English

• Four parts to a PLOT

  • Introduction
  • Rising action
  • Climax
  • Conclusion or denouement
• Four purposes of an INTRODUCTION

  • Introduce main character(s)
  • Introduce setting and/or mood
  • Foreshadow plot or conflict
  • Hook the reader's interest
• Six main types of CONFLICT

  • Person v. person
  • Person v. self (internal conflict, as opposed to external)
  • Person v. environment (ex. society, nature, unless it's one animal)
  • Person v. god or supernatural
  • Person v. machine or computer / technology
  • Person v. beast or animal
• PROTAGONIST


  The main character in a story (not always the "good guy")
• ANTAGONIST


  The person or force that causes the main character conflict
• SETTING


  The time and place of a story. Think year but also time period ex. late middle ages
• MOOD


  The emotional atmosphere of a story/poem. How you feel reading a story or poem is often a reflection of its mood. BUT, remember to focus on the writer's intended mood
• THEME


  The central idea or issue being explored in a story. It is what a story "is really about"
• Theme is always written as a statement, NOT a single word
• Figurative language


  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Apostrophe
  • Alliteration
  • Onomatopoeia
  • Hyperbole
  • Understatement
• Poetic devices


  • Euphony
  • Cacophony
  • Dissonance
  • Allusion
  • Analogy
  • Consonance
  • Oxymoron
  • Paradox
  • Pastoral
  • Pun
• Didactic


  Something that teaches (in this class, it usually means a poem or story)
• Dilemma


  A difficult choice, often connected to a character's conflict
• Irony


  A contrast between two things. Three types: verbal, dramatic, situational
• Elegy


  A poem mourning someone's death
• Eulogy


  A speech about someone dead given at a funeral
• Epic


  A long, heroic poem; but can also describe a song, story, or trip etc.
• Pathos


  Emotional appeal; many poems or stories attempt to build this
• Pathetic fallacy


  When nature begins to reflect the mood in a story
• Metonymy


  Referring to something with a closely-related idea (like a metaphor)
• Synecdoche


  Referring to the whole of something, by just a part of it
• Types of Poetry


  • lyric
  • ode
  • ballad
  • blank verse
  • free verse
  • sonnet
  • quatrain
  • sestet
  • octave
• lyric


  a poem expressing a person's feelings
• ode


  a type of lyric that praises something
• ballad


  four line stanzas that tell a story; rhyming pattern of ABAB
• blank verse


  lines that have rhythm but no rhyme; Shakespeare wrote many of his plays this way
• rhythm


  a rise and fall of emphasis with syllables
• iambic pentameter


  ten syllable pattern where unstressed syllables alternate with stressed
• free verse


  also known as modern poetry; has no formal structures
• Grammar Terms


  • diction
  • syntax
  • verbose
  • colloquial
  • active voice
  • passive voice
  • euphemism
  • idiom
  • jargon
• diction


  word choice
• syntax


  word order
• colloquial


  a word or phrase that is somewhat acceptable when speaking, but not in formal writing
• colloquial


  • When Barack won the election, many people were stoked.
• euphemism


  a nicer way of saying something
• idiom


  a word or phrase special to a language or dialect
• jargon


  hard to understand speech specific to a field
• Writing Style and Techniques

  • anecdote
  • archaic
  • audience
  • cliché
  • flashbacks
  • foreshadowing
  • case study
  • juxtaposition
  • melodramatic
  • objective language
  • wit
  • subjective language
• anecdote


  a personal story to help prove a point
• archaic


  ol' school language