English 10 Provincial Exam

Examinable Terms

Instructions

• Each slide is labeled with a literary term.• First, try to come up with a definition of the term.• Then, click to reveal the definition.• Next, try to develop an example of the term.• Click to reveal an example.

Definitions gathered from multiple on-line and print sources. Need further clarification? Please ask your English teacher.

Alliteration

• Repetition of sounds at the beginning of words

•“My love is like a red, red rose.”- Burns

Protagonist

• The hero of the story or main character

Scout is the protagonist of To Kill A Mockingbird

Metaphor

• Compares two things by saying one thing IS another thing. It does not use “like” or “as”

Eyes are windows to the soul.

Flashback

• The author describes something that happened before the main narrative

In The Lord of the Rings, the narrative is broken to reveal how Gollum originally found the ring.

Sonnet

• A 14 line poem popularized by Shakespeare. Generally, sonnets have a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg

My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun

- Shakespeare

Tone / Mood

• Tone: The speaker’s attitude toward the subject.

Don’t confuse the speaker with the author or the poet.

• Mood: The feeling the reader has from reading the literature. Tone and mood do not necessarily match. For example, the android in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is depressed about everything in life. The reader, however, will most likely feel as though this is funny and will not share his feelings of depression and sadness.

Ballad

• A short narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain. It frequently deals with folk-lore or popular legends. The plot is the dominant element, dealing with a single crucial episode, narrated impersonally, with frequent use of repetition

External Conflict / Internal Conflict

• External: The conflict of the story happens between people or forces.

• Internal: The conflict of the story happens within a character

Person vs. Person or Person vs. Environment

Person vs. Him/herself

Genre

• A category of artistic, musical or literary composition characterized by a particular form, style, or content.

Poetry is a type of literary genre.

Lyric verse is a type of poetic genre.

Free Verse

• Poem which conforms to no set rules. The free in free verse refers to the freedom from fixed patterns of meter and rhyme, but writers of free verse employ familiar poetic devices.

Paradox

• A statement which contains seemingly contradictory elements or appears contrary to common sense, yet can be seen as perhaps, or indeed, true when viewed from another angle.

They have ears but hear not.

Onomatopoeia

• Words that sound like the noise they are describing

Snap, crackle, pop. – Rice Krispies

Personification

• Animals, ideas or inorganic objects are given human characteristics.

“The wind stood up and gave a shout.”

Hyperbole

• A gross exaggeration

I slept for 4 days.

Allusion

• A reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature. Allusions are often indirect or brief references to well-known characters or events.

“So Eden sank to grief” - Frost

Symbol

• A symbol is a word or object that stands for another word or object. The object or word can be seen with the eye or not visible.

Dove = Peace

Round Character / Dynamic Character

• Round character: has many traits and the reader knows a great deal about him/her.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout is a round and dynamic character whereas Atticus is just a round character.

• Dynamic character: changes throughout the course of events in the story.

Connotation / Denotation

• Connotation: An association that comes along with a particular word. Connotations relate not to a word's actual meaning, but rather to the ideas or qualities that are implied by that word.

• Denotation: the literal or dictionary definition of a word

"gold"  The denotation is a malleable, ductile, yellow element. The connotations are greed, luxury, or avarice.

Satire

• Literary work that blends a critical attitude with humor and wit

• The intention is to poke fun social conventions or institutions

The school system is satirized in To Kill a Mockingbird when the teacher fails to recognize the intelligence of the children simply because it is a different type of learning.

Extended Metaphor

• This occurs when the metaphor is used throughout the literary work.

“Crossing the Bar” by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Simile

• A comparison between two otherwise unalike objects or ideas by connecting them with the words "like" or "as."

I wandered lonely as a cloud. - Wordsworth

Antagonist

• A character or force that deceives, frustrates, or works again the main character in some way. The antagonist could be death, the devil, an illness, or any challenge that prevents the main character from living “happily ever after."

The Bob Ewell and racism are antagonists in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Aside

• An actor’s speech, directed to the audience, that is not supposed to be heard by other actors on stage. An aside is usually used to let the audience know what a character is about to do or what he or she is thinking.

Denouement

• A denouement is the final outcome of the main complication in a play or story

• This is closely related to resolution, conclusion, and falling action.

Figurative Language

• Figurative language does not mean exactly what it says, but instead forces the reader to make an imaginative leap in order to comprehend an author's point.

Similes and metaphors are forms of figurative language.

Lyric

• A lyric is a song-like poem written mainly to express the feelings of emotions or thought from a particular person. These poems are generally short, averaging roughly twelve to thirty lines, and rarely go beyond sixty lines. These poems express vivid imagination as well as emotion and all flow fairly concisely.

Narrator / Narration

• One who tells a story, the speaker or the “voice” of an oral or written work.

Scout is the narrator of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Setting

• The time, place, physical details, and circumstances in which a situation occurs.

To Kill a Mockingbird took place in the deep South (Alabama) during the 1930s.

Theme

• A common thread or repeated idea that is incorporated throughout a literary work. A theme is a thought or idea the author presents to the reader that may be deep, difficult to understand, or even moralistic.

Atmosphere

• The mood which is established by the totality of the literary work.

Blank Verse

• Poem that uses iambic pentameter. It has rhythm but no rhyme.

Character Foil

• A character whose behaviours and qualities contrast those of another character in order to highlight the differences between them.

Kate and Bianca from Taming of the Shrew are character foils.

Audience

• The intended readers of a piece of literature

Jargon

• Confused, meaningless speech.

• Certain groups of people or professions might have their own jargon

Oxymoron

• A phrase bringing together two contradictory terms

The sound of silence. – Simon and Garfunkel

Jumbo shrimp

First Person Narrative – point of view

• Story is told by a character who refers to him/herself as “I”

Objective Point of View

• Narrator is a type of roving sound camera. It can go anywhere but can only record what it sees and hears.

Omniscient Point of View

• Narrator has no limits. S/he can go into the minds of characters and determine what they are thinking and feeling

Limited Omniscient Point of View

• Narrator only knows about one character and the things that character thinks, feels, and dreams

Third Person Narrative

• The narrator is not a character in the novel or short story thus most information given by the narrator is done in third person. “He,” “She,” and “They”.

Colloquialism, Informal language, & Slang

• Expressions used in conversations but not considered proper in formal speech or writing

Pun

• A play on words based on similar sounds

He was the sole survivor of the Korean War.

Foreshadowing

• An event or incident is indicated beforehand through hints or clues in the story

As Scout and Jem prepare to leave for the school pageant, Aunt Alexandra feels a sudden sense of foreboding, but she ignores the “pinprick of apprehension.” This foreshadows the attack by Bob Ewell after the pageant.

Imagery

• descriptive language which helps us see, hear, smell, taste, or feel

“Orion glimmers through the trees”(“Stars” Marjorie Pickthall)

Stereotype / Stock Character

• A character who is easily recognized and the narrator has to do very little for the readers to understand this character. It relies on the understanding of stereotypes.

The popular, blond cheerleader, or the dumb but handsome football player who is unaccepting of others, and the geeky but brilliant science or computer student.

Tragedy

• A serious play or narrative where the protagonist is challenged, experiences great conflict, and eventually dies or is defeated.

Hamlet

Understatement

• A form of irony where something is intentionally stated as less than it really is.

A nuclear bomb could really ruin your day.

Soliloquy / Monologue

• When one character speaks directly to the audience without acknowledging its presence. It is used to reveal the thoughts and feelings of a character.

Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” speech is a soliloquy.

Passive / Active Voice

• Active: She hit the ball.

• Passive: The ball was hit by her.

** Use the active tense whenever possible.

Cliché

• An expression used so often its freshness and clarity are outworn.

Killing two birds with one stone

Raining cats and dogs

Needless to say…

Flat Character

• Flat characters usually only have one or two character traits and have little chance for development in the story.

• Mrs. Dubose in To Kill a Mockingbird. Her purpose is only to help develop Jem’s character.

Indirect / Direct Presentation

• Both are methods of character development

• Direct Presentation -- The character is described by the author or narrator directly

• Indirect Presentation – Character’s traits are revealed by the character’s actions and speech, and by the reactions of other characters

Conflict

• The struggle between the two or more opposing forces. The main conflict will be between the protagonist and the antagonist

Atticus is in conflict with the many of the citizens of Maycomb because he agrees to defend a black man.

Climax

• The decisive moment in a drama, the climax is the turning point of the play to which the rising action leads. This is the crucial part of the drama, the part which determines the outcome of the conflict

The attack on the children after the Halloween pageant is the climax of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Dramatic Irony

• situation where a character is unaware of something the audience knows

• The audience knows that Juliet is not dead, but Romeo believes she is poisoned and then kills himself.

Verbal Irony

• The difference between what the speaker says and what he/she actually means

• A person says “nice outfit,” but is really being sarcastic and is trying to suggest that the outfit is ugly.

Situational Irony

• The difference between the expected outcome and what actually occurs

Boo Radley, the person whom the children have feared throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, actually turns out to be a gentle spirit who saves the their lives.

Bias

• A preference or an inclination, especially one that inhibits impartial judgment

During a political campaign, a member of one party would tend to say positive things about his own party and negative things about the opposition party and their policies.

Sarcasm

• A form of verbal irony, expressing sneering, personal disapproval in the guise of praise

Mother discovers her 11-year-old watching South Park instead of doing his homework.  She says, "Don't let me tempt you from your duties, kiddo, but when you're finished with your serious studies there, maybe we could take some time out for recreation and do a little math.

Persuasive Writing

• Persuasive writing, also known as the argument essay, utilizes logic and reason to show that one idea is more legitimate than another idea. It attempts to persuade a reader to adopt a certain point of view or to take a particular action

Descriptive Writing

• Descriptive writing uses descriptive language to create a picture in the reader’s mind. The reader should be able to clearly experience the scene or situation being described.

• Writers may use literary devices such as similes or metaphors, or may create strong imagery simply through the use of descriptive words.

Narrative Writing

• When you write a narrative essay, you are telling a story. Narrative essays are told from a defined point of view, often the author's.

• Narratives include all the conventions of storytelling: plot, character, setting, climax, and ending. All details in the story must prove your main thesis.

Expository Writing

• The purpose of an expository essay is to present, completely and fairly, other people's views or to report about an event or a situation. Expository writing, or exposition, presents a subject in detail, apart from criticism, or argument.

The End

• Try this again in a few days after studying the terms you missed.

• Good luck on your provincial exam!!!!