Fall Final Study Guide 2011 (click for printable version)
Parts of Speech
Noun: person, place, thing, or idea – ex. teacher
Proper Noun: names specific people, places, or things – ex. Mr. Bresden
Pronoun: a word that stands for a noun or a proper noun – ex. him
Adjective: describes a noun or a pronoun – ex. large
Verb: a word showing an action, a condition, or the fact that something exists – ex. ran
Adverb: modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb – ex. quickly
Conjunction: connects similar kinds of words or groups of words – ex. and
Interjection: expresses feeling or emotion and functions independently of a sentence –
ex. Wow!
Preposition: relates a noun or a pronoun that appears with it to another word in the sentence – ex. before
Prepositional Phrase: a group of words that includes a preposition and a noun or pronoun that is the object of the preposition – ex. below the counter
Appositives
An appositive is a noun or pronoun — often with modifiers — set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it. Here are some examples of appositives:
My brother’s car, a sporty red convertible with bucket seats, is the envy of my friends.
He is driving my dream car, a 1970 Dodge Challenger.
Parallel Structure
Parallel structure is the repetition of a chosen grammatical form within a sentence. By making each compared item or idea in your sentence follow the same grammatical pattern, you create a parallel construction.
Example:
Not Parallel:
Ellen likes hiking, the rodeo, and to take afternoon naps.
Parallel:
Ellen likes hiking, attending the rodeo, and taking afternoon naps.
Figurative Language
Simile: a figure of speech in which like or as are used to make a comparison between two unlike ideas
Metaphor: a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as if it were something else
Hyperbole: a deliberate exaggeration
Personification: a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics
Allusion: a reference to well-known people, places, or events from myths or literature
Narrative Forms
First-person: the story is relayed by a narrator who is also a character within the story, so that the narrator reveals the plot by referring to this viewpoint character as “I” (or, when plural, “we”)
Third-person: every character is referred to by the narrator as “he”, “she”, “it”, “they” or by their specific name.
Literary Terms
Allusion: a reference to well-known people, places, or events from myths or literature
Antagonist: a character or force in conflict with the protagonist
Aside: a brief remark by a character revealing thoughts or feelings to the audience, unheard by other characters
Autobiography: a form of non-fiction in which a person relates his or her own life story
Biography: a form of non-fiction in which a writer tells the life story of another person
Dialogue: conversation between characters
Dramatic Foil: a character who highlights the traits of another character through contrast
Dramatic Irony: a contradiction between what a character thinks or says and what the audience or reader knows to be true
Flat Character: a one-dimensional character, embodying only a single trait
Foreshadowing: the use of clues that suggest events that have yet to occur
Genre: a category or type of literature
Monologue: a lengthy speech addressed to other characters on stage, not to the audience
Paraphrase: restate in one’s own words
Plot: in a story, the sequence of events, involving a conflict, or problem, that one or more characters face
Point of View: in a story, is the vantage point from which the story is told
Protagonist: the main character in a literary work
Round Character: has many personality traits, like a real person
Setting: the time and place of the action
Soliloquy: a lengthy speech in which a character – usually alone on stage – expresses his or her thoughts to the audience.
Theme: central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work
Tone: the writer’s attitude toward his or her audience or subject
Tragedy: a work of literature that results in a catastrophe for the main character
Poetry Terms
Rhyme in a poem is the repetition of sounds at the end of words.
A stanza is a formal division of lines in a poem, considered as a unit.
In a poem, rhythm is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in each line.
Downloadable copy here
Iambic Pentameter:
Ten syllables in each line
Five pairs of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables
The rhythm in each line sounds like:
ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM
