2014-15 Language Arts Terms
FICTION
Plot: The storyline of a fictional story. (Stages of the plot
include the introduction/exposition—setting, characters,
background; rising action, climax, falling action and
resolution.)
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Narrator: The teller of the story and can be part of or
outside the action of the story.
Point of View: The perspective from which a story is told.
First-person point of view: The narrator is a
character and uses first-person pronouns, such
as I, me, and we.
Climax: The turning point OR the most intense,
exciting, or suspenseful part of a fictional story.
Resolution: The part in the plot of a piece of
fiction when the conflict or problem is solved.
Third-person point of view: The narrator is
outside the action and uses third–person
pronouns, such as he, she, it and they.
Conflict: The struggle / problem between opposing forces
that brings about the action within a story or drama. It
can be internal (within the character) or external (between
a character and an outside force).
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Characters/characterization : The method that the author
uses to create characters in fiction. Physical appearance,
character’s personality, speech, thoughts, feelings, and
actions. (Round/Flat; Static/Dynamic; Direct/Indirect)
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Third Person Omniscient point of
view: The narrator is removed from
the story and KNOWS EVERYTHING
there is to know.
Third Limited point of view: The
narrator tells the story in 3rd person
but only tells the story from one
character’s perspective.
Round – A character who is well described and who you
know a lot about.
Figurative Language / Figures of Speech:
expressions used in literature that are not literally
true (similes, metaphors, etc.)
Flat – A character you don’t know well or who is not
described very much.
Dynamic – A character who goes through a lot of change
in the story.
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Static – A character who doesn’t change much or at all in
the story.
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Direct Characterization – The narrator directly describes
the character using adjective and adverbs, and, in a
straight-forward way, explains to the reader what the
character is like
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Indirect Characterization – The personality of a character
is revealed through the character’s speech, actions,
appearance, behavior, and inner thoughts.
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Setting: When and where the story takes place.
Mood: How the story makes the reader feel at the end
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Tone: The words / style the author uses to create the
mood; the attitude of the author
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Voice: the “sound” of the writer’s words revealing his/her
distinct style of writing.
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Theme: the universal or timeless idea, unifying subject, or
central lesson (Example: Friendship, Love, or Redemption)
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Irony: An outcome that is opposite of what is expected
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Simile : Comparing two things using like or
as and they have some quality in common.
Metaphor: Comparing two thing NOT using
like or as and they have some quality in
common.
Personification : Giving human qualities to
an animal object, or idea.
Hyperbole: Extreme exaggeration for
emphasis/effect (Examples: I could sleep
a year! (OR) This book weighs a ton!)
Idiom: A figurative expression used by a
particular group of people that doesn’t
mean what it actually says (Example: kick
the bucket)
Alliteration – repetition of sounds at the
beginning of words that are close to each
other (many merry men ran marathons)
Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds
(About the town the owl could not be
found)
Onomatopoeia – Words that imitate the
sounds of their meaning (buzz, hiss, boom)
Imagery: Descriptive language that
appeals to the 5 senses.
2014-15 Language Arts Terms
Flashback: Interrupts the current action in a story to show
events that took place at an earlier time.
NON-FICTION
Central Idea: Main point in a piece of writing
Foreshadowing: Hints provided to suggest what might
happen later in the story
Summary: A shortened version of the text that states key
points
Symbolism: Using an object/character to represent
something in the story
Paraphrase: Restating something in your own words to
make the meaning more clear
Allusion – In a piece of literature, a reference to
characters, events or elements of another literary work
Organizational Structure or Text Structure:
Sequence : focuses on order of events or
actions, not time (article with a recipe)
FICTION GENRES
Fiction: made up stories from imagination
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Chronological Order: focuses on time order
of events (biography of a person)
Historical Fiction – setting is historical, characters are
fictional
Fantasy – has “other worldly” characters or settings
Realistic Fiction – a story that can actually happen and
is true to life
Science Fiction – uses science that is real or imagined,
sometimes set in future or on other planets
Mystery – solves crimes or secrets
Horror – shocking, terrifying, evokes a feeling of dread
in the reader
Fables, Fairy Tales, Folklore, Legend – have
supernatural creatures, animals that speak
Mythology – usually about the actions of gods and
goddesses in various cultures
Problem-Solution: describes a problem, some
possible solutions, and possible results (editorial)
Compare-Contrast: examines similarities
(compare) and differences (contrast) between
two or more people, things, or ideas
(informational text)
Cause-Effect: focuses on the connection
between something that occurs and what makes
it happen
Main Idea and Supporting Details: has one
main idea, and then provides supporting details
to support that idea
Argument/Persuasive: presents an opinion
and tries to convince the reader to take their
side
Author’s point of view: The author’s
opinions, values, beliefs.
Author’s purpose: The reason an author has written a
piece of writing - to inform, persuade, explain, or
entertain.
Objective: The author states facts which are statements
that can be proven
Subjective: The author gives opinions which are a person’s
personal beliefs or feelings on a topic
Inference: When you infer you basically say “based on
what I’ve read, it’s most likely true that…”
Explicit: The answer is right there in the text.
Textual Evidence: Word for word support. When you cite
textual evidence you have to write word for word what
the author says and provide information (like a page
number) about where you found the evidence.
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2014-15 Language Arts Terms
Citing Evidence from the Text
TYPES OF WRITING:
Narrative Writing: Narrative writing tells a story
and contains a plot, a setting, characters, and
dialogue. It can be true (factual) or created
from imagination (fictional).
This must be done when you are asked to cite textual
evidence.
1.
Restate the question in the answer
2.
Answer the question in your own words
3.
Use a Quote - the evidence from the text needs to
be a direct quote
4.
Put page number of the quote (p. )
5.
Make an inference or explain why the quote
answers the question
Expository Writing: Expository writing explains an
idea and gives information about a topic. An
expository piece of writing has a thesis statement,
and is organized with an introduction, a body,
and a conclusion
Persuasive Writing: Persuasive writing tries to
convince someone to support a point of view,
make a decision, or take action. You have to
state your point of view, include facts to support
it, and present a logical argument as to why your
point of view is correct.
ALWAYS EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWER COMPLETELY!!
Non-fiction Genres: Deals with actual real-life subjects; authors
express opinions and state facts
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Argument Writing: An author makes one or more
claims and supports those claims with evidence.
Biography/Autobiography
History/Science writing
Essays
Argument/Persuasion
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Argument: Taking a position with an
arguable statement.
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Claim: 1/ Claims of fact – says something
is true or false; 2/ Claims of value – says
something is good or bad;
3/
Claims of action – says one action is
better than another
WRITING TERMS
Prewriting: The thinking & planning that is done before a
first draft is written. This includes considering the topic,
gathering information, and / or brainstorming
I CAN VERBS
Rough Draft: A written rough copy of an assignment
distinguish: show differences between people, things or ideas
Edit/Revise: To check spelling, punctuation, capitalization,
paragraphing, and grammar. Add to and/or delete from
your written ideas to improve
compose: put things together to form a whole
Final Draft: A neat, mistake free published work
demonstrate: show or prove something clearly and convincingly
Paragraph: A group of sentences that are about a main
idea. It is either indented or separated by a line space.
determine: to find out something after investigation
analyze: to examine something in great detail in order to find out
what something is made up of by identifying its various parts
integrate: to join two or more ideas to make them part of a larger
whole
Thesis Statement: Expresses the main topic of an entire
essay or research paper and should make 3 clear points. It
is in the introduction of the paper.
evaluate: examine and judge something to judge its value, quality,
or importance
Introduction, Body, Conclusion: Structure of an essay.
Introduction brings the reader into the topic and contains
the thesis statement; Body makes two to four points about
the topic; Conclusion brings it all together at the end.
explain: to give an account of something with enough clarity and
detail to be understood by somebody else
support: to uphold or defend as valid or right
Transitions: Transitions are connecting words or phrases.
They make connections between parts of a text, and they
help make the order of your ideas clear. They include
words like: before, during, later, next, but, yet, however,
above, and around.
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