Literary Terms for Semester Exam Notes

Literary Terms

• Main Idea

  • The most important idea or central point in a text or passage.

• Supporting Detail

  • Facts, examples, and other information that help readers understand the main idea of a paragraph or essay.

• Internal Conflict

  • A struggle that occurs within a person or character.
  • Often due to conflicting values or goals.

• External Conflict

  • Happens when a character struggles against an outside force.

• Suspense

  • A feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen.

• Allusion

  • A device authors use that makes a passing reference to a book, play, movie, or a person that people are likely to be familiar with.

• Hyperbole

  • Exaggerated statements or claims.

• Metaphor

  • A way of describing someone or something by showing their similarity with something else.

• Simile

  • A word or phrase that compares something to something else, using the words like or as.

• Climax

  • The most important or exciting part of a story.

• Flashback

  • When a story goes back to an earlier time to explain something important to the story.

• Foreshadow

  • When an author sets up clues, hinting at what is to come later in the story.

• Irony

  • A technique used by writers to create an outcome that is the opposite of what is expected.

• Dramatic Irony

  • When the audience or reader knows more about a situation than a character does.