedy

Rhyming Pattern

The pattern of rhymes at the end of each line in a poem or song, designated by letters to indicate which lines rhyme. Commonly used rhyme schemes include ABAB, AABB, and ABBA.

Meter

The measurement of rhythmic units in poetry, typically consisting of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Prose

Prose is a form of written or spoken language that is not structured in a traditional meter or rhyme scheme. It is the natural flow of language and is commonly used in literature, essays, and speeches.

Stanza

A Stanza is a group of lines in a poem, typically separated by a blank line. It functions like a paragraph in prose, conveying a single idea or emotion. Stanza length and structure can vary, contributing to the poem's rhythm and meaning.

Syntax

The rules governing the structure of sentences in a language. It includes word order, sentence structure, and punctuation.

Free Verse

A form of poetry that does not follow a specific rhyme scheme, meter, or structure. It allows for greater freedom in expression and often reflects the natural cadence of everyday speech.

Sonnet

A 14-line poem with a strict rhyme scheme and structure. It typically follows the pattern of three quatrains and a final couplet, with the first 12 lines presenting a problem or question and the final two lines providing a resolution or answer. Sonnets are often associated with love poetry.

Ballad

A type of poem or song that tells a story, often about love or tragedy. Typically, ballads have simple, repetitive structures and use language that is easy to remember. They were popular in the Middle Ages and are still used today in folk music.

Heroic Couplet

Definition: A heroic couplet is a rhyming pair of lines in iambic pentameter often used in epic and narrative poetry to express an idea in a concise and memorable way. It was popularized by poets like John Dryden and Alexander Pope in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Example: "True wit is nature to advantage dress'd, / What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd." - Alexander Pope's "Essay on Criticism"

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.

Alllusion

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.

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

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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

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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.

Implict

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 Element

An essential technique used in literature (e.g., characterization, setting, plot, theme).

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.

Name-calling

is an attack on a person instead of an issue.

Bandwagon

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

Red herring

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

Emotional appeal

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