110-130 vocab
non sequitur a statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one above.
objective (adj.) Of or relating to facts and reality, as opposed to private and personal feelings and attitudes. Its opposite is subjective.
ode a lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject.
Old English The Anglo-Saxon language spoken from approximately 450-1150 A.D. in what is now Great Britain.
omniscient narrator A narrator with unlimited awareness, understanding, and insight of characters, setting, background, and all other elements of the story.
onomatopoeia The use of words whose sound suggests their meaning.
Example: bubbling, murmuring brooks.
oxymoron A term consisting of contradictory elements juxtaposed to create a paradoxical effect.
Examples: jumbo shrimp, loud silence.
parable a story consisting of events from which a moral or spiritual truth may be derived.
paradox A statement that seems self-contradictory but is nevertheless true.
parallel structure The structure required for expressing two or more grammatical elements of equal rank. Coordinate ideas, compared and contrasted ideas, and correlative constructions call for parallel structure.
Example: Colleges favor applicants with good academic records, varied interests, and they should earn high scores on the AP exams.
The underlined section of the sentence lacks the same grammatical form as the italicized phrases. To be correct it should read high scores.
parody An imitation of a work meant to ridicule its style and subject.
paraphrase A version of a text put into simpler, everyday words.
pastoral A work of literature dealing with rural life.
pathetic fallacy Faulty reasoning that inappropriately ascribes human feelings to nature or nonhuman objects.
pathos The element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow.
pedantic Narrowly academic instead of broad and humane; excessively petty and meticulous.
periodic sentence A sentence that departs from the usual word order of English sentences by expressing its main thought only at the end. In other words, the particulars in the sentence are presented before the ideas they support. See also loose sentence.
Persona The role or facade that a character assumes or depicts to a reader or other audience.
Personification A figure of speech in which objects and animals are given human characteristics.
Plot The interrelationship among the events in a story; the plot line is the pattern of events, including exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
Point of view The relation in which a narrator or speaker stands to a subject of discourse. A matter discussed in the first person has an internal point of view; an observer uses an external point of view.